Open air concert at Unter den Linden

Well, when we left Edinburgh last year I kind of swore I would always be there for the end of festival fireworks. The fireworks are tonight, and I didn't quite keep to my promise, but Berlin lived up to expectations and offered us its own open air experience, completely free and without restrictions, outside on Bebelplatz, to kick off the Staatsoper's new season. Beethoven's 9th symphony was on the program, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

I took a cycle through the sun-filled city in the afternoon and hooked up with my brother and Deetje, we sat on a mat amongst approximately 20,000 other people and enjoyed listening to the standard discussions between those with folding chairs, those with mats and those without anything - "could you please sit down", "you are blocking my view, I brought a damn chair so sit down even though you've got white pants on!", "I was here first". Thankfully, no proper fighting ensued and we were able to enjoy a rather magnificent performance by this world class orchestra/chorus.