Day 5 - Unter den Linden and Daniel Barenboim

Not very summery in Berlin. No hurry to get up for breakfast today. It was busy but we still had nice food. I had a croissant today. Then I wrote two cards while the room was being cleaned.

Richard wanted to visit the Pergamon Museum so we headed to the island just over the bridge. Some people don't get the idea of queuing. We queued for about half an hour but discovered that the Pergamon Altar was closed for refurbishment. We did see the Ishtar Gate from Babylon, partially renovated and the Market Gate of Miletus, incomplete. We also saw some other sights from Mesopotamia and Rome but they were not very well displayed.

The remains of the Market Gate of Miletus in the museum

After spending an hour there, we strolled down Unter den Linden to the Neue Wache, a restored guard house containg a modern Pieta in bronze of a mother and dead son.

We had lunch at Cum Laude, another German beer garden where we shared a room with a Christening party. I had beer and potato soup with leeks. Quite tasty.

When we went back into the street there was an open-air concert taking place at Bebelplatz near Staatsoper, with Daniel Barenboim conducting the Staatskapelle in works by Wagner, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. We found a place at the side to listen. It was very exciting to be there. The violin soloist Lisa Batiashvili played an encore for the victims of the floods in Georgia. Luckily the rain held off.

The historic Jewish Synagogue was guarded by police

Back at our room we rested and then went for a refreshing swim in the spa pool. We declined the mixed sauna without swimming costumes. Then we got ready to walk to Lokal by the river, through Monbijou Park and past the historic Jewish synagogue.

At the restaurant we chose a nice menu: I had rabbit and Richard had matjes and we both had coq au vin. We had another bottle of Riesling. We shared cheesecake for dessert. It was very light when we walked back and then had a coffee at the  hotel.