Berlin Update

Wednesday
The previous evening Sally had a contact lens problem with her eye hurting terribly. We deducted that the lens must be up behind her eye lid and it was going to be necessary to go the hospital or optomatrist first thing Wednesday morning. We found an optomotrist very close to the apartment on Breite Strasse. They very kindly agreed to see her right away and so we started out by visiting the family grave site in Schmargendorf and then walked across the road to the optomotrist. Without much delay Sally was attended to. The situation was so painful that we had to wait a while as the anesthetic took effect. After a while and several rounds of eye drops Sally was finally relieved of the problem. The lens had got stuck on the reverse side of her eyelid and was fairly difficult to remove - so the optometrist reported. There was some inflammation from this situation so the optometrist prescribed some drops for the eyes and we departed her office for the pharmacy. Even thought this was a private optometrist´s practice they elected not to charge us a dime for their services -we only had to pay for the medicine. I just hope that a doctor in the USA would be so kind as to waive charges for tourists...somehow I have my suspicions that this would not be the case! German hospitality at it´s finest. OK - that now dealt with we continued on our way walking to see 63 Auguste Viktoria Strasse - this is where my father lived in Berlin while serving in the British Control Commission at the end of the war in Berlin, this service after spending 4 years in a German prisoner of war camp in Austria. He lived on Auguste Viktoria strasse at the time he applied to the British Government for a permit to marry my mother at the end of WW2. Of course, my mother was a German National and my father was required to go through a process of getting a special permit to be able marry the enemy! I know this sounds bizarre but that was the procedure at that time. Then we continued walking up the Hohenzollern Damm to Fehrbelliner Platz and then took the U-Bahn to Wittenburg Platz...immediately on exiting the station I was driven to have a Curry Wurst before taking Sally into KDW (Largest department store in Berlin and 100 years old this year) and to have lunch on the 7th floor in the gourmet food hall. Amazing store and amazing selections of food available to purchase and also to consume there! So we did eat there...we shared a plate of four different preparations of herring dishes...oh so tasty! We then walked around the Christmas market in Breitscheid Platz, got on the S-Bahn and went to the Hauptbahnhof (Berlín´s new main train station) to look at this incredible new structure which is a little over a year old now. The Christmas tree in the lobby of the station was amazing (pictures will be posted later on this blog) erected by SWAROVSKI crystal - it was lit beautifully by spotlights the lights from which shone on the thousands of crystals and the reflections were just stunning. On then to the Weinachts Zauber Gendarmenmarkt (Christmas market) located in one of Berlin´s most beautiful squares. Christmas in Germany is a big thing and a visit to this market is truly an experience not to be missed, words cannot describe how gemütlich the atmosphere was...this is an absolute must visit - the entertainment was top notch and a pleasant surprise also. We thoroughly enjoyed this whole experience. Then it was off back to the apartment and a good nights sleep after another incredible day. The weather has been very cold and crsip but partly sunny and dry - no rain! How lucky can one get in Berlin at this time of year. Good night.... oh, and the pedometer details for today was:
13,408 steps, burnt 370 calories and walked 6.3 miles.