We take the Hop on Hop Off bus at 10 am and familiarize ourselves with Berlin. Berlin was over 80% destroyed during the WWII. Unification in 1989 and the reassertion of Berlin as the capital of Germany have, and is continuing to, transform Berlin. It has a mixture of post war buildings built by both the east and west, rebuilt and repaired classic buildings, some wonderful new modern architecture to house government, commerce and industry and there is some very interesting urban renewal and transformation going on in the former east sector. One can still see buildings with the pock marks of war.
Lunch at Keno café. Kwan thought she ordered a salad but ends up with satay beef and schnitzel on top of some very nice salad leaves. Still very nice.
Its by now a very hot day in the high 20s. We work out the U-Bahn (metro) and hook up with Anna, a daughter of Philip’s friend who we are going to stay with on Sunday near Hamburg, a young artist who moved to Berlin a year ago. We look at the remains of the Berlin wall briefly, then head towards the Parliament House, Museum Island and the new train station, all in East Berlin; we walk along the Spree and to the Hackesche Höfe area – it reminds us of Soho and Greenwich Village in New York; very hip. She takes us to the young designers area and check out a few gallery openings which are all very exciting. We walk past a lot of outdoor cafes and squares full of young people and lots of fun.
It is wonderful to see Berlin through the eyes of a budding young artist who tells us that this is the most exciting, and only place in Europe for creative people at this time. Not just artists, but also musicians, designers and the like. We can feel the excitement and electricity as we walk around these creative precincts with Anna.
We split around 7.45 pm totally exhausted. We have snack from the hotel club lounge and skip dinner. Early rest.
We take the Hop on Hop Off bus at 10 am and familiarize ourselves with 
Lunch at Keno café. 
It is wonderful to see 