9 June - Berlin & Cycling

D's 50 and she decided to go to Berlin with family/friends. She's travelled by Eurostar to Paris, swapped for a sleeper to Berlin. We go by plane which is much better since she will tell us that there was nothing remotely romantic/olde worlde about the train journey during which nobody really slept and which cost about £500pp.

She's booked us into a boutiquy hotel which we like and 2 days hare happily spent in the sun on various rented bicycles trips (fab, when the terrain is flat) in a relatively empty city (we're in the former East sector) which seems to live off tourism coming to see it /art galleries/trade fairs and nothing else really. We totally like the modern buildings and Toph is busy comparing to when he came 6 years ago for work, whilst I came 15 years ago in deepest winter with a friend who I didn't much care about and we didn't have that great a time. I also know I came some other time for work maybe 12 years ago and the weather was nice but I don't remember anything! Funny that. You either dig some towns or you don't.

We have a great dinner in a top restaurant we stumble upon and my choice of german wines (sort of random) gets us two good ones. We have a great lunch in an empty huge vietnamese restaurant which turns out to have been built 3 years ago and so nothing to do with the ties between the former communist countries. I don't get to speak german with anyone as their english is great. We don't buy anything bar a few silly things at a museum's shop.

On return drive from Luton we chant to L who works for the multi-millionaire vitamin empire and the next day I check them all out on google as I do and phone to tell her she should try meet the brother who's even richer and has built some massive marina in phuket.