I ran solo first thing and found a route which was essentially 10k to the Brandenburger Tor and then added a bit on to Alexander Platz down Unter den Linden.
On the way back I picked up the canals and used them to guide me all the way to the hotel. With a week of strict diet and not eating much yesterday I was running low on energy but enjoying the new surroundings I managed about 25ks in 4.25s. Not bad 1 week after the marathon.
I then played tour guide by taking Rich and Greggy (+my Jack) into Berlin starting with the UBahn to Wilmersdorfer Strasse where we then walked up Kantstrasse stopping for food at CHAO and Indonesian restaurant which was pretty good. I know Kantstrasse well. We sat there in the sunshine but them got talking to this 70ish year old Polish bloke behind me. We got talking about where we all came from and he took an interest in the boys and guessed we were there for some sort of sporting occasion.
Turns out it was Wojtek Fibak who won the Australian Open doubles in 1978. He was also ranked high top 10s in singles. He told me that he was the one that brought Ivan Lendl to the US and that he stayed at his house before he hooked up with Tony Roach. A really nice smart and funny guy. We hit it off.
Afterwards we walked to the Gedachnis Kirche and took the 100 bus along the tourist route to the new Reichstagsgebaude and then the short walk to the Bandenburger Tor.
Andreas then picked us up from there and drove us to Check Point Charlie. I actually went through into East Berlin when the wall was still up in 1985ish. It was on a school exchange and because we didn't have German passports we were allowed to cross over for the day. To this day it was one of the best things I ever did. I have fond memories of bringing a tennis ball and playing football with a bunch of east German kids with my best mate at the time Toby Chappenden. It was surreal.
Nice dinner followed by early into bed. I love Berlin and was a great day.
Wojtek Fibak
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