I slept really well last night...guess that's what happens when you run around a big city for 2/3 of a day...
I got up around 11:30, checked emails etc, had breakfast, and made plans to meet up with Sam and Friends at 2:00 near Stadtmitte.
We met up at the chocolate shop, but resisted all urges to go in again (well they didn't anyways...I went in quickly before they got there to get a piece of marzipan :) ). We headed up Friedrichsstrasse (another shopping district in Berlin, with some of the most expensive shops you could imagine) up towards Bebelplatz, as there was supposed to be another concert that afternoon (more on that later).
We got to bebelplatz by about 2:30, but then discovered that the concert didn't even start until about 4, so that gave us a bit more time to wander around.
Steven and Chan wanted to go back to Checkpoint Charlie to take some more photos, and to read the info placards over there (they had the history of the wall, as well as a lot of the happenings during the cold war).
After that, we headed back to Bebelplatz to catch the concert. It was a live concert (not a broadcast like last night) of the Berlin State Orchestra (Staatskapelle Berlin) playing the Tchaikovsky Symphony number 4 in f minor. This is one of my absolutely most favorite symphonies of all times. It was completely amazing - I couldn't believe the concert was free! Listening to it was a bit nastalgic as well as I played the same piece in orchestra back in high school...it made me really want to be able to play more orchestra at school, if only I had the time...
The concert lasted about an hour, after which we decided to head back to the Reichstag. We wanted to take a look at the outside and get some pics. When we got there, we noticed the line to go to the cupola was rather short, so on a whim we all decided to go up and see the view. It only took 20 minutes to get through the line and into the building, a record, considering it normally takes 2+ hours!
When we got to the top, we were given an audio tour earpiece that we could listen to as we walked around the cupola. The view from the top was amazing! You could see all of berlin from every direction!
As well the inside of the Cupola is quite cool to look at - there is a giant array of mirrors which reflect sunlight down directly into the building below.
And of course the exterior of the cupola is quite cool as well.
After heading out from the Reichstag, we went over to Potsdamerplatz and had dinner at the Cancun restaurant. The restaurant was very ornately decorated, and the food was pretty good as well. I ordered a plate of empenadas, and the others all got Chicken with Mole sauce.
Sam and the others had to head back soon after that, as Steven and Chan's train was to leave at 11pm to go back to Hamburg. I headed back to the apartment and crashed for the rest of the night, still exhausted from yesterday's events.
