Spring break sun and fun in . . . Berlin/Dresden! Trip Report March 2007
 

Last year my younger daughter Jen went with us to London for her final high school spring break (early March). The weather was quite cold and rainy but we had a fabulous time and loved London. Jen, (just turned 19) is now a freshman in college. In trying to choose a destination for this year’s trip, we considered Spain/Barcelona (would be warmer!) but Berlin really caught her imagination. Jen has been studying German for 6 years and this semester she is taking a course about Berlin. She was excited to visit some of the places that she is learning about in school and to practice her German language skills (and to laugh at mine!)

We decided to go for Berlin despite the likely March weather in Northern Germany. As it turned out, we had brilliant sunshine and cloudless blue skies for the entire 8 days, with highs reaching the low-to-mid-60’s. Perfect sightseeing weather!

There are lots of detailed trip reports about London, Rome, and Paris. Not so many about Berlin. This report is taken from my travel journal, and I post it in the hopes that it might help people who are considering/planning a trip to this fascinating city. I will begin with general planning info, navigating/transportation, and then the blow-by-blow details of the trip.

Great - I'm looking forward to hearing more!

Thanks, WillTravel!

<u><i>Planning and Preparation </i></u>

My husband couldn’t join us, so it would just be a mother/daughter trip. We would have 8 days/nights available in Germany. I was torn: should we spend all of our 8 days in Berlin, add one other destination in Germany, or even two? I gave half a minute’s thought to flying to Krakow for a few days (I'm DYING to get there.)

Jen’s preference was to limit our moving around and to use most of our time to experience Berlin itself. I could see the appeal of this approach (similar to how we toured London last year) and planned accordingly, adding just one side trip to Dresden for 2 nights (1 full day).

I’d been pretty tied up the past several months, and then I found myself simultaneously preparing for two trips in March (I went to London/Cardiff with my older daughter for her spring break in early March.) There was certainly no time for exhaustive preparation! I did enough research so that I could [1] make decent hotel choices for each trip, and [2] arrange for critical tickets/reservations in advance. Thanks to a Fodorite tip, I made lunch reservations at the Reichstag restaurant. I tried to get tickets for Dresden’s Historic Green Vault (another Fodorite tip), but all the pre-purchase slots were booked solid months ahead. I would have to wait until we were in Dresden to queue for the limited tickets made available each morning for time slots that day.

I printed PalQ/PalenQ’s Berlin Journal to take with me. http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34660080
From Amazon I ordered a slim book called <i>Berlin Made Easy; The Best Sights &amp; Walks of Berlin</i>. I already had a Germany guidebook (although it was old and that would prove a bit of a problem later in the trip. Lesson learned: invest in the newest edition of the guidebook.) For the next trip, I might add another Berlin guidebook.

<i><u>Navigation and Transportation</u></i>

I learned that my favorite map company, Red Maps, would be publishing a brand new city map of Berlin in March 2007. Would it be ready for my trip? The company puts out an amazing product; I swear by their London map, which I’ve used for 3 visits now. The Red Map folks did a fantastic job in getting the new Berlin map to me immediately after it was printed; it arrived the day before our departure! It is a small company – you call (212 255-4645) and they send your map with an invoice, which you pay by check. I’ve also seen their maps at our local Barnes &amp; Noble.

I cannot say enough good things about the Berlin Red Map: it is durable, extremely legible, covers almost everywhere we went, shows all major sights and sites, and has the U-bahn, S-bahn, tram and major bus routes clearly overlaid on the streets. Going from walking on the streets to hopping on one of the transportation modes is a seamless process with the Red Map. Color coded dots indicate the exact locations of U-bahn and S-bahn stations. The best part is that each of the transit lines can be traced easily to its end or where it leaves the map, and there is a label of what that terminating point is. This is important for Berlin as you have to know which stop is at the end of the line in the direction you are traveling (knowing that you are heading north or west on a line is not enough.) This map made that quick and painless, and really saved us a few times when we arrived at the station just as a train was pulling in. We had a few other Berlin maps, but this was head and shoulders above the rest. Our hotel gave us a paper map that we used for the once or twice we ventured off the edge of the Red Map’s coverage.

We had pre-paid two Berlin Welcome Cards when I booked one of the plane tickets on Expedia. What the Welcome Card includes is a 3 day transit pass and a coupon book for various sites and services. I had no idea when I bought it whether it was a good deal or not. Just hadn’t done the research. Given what I know now, I wouldn’t get this card again. The coupons were not useful for us, so we actually lost a bit of money. The 72 hour Welcome Card was 21euros, and three daily ABC transit cards would be 18.90euros. The AB passes were a bit cheaper. For most locations in central Berlin an AB card will work fine, but for longer trips, such as a day trip to Potsdam, you will need zones ABC. It’s also cool that you can use your ABC transit card for the buses and trams in Potsdam as well.

The way it works is that we validated the ticket at the time of first use (machines on every platform of S-bahn or U-bahn trains, as well as on each bus and tram.) Then we could just hop on any train, bus, or tram. There are no turnstiles, and you never have to really pull out the pass except when boarding a bus. It seems as though it would be so easy to cheat, but I read in one of my guidebooks that there are stiff fines if caught riding without a ticket. At any rate we had no interest in testing the system and made sure that we had valid passes at all times.

