Treesa

Peg, love your reports. You always have such interesting adventures. Please continue.

PalenQ

Yes Peg - as usual sweet attitude and you show it is far more than the famous museums that are the real joys of traveling abroad.

waiting with patience for any train remarks!

Cheers!

bilboburgler

"Elgin marbles, stolen from the Acropolis" bought and paid for

Though not so sure about the Venus de Milo ;-)

PatrickLondon

>>not so sure about the Venus de Milo<<

Ah, but she's 'armless.

Cowboy1968

Just as a side remark:

The Pergamon and its Museum of Islamic Art are very popular with refugees from Iraq and Syria.
It's probably a bittersweet experience to see one's own cultural heritage taken away from the homeland, but also still there and being admired and not bombed to rubbles.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35976090

Pegontheroad

Patrick: That was really bad! And I doubt that you drop your h's, anyway.

Cowboy: Thanks for the link. That was really inspiring.

So the next day was Sunday, and I went to Mass at St.Ludwig's, which is not far from my hotel. I figured something special was in the works because four priests processed in, along with a bizillion altarkids. Sure enough, it was the first Mass for the young Dominican with the gaggle of priests who came in together.

There was a choir, which wasn't really necessary because the Germans are such good singers, but I guess it added some volumne. I got a hymn book and tried to sing along, but they pronounce words so differenly that I didn't do much good. The Kyrie, for instance, was beyond me.

I had brought a little Mass book so that I could follow the readings but had a little trouble. As a matter of fact, I couldn't even find the readings for June 5. The closest I could get was June 7. I finally noticed that it was a bilingual English-Spanish Missal, and when I finally looked at the front I realized that it was the 2015 Missal I'd taken to Puerta Vallarta in November. When I got back to the room, I found the one I'd meant to take to St.Ludwig's.

Not too swift!

So anyway, for the consecration, the priests called the children up to stand around the altar, which caused a little drama. One man told his little girl to go up, but she was too shy. So then he went up with her and stayed with her, and it was okay. During the Lord's prayer (when everyone holds hands), one little boy dutifully tried to take the hand of the girl next to him, but she wasn't having any of that hand-holding business, and she pushed his hand away.

At the end of the Mass, two priests took turns each singing a verse of a song of celebration, most of which I didn't understand, except "St. René, pray for us." (The young priest's first name was René.) They both had beautiful tenor voices. Maybe that's a requirement for German priests.

After the Mass, there was a little party outside the church for the new priest. At my church, we have coffee and donuts. At St. Ludwig's, they have champagne--or really Sekt, which is what they call a champagne-like sparkling wine.

travlsolo2

Love love love reading of your adventures, Peg!

PalenQ- if you want train remarks, I can do a mini report of one day's adventure last week....aarrgghh.

Pegontheroad

I wanted to go to Staufenbergstrasse to see the resistance museum at the Bendler Block, where Staufenberg and other conspirators were executed. I couldn't find a taxi, and finally when a bus came along, I decided to use the pass I'd bought the day before and ride the bus. I was a little nervous about being able to get off at the right stop, but like so many of life's worries, it was for naught.

At first everything went well. Then we got partway to Staufenbergstrasse and had to stop because there were thousands of bicyclists riding on the other side of the street. Thousands and thousands and thousands! After we had waited half an hour or 45 minutes, I asked the driver how far it was to Staufenbergstrasse. He said that in the time we'd been waiting, I could have walked there. He gave me directions as to how to get there, so I decided to set off.

The first problem was how to get across the street because those effing bicycles were still thronging the street. Finally there was a brief let-up in the bicycle traffic and I was able to dodge between the riders to the other side of the street.

It was sprinkling a little but I was glad of that because it had been so hot. I asked a policeman which street I should go down, and he sent me in the right direction. It started to rain a little more heavily, so I tried to walk under trees for protection.

Then it started to pour down, and it poured and poured and poured. I dodged a few feet to a building whose steps were protected from the rain and sat there for a while, hoping it would let up. I felt like I was pretty close to my destination, but it just kept raining, so I gave up. I dragged my poor tired, wet body down to a hotel I'd passed where I'd seen a taxi and went home.

I was soaked through and through. My hair, my jacket, my shirt front, my pants front, my socks, may shoes.

Here endeth my Berlin adventures. I have to say that I love Berlin. I've visited it many times, beginning in 1966, but I can always go back because there's always something to see.

My next stop would be Warsaw via a long train ride.

Pegontheroad

Whatthehello: How did I miss Torgau? I knew that was where the Americans and Russians met, but I can't find it on my map of Germany. There are so many small towns in that area that it is hidden from me. It's near Leipzig, isn't it?

thursdaysd

Did you ever find out what all the bicycles were about?

BTW, the maps app on a smart phone entirely does away with the worry about where to get off.

travelchat

Pegontheroad:
Love reading your TRs, especially the humorous take on the trials and tribulations of solo senior travel. Bravo to your fortitude and adventurous spirit. I totally identify with the ups and downs that go along with the determination to travel for as long as the old legs hold up.

sla019

>They both had beautiful tenor voices. Maybe that's a requirement for German priests.<

Hihihi, this made my more than smile. I'd like to offer you a bet: if you come next time to southern Germany, I will convince you of the opposite on a single sunday. There are very few priests nowadays who can chant decently ...

Thank you for your entertaining report!

