Day One: Its time to come out of hibernation, and what better way than to spend two days in Berlin. My first continental breakfast in several years was an event in itself, as several hundred young female dancers also turned up for breakfast. Their international chatter was noisy yet not as illuminating as their event motto – ‘Dance as a global language’. However all too soon it was time for me and Irene to walk and even to shop!

Today Berlin has a mixture of impressive classical buildings and functional modern architecture; with a wide roads and a well integrated public transport system. But Irene and I walked, it is by far the best way to get a feeling for the city, as well as to find interesting cafes, stopping points to rest tired feet. It was a tired couple who joined my younger son and older grandson for supper at Hof Brau for a Bavarian meal, followed by a lovely hot chocolate at other hotel’s Spagos bar.

Day Two: We took the U bahn to Gleisdreieck and Berlins Museum of Technology; Irene sampled the cafe whilst I sampled the exhibits. The original core of the museum is centred on two former railway roundhouses, now overshadowed by a larger modern extension. The railway and aviation exhibits are excellent, the museum offered great value for the 8 euro admission fee. Later Irene and I took a circuitous route to the Park am Gleisdreieck. A rather large area of former wasteland – now an interesting urban park, which includes areas of managed wilderness, sitting alongside areas for skate boarding and aerosol art! This park lends itself to another visit on a pleasant summer day, preferably with a bicycle to eat up the miles. The late afternoon found us joining Callum and Martin, 203 metres up in the Fernsehturn de Berlin. A great way to view Berlin. Whilst later in the evening we had a fabulous meal at the Steak House Club; followed by hot chocolate at Spagos. The next morning before leaving this interesting city, we visited a nearby bakery to collect four large loafs of fine regional bread!