October 21

October 21
iPad has decided that if I am in Germany than I must be German. All the notices that pop up are in German. I have no idea what it is saying. Vorchau (?) is one of the latest. Also once in awhile the camera freezes and I have no idea what the message says. On the train, in the station and at different tourist points they try to do German and English. This consists of fourteen sentences in German and one sentence. i. e. The train is delayed, thank you in English. I start to laugh every time it happens. I'm sure they all think I am crazy.
I walked down town today. I found a different route with less construction. When I was down at my favorite bridge with the Iron Eagle and all the love locks on it I found the bus that would take me right to the house I am staying at.
I arrived down town too early for the Riechstag so I wandered over to the Bode Museum on Museum Island. I don't go to museums but I had to go to the bathroom. The foyer was beautiful, the bathroom was free and there was a bookstore and coffee shop.
I headed for the Riechstag but was early so I had lunch - goulash soup. Wonderful 90% meat plus delicious soup and a few veggies. Still had lots of time so I made my way into the park. Not the tiergarden but a park along the Spree between the Riechstag and the "pregnant oyster". I found the Berlin carillon. It actually looks Japanese. And beside it was a Garden against war.
Returned to the Riechstag and managed to get in early. Ana and Paulo had invited me to go to the philharmonic at 1:00 pm but the time was so close to my appointment I was worried I would miss time so I said no.  As it was I got in early because I was there. I walked around and saw all the various views, but it was a very cold and windy day today so I stopped at the cafe and had expensive hot chocolate. It came in a beautiful cup decorated with ladybugs.
After my visit I walked to the Brandenburg gate or tor and walked up the Unter den Linden. This is a wide boulevard like the champs élysées in Paris but there are suppose to be linden/lemon trees along it. The lemon trees are few and the street I'd under construction like half of Berlin. There is another set of historic signs about the Second World War in the middle of the boulevard.
Next I was off to find Checkpoint Charlie. It was a bit of a walk but I found it. Mostly commercialized, I had my picture taken with 2 men dressed as soldiers (I doubt it) for 2 euros. Taken 18 times. I think the guy taking the pictures was having fun with the iPad.
I had to walk back to my favorite bridge so on the way I detoured to check out Gendarmenmarkt with its two churches and the philharmonic in between. Very beautiful. I went in the French church. It was very plain but dignified.
The best part was the police giving a bunch of teenagers a hard time. The teenagers go around pretending to be deaf and ask you to sign a petition. Once you sign they are no longer deaf and tell you that you agreed to give them a donation. We ran into them before. I think it was in Rome.
I found that bus. It delivered me right to my door, well across the street. I had a glass of wine and went out for pizza. The restaurant is right below my window. In Germany pepperoni means peppers not pepperoni. My pizza had salami mozzarella mushrooms and banana peppers. I even ate some of the peppers. The young men were so nice I couldn't say no peppers.