Day 4 of our Germany Trip, Friday the 8th

We slept in a bit today before we got out and walked around for a while. We saw the section of the city where some of east west wall is.
Many city's have their status Bulls on Wall Street, horses, cows… etc. Berlin has their Bears and they are called Buddy Bears. They are all over the city.
Under this motto, the UNITED BUDDY BEARS promote living together in peace and harmony on their global tour. Around 140 Buddy Bears (each 2 m tall) represent as many countries recognized by the United Nations.
Since the first exhibition in Berlin in 2002, more than 25 million visitors world-wide have been able to admire the United Buddy Bears.
Art and Culture: Each Buddy Bear shows the individual design created by different artists on behalf of their native countries. The international artists’ different styles are joined together in one work of art, spreading zest for life. The diverse design of the Buddy Bears – always typical for the respective countries – enables the visitors to experience a journey around the globe.
The Message: The Buddy Bears stand together “hand in hand”, symbolising the future vision of a peaceful world. Each bear stands for the people of the different countries and their culture, yet not for political systems.
http://www.buddy-baer.com/united-buddy-bears/idea/overview.html

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Then we came across this place called Trabi World, which is a museum, rental and souvenirs for old time Trabant (commonly known as Trabi) cars.
 



They come in all colors and prints. You can see convoys of 4 to 6 Trabis touring the city. The lead Trabi if the guide and there’s radios between to cars to help keep everyone together.

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Checkpoint Charlie (or "Checkpoint C") was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War.
The Soviet Union prompted the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 to stop Eastern Bloc emigration westward through the Soviet border system, preventing escape across the city sector border from East Berlin to West Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of east and west. Soviet and American tanks briefly faced each other at the location during the Berlin Crisis of 1961.
After the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc and the reunification of Germany, the building at Checkpoint Charlie became a tourist attraction. It is now located in the Allied Museum in the Dahlem neighborhood of Berlin.

A view of Checkpoint Charlie in 1963, from the American sector.

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After that we took a bus ride including a couple transfers out to the Berlin Botanical Gardens. We as on the second level of the bus in the first row of seats. The street we saw many shops and interesting things as we drove to the gardens.There was a couple very nice produce shops that I got a photo of one.
When we got to the garden we relaxed after the long warm bus ride and had some food and drinks at the restaurant. I had my first beer since I've been in Germany.
The gardens are amazing!



There is a series of massive green houses that are so big there’s a tropical rain forest in the largest one, including trees.
Here’s a web site for the gardens: http://www.bgbm.org/default_e.htm

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Another bus ride back into the city and some more walking. We went into a very large (and I’m told famous) shop that was nothing but chocolates, of course we got a few samples.    
For dinner we went to a Vietnamese restaurant. The food was yummy but different that Vietnamese food I’ve had in the US.