Tuesday 22 July

First full day in Berlin was spent largely on the Hop-on Hop-off bus twice around as we picked out places to go to. We went into the Old National Gallery & saw some sculpture by Rembrandt Bugatti who was the brother of the Bugatti car manufacturer. We also like the Impressionist artists so this is where we spent most time in the gallery. 

70% of Berlin was destroyed by bombing in WW11, so much of it is new buildings & many since early 1990s when the wall dividing the city came down. There is still a lot of construction & renovation happening. It is a very busy place with a lot of tourists. 

There is a large sombre memorial to Jews murdered in Europe which consists of over 2,000 grey blocks of stone shaped like graves without any markings. We have noticed that many of the famous contributors to science, music, architecture & art in Germany were Jewish eg. Albert Einstein.