Berlin, Friday night

Out of the room around 1030 today after chatting with Trisha and the boys on Facebook. We are on vacation. Had a cappuccino and a bagel with cold scrambled eggs on top for breakfast. We won't be going there tomorrow. Price was right, though. €5 for both of us vs. €18 at the hotel.

It's snowing, very lightly, but it's wicked cold.

Went searching for the U.S. Embassy. Finally found it at Parisan Platz near the Brandenburg gate. No consular services there...that's at the south end of the city. We've never been to an embassy and have read in guide books that it's not a bad idea to register if you're going to be in town more than a few days. We just wanted to check it out.

So, like any American tourist in Berlin would do, we went to Starbucks. Mostly to use the rest room. And that's where the free tour meets - so it was easily justifiable.

We're big fans of the Sandemans free tours. This one didn't disappoint. Lots of Berlin history. Started at Brandenburg gate, went by the Berlin Wall as well as several old buildings and the spot where Hitler's bunker (the one he ended his life in at the end of the war) used to be. One of the buildings was the Berlin parliament, with the new glass dome. We learned it was exactly 76 years ago, on Jan 30, 1933, that Hitler was elected chancellor and started his campaign.

4 hours later, we're frozen solid. We got on a bus to the metro and took the underground to Potsdamer Platz.

The Sony Center is just a block away. It's a large entertainment/shopping center. There's an IMAX theater and a couple of restaurants that are listed in the Rick Steves guide. We ate at the Lindenbrauhaus, a restaurant spin off the beer halls of Munich. The food was very good. Who knew we liked sauerkraut?

Got back to the hotel around 9:00 pm.