Our day began with an early ceremony at the Brandenburg Gate and a gathering at the non-denominational Room of Silence, with three representatives of different faiths - Hindu, Muslim and Christian.

At the Brandenburg Gate, Room of Silence there was an interfaith prayer - from Prof. Muzaffer Andac, who read the first surah of the Koran; Mr. Dhiraj Roy, who sang a recitation from the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit and English; followed by the Lord's Prayer given by Mrs. Kroffke from Potsdam.

This was followed by some tranquil moments in the Room of Silence; a place in the middle of Berlin where people can meet in silence, leaving aside their differences and coming together to feel the sense of oneness. As the Information explains:

" ... the Room of Silence has a dual Purpose: Firstly it provides an opportunity for everyone, independent of background, colour, ideology, religion and physical condition to enter and remain in silence for a while to simply relax, to gain strength for the daily life, or to remember inside this historic place the dark but also hopeful events, to meditate and to feel gratitude for the achievements of recent years. As everyone is invited to remain in silence and peace for a while, the room itself acquires a symbolic meaning ... This room is a symbol, a continuous invitation to tolerance, the brotherhood of man embracing all nationalities and ideologies, a continuous reminder against violence and xenophobia - a contribution, a small step towards peace and spiritual unity, according to the prayer of the United Nations: Oh Lord, our planet Earth is only a small star in space. It is our duty, to transform it into a planet whose creatures are no longer tormented by war, hunger and fear, no longer senselessly divided by race, colour and ideology. Give us courage and strength to begin this task today so that our children and children's children shall one day carry the name of man with pride".

Mr. Roy entered into our book: "It is joy to experience the community of Europe" . Prof. Andac wrote " It was a very special experience to be allowed to be together with Runners of the Europe Harmony."

The religious representatives walked holding the torch together to the European House close by the Brandenburg Gate.

Mr Handel of the EU Commission at the European House received us with a speech and presents. It is an open house for people to use and Mr Handel stated that just like the Run, the European Union wishes to create harmony, peace and goodwill between nations. Despite the rules and regulations aimed to create harmonisation within Europe, he mentioned that sometimes what the process lacks is the sense of joy and love. He was very glad that the World Harmony Run has these core values at its heart and he was very pleased that today's running would be commencing from the European House. In our book he wrote:

"Europe is the attempt to establish harmony to our continent. Sometimes love is still missing, but we will continue to be peaceful with each other. With the best wishes for the Run and in future."

We said farewell to the religious representatives, and began running to the Chinese Embassy with Mr Handel and one of his colleagues, running along Unter den Linden.

At the Embassy of China, Mr. Dong, attache for culture, received us, stressing that harmony is very important in Chinese tradition.

He entered into our book:

"I hope from my whole heart, that the World Harmony Torch Run will contribute to bring peace in the world".

At the Reichstag, the German Parliament, Dr. Karl Lamers received us and explained how he works for harmony and peace in his many initiatives.

His entry in our book was:

" Thank you for your wonderful initiative for peace in the world. Might it be possible for all humanity to live in peace and freedom!"

Whilst the majority of the International Team participated In the ceremonies at the Chinese Embassy and The Reichstag, the remainder of the Team and some local German runners continued on the road.

Just before that, however, the Team visited Kindergarten Koppenstrase 15 where we met so many lovely people. At the kindergarten there are children from twelve different countries and their musical welcome was wonderfully international. The very young children with their parents held the torch together.

Along the road the runners met Dr Ulbricht, Mayor of Kop at the Rathaus (town hall), before meeting the vice mayor at Erkner, Mr Reim, mayor of Furstenwalde and mayor Mr Taschenberger at Beeskow. At Erkner the runners were interviewed by local television, and the crew filmed runners at various locations up until Hartensdorf, 40 km away. Along the way the team met local runners, Andreas outside Erkner who ran with them to the border, and also Ralph from Furstenwalde.

The majority of the International Team finally joined up with the other runners at Lindenberg, 80 km from Brandenburg Gate. After the stifling and intense heat of the city it was refreshing to be out in the countryside again, with a slight breeze to cool the runners in the hot late afternoon sun. It was a delight to run pass majestic fields of sunflowers. We passed fields of hundreds of bales of hay that farmers had recently harvested and as the saying goes, "Make hay while the sun shines." - it was never truer than today - the sun shone brilliantly all day!

At Eisenhuttenstadt we met our final local runner who ran the final 10 km of the day with two boys on their bikes.

At Info Punkt Neuzelle the owner generously gave the runners much needed water and he ran the final 800 metres to meet Neuzelle town director Mr Seefeld. In the distance we could view a magnificent, and intensely bright rainbow.

Around the corner from Amtshaus Neuzelle the serenity of the Room of Silence in the centre of Berlin followed us to Neuzelle where we looked upon a huge pond with water lilies, and a single swan with the monastery in the background. It was truly idyllic. After such a hectic and intense day this was a moment of wonderful tranquility and serenity.

After the ceremony we ran to our accommodation provided by the town. We had great fun using the gym facilities of the outdoor swimming pool complete with slide and bouncy inflatable.

In the evening we said our sad farewells to Olesya, as she heads back to St Petersburg. She will be missed by all of us so much. Her abundant enthusiasm, cheerfulness and stamina for running made her such an invaluable member of the Team. She would always run the most each day of any runners on the International Team - she was truly remarkable and an inspiration to us all.

Distance: 132km

Team Members:
Daniel Schenke (Germany), Jadranka Grbic (Serbia & Montenegro), Jarek Werner (Poland), Mark Collinson (England), Marlen Bernhard (Germany), Olesya Ilyasova (Russia), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Petar Mihaylov (Bulgaria), Petr Machacek (Czech Republic), Svetlana Gorshkova (Russia), Valentine Bebik (Ukraine), Zoltan Theobald (Hungary).

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