German Unity Day

We were fortunate to be in Germany for German Unity Day because there was a big party at the Brandenburg Gate. (Unfortunate though in the sense that Henry and I had planned to go to the department-store sized second-hand clothing store Humana, but when we got there, we found that it was closed for the holiday. Gutted! I'd even been saving it for the last day!)

And so for our last evening, and Lachlan's first day of holidays, we joined in the festivities.

It really was a "reunification" celebration; there were families, skinheads, 30-somthing professional types on a date, feral teenagers - all hanging out and eating some sausage.

Henry chose to ride the pink Vespa on the carousel 

The free concert was also great; it was the worst rendition of "Time of our life" that I have ever heard. (Though I wonder if there is ever a good one?) The singers were not even close to being able to hold a tune.

Nonetheless, in its own way, the concert was great, as it really added to the sense of festivities.

The concert was free for a reason

It's interesting to know that 3 October is not actually the day the Berlin Wall came down, which is 9 November. 9 November was also the day of the Proclamation of the German Republic in 1918, and Hitler's first coup in 1923, however because it's also the anniversary of the first Nazi-led pogroms against Jews in 1938, 3 October was the day chosen instead to celebrate.

The Unity Day celebrations were an excellent way to end our time in the amazing Berlin.

Eating sausage; Lachlan was more pleased about this than Henry as Henry was cold because he refused to wear his coat.