We found out that we could buy several days of daily transit passes in advance. As we began each day of travel, we validated the pass at the metro stop or on the bus. Couldn’t be easier. Additionally, the daily passes can be bought at any U-bahn or S-bahn station, but the Welcome Card only at certain offices. We had a list of places where we could collect our prepaid Welcome Cards. My intention was to pick them up at the airport location, which seemed to be the easiest and most convenient option.

My daughter brought her lap top computer. We signed on for a week’s internet service through our hotel in Berlin. It was not cheap, but we enjoyed the access. We used the computer to keep up with email and to do some on site research (mainly restaurants and weather). Luckily, we could connect to the same network at our Dresden hotel.

Thanks for the great info so far, Noe. Bookmarking as I am visiting Berlin the week after next.

When you have a chance Noe, would you mind looking at my Berlin itinerary thoughts? I'm posting it now.

I was in Berlin the last two weeks of March as well. I also had a copy of &quot;Berlin Made Easy; The Best Sights &amp; Walks of Berlin&quot; but it was my least favorite guidebook - did you find it useful?

I absolutely loved Berlin so I am looking forward to reading the rest of your report!

joetro, I will check out your itinerary, and will no doubt be envious at the museums you plan to visit. Jen is not a museum person at all, so that wasn't the focus of our trip.

rialtogrl: What was your favorite guidebook? I am going back in the Sept. and will want more reading material. We did find that book helpful, and it was small enough that I carried it with us every day. I think I got some restaurant suggestions, as well as information about the two markets that we visited.

Thanks, Noe.

I don't really think I became a museum person until late high school and then it really picked up when I studied abroad in college and travelled on my own. I discovered I love museums, which I didn't when I was younger and either with my parents or on school trips.

Noe, I had the DK Berlin, the Insider's Guide to Berlin, the Hedonist's Guide to Berlin, Lonely Planet, and that other book.

I think I liked the Insider's Guide best, it is not inexpensive but it is a great book with lots of details.

I got some GREAT restaurant and bar tips from the Hedonist guide. It's a good book to find neat hangouts.

If you are going back for a period of time you might think about renting an apartment, I had a very nice one. I blogged during my trip and would be happy to send you the link if you want.

thanks, Rialtogrl, for the book recommendations. I'd be interested in the link to your blog. An apartment might work, but I'll be with my husband who is a hotel-and-restaurant kind of guy. Will have to think about that.

I'm working on the next installment of the trip report (travel day and first day in Berlin), but it will be a little while until I can get it posted, as I want to post the photo link along with it. I'm hoping to organize (and prune!) the photos this evening.

Noe, just google poptarticus, and click on the March entries (or put Berlin in the search box.)

Looking forward to reading more about YOUR trip!

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The site seems to be acting up a bit, at least when I preview my post. I'm afraid that it will double post this next bit, and have some errors that I have since corrected, but here goes:

<i><u>Friday March 23/Saturday March 24</u></i>

<i>Some</i> day, <i>some</i> trip, I will be able to travel AND get sleep the night before. I will not leave details for the last minute. At least that’s the story I tell myself! This, however, was not that day nor that trip. I was up most of the night taking care of details for the trip and for the life that I was leaving behind – for another 10 days.

We flew Delta from Atlanta to New York JFK and from there to Berlin. I had no interest in missing a connection at the front end of the trip, so we flew out of Atlanta in the morning, arriving at JFK with several hours to wait for our Berlin flight. JFK is a total zoo. Our gate changed at least once while we waited (this can mean a very long walk to a whole different part of the airport. International and domestic flights leave from the same gates. I don’t know if this is true for all airlines, but it is for Delta) After killing time, buying pizza and bagels, and killing more time, we finally boarded our plane. Jen was bored, but hey, I’d rather take boredom than running frantically for a connection.

We had great seats – we were in the exit row that reclined. Our flight left pretty much on time and was fairly uneventful. We didn’t like the movies (and for me they were the same choices as my London flight two weeks earlier; I didn’t like them then either) but we managed to amuse ourselves. Jen found the “party peanuts” snack to be hilarious.
There was a German couple in front of us. They spent much of the plane ride kissing and cuddling. Because they were so tall (really, really tall) we actually couldn’t avoid seeing them over the top of their headrests. We made up stories about them: in our version they had just gotten married and had taken their honeymoon to Florida. After all this fun we were tired out and we each got a few hours of sleep.

I made a mental note that I needed to pick up the Welcome Card/transit passes at the airport. (It will come as no surprise what happened to that mental note once I got to the airport.) I wasn’t planning to actually take public transportation to the hotel – didn’t want to navigate a new system in a new city while jetlagged with luggage - but it would be the most convenient place to collect the passes.

We landed 30 minutes early (at 6:45 am.) Wow, I loved the Berlin airport! Immigration/passport control (2 agents) was right after we exited the airplane. The baggage carousel was directly behind passport control, and the airport exit was just steps beyond that. No walking endless airport corridors here!

In my excitement about the airport I totally forgot about our transit passes. We stepped out our nearby exit door and saw a long line of cream colored Mercedes taxis. Our driver spoke no English, and apparently had not heard of our hotel (or was it my pronunciation?), but after looking at my confirmation printout he declared that it was “klar” and off we went. We arrived at our hotel, the <b>M&ouml;venpick</b>, in 10 or 15 minutes (20&euro;). This was well before 8:00am!

