Back from Berlin

First of all, thanks for all the restaurant suggestions on my other thread. As you will see, we did not take advantage of ANY of them! It just worked out that way. We ate or snacked where we were except for two sit down meals.Our breakfast was so complete that we weren't really hungry for much except coffee or a chocolate most of the day.

We did try the wurst across the street from teh Melia Hotel at a little place that always seemed busy.

The trip:

Our Swiss flight arrived a bit late, but once our luggage came we were on our way.

Upon arriving we got tickets to go into town, taking the TXL bus to Friedrichstrasse, and walked the 300-400m to our hotel, the Meliá.

It was chilly but we were happy it was not raining. The bus trip goes past so many monuments, and by this time they were all lit up.

Our hotel was in a great location. U bahn out the door to the left. Schnellbahn across the street and left, canal boats to the right across the small street.. and buses around the corner. You can walk most everywhere from here.

We later walked that evening ( 5 minutes?) to the Museum Insel to see the dome of the Bode Museum and a few important, VERY IMPRESSIVE, not to be missed rooms of the Pergamon. The museums were free Thursdays from 6pm until 10 pm.

Strolling home via different streets we came across 12 Apostles restaurant and went in and shared a huge pizza we could not finish between the two of us. This place has some atmosphere, with interestingly painted ceilings in each large room but plenty of noise to go with it in the evenings, but it was fun.

The next morning after a breakfast spread that included everything under the sun and more, we went directly to the mauer museum platform and archives up near nordbahnhof.

Later that morning we took a wonderful 4 hour boat cruise along the Spree and canals. It was a sunny, chilly autumn day, and couldn't have been nicer. The trees had turned but many leaves were still on the limbs. The ones that had fallen decorated the grass and sidewalks making the surroundings look like an impressionist painting. By today when we left, so many of the branches were almost bare. We were very fortunate in our timing for this trip.

We had uncommon sunny weather for the four days! (Did I already say that!)

After getting a more in depth feeling for the layout of the city through the 100 and 200 and other buses, we took a little rest before our pre-planned dinner with friends at the Reichstag. Our German exchange student and his mother drove four hours to see me, so it was a very warm encounter.

The restaurant at night is pricey, has a nice terrace view, but as all here have mentioned, it is great for skipping the sometimes tedious line. Otherwise, not necessary, although not disappointing. It was a lovely evening.

The rest of the weekend was spent seeing the Judische Museum, Gallerie Lafayette, Gendarmmarkt, and most all other monuments and special architectural sites.

We also stopped at the Berliner Information Center at Gendarmmarkt that has a beautiful model of "Old Berlin" made by a local man who recently died.

There is an Association supporting the re-building of the Palace that was destroyed. We had an interesting (to say the least) talk with a Spanish woman who volunteers her time there, as do many others, in support of this future project.

She also gave us insight as to what it was to live in Berlin the past 40 years.. having in-laws on the other side of the Wall, etc.

She walked us out to show us some unusual new residential buildings nearby and notified us of who was coming towards us on the street.

It was Vladimir Malakhov and Polina Semionova, the lead dancers of the ballet we were going to see that evening, and what had prompted this Berlin trip to begin with!

...as they walked past within arm’s reach, it was just magical.

We later headed off to the ballet, enjoying a warm snack in the theater's restaurant before the performance.

Sunday we took the train to Wannsee with our AB passes and bought a Berlin Extension ticket for 1.40 euros to go to Potsdam, which is in Zone C.

Had I known which ticket to buy earlier, I would have been able to jump out of the train, validate this new ticket in the machine and continue on the next train to Potsdam that came in a minute. But since I was not sure which one to buy, until the train personnel helped me, we missed that train.

Fortunately there was another in less than 15 minutes.

We took a commentated bus tour once there that we booked in the Potsdam train station, that on Sunday was very lively with all shops open.

Again, the great weather and sunny skies made the outing more appreciated.

The last morning we took the TXL bus again to the airport. We had plenty of time, but it DID take almost 50 minutes to get there. Your AB pass goes as far as the airport. These passes are for 24 HOURS, not one day.

It is nice to be back, especially since it started to rain as we left the country. We couldn't help comment how lucky we had been, although, if it HAS to rain, Berlin certainly has plenty to do inside!