Day 15: Back into Berlin

Back into Berlin today. Having discovered the 100 and 200 bus can take you to nearly all tourist sites (or close to them) we decided we would use this to our advantage and give my leg a little rest. Doing some reading I came across the East Street Gallery and that became our destination this morning. The bus and a tram later we were there. It was really fantastic...a highlight in fact. The gallery is literally a 1.3 km stretch of the Berlin Wall which is now an international memorial for freedom. The stretch of wall has art work painted onto the wall. It was really moving. It's a shame though that a lot of it had to be viewed behind a wire fencing barrier...to stop people graffitiing it and destroying the art. From there we headed back to Alexanderplatz for lunch and then to Museum  Island and the Cathedral. The buildings here were really grand. One thing to note, each of the churches, museums were pretty pricey to enter. Took a break and went on a boat trip along the Spree River. Very relaxing and great to see the major sites from a different angle. Relaxed and refreshed we headed to St Nicholas Church with its 2 (not 1) spires...this makes it special. It was in the most delightful, quaint little square which looked like it would be kms from the hustle and bustle of the city. Got to say...BR is very impressed with the public toilet facilities...cost is between 50 cents- 80 cents and they are better that most hotels.   Final stop for today was at the Victory Column. Unfortunately we had to admire it from the bottom as I didn't trust going up the 280 steps. I was worried about the down part and how narrow it would be.
Getting ready for dinner...ate at a restaurant down the street last night....biggest meal ever...can't face going back. Rick had a massive plate of cabbage, sausage, baked pork, a hamburger pattie?? And fried potatoes. My schnitzel was huge (2 big  pieces of pork), fries of which I ate about 1/4 and a salad that was really nice. Thinking something really small tonight. Off to Prague tomorrow...but first intend to stop off at Charlottenburg Palace on the way out.