The M&ouml;venpick is smart and modern. The hotel staff were welcoming. There was one smoking room available. We were both tempted to take it and get a few hours’ sleep, but in the end we passed since we both hate smoky hotel rooms. Instead we left our luggage with the front desk, and headed out to find some breakfast. Why is it that when we land in Europe we always want breakfast even though we’ve eaten breakfast on the plane and it’s the middle of the night body time?

Our hotel couldn’t recommend a breakfast place that would be open this early (other than the hotel restaurant) so we set out for a coffee shop that I had spotten on the taxi ride, near the Potsdamer Platz U-bahn station. It’s so interesting to see the reminders of Berlin’s past. Right across the street from the hotel are the bombed out ruins of the former <b>Anhalter Bahnhof</b>. Our walk took us past a bit of the <b>Berlin Wall</b>, now behind a wooden fence topped with barbed wire. A wall protecting the Wall! (I think it may have been a construction area.)

After about 8 minutes (probably a normal 10 minute walk, but Jen walks like a bat out of hades) we arrived at the <b>Balzac coffee shop</b>. This German coffee chain was an imitation Starbucks from head to toe. Coffee sizes, flavors, etc. Even the logo was vaguely reminiscent. We enjoyed our hot chocolate and breakfast pastry. We killed as much time as we could - waiting for it to get a bit later and a bit warmer - then headed out to explore Berlin. Our only official mission was to pick up the elusive Welcome Cards. Oh, and shop. Isn’t that always a mission with a teenaged daughter?

The day was clear, cold, and windy. We headed in the direction of the Brandenburger Tor. Although the S-bahn goes from our hotel or Potsdamer Platz to Brandenburg Gate, we didn’t have our transit passes. Also, it was great to be walking around Berlin’s streets in the sunshine. We walked past some sections of the Wall on display in Potsdamer Platz.

We were excited to get our first glimpse of the <b>Ampelmann</b>, the distinctive man in a hat who has been used since 1961 on the “walk” and “do not walk” signals in East Berlin. He is such a beloved character that he was retained on the crossing lights even after the city was reunited. (Ampelmann info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampelm%C3%A4nnchen Ampelmann picture (not mine): http://bron.imeem.com/photo/CXNr5rV2/tF8uRru1jEFO1/)
He has spread to parts of the former West Berlin and other parts of Germany. There’s even a female version in some places.

After a few minutes we reached the <b>Memorial to the Murdered European Jews</b>. This is a series of 2700 slabs of different heights separated by paths. We didn’t venture far into the memorial, but found it interesting: sober and stark and a bit desolate.

We saw a very long line of portable toilets (labelled “toi toi”!) Something big was going on in Berlin. Then we came to a bunch of tents that were being set up. We gathered that there was going to be a festival this weekend in honor of the 50th anniversary of the European Union (or at least its earliest beginnings.) We took a few steps further and wow! Face to face with the <b>Brandenburg Gate</b>, that famous monument that has seen so much of Berlin’s history. And our first look at <b>Unter den Linden</b> (the wide promenade that goes east/west and was part of the former East Berlin.) People were milling about. We took pictures, of course.

There is a TI center in one part of the Brandenburger Tor, but it was too early for it to be open. We decided to keep walking up to the Hauptbahnhof and pick up our transit passes there. It would be another 10-15 minute walk. A few yards later we came to a line of <b>memorial white crosses</b> along the sidewalk, each marked with picture/biography of a person who had lost their lives trying to escape from East Berlin (mostly by attempting to swim the River Spree.) One girl was shot just a few years before the fall of the Wall. She was 18 – Jen’s age. We found this was very powerful and moving.

Ahead of us was the <b>Reichstag</b>. We had made lunch reservations there for later in the week, but, seeing as it was a beautiful clear day we thought that if the line was short we would go ahead and walk the dome now. When we got around the building we saw that the line was out the door, down the steps and a good bit along the sidewalk. So on we went.

There are lots of very interesting modern buildings in this section of the city, government buildings maybe? We crossed the river Spree and soon reached the <b>Hauptbahnhof</b> (main train station.) I was interested to see this new building, since I had read about it on Fodor’s. I wasn’t bowled over by the outside appearance, how the rectangular parts relate to the curve of the station itself. The station is huge, and I loved being inside and having all that glass around me.

We found the tourist information center at the north entrance and picked up our Welcome Card transit passes and coupon booklet. Shopping adrenalin is a great way to combat jet lag, so we set off for KaDeWe, which bills itself as the largest deparment store in Europe. We validated our passes and hopped on the S-bahn to the Zoologischer Garten Bahnhof. The ride was above ground and it was interesting to see the city out the train windows. There were wandering musicians (mostly accordians) in the train cars, playing and hoping for donations. This was the only day we saw them on the trains.

When we exited the station we were right near the bombed-out remains of the <b>Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtnis-Kirche</b>. There are so many reminders throughout Berlin of the city’s history. At the same time, it’s amazing to see the number of construction cranes on the Berlin skyline. I think this tension between past and present is one thing that makes Berlin so fascinating.

We walked 3 or 4 blocks east on Tauensienstrasse (this is the eastern continuation of the famous Kudamm.) More accordian players. And curry wurst stands. We joined the stream of people entering <b>KaDeWe</b> and began exploring the store. http://www.kadewe-berlin.de/index2_engl.php Jen found some souvenirs. I was fascinated by the paper napkin department, which was huge and organized by color. There were hundreds of different designs. I picked out several packs to bring home – at least they are light and unbreakable! We specifically wanted to purchase some KaDeWe logo items, as the store was celebrating its 100th anniversary. We didn’t find any anniversary items, but did pick up a cloth KaDeWe shopping bag for a euro or so.