Pegontheroad

Thursdaysd: No, I never found out what the bicycles were all about. I think it's just that darned healthiness the Germans are all about. There are bicycles all over, and if the area is appropriate, hikers. More about that later.

I may have to break down and get a smart phone after all. I've tried to resist any more electronics, but perhaps I should just give up and go with the rest of the world. I finally got a tablet and was okay in Berlin but couldn't seem to get it to work right after that.

Guess it's time to call in "tech support" (aka my nephew Greg) again.

annhig

I got a hymn book and tried to sing along, but they pronounce words so differenly that I didn't do much good. The Kyrie, for instance, was beyond me.>>

you're right, Peg, that Germans pronounce the words of the latin mass differently to how we do - it takes a bit of getting used to but it's ok after that.
Harder was what we had to do recently for the Brahms German Requiem which was to use the german pronunciation of Brahms' time. [or an approximation thereof]; it was bad enough for me, and murder for the non-german speakers in the choir. And frankly, completely lost on our non-german speaking audience!

apart from that, I'm still here "pedalling" along with you!

Paqngo

Peg, I am really enjoying your trip and all of your adventures. You are an inspiration. Looking forward to the rest.

Cowboy1968

Peg..

You got caught in the annual bicycle rally.
It's a demonstration to support cyclists' demands for more bike lanes etc. and is the biggest one in the world with appr. 200K participants.
It happens - as the name suggests - just once a year.

bilboburgler

Torgau, I was there 4 weeks ago, the castle is pretty, but of course this is just where the colonels upwards first met, The troops met the day before over the river.

Whathello

Yes Bilbo. Torgau is abaout halfway between Leipzig and Dresden (two of my favourite cities in Germany), 2 hours and 3 flashes by car from Berlin (last bloody camera was on a 4 lane highway type 500 m from airport, opposite way but I went there to fill up the tank and avoid charges at rental... good move).

Anyway, castle is nice, but you must prepare better than I did : the stairs are beautiful, not unlike Blois or Amboise, but as in many places in Germany 'rococco' style. Then I went up 105 wooden stairs to get a view from the tower and there is a small museum there on top. Arrived at the top you have an automatic door that lets you through with a 1€ piece. Which I hadn't. Back down, rereading the poster : Auschliessend is of course exclusively and 1€ Muenze (or close) means... a piece of 1€, now I know it.

I then visited an exhibition - paid 8€ to see some old robes and swords and a exposition of modern art that I profoundly dislike, found the lapidarium where I was told I had to pay again, turned back, wanted by then to re-climb the stairs and realized I had a been given a one 2€ piece, not 2 1€ pieces. Decided God didn"t want me to go up and left for good...

Mfg

traveller1959

>>> champagne--or really Sekt, which is what they call a champagne-like sparkling wine <<<

There is an interesting story about the word "Sekt". It happened in November 1825 at Lutter & Wegner, a restaurant on the Gendarmenmarkt which is still in operation and quite popular.

The actor Ludwig Devrient, just having played in Shakespeare's Henry IV., entered his favourite restaurant, and still being Falstaff, yelled at the waiter "Gib mir ein Glass Sekt, Schurke" ("Give me a cup of sack, rogue!").

Sack was translated "Sekt" in the German version. But the waiter knew that Devrient never drunk anything else than champagne, so he brought him a glass champagne instead of sherry. The phrase "Sekt" for champagne became a running gag at Lutter & Wegner and eventually in whole Berlin and spread over Germany.

Today, the term "champagne" is legally reserved for sparkling wines which are made within the region of Champagne, France. So, with "Sekt" we mean German sparkling wine.

Pegontheroad

Traveler: Thanks for filling me in.

So I set off for Warsaw. Thanks to information from the Man in Seat 61, I took the Berlin-Warsaw express, which took about five and a half hours. My 6 skinny-person compartment was pretty crowded, so eventually I headed out to the restaurant car and had a meal of schnitzel, potatoes,and (I think) salad.

I sat at the same table as two nice American boys--"boys" being the term I use to refer to any male under 40. They were fun to talk to, but I don't recall what we talked about or anything much about them.

My hotel was the Hampton Inn by Hilton. I was given a handicapped room for some reason, and I didn't attempt to change it. I had reserved the room 4 months ahead of time, so it's hard to believe that was the only room available, but I hadn't known what a "handicapped" room entailed, so I didn't fuss.

The closet was way low down, at the level that a person in a wheelchair would use. The shower had a seat and was closed in by shower curtains, which meant that water coursed over the area around it. For some reason I always feel guilty when I get water all over the floor. Probably the result of Catholic school.

Other than that, it was okay. The thing about hotels is that I never know when they're going to pull a fast one--with the bathtub stuck under an eave, so that it's hard for me to stand up to shower, or the sides of the tub are high enough that I'm afraid I'll slip and break a leg when I climb out. Or the toilet is so close to the wall that when you sit on it, your knees are only 2 inches from the wall.

As Gilda Radner said, "It's always something."

As I said, it was okay. The staff was helpful and courteous, and my stay was pleasant. I'd probably stay there again, since the price was right.

The first afternoon I took a taxi to the Old Town, which was very attractive. I wandered around for a while and ordered perogi (spelling?) and a drink at an outside café. Ordering perogi was very daring of me, because I'm suspicious of any food more exotic than roast beef and mashed potatoes. (My childhood on a farm in North Dakota is responsible for that.)

The next day was really the highlight of the stay in Warsaw--the WWII tour.