Pragmatic German chancellor reveals that she stuck to weekly routine despite momentous events in 1989
One of the most important events in 20th-century history may have been taking place around her, but that did not stop Angela Merkel from honouring a weekly appointment in the steam room.
On the night of 9 November 1989, crowds of ecstatic East Germans poured through the newly opened border in Berlin to savour the heady atmosphere of change. Merkel was not among them; Instead, after work, she headed to the sauna with a female friend, as she did every Thursday.