Thursday, I headed for London

As my flight was at 4:20 pm, I had some time for a final look around Berlin before heading to London again. I began by saying goodbye to my little room in Hotel Lebensquelle and booking out. I needed to pop back to my room to leave a decent tip, as I had been short of change, and the girl at the desk looked after my gear while I tackled the strange lift.

The day was absolutely beautiful

I love the riverside, and the ancient buildings retained here.

I think of my home town of Marrickville and the way that the 

old 19th century buildings are giving way to 4 or more storeyed blocks of flats. 

Something is being lost that we can never regain.

I went westwards from Mühlendammstraße into the Nikolaiviertel, 

finding this house museum, which preserves the Biedermeier styles of the 1820s.

The family which owned this house were needlemakers, but, 

by the 19th century, were into architecture and science.

I noticed the name Tieck among the visitors to the house in that period, 

and wondered whether this was the author of the same name.

I don't suppose that any visit to Berlin is complete without a visit 

to the famous twin-towered Nikolaikirche, founded in 1230, 

and famous also for the ministry there of Paul Gerhardt from 1657-1666.

Gerhardt wrote the words of the hymn, O Sacred Head now Wounded 

(O, Kopf voll Blut und Wunden), usually sung to a setting by Bach.

Some interior views.

The square

The square around German churches seems usually to be a marketplace.

Stuffed bears shelter against the church wall.

 I couldn't spend the entire day in churches and museums, though, and eventually reached the Alexanderplatz Railway Station again, ready to catch a train to Schönefeld Airport. I stopped into Alexa first, to buy a few more gifts for family and friends.

Light rail terminus at Alexanderplatz

Famous world clock

After shopping, I looked for lunch. The best option seemed to be a fairly large restaurant opposite the station entrance where I had a plate of pasta and a Paulaner beer -- very suitable food and drink for a warm, sunny day.

It took a long time for the bill to come, as the place was very busy, and, when it arrived, I took out my credit card only to find it was cash only. The bill came to about 11.50 Euros, and I had about 13 Euros on me, having tried to run down my Euro collection before returning to a Sterling area. I barely managed to pay and leave (with apologies) a small tip.

Buskers

 When I reached the station, I had to buy a ticket, which meant finding cash machines and withdrawing cash, then finding a ticket machine.

From being early when I went for lunch, I was suddenly running close to the limits.

Eventually I found both machines, and, equipped with a ticket, went looking for the platform I needed.

After perusing the destination boards, I worked out which platform to access and arrived just in time to see my train pulling out.

This left me with one other option: taxi.

Fortunately, I found a cab quite quickly, driven by a friendly man in perhaps his early 40s, who had grown up in East Berlin and admitted to almost no English. However, by now, I was back to thinking in German, something I hadn't done for many years. Although I was still running into vocabulary problems from time to time, and had to ask the driver to speak more slowly, we had a really good conversation.

He made a point of directing my attention to a number of landmarks as we travelled.

Eventually we reached the airport and, after about an hour, we were on our way.

Last glimpses of the outskirts of Berlin

 I was glad to find a personable companion on the flight, a young Dutch academic who had a an important meeting scheduled for the next day in London, and seemed a little anxious about it. She was qualified in law, but a stint working in North Africa had led her to a particular interest in the anthropological aspects of law. I believe her name was Maaikje, but I am not sure of the spelling.

Coming into Heathrow

After we landed, I discovered that my flight companion was going in the direction of St Pancras, and I, of course, was heading for Sidcup, which involved changing trains at London Bridge. While we determined to travel together, neither my companion nor I was sure of the journey, but a young woman sitting opposite us was familiar with the route, and offered to tell us where to change trains.
So I got off and, after standing on the platform for a while, found a train.

Hip shot at London Bridge station.

                                                                                                                                             
Viv picked me up from New Eltham station.