After a solid nights sleep with no duvets due to the 27degree heat, Darren went to a local bakery with Lilli to buy buns (and a choc croissant) for breakfast, where he got told off for taking photos.
Breakfast 
Roadside Performer
After breakfast we visited the East Side Gallery, the longest remaining piece (approx. 1.3km) of the Berlin Wall, which has been painted by various artists over the years since the wall was opened.
East Side Gallery 
Jade & Lilli
Following this we went to the wall memorial.
It was so interesting to be in the midst of modern history, considering the wall only opened around 30 years ago.
It’s hard to imagine the divide in the middle of the city, that the wall completely surrounded West Berlin, and even harder to imagine that people wanted to be INSIDE the wall, not outside it in East Berlin.
While there is no longer a wall, there is still quite a distinction between west and east Berlin when you drive through the city, and there are lots of double ups of things because while the wall was up there had to be two of everything – one on each side.
Fun fact: The Berlin wall was actually two walls. The first of which was constructed with barbed wire fencing overnight on August 12 1961, and days later was fortified with concrete. So many people were still getting past the wall into West Berlin, so the wall grew to be two walls, with the area between the two walls a death strip, containing watchtowers, guard dogs, floodlights, and all sorts of horrendous traps to prevent ‘escape’ from East Berlin.
This is definitely an interesting piece of Germany’s history to read about. The whole of East Germany was also surrounded by a wall, so there was a lot of division and unrest all over the place as families and friends were separated, and travel from one side to the other was difficult – if existent at all.
We finally managed to find an ATM to get some money out. This was an expensive exercise with a 12% conversion fee + ATM fee. We certainly need to sort out a better system!
We went to visit the Brandenburg gate, which is huge and beautiful.
It was built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II.
Built between 1788-1791, once finished the gate was incorporated into the city’s original customs wall which ringed the city from the 1730’s.
The gate was a symbol of Berlin and German division during the cold war, but is now a national symbol of peace and unity.
Next on the list of activities was lunch at IKEA – what an experience!
17.50€ ($30.60) for two meals, desserts and as many cold drinks as we wanted.
We had to have the iconic IKEA meatball dish, (of course) and then proceeded to spend quite some time wondering around the store looking at the display kitchens and bedrooms (they hide the exit so there is no escape).
It’s probably a good thing we don’t have IKEA near home otherwise we’d likely spend too much money there!!
After a rest and freshen up, Detlef and Lilli took us on a Castle Tour.
There are so many castles in Berlin!
Our tour included the Olympic stadium – kind of a castle if you’re a sports lover…
We did stop at a couple of castles to wonder around the gardens.
Some of them were so extravagant – more like palaces – with expansive gardens and many dwellings.
By the time we were finished our tour, we were all quite hungry, and the sun was starting to set.
We all agreed on Turkish for dinner, which provided delicious eating in comfort at home.
Fun fact: Berlin has the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey.
Sad to be leaving tomorrow, but thankful for our time here.
Our hosts have been so incredibly generous welcoming us into their home, and showing us around where they live.
My heart is so full as we travel from place to place, being embraced as family.
KJ xx