Flying back home tomorrow.

Came here Thursday and just spent the day walking around the KaDeWe area. I am staying at the IC.

Friday: Hop-on, Hop-off bus in the morning. This was not as organized as the one in Vienna. I walked all the way to Checkpoint Charlie in the afternoon in order to burn off all the schnitzels and knodels that I have eaten in Vienna and Berlin.

Saturday: Route B of the above which goes to mostly East Berlin, then did some shopping.

Sunday: Potsdam and Sansouci tour.

I lost two nights on this trip because I had to 'position' for a flight via IAH (otherwise I would have flow direct from SEA). Main aim of this trip was to fly on the 747-400, and Europe was a side trip. LOL

Things I was able to cross out of my bucket list:

Fly the 747-400 in the nose section
See the capital of Germany
Walk around Checkpoint Charlie
See the Brandenburg Gate
Visit Potsdam

As a bonus in terms of anthropological studies, I actually saw naturists in Tiergarden. (This was hilarious as for this reason, my London taxi driver and Kimpton check in agent both could not help commenting how 'the Germans are weird' when I mentioned that Berlin was in my itinerary. The Thames tour guide also asked the whole ferry to stare at the naked people at the sauna underneath the bridge to shame them for 'having no care in the world.'

Berlin will be lower in my priority list of places to visit 'overall', and 'visit again'. There are many things to do, but it does not seem to have as much good food and solid identity as London, or Vienna, which are the other two places I visited this time.

My list of things I need to do next time I am here:

Climb the dome of the Reichstag (reservations are needed online and I could not get one til 2 weeks after my visit guided tours are two months out!!!)
Visit Museum Island

To me, August apparently is not a good time to visit. Weather is too hot, especially compared to the PNW, and there are hordes of tourist everywhere.