We drove into the small city of Weimar late in the day with the intent of spending a night in the “Stellplatz” park-up near the town centre and then heading out in the morning for Berlin. A Stellplatz (German) or “Aires” (French) provide a great alternative for overnight parking when on the move. Most of them have limited services so you need to be somewhat self contained. Often the locations are near town centres or sports facilities where you can use the complex’s amenities for a reasonable charge. The free Stellplatz in Weimar turned out to be a good one and the electrical hook-up was a pleasant surprise but more importantly it’s proximity to the old town centre was fantastic. Weimar seemed to be a cool place so we decided to spend the day and check it out and we’re sure glad we did. Turns out that this has been a major arts centre for 500 years. It’s magnificent palace is now used as a cultural centre and art museum and we really enjoyed going through it. Famous painters, author’s, poets and composers including Bach himself have all called Weimar home. What a great day we had starting it off strolling through the cobble stone streets with our coffee and snack in hand and basking in the warm sunshine. We found a great little ‘Roma” hat and clothing store that we know you would love Kristen. We capped the day off with a wonderful traditional German dinner and beer in a popular tudor pub that I’m sure has served many interesting people over the years. This morning we got up, pointed ourselves in the direction of Berlin, and then drove through some magnificent countryside. Rolling green hills with scattered towns and villages that date back hundreds of years. Driving into Berlin on a Sunday evening turned out to be a very good decision considering the reasonable traffic we encountered. We are now staying at a “no-frill” campsite near the centre of Berlin which is just a short walk away from the Brandenburg Gate. Tomorrow we begin our Berlin experience in earnest.