0609 on a Monday. What a thought.

The forecast for the day was good; I knew that. The sun was just on the horizon behind the Fernsehturm as my train meandered through Gesundbrunnen and down into the underground platforms of Hauptbahnhof, stark fluorescent lighting and medical cleanliness in fierce juxtaposition to the rather drab marine blue of the elderly Swedish night train that had conveyed me here.

It took a moment to wake: dricken (Swedish) rather than trinken (German) to a typically brusque Berliner at a café in the station. But why wait inside, when one of Europe’s finest cities is gleaming in the early morning sunlight and its inhabitants have not even started to wake.

Camera in hand I took off on an early morning tour of new Berlin – Bundestag [Photo 1], Spree [1], Bundeskanzleramt [1, 2], Fernsehturm [1, 2, 3], Hauptbahnhof [1, 2], traffic lights [1, 2], bikes [1], signs [1]. Early morning Berlin, in little over an hour. Whatever came to mind or came into view.

My stomach is rumbling, I need a shower after the stuffy night train, and it’s only a matter of time before I’m overcome by a wave of tiredness. But Berlin in the summer is fab, and I’m about to enjoy a week of it. What a start.