June 8, 2010 Berlin Day 2

We started the day with some shopping at the Kaufhof des Westens (KdW) and then walked to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The remains of this bombed out church and post war new building serve as a powerful testament to the destruction and suffering of war, and is now dedicated to encouraging peace. We then went on a private tour of the Reichstag and Albert Lobe building arranged by fellow Rotarian and Representative to Germany’s lower house of parliament, Dr. Mattias Heider. Dr. Heider’s assistant Phillip Riedel did an excellent job of showing us the impressively rebuilt historic building and we enjoyed the view from the dome on a clear day. We then walked to the Brandenburg gate and Tracey was particularly interested to see the new American Embassy located at its historic location at Pariser Platz. We walked through the Holocaust memorial and then headed off to see a floorshow “Qi” in Berlin’s historic Friedrichstrasse Palast. This singing and dancing extravaganza included ice dancing, a swimming pool, and a trapeze act!. We finished the evening at an Indian restaurant and then had a beer in the colorful Haeckisher Hof.