We continued our way up the various floors, ending on the sixth, the famous food hall. This is reputedly the largest department store food hall anywhere. We got to see a good bit of it as we tried to find the toilets! I bought some lovely paper mache easter eggs that were like the old German ones I had as a child.

No sense being in a food hall without indulging. We came to the cheese counter and sampled the featured cheese. It was strong but we both liked it enough to buy some. The jet lag was beginning to set in and we just weren’t up to the communication hurdle of trying to explore what the other cheeses were. Then to the bread counter. The final stop was the torte department. The case was filled with delectable choices. Jen got the Marly torte and I ordered the KaDeWe signature torte, which turned out to be a delicious mocha type flavor. We found a table and enjoyed our purchases. The bread mellowed the cheese pretty well and the torte was fantastic. We also brought some pastries to take with us.

At this point our energy and attention were flagging, so we decided to come back later in the week to buy some KaDeWe label food products to bring home for gifts and souvenirs. We rode the U-bahn from Wittenberg Platz to Potsdammer Platz and then walked back to the hotel. (By the end of our stay, we had learned more direct ways to take this trip – the M29 bus goes from Wittenberg Platz to Anhalter Bahnhof – right at our hotel.)

Our room was ready – medium size and quite attractive. The bathroom is a square space carved out of the larger once-rectangular room, leaving an L-shaped bedroom. The small part of the L is a seating area with TV: one decent chair and one really comfortable chair. In the bigger (and fatter) part of the L there’s a typical European bed- two twins right next to each other, with separate bedding for each person. This was perfect for us. The bathroom had one glass block wall, which let plenty of light in but provided adequate privacy. The bedroom’s windows faced an interior courtyard. Not a great view, but no street noise to worry about either.

We put our leftover cheese in the minibar fridge and jumped in the bed. It was a shame to sleep on such a beautiful day, but we were worn out and took a 1.5 hour nap. Waking up was SO hard to do, but I know from much experience, that it works best for us to have only a short nap. I finally managed to rouse Jen and we set out for dinner at <b>Zur Letzten Instanz</b>, which claims to be the oldest pub in Berlin (1621). The restaurant is considered to be part of the Nicolaiviertel, but the way we approached, we didn’t really see the most charming part of the neighborhood. We exited the U-bahn at Klosterstrasse and came upon another bombed out church. These ruins are stark reminders of the damage Berlin suffered in the war. The TV tower loomed large in the background.

The pub is a cheerful yellow and green building with a paneled cozy interior with lots of little rooms. The tables were fully booked for dinner, but since we were early they seated us as long as we promised to be gone by 8:00pm. That gave us a full 2 hours for dinner, so we agreed. Jen ordered the Berlin meatball with fried potatoes and green beans. I ordered the grillhaxe, a roasted joint of pork. It was delicious - so tender that the meat just fell of the bone. We were eager to try the Berliner Weisse beer – we each ordered it “mit Rot” – the red (raspberry) syrup is meant to counteract the sourness of this beer. It’s served in a wide glass with a straw. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Weisse There wasn’t much syrup in ours, and the sour nature of the beer came through well. Halfway through dinner, another party sat at our table. I know that this is common in Germany, but I wished they hadn’t been chain smoking. Our total bill came to 30.60&euro;.

After dinner we went back to the hotel, where we watched some German TV. We watched “Unser Charly” which was a show featuring a chimpanzee that lived with a family. Charly (the chimpanzee) helped solve a big mystery/crime. We also saw a fascinating show about the fashion industry in Berlin in the 20th century and now.

Our impressions at the end of our first day: Berlin is very spread out, including lots of space between buildings. We only had a spotty conception of the city as a whole. But we were definitely intrigued!

[pictures at share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZsmzZuza_g]

Great report Noe! I was also at Brandenburger Tor on that Saturday when they were setting up for the Europa Days party. I wish I would have gone for the actual party the next day. I don't like huge crowds but I heard it was a good time.

You certainly had a lot of energy that first day - I am impressed.

One more thing - the title of the book I really liked is the INSIGHT guide to Berlin, not the Insider's Guide. Doh!

Great report. I was in Berlin in 2005 and also found it fascinating. And we had the best time at KaDeWe too!

rialtogrl, I read your Berlin blog, and I was impressed with your stamina at the pubs/clubs. Sounds like tons of fun. We were much more low key - hanging out at the hotel and taking in the German TV was our evening staple.
Racehele21: Berlin is indeed fascinating, and we just scratched the surface.

<i><u>Sunday March 25</u></i>

Daylight savings time came to Europe during the night, and, combined with jet lag and sleep deprivation, we did not get an early start. I got out of bed at 11:00, and woke Jen up at 12:15. Meanwhile, it was another bright sunny day, which we were wasting in the hotel room. Well, Jen really needs her sleep, so I’ve learned that I can’t cut that too short.

The cheese we’d put in the minibar was beginning to smell very strongly, so we decided that we needed to throw it out. But not in our room. It would smell like something had died there. We crossed fingers that nobody would ride in the elevator with us (and that the elevator would air out quickly after we got off with the stinky cheese.) Where to ditch the cheese? We finally found a trash receptacle out of nose shot of the hotel guests and staff. Whew.

