Victory Column

Our last morning in Berlin - Luke had another early physio appointment so we had breakfast quite late, after he returned from his appointment. It was a scorcher of a day at 33C, which we certainly felt as we set off the walk through the park (Tiergarten) to visit the Victory Column (Siegessaule). It was built in 1873 to celebrate Prussia's victory in the Franco-German War, and by the time it was inaugurated, Prussia had also defeated Austria and its German allies in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and France in the Franco - Prussian war (1870–71), representing three victories. We climbed 270 stairs all the way to the top and it was stifling hot in the narrow staircase, but the views from up there were very good. On our way back walking through the park there was a nude man who crossed our path, and then he continued walking to the park exit, waiting on the side of a very busy main road to cross. I know Germans have a different view on nudity but it made us laugh. Well, it was a very hot day so perhaps it’s the thing to do when it’s that hot! In the UK it probably would have caused an accident with the drivers all rubber necking to see such a sight. 

We had planned to walk on to Charlottenburg where Luke works, but it was so hot and it was much further than we realised so we ended up getting an Uber there. It’s a lovely area, very affluent with smart shops and it must be very nice to work there. We had a quick sushi lunch and then said our goodbyes as Luke had to be at work by 2pm (he was doing the 2-7pm shift today). We wandered around to see more of the area before getting a taxi back to our hotel. It was so hot so we enjoyed a cooling iced latte(mine was with coconut milk) before collecting our bags. 

We thought we had plenty of time to get to the airport but we almost missed our flight! Just after we set off from the hotel we found the roads had suddenly been closed by police with all the traffic stopped. We sat there for about 20 minutes with motorists getting very impatient and blowing their hooters. Next thing a large cavalcade of black vehicles came past, with police on motorbikes surrounding the main vehicle. If it was not Angela Merkel in the vehicle it certainly was a very important dignitary visiting Berlin to warrant such a large procession of cars. Once the roads were re-opened again the traffic was awful. Gavin was getting so anxious as he was convinced we would miss our flight - he phoned BA and they said there were seats on the next (and last) flight to London and we could change our tickets if we missed the flight. Luckily the traffic finally flowed again and we just made it to the airport in time! 

It was a wonderful weekend to Berlin. It’s such an interesting city to visit and I loved all the history, and it was fantastic having Luke as our guide. 

We also came home to the good news that Adam's first exam went well....another one tomorrow.