Today was our last day in Berlin, so we tried to visit a few places we missed when we were here in December, or that were too covered in ice and snow for us to appreciate at that time. We began this morning in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This installation consists of 2711 concrete blocks of different heights, placed on uneven ground and meant to reflect a feeling of uncertainty. Unlike most memorials, it’s a quiet place to wander, and reflect, and bring your own meaning to the experience. The number of blocks is not significant; it’s merely the number that would fit into the space. There’s also an underground exhibit beneath the memorial, but it was closed today (and every Monday). We also visited the Sinti and Roma Memorial remembering genocide of these groups during Nazi rule, and the White Crosses memorial honoring those who died at the Berlin Wall during the Cold War.

Getting around the Tiergarten area was tricky today because many streets were blocked off in preparation for the FIFA World Cup and the European Football Championship. We managed to find the Soviet War Memorial and the Beethoven–Haydn–Mozart Memorial and several statues including Amazon on Horseback and some animal sculptures by Rudolf Siemering that are copies of sculptures around Siemering’s equestrian statue of George Washington in Philadelphia. There are many other statues in the Tiergarten, and we would have tried to find them all if we had the time and energy.

This evening we had dinner in an Italian restaurant (as one does in Berlin) and then went back to the Berliner Philharmoniker to hear Philharmonix, an ensemble composed of members of the Berlin Philharmoniker and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. It was a fun concert with a mix of classical, jazz and pop tunes played by some highly skilled musicians.

Tomorrow, we say goodbye to Berlin and head home via Aer Lingus.