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So wonderful that today my colleague finally gave birth to her twins. July the 4th, Independence Day.

She did have a difficult pregnancy cos the twins were small and the blood flow at times was not perfect. She was on hospitalisation leave for quite some time.

I still remember when she first told me that she was expecting. We were having coffee at Joe and Dough on 10 February. That was months ago. How time flies..

But they are out now and they are small but fine!

Am so happy for her and her husband!!

Took this yesterday from Berlin Main Station to Frankfurt yesterday.

There I was waiting at the gate when there was a last minute gate change. So again the train took off late.

A rather uneventful journey. Four and a half hours long. Still have not decided if flying between cities is better. The journey time by flight is certainly shorter but you need to get at least a minimum of one hour before to the airport. Plus budget flights in crammed seats in Europe frighten me.

Arrived on Frankfurt to a lovely sunny day.

i am told not much to do in Frankfurt. Let’s see what the next 2 days bring…

What a sudden change of weather! Woke up this morning in Berlin to a slight rain, cool weather and light winds. The weather is a beautiful 22°C now. Down from the high of 37° yesterday afternoon.

It is so nice to be sitting outdoors in cool weather sipping a hot cup of coffee and eating muesli with yogurt for breakfast. At the Mento Mente Italian restaurant at Portsdam Plaza.

And it is so good to know that even when it is hot on one day, there are going to be cool and windy days ahead to look forward to.

It was another warm day but I cannot say it was hotter than yesterday. Seemed to be about the same. It is supposed to be much cooler tomorrow. Down by about 10°C!

There were much less people walking on the streets. I visited the KaDeWe shopping center, an indoor venue, and it was packed. In the afternoon, I could see many young children were playing in the fountains, enjoying themselves.

I was told Berlin, even in summer, has very few truly sunny days. I have had 3 sunny days ever since I have been here. I must be lucky!

There were warnings of a heatwave for this week when I arrived in Germany last Wednesday.

And yes it is warm today. It was getting warmer towards the end of last week when I was in Munich but yesterday and today have been really warm. I can feel the intense heat as I am walking outside now. The saving grace is that its not humid and so with an umbrella it’s still walkable.

I was told this morning that tomorrow would be the most intense day during this current heatwave. Well today is already bad enough to keep me indoors most of the day. Cannot imagine how tomorrow will be like.

As I was walking to the Brandenburg Gate, I came across an unremarkable open space used as a car park. There were at least 4 different tour groups scattered all over the car park.

I walked on and didn’t think much of it. On the way back from the Gate, I again came a number of groups milling around the area. And there was an insignificant signboard nearby which people were reading.

It was then I realized that this was the site of Hitler’s bunker. The bunker was built near the gardens of his residence and he spent almost all his time there from January 1945 onwards and used it as his headquarters to direct the last stages of the war. He married Eva Braun in the bunker and committed suicide inside the bunker. His body and that of Eva Braun were burnt on his instructions just outside the bunker.

The site is now a car park as the Soviets who came to this location first and occupied this area till reunification wanted to destroy it and leave no trace of Nazi Germany.

Well today I stood on that car park imagining all the history that took place in that area beneath my feet about 80 years ago.

My first coffee in Berlin. Right behind my hotel, a minute’s walk away.

This cafe is open from 8am till midnight every day. It is a beautifully decorated cafe with nice ambience.

They have wonderful coffee, croissants and cakes.

The entire cafe was manned by just one person who is also the barrista, handles the orders and serves. He’s a young man from Syria and he speaks perfect German. He came here 9 years ago.

This train left on time at 1159 from Munich. It was supposed to be a 5 hr and 30 minutes journey.

The first stop out of Munich was Nuremberg. I remember this name from the movie Judgment at Nuremberg, a black and white I enjoyed very much. It seems Nuremberg was the place the Nazis had their massive rallies in the 1930s. The Nuremberg laws of 1935, stripping the Jews of German citizenship were named after this place too. The war crimes tribunal hearing the cases against the Germans who committed war crimes was based here.

After Nuremberg, everything was smooth until the train stopped at Leipzig station. There is a scheduled 30 minutes stop here. So I was just sitting in the train for that period.

After that, unexpectedly, the train stopped at a small station. There was a medical emergency to one of the passengers and an ambulance was called. When the passenger was eventually taken off the train, we departed with a 40 minutes delay. Sigh. Arrived at Berlin station at 6pm.

My cab driver to the hotel was a pleasant young man from Palestine.

I got off at the Berlin Sudkreuz station instead of the Main Station. My general impression was that the southern part of Berlin,where this station was located, up till near the hotel must have been part of the Communist east as it looked run down. My hotel at Potsdam seems to be on the edge of all the shopping areas and the attractions.

I have been taking taxis everywhere in Munich. I have found them to be comfortable and clean. The drivers are generally immigrants. I had one yesterday morning from Ukraine and another from Turkey. Surprisingly in addition to speaking German, they all seem to speak some English as well. They all use Google Maps to get to their destinations. Decent driving skills as well. Yesterday there was road blocks in the city center because it was Christopher Street Day. My driver knew how to navigate all the side streets to get me back to the hotel.

Also most of the taxis are huge and are the bigger Mercedes Benz cars or BMWs.

My taxi driver to the Munich Main Station was driving a large comfortable Merc and was originally from Bangladesh.

Whilst I was at BMW Museum in the morning, I received a text from a good friend, U Zyn, who suggested visiting this place.

I did go and I am glad I did. Didn’t realize the historical significance of this place.

The German Communist Party was founded here in 1919 and used this place as its headquarters.

The National Socialist Party, aka the Nazi Party, was born here in 1920 and Hitler was here at the inauguration of the Party. He delivered his 25 point plan for the Nazi Party here.

Lenin spent quite a bit of time here when he was living in exile in Munich before World War 1.

Mozart is said to have spent time here and cited this place as an inspiration for his opera Idomeneo.

This place was completely destroyed by the Allied bombing during World War 2 and it was then rebuilt in 1958.

I found the food just so so but the place was packed and bustling! I don’t think people come here for the food.