A Berlin Firsts Day 10-14-15

Today was our first full day in Berlin and we tried something we've never tried before, we got on a bus that takes you to all the main sights.  Nevermind that it was raining all day until after 6:00pm, it was a hop on-hop off tourist bus and since we don't know much about Berlin it turned out to be a very good choice.  From the comfort of our somewhat fogged window we moved through the city and moved through Potsdamer Platz, then past a couple hundred meters of the wall that is still left and has been declared a national monument.
Right after that we drove up the Friedrichstrasse past Checkpoint Charlie, the main gateway between East and West Berlin.
Shortly after that we drove up the Unter den Linden and then around by the Brandenburg Gate, where we got out.  The gate is such an iconic place that we wanted to be sure that we took time to see it.
After seeing the gate we walked back a half block to see the monument to all of the victims of the
Nazi holocaust, one sometimes forgets that it was not only Jews that were transported and killed but also Gypsies, Slavs, other minorities, and the physically disabled as well.  It looked almost like a surface graveyard but the tops of monuments were not uniform but many different heights and the ground undulated as well, it's very austere and moving.  In the rain and under the overcast sky the whole thing was varied shades of grey bordered by the gold of the changing leaves.
We then walked down to see the Reichstag building, it is the seat of the German government now. Built in the late 19th century in an Italian Renaissance style it was burned in the late 30's and only rebuilt after the end of the world war, a very interesting sight.
We completed one circuit of the bus line and then rode it to the stop that let up out next to several museums including the one that was exhibiting a temporary show based on Botticelli and the many derivative works of art based on his work.  Many well known artists based at least of their works on a work by Botticelli, like Warhol, Rauschenberg, Johns, Burne-Jones, and many unknown to me until today and that was just in the first couple rooms.  It ended with close to 50 separate works by Botticelli or attributed to him and his workshop (no photos allowed).
After viewing this show we spent another couple hours looking at the permanent collection, which is world class as well.  We saw Rembrandt's, Durers, Hals, Rubens, and too many others to list.  When we finished we jumped on the bus again and started riding with the intention of going around to the stop where we first got on. Since they are double deckers we headed up to the top and got a seat right at the front.  We got over to the Potsdamer Platz where the driver stopped at stop.  He turned the engine off and we were thinking that several people must be getting on, so we just sat and chatted and looked out on the street scene.
After several minutes we hear someone behind us saying hello, HELLO, so we turned around and the driver said, 'We're done for the day, last ride' and made us get off.  We sat up there for 5 or more minutes without a clue.  So we decided to walk back to our hotel, and of course I got us on the wrong street immediately and we went the wrong direction for several blocks before figuring it out.
It wasn't a total loss though as we got to see another left over from WWII in the form of a facade from what appeared to be a train station just standing there by itself, very pretty but only the front wall left. As part of our correction we passed by Hitler's bunker site, pretty erie in the fading light.