Berlin: last day

Our last day of vacation in Berlin was unfortunately quite hot, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. We saw more of the city; we enjoyed an outdoor beer garden; we ate some apfelstrudel and pretzels; we shared out lists of favorite memories from the vacation. 

I started off the day with a solo bike ride (on a public e-bike, while both kids slept) to the old airport and then to the river and back again. I had an idea about trying to see some more scenic aspects of Berlin, but mostly failed. That being said, it was a nice ride and I enjoyed seeing the city in the cool morning air. There were quite a few people out, including a sizeable contigent of young people still continuing their festivities from Saturday night.

 

We packed up and moved from our apartment, which was quirky and hot. We were staying in a nice hotel for our final night and they very kindly let us check in with our bags at 11. We ate brunch and set out to explore the Tiergarten park -- roses, many trails and trees, some swampy water.

We reached the Victory Column in the middle of the park and Liesl and I decided we had to climb it. We'd climbed the Great Fire memorial in London, both the Eiffel and the Arc in Paris, and this was our final one. I'm so glad we did.

As I said, it was hot. 90 degrees. We persisted.

At the far end of the Tiergarten was an outdoor beer garden: we got a beer and pretzel, some apple strudel, and enjoyed being out of the sunshine and sitting for a bit. We had been intending to have the classic German beer garden experience earlier, but so often we found places to be too sunny, or filled with smokers, or otherwise not the right time and place. So I'm glad we got to do it on our last day.

We retreated back to the hotel. Seb and I rented public e-scooters and zipped along the park to return -- it was my first time on a scooter and after an initial moment of terror it was really fun and effortless. We swam in the hotel pool; Steve and I had one last sauna experience; we had afternoon tea (with various cakes). 

 

And then everyone else lazed/napped/watched while I tried once again to find the river and scenic views and monumental buildings that I knew had to be somewhere close by. I got on an e-bike (a terrifyingly zippy one that had two speeds: off and full-blast) and rode by the Potsdamer Platz and the Riechstag to the Spree River, and along the Spree to Museum Island.

On Museum Island, I found the old town/gothic art museums and churches/tourist central that I'd been looking for, and thus satisfied, returned to the hotel. I gathered everyone up and we made our way back to Museum Island for some evening wandering. As luck would have it, the StaatsOpera Berlin was playing an enormous, free, open-air concert in the plaza. We were able to stop and listen to the gorgeous music filling the streets, alongside a crowd of so many people from all over.
 

Dinner was lovely -- we had steak and salad and everyone shared their list of favorite things from the vacation. (To come in a later blog post.) And then Steve and Seb walked home while Liesl hopped on an e-scooter with me and we zipped along home, delighted with ourselves and our adventures.