Our hotel rate did not include breakfast, and the breakfast cost per person was more than I wanted to pay. We had read about some good sounding cafes and picked the <b>Caf&eacute; Einstein</b>. It is on Kurfurstenstrasse, but we didn’t know which part. And when we were on the U-bahn I realized that I could not find the paper that I had written the address. So we just started at the beginning of the street (near Wittenberg Platz) and walked along looking at all the storefronts for “Einstein.” Around ½ mile later we found it, in a lovely old villa. The caf&eacute; was very busy but they were able to seat us. This was a quintessential German coffee shop: newspapers on big wooden rods, pastry case, elegant plasterwork and mirrors. There’s apparently also a branch at Unter den Linden.

They had all kinds of special breakfasts, but we kept it simple. Jen ordered the “Paris fruhstuck”- baguette, croissant, madeleine. I ordered “bacon and eggs” (had no problem pronouncing that!) fresh squeezed orange juice and a croissant. I split the bacon with Jen and scarfed up the fried eggs. For dessert we each ordered coffee with ice cream in it. This was seriously excellent food and an all around great place. Although we had done a lot of walking to find it, it wasn’t very far from a different U-bahn station. (Nollendorfplatz U-bahn. And, we learned later, our ‘local’ M29 bus stops about a block away.)

We were excited to check out <b>Trodelmarkt</b>, the flea market that is held on weekends near the Zoologischer Garten Bahnhof. We came down from the train platform and followed the many signs to the market. The market was great fun. We thought the quality was quite good, and we happily explored the various stalls specializing in old jewelry, postcards, clothing, hats, linens, flatware, silver, communist memorabilia, doorknobs, record albums, and junk.

My favorite was the button stall. Earlier this year I bought a beautiful velvet jacket that was missing several buttons. There was no way to match the buttons, so I needed a whole new set of buttons. I had been to several places at home and on the internet without success (very expensive and I couldn’t find anything I really liked.) This dealer had wonderful vintage buttons, at really good prices. I bought two different designs: 20 white and gold metal buttons from the 1950’s and 20 jet/rhinestone buttons from the 1920’s. Along with some hand carved horn buttons, I paid less than 15&euro;.

I also picked up a 1930’s wooden darning mushroom, two sterling napkin rings from around 1900 (I like to set my table with mismatched antique napkin rings), vintage earrings, and inexpensive pie servers. Jen bought some old banners from East Germany. We sifted though old black and white postcards, choosing some of Berlin and other places in Germany that we have visited. Jen was captivated by the postcards from about 100 years ago that were made from portrait photographs of young women. This market was a highlight of our Berlin visit.

By now it was late afternoon. We were going to the 6:00 pm Mass at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, and I figured we’d just have enough time for a quick spin around the highlights at the Pergamonmuseum. We rode the S-Bahn to Friedrichstrasse Bahnhof and walked to Museuminsel from there. The road was lined with police vehicles and uniformed policemen, who were blocking traffic at all intersections. I think this was connected with the big EU anniversary celebrations.

The sun was shining down and the river and bridges were beautiful. <b>Museuminsel</b> is a pretty fascinating place, and on a return visit I’d love to explore more of it. As it was, we would have less than an hour for the big three at the <b>Pergamonmuseum</b>. We got the audio guide and set it up for the greatest hits. The strong sunshine made the museum quite warm inside.

First stop was the Pergamon Altar, a sort of transplanted Greek Temple with additional sculptural friezes of the Greek gods. Jen was tired and sat on one of the temple’s 40 steps while she listened to the audio guide’s description of the altar. I was wandering around the room as I listened. Then I accidentally hit the wrong button on the guide and killed the highlights audio. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get it back. I looked up and Jen was not on the stairs. Without the audio, I had no idea where the tour had gone next. I raced around the surrounding rooms, and finally located Jen. I had to content myself with manually hitting the audio guide’s buttons for each individual object, which meant that I never got the overall information and context.

The Gate of Ishtar/Bablylonian Processional Street was my favorite part of the museum. It was a striking blue and yellow tiled gate with images of animals and flowers covering the surfaces in a regular pattern. Some of it was original and some replica. It was impressively large, but what was even more amazing was that as installed it was much scaled down from the original huge proportions.

The Roman Market Gate of Miletus was covered in plastic and under reconstruction. Apparently at the time it was shipped and originally installed in the museum, the stones were hollowed out, and an iron framework was inserted. The ravages of the war left the building open to the elements and rainwater corroded the iron, weakening the structural support for the Gate. Restoration work is slated to take another few years.

We finished up and walked along Unter den Linden to Bebelplatz. <b>St. Hedwig Catholic church</b> is just behind the plaza. The church was apparently modeled on the Pantheon, and is a very unusual Catholic church. The interior was reconstructed in the 1960’s with lots of modern touches which go surprisingly well with the classicist interior space. We especially liked the vertical string of round globe lights that hung in front of each column. The church was filled with worshippers, and latecomers were even standing along the walls. I had forgotten to bring our muli-lingual Mass booklet, so we didn’t get as much out of the German service as I would have liked.

