Later in the day, the mist having mostly cleared, we head over to the TV tower (Fernsehturm).
The Fernsehturm recently celebrated its 40th birthday, having been opened on October 3rd 1969. There had been a previous attempt to build a TV to the south-east, on the Müggelberge, but it was realised it would get in the way of flights arriving at Berlin Schönefeld airport. Instead, they incorporated it into plans for East Berlin's city centre, where it would impress the greatness of socialism on everyone through its domination of the city skyline. At 368 metres tall (365 before the comparatively recent installation of a new antenna), it certainly manages the domination part - it's hard to find a place in Berlin where it can't be seen...other than when it's misty.
The construction of the ball-like part of the tower means that a cross appears when the sun hits it, something which led to it being called "the pope's revenge" due to communism's dislike of religion. The tower was officially nicknamed Telespargel (tele-asparagus) by the East German government, one of several attempts to increase public affection for it (another was the writing of a children's song about it).
As well as an observation deck, there's a revolving restaurant up there, where you can watch the city smoothly glide by:
The cakes are particularly good, as I hope this monstrous slice of Käse-Sahne-Torte will demonstrate:
chees cake is cool. never
chees cake is cool. never eaten somthing at the tower, just watched the city spinning by. btw, cool that you are using Drupal. :)