My husband and I will be in Germany for 9 days in mid-September. We fly in to Berlin and we wanted to spend some time in that city and in Munich for Oktoberfest and seeing the sights there. Along the way, at some point, we'd like to stop in the town of Lehde in the Spreewald; my husband's family is from there. We have friends in Brussels whom we'd like to visit if it's at all possible. Yes, it's a long way to go, but we're accustomed to road trips and having to travel long distances just to get to work each day! However, we don't want to spend excessive time in transit.

My question is about public transportation in Germany and between Germany and Belgium. I've looked at rail tickets from various German cities to Brussels and they just seem outrageously expensive. What's the fastest and cheapest mode of transportation to get from eastern Germany to Belgium? Is a quick trip into Brussels even possible?

This is our first time to Germany and I know we won't be able to see everything we want to see on this trip, but your suggestions and tips would be very much appreciated.

Easy answer: fly. brusselsairlines.com has low fare tickets for Berlin-Brussels or Munich-Brussels if you book some time in advance. Hardly any local would be nuts enough to use a train for such a distance.

But if you don't have a hotel in Munich for Oktoberfest already, I doubt you will still find one. If you should find a hotel, expect to pay an outrageous amount of money.

Best would be to focus on Berlin and Brussels. Belgium got great beer, too.
Hope you can get an open-jaw flight - in Berlin, out Brussels.

The fastest way is to fly. It is at best 8 hours drive over very boring motorways from Berlin to Brussels, and much the same from Munich.
I would say give Brussels a miss this trip and concentrate on Germany.

P.S. re. Lehde:
You probably know that Lehde is only a very small village (though the most pretty) in the Spreewald where the houses are connected by canals, and not all have road access. So if you plan to see one specific house where you husband's family had lived, you should do some inquiries how to get there.

The best way is to take a regional train (one per hour) from Berlin to Lübbenau, walk appr. 1 km through that small town to the "harbor" where the barge trips start, and get punted to Lehde. If you don't want to take the boat back to Lübbenau, you can also walk back in less than an hour to the station.

I knew Lehde was a tiny little town, but I didn't know it was that small. Thanks for the info - sounds like we've got some more planning to do.