I still couldn’t find my little page of restaurant names and addresses, so we were hindered a bit in our search for a dinner spot. I remembered some of the names/descriptions, and that several of them were located around the nearby <b>Gendarmenmarkt</b>. The plaza was lovely in the early evening light, with the “twin” churches and the Konzerthaus. We found Aigner, and Lutter &amp; Wegner, both recommended for their German cuisine. They looked a bit upscale for our mood, however, and we settled on an Italian restaurant, <b>Malatesta</b>. It was comfortable, attractive, and we had wonderful service. We ordered salad (arugula, cherry tomatoes and shaved parmesan), pizza margherita, beer and water. While we waited for our food, we chatted with an American woman who had spent a long weekend in Berlin with her college-aged son who was studying for the semester in Paris. We compared sightseeing notes. When she left, she donned a full length fur. Definitely not in our league! At the table on our other side were three people speaking Italian. Our waitress mysteriously disappeared and we had a devil of a time getting our check and then paying (36&euro;.) 30 minutes and two credit card attempts later, we finally left. This will always be known to us as the restaurant that tried to take us hostage.

Across the street was <b>Fassbender &amp; Rauch</b>, the Berlin chocolatier, supposed to be the largest in Europe. Definitely on the list for later in the week.

At the hotel we saw news coverage on TV of the fireworks near the Brandenburg Gate and some pop music awards that were also happening in Berlin that evening. I guess we missed all the excitement!

Pictures at: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZsmzZuzbAA

The bicycle are not on the sidewalk (picture no. 6) but in a special bike lane. Note the different colorations of the pavement.

Yes, we knew they were special bike lanes, but they are physically located, very often, on what I'd call the &quot;sidewalk&quot; (up on the curb, adjacent to the walking part) as opposed to the street (lower pavement, adjacent to the driving lanes.) It's a great system, but we found it a <i>really</i> hard adjustment to remember to look for the bicycles there. It became a huge running joke with us - Jen was terrified that she would be run down. As it turned out, I was the one who went afoul of the bicycle lane and froze like a deer in the headlights at the oncoming cyclist.

I love the visual of getting rid of the stinky cheese! The buttons were quite a find. I hope you post pictures of them as well.

kraav: the visual of the stinky cheese was MUCH better than the olfactory version! Here is a link to my buttons. The gold ones have a sort of white wash over them, that settles in the low places, but it doesn't really show up in the pictures very much. I loved that market and wish I had some pictures of it but I was too busy shopping.
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<i><u>Monday, March 26</u></i>

Our goal this morning was to see the part of the Berlin Wall known as the <b>East Side Gallery</b>. This is a 1.3 km long section of Wall that is along the River Spree – the longest part still standing. It was painted with murals by artists from around the world in 1989-90, soon after the Wall fell.

It is southeast of the city center, a new direction for us. After a quick breakfast in our room (almond cream croissants we had bought at KaDeWe – yum), we walked south from our hotel about 6 minutes to the station where we could catch U-bahn line 1 east. We walked across Sch&ouml;neberger bridge; the willow trees along the banks of the Landwehr canal were just getting their leaves. It was lovely sight on this sunny cloudless day. (Knowing what I know now, we could also have connected with the U-bahn line at various stations via the M29 or the M41 bus near our hotel) Our train crossed over the river Spree on the highest level of the Oberbaumbr&uuml;cke. I later read that this stunning turreted bridge was unused during the years that the city was divided.

There is a prominent souvenir shop at the eastern end of the Wall, and yes, we were drawn in. Jen bought a piece of the Wall for her boyfriend, and I bought one for my husband. These were not the only pieces of Wall we saw for sale in Berlin, and probably not the cheapest either. I felt like such a tourist, but hey, I was a tourist.

The art on the Wall was a little spotty. Most of the paintings were fading or flaking (although some have been restored in the past 7 years) and all of them were marred by graffiti, which was a total shame. I was actually surprised at the amount of graffiti we saw in Berlin in general, but really saddened that the murals had been defaced that way. The quality of the art varied, but I admired the spirit and the effort. There were others walking along the Wall, but not tons of people, which made taking pictures much easier. We saw a tour bus parked. I don’t know if the tourists were about to get off, had already been off, or if it was just a stop-and-look-out-the-window thing, but the people stayed on the bus.

I’m glad we saw that long of an expanse of the Wall. I was a little girl when it was built and my children were little girls when it came down. The Cold War defined my childhood in many small ways. (Does anyone else remember the air raid drills where you left school and they timed how long it took you to walk home?) Looking at the Wall I imagined how difficult it was for people in the divided city.

Mondays are a little tricky because many of the museums and attractions in Berlin (and Potsdam) are closed. We decided to take advantage of the amazingly clear and sunny weather and go up the TV tower. We rode two stops on the S-bahn to Alexanderplatz, and when we came out of the station the tower was right in front of us. Unfortunately, there was a paper sign taped to the door that said the tower was closed (it is usually open daily).

The medieval <b>Marienkirche</b> is on the same plaza as the TV tower. Jen sat on a bench in the plaza while I explored the church. (Churches and museums are not really her cup of tea.) Just inside the door there is a 14th century mural of the Dance of the Dead. This painting was whitewashed over at some point and at a later point discovered/restored. There are also several other old works of art displayed in the church.

Jen was very interested in seeing the <b>Hackescher H&ouml;fe</b>, tiled Art Nouveau buildings with a series of 8 interlocking courtyards. The courtyards are lined with little shops and cafes. Our favorite was the Ampelmann shop, which featured every conceivable product with the image of the Ampelmann himself – both in the green and the red incarnations. We took some time to pick out the perfect souvenirs featuring the little guy. I couldn’t pass up the bottle cap opener, and the red and green felt Ampelmann Christmas ornaments. Jen bought a keychain and a green Ampelmann light for her dorm room. We each picked up cloth tote bags. http://www.ampelmannshop.com/index.php

For lunch we sat at sidewalk table at a nearby osteria (don’t remember the name) and enjoyed the fabulous weather and watching the hordes of people go by. Jen ordered the gnocci and I ordered spaghetti alio y olio. When my food arrived, I picked up the shaker jar of (I assumed) parmesan cheese and gave it a few vigorous shakes over my plate. I almost choked when I took my first bite – I had shaken sugar all over my pasta. Ugh. I picked around and was able to find parts that weren’t too ruined.

