Wet Wednesday

Cloudy skies with rain predicted off and on all day meant I'd be looking for an indoor activity for the day.  However, before starting out, I stopped for lunch at a neighborhood restaurant called Arema. They make their own spaetzle (to die for), which I had with Berlin style meatballs, called bouletten, in a rosemary gravy.  Heavenly!

My google search of "off the beaten track Berlin" gave me, among other ideas, the AquaDom, located in the lobby of the Radisson Blu Hotel.

A trip up the lift in the AquaDom is included in the ticket for SeaLife Berlin. What better place to spend a rainy day than at an aquarium?

The bus dropped me in front of Marienkirche (St Mary's Church), so I decided to visit there first. I did venture inside, but I wasn't in a picture-taking mood at that moment. Perhaps I'll go back.

After walking 2 long blocks in the wrong direction, I figured out where I wanted to be. Quite annoying; to the right Marienkirche and to the left Sea Life Berlin (sort of visible as the blue doorway), photos taken from the same bench.

The cost for an adult to get in is about 18€. However one could save money by purchasing tickets on line at least one day in advance. There are also combo tickets which give a reduced rate on multiple attractions. One of the down sides of  "making it up as you go as long" is paying full price.

The aquarium is a twisting tunnel that winds between smallish rooms, each themed to a waterway. Starting with the Spree River, which runs through Berlin, it moves to Lake Wannsee (also in Berlin), Hamburg Harbor, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic etc. Because the spaces are small, crowds can't get overly large, but it can still feel crowded at times. There was a steady flow of people of all ages. I can imagine that on a rainy summer weekend day it could get unbearably crowded. One huge plus was the availability of places to sit in most of the rooms.

I rather liked this room where a large school of fish swam endless circles, including over the archways between the rooms. Background music was playing, which was enjoyable at first, but became tedious after a few loops.

My favorites:

The glass is a big bubble, allowing the fish to more-or-less come into the room with you. They. Are. Big. Or maybe the lens of the glass makes them look bigger than they are.

Seahorses - fiendishly difficult to photograph; Octopus - he seems to enjoy posing for the camera.

The starfish tank. Some of the starfish were regrowing missing limbs. Something we "know" about, but very cool to actually see.

The last room had a hall of mirrors that left me "boggled". I nearly walked into my reflection more than once.

This attraction DOES have a restroom, where no one is in attendance expecting a tip. However, it's towards the beginning of the labyrinth... so be sure to backtrack before leaving the facility if you have need.

Exiting through the gift shop (where else), I crossed the outdoor courtyard to take my ride in the AquaDom... only to find that they were having technical difficulties and the lift wasn't working. They marked my ticket to allow me to return another day, though. To be continued..... probably.