A splashing good time

Our original plan was to make our way to a new part of Berlin, to experience something different somewhere else. Our resident pals recommended the number 100 bus as being the best means of finding and choosing a spot, but. That turned out to go through all the places we already knew from previous visits. Right at the end of the bus route we caught sight of people cavorting in two impressive fountains and decided to make our way back there.

We went on to spend a wonderful, relaxing few hours just dangling our feet in the water for relief from the heat and having a couple of beers. This was at Alexanderplatz, which used be the most look-at-us part of the former East Berlin. It's very changed, even in the four years since we were last here, and it ended up being an ideal choice of somewhere to go.

My final musical event of the trip was this evening in the Konzerthaus, an all-Mahler programme which ended with a magnificent performance of the First Symphony, with the Staatskapelle Berlin conducted by a 25-year-old Israeli conductor who was standing in for the great Michael Gielen, who was unwell. We both felt that we were witnessing the beginning of a brilliant and successful career for this young man.

We met up with the other half of the group afterwards, in a little pub close to where we're staying, drinking and chatting into the early hours.