We wandered in a branch of the shop called Dom and we had fun looking at the hip home accents. I bought some black and white floral toilet paper and some pucci-type print rubber gardening gloves. While I was paying I spotted a clock that I just had to have. It was a black plastic silhouette of a traditional German cuckoo clock. Packed in its box it was quite large at 23”x16” (although pretty flat and very light.) The fellow behind the counter put the clock in a plastic shopping bag and made a shoulder strap out of ribbon. I got to carry this for the rest of the day – and the rest of the trip. I knew the box wouldn’t fit in my 22” suitcase or in the small empty duffle I had brought. I hoped that the clock could be one of my carry on items, but I decided to keep my eyes out for a large – and cheap - piece of luggage just in case I needed to check it. You can see the clock here (it’s the last one on the page by Wil van den Bos): http://www.goodtimegifts.eu/wonen_klokken_invotis.htm

After lunch we walked along Unter den Linden, stopping at the <b>Opera Caf&eacute;</b> for torte and hot chocolate. This coffee house reminded me of Vienna. It was in an old palace, and has lots of gilt and mirrors. Our torte was delicious, and we appreciated the non-smoking section.

We returned to <b>Gendarmenmarkt</b> because we wanted to shop at the <b>Fassbender &amp; Rausch</b> chocolate shop for some gifts. The store was very crowded. In front of each of the store’s windows there was a chocolate sculpture. First was a large chocolate Titanic. Then the Reichstag all in chocolate, and the Gedachtniskirche. There was a knot of people gathered around the chocolate Reichstag and another crowd outside peering in the window. Everyone was holding up their cameras and cell phones to take pictures.

Gold foil Lindt bunnies in all sizes were all over the store. In the center of the store was an enormous rabbit made of piles of individually wrapped bunny chocolates. We picked out some gifts and some for ourselves. The fellow behind the counter helped me wrap my hollow dark chocolate bear so that he wouldn’t break on the flight home (and in fact he arrived in one piece.) I also bought one marzipan bear for my older daughter who loves marzipan (which I mailed to her in time for Easter. Yes, the Easter bear!) and one for my husband who can’t eat chocolate. The bear is a very old symbol of Berlin. There are some modern painted bears scattered around the city. Similar animals seem to be in nearly every city these days: Munich was lions, and in other places we have seen sheep, cows, pigs, etc.

By now we were on a hunt for toilets. I knew that the <b>Galleries Lafayette</b> was on the next block, so we made a beeline for that store. I don’t feel so bad about using a store’s bathrooms when we have to pay for the privilege. And once we were in the store, of course we just HAD to shop! Jen actually found some cute summer dresses and a long silver necklace. These became her early birthday presents (she would turn 19 a week later).

Between the late lunch and the torte we weren’t likely to be very hungry for dinner. We bought two half roast chickens in the basement food hall at Galleries Lafayette (8&euro; each.) Later I wished that I’d thought to buy some salad or vegetables, but we made do with some clementines from the bowl in the hotel lobby. There was always wonderful fruit in the lobby – pears, plums, clementines, apples, bananas. These tided us over many times during our stay.

We had a good evening of watching German TV. We discovered what would become our favorite German show: “Quiz Taxi.” In the show two (or more, with our without dogs) people are picked up by a taxi. They discover that this is not just any taxi – it’s the Quiz Taxi. Enroute to their destination, they take part in a quiz show. The driver is the host and he’s just the cutest thing ever. The questions are read in German and displayed on the screen. This was excellent practice for our German – well, it was great for Jen’s German, but mine is pretty much beyond hope. The contestants get one chance to make a phone call for help, and another chance to stop pedestrians for assistance. If they get three questions wrong the cab stops immediately and they have to get out. If they make it to their destination, they get to keep any money they’ve won or bet it double or nothing on the final question. It is an absolute hoot. We had never heard of this show, but apparently there’s a version somewhere in the US also?

I can go weeks at a time without turning on the television at home, but it was so much fun in Berlin. I didn’t understand very much of the German, but I’d listen while I wrote in my journal or reviewed the guidebooks. We saw another show that was a takeoff on the fairy tale of “Puss in Boots,” an episode of “Dr. Psycho” about some bumbling guy who ends up saving the day in a hostage crisis, a random comedy show, and the German version of “Office.”

Pictures at:
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<i><u>Tuesday, March 27</u></i>

The weather was fabulous – again! – and we were bound for Potsdam, but our first order of business was a repeat breakfast at the Caf&eacute; Einstein. We boarded the U-bahn and found a whole section of available seats. Once we sat down we understood why. There was a man sitting there who spent the whole ride ranting and raving at the top of his voice. It was uncomfortable to hear him, but would have been even more so, I’m sure, had I been able to understand German enough to grasp the essence of his discontent. He was the first, and perhaps the oddest, of the folks we encountered on this “odd people” day.

