Our last day in the German Capital and today we finally got to go up the TV Tower after our aborted attempt yesterday.
Fernsehturm
The tower is obviously an East German/Soviet Block thing with its very brutal design and a section that is designed to look like Sputnik. Fortunately, there weren’t any stairs and so we had to take the (surprisingly) small lift which whisked us up 203 metres to the viewing platform.
There are 360-degree views all across Berlin and as my tower companion Grant pointed out there wasn’t a hill in sight. There were information panels all around the edge in front of the windows allowing you to identify points of interest – some of them so far away it was impossible to see them. The only problem I had was that I felt seasick and I wondered if the tower was swaying giving me that sensation. Either way, I was happy to get down to terra firma.
Berliner Dom
The second tower was a different affair entirely being not a tower at all but the exterior of the dome of Berlin Cathedral. Firstly, at 116 metres tall it’s viewpoint was much lower than the earlier TV Tower and secondly, there was no lift but a flight of 281 stairs but at the top it didn’t sway in the breeze so that was a plus.
Obviously, you also get the church itself when visiting the tower so we did sit beneath the dome looking at all the grandeur of the place and wondering whether the money might not have been better spent elsewhere. We quickly moved on before being struck down by lightening for having such thoughts!
Grant, with his gammy knee, struggled up the stairs a bit but we were rewarded with some beautiful views over Berlin. The view was quite different than from the TV Tower, much easier to discern places below you and it was open so you had fresh air there too.
Wrap-up
Overall we had a great few days in Berlin which is a beautiful city, albeit one that is relatively recently rebuilt to restore it to its glory days. We were lucky with the weather and, of course, that so many people in the healthcare system spoke such good English, for which I thank them and their compassion,