A Weekend in Berlin

Most of the hearing that I have had at the European Patent Office have been held in Munich, with an increasing number in The Hague.  I have had a number of hearings appointed at the EPO in Berlin, but until a few weeks ago had not actually attending a hearing there.  However, I did have to go to a hearing in Berlin, and as this was to take place on the Monday morning, and so I would have needed to travel on the Sunday, I took the opportunity to travel over a little earlier and have a few days in Berlin - finding my way around and seeing some of the sights. I stayed in a hotel very close to Checkpoint Charlie, and so visited the museum there to see the stories of some of the people who had escaped from East Berlin to the West while the Berlin wall was in place between 1961 and 1989 and to see some of the vehicles they used to do so - including cars where they hid in the engine compartment and home built planes.  I also spent a morning in the Jewish museum.  When the rain stopped, I managed to visit the Brandenburg Gate, the cathedral and on the Sunday morning visited the German Parliament building and was able to go into the big glass dome on the top - which has an open top and a funnel inside to collect the rain water!