At <b>Caf&eacute; Einsein</b> we ordered the same breakfasts (without the ice cream) and it was just as wonderful (25&euro; including 2 different drinks.) Then we boarded the next S-bahn for the 30 minute ride to <b>Potsdam</b>. I had some specific goals for Potsdam: the Einstein Tower, the Russian district, the Dutch area in the Neuer Garten, the other Dutch area, the chocolate caf&eacute; and maybe the “spy bridge” where captured eastern and western spies were exchanged during the Cold War. I’m really not a palace person, so Sanssouci and the other palace sites weren’t high on the list, although I wouldn’t mind catching a glimpse of the gardens and pavilions.

We purchased a nice detailed map of Potsdam from a bookstore at the train station. This map was to prove invaluable over the rest of the day. The <b>Einstein Tower</b> looked fairly close to the Potsdam bahnhof, south and up a fairly big hill. We started walking up. Jen’s feet, which had been giving her a bit of trouble yesterday, began to hurt a LOT. I have ridiculously bad feet, so I know how bad this can be while touring. I hope for her sake that she is not getting my foot issues.

In hindsight we probably should have looked for a taxi rank at the station. After about 10-15 minutes, we came to a gatehouse of the Astrophysical Institute. The man in the gatehouse explained to us in German which path to take, and that it would be a 15 minute walk. Jen almost freaked to think she had another 15 minutes of walking uphill. We pressed on. The path took us among trees and there were lots of signs pointing the way to the Einsteinturm. We passed by several buildings that seemed to be observatories, and then we saw the tower (luckily for us it was more like a 5 minute walk from the gatehouse.)

The Einstein tower, built in 1920, is surprisingly small, and is set in a clearing. The base of the tower is on a little built up plateau that is actually the underground labs. Although there were some signs, and a model of the building in a glass case, all the text was in German. The building was not open (apparently it is open to visitors one day per month.) We walked around the tower and took lots of pictures. It is a very cool structure, very curved and irregular. Apparently when he saw the building, Einstein himself commented, “Organic.” Although it was not crowded, there were usually 3 or 4 small groups looking at the tower. http://www.c20society.org.uk/docs/bu.../einstein.html

The sun was strong and the sky was a brilliant deep blue. We sat on a bench and soaked in the sight. Or tried to. There was an American couple on a bench about 20 meters away who were having an argument, which we could hear rather clearly, unfortunately. It seemed so incongruous that they would have come this long way to this special place to have such a mundane disagreement. We finally gave up and left. Going down the hill was much easier, so we reached the bahnhof in about 10 minutes.

This next part is where using our old guidebook came back to haunt us. The book described where to find the tourist information office. From my reading of the map, it wasn’t that far to walk from the bahnhof. Well, for a girl with hurting feet, this was not a short distance. We crossed Langebrucke, which lived up to its name – spanning two bits of water really- and wandered around looking for the address of the TI. Finally Jen sat while I traced and retraced steps.

We were very near the <b>Nicolaikirche</b>, so I took a church break. It is an interesting Greek cross plan. The two side arms of the cross have been walled off with black glass to make church offices. Nearby was the Altes Rathaus, and together they formed an oasis of beauty in the surrounding desert of architectural mediocrity.

We wandered some more. There was a public library facing the Platz der Enheit and I went in and asked, in my best German, for the location of the TI office. Turns out it has moved, and is now near the Brandenburg Gate (another 10 minute walk.) Jen was in serious rebellion mode. She hated “stupid Potsdam” and wanted to turn around and get on a train back to Berlin. With the exception of the church and the Rathaus, this area of Potsdam was not very attractive. It was clear that walking all over Potsdam was going to be a big problem for her feet. I decided that the hop-on-hop-off bus would be a very good plan. It would go through Park Sanssouci and then in the direction of the Russian and Dutch areas. It would even go to the spy bridge.

From what I’d read, the buses leave from near the TI office. So we pressed on, walking another 6 or 8 blocks. We saw some trams and public buses, but didn’t have a clue where they were going or how to ride them. Lessons learned: use the most recent edition of the guidebook and figure out public transportation early.

As we walked along the town got prettier, and we reached the pedestrian shopping street, <b>Brandenburgerstrasse</b>. The Brandenburg Gate was at the far end, and the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul at the near end. I resisted the church’s pull, assuming that we’d see it at the end of our visit. The festive atmosphere of the pedestrian street cheered us (well, Jen) a bit. It was lined with lovely Baroque buildings and filled with people. We bought some fruit at a street vendor. An Italian gelato shop beckoned us; I had a double cone of strachiatella and walnut, and Jen had a triple cone.

Fortified by our snack, we made it the few remaining blocks to the TI center. We waited in line for about 10 minutes, and then found that the hop on bus didn’t begin operation until April. So, now what? We were farther from the train station, with very sore feet, and seemingly no way to get ourselves around. But wait! We learned that our Berlin ABC transit passes work on the public transportation in Potsdam. And we discovered that the nifty Potsdam map we purchased had the bus and tram routes clearly drawn over the streets. Armed with this information, we set forth to explore a few more of the lesser known sights of Potsdam. Each bus or tram stop has a schedule posted. Easy peasy!

We hopped on a nearby bus that brought us very close to the Russian area, <b>Alexandrowka</b>. http://www.alexandrowka.de/indexenglisch.html This is a group of 12 houses built in 1825 to reward 12 Russian singers from choir of the Prussian army. The houses are Russian in appearance and are laid out