On the fifth day of my trip, I travelled from Dresden to Berlin.
	It's 2.5 hours on the train from Dresden to Berlin, and I wanted to spend most of my day in Berlin, so I took an early 6:54 am train. I paid €19 online for the ticket and €4 in Germany for a seat assignment (so $30 in total) for the journey. I got up at 5 am, showered, checked e-mail, changed, packed, and headed out by 6:15 am.  It was raining, so I sprung the €2 ($2.60) for a tram ticket to the station.  I took tram 9 from Postplatz (which was steps from my hotel AND has huge covered waiting areas so my bag and I didn't get wet) to the Hauptbahnhof Nord stop.  I got to the train station by 6:30 am.
We arrived at Berlin around 9:15 am. I didn't want to go all the way out to my hotel and them come all the way back to central Berlin, so I stored my bag at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof's left-luggage facility, called the Gepack Center.  It cost €5 ($6.60). I also used the €1 ($1.30) super-expensive bathrooms at the station!
	I ended up on the 10:10 am Berlin City Tour sightseeing tour bus. A day ticket cost €15 ($20), but it was money well spent. It was difficult to find the bus stop, plus it was raining. The live guide is the one at the front of the bus in the black coat. I sat on the bus's second level for better views!
The bus was nearly empty when we started! Since we were such a small group (maybe 6 people), the guide was really interactive.
	It rained the entire 2.25 hour trip, so most of my pictures turned out like this picture of the Reichstag in the rain. What was great was I got a full orientation to the city (which came in very handy later) and didn't have to walk around in the cold and rain to do so!
After the bus tour, I got off at the train station, picked up my bag, and took the S-Bahn and tram to Alexanderplatz (for €2.30 [$3]).
	Here I am in my room at the Etap Hotel Berlin Alexanderplatz. The hotel is at the intersection of Mollstrasse and Otto-Braun-Strasse just 10-15 minutes' walk from Alexanderplatz. Here you can see I had a big bed, TV, small desk with chair, and a window. (Notice my bag is on the floor.  It was put it there, put it on the bed, or put it on the chair.)
Here's another view of my hotel room.  You can see the mirror with begs (where I hung up my coat) and sink.  The toilet is in a closet next to the door.  The shower is next to the sink. The shower was small and enclosed (but ensuite!).  I've had smaller!
	One of the big negatives of the hotel is the street noise.  Being next to two main drags, there are cars coming by at all hours.  Even with the window closed, some noise could still be heard. I liked the view, but the noise kept me up.  If I had the window open (which I prefer), it was far too noisy for sleep.
A great amenity of the hotel is a long-hours grocery store (open 7 am to 10 pm Monday through Saturday) named Kaiser's just a block away.  So handy! I bought some orange juice, a Sprite, a chocolate bar, and an awful sandwich for €3.99 ($5.25) for lunch.
	After getting settled and sending a quick arrival e-mail, I headed back out. First, it had stopped raining!  I walked from the hotel back to Alexanderplatz. The TV Tower reminds me so much of the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai with a little Skylon Tower from Niagara Falls thrown in :) It was handy that I could always tell if I was headed in the right direction!
While on the bus tour, we stopped at Alexanderplatz next to the Alexa shopping mall. I took my day-ticket and hopped back on there. I ended up on four different buses throughout the day, each with a different live guide. We drove down the famous Unter den Linden street!
	Another sight was the US Embassy, which is right next to the Brandenburg Gate!
Here is a picture of my sightseeing bus stopped at the Brandenburg Gate.
The Brandenburg Gate was my favorite site in Berlin.  (I visited four times in two days!).  To the left is the US Embassy.  On the right is a Room of Silence, which I got to experience.
	Here I am with the Brandenburg Gate behind me. It feels like a combination of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and Segovia's Roman aqueduct.
We crossed the Spree River several times. (That's the Hauptbahnhof in the background.)
	The shot of the Victory Column  in the Tiergarten that I got through the bus windows is pretty good! It reminded me so much of a Civil War monument, which makes sense because it is from the same time period.
My next stop was KaDeWe, a German department store. I enjoyed browsing the toys and fans, but the food hall is jaw-dropping! (It makes Harrod's food hall look weak.)
	The building with the mural is the Haus des Lehrers, next to Alexanderplatz, which used to be a teachers' union building.  The cool mural has remained.  Neat!
After my second loop on the sightseeing bus, I got off at Alexanderplatz and headed for the big pink Alexa mall. (Which it looks weird from the outside--no windows?--it's a modern shopping mall inside.)
	Here is a man selling bratwurst from a wearable grill, including umbrella, just outside the mall. (The man in yellow is coming to provide refills.) This is one of my favorite pictures from Germany!
What to have for dinner in Berlin?  Mexican, of course :) I ate at Papa Asada Mexican Food in the mall's food court!
	I had their stuffed potato and a Sprite.  Delicious, and a little taste of home :)
This is the World Time Clock, a landmark in Alexanderplatz.  Very cool!
	I was in Berlin just before Easter. There was a Christmas-style market set up on Alexanderplatz.  It was fun to stroll through.
I couldn't resist buying some German roasted almonds in German from this nut vendor.  They were so good!  I enjoyed them as I walked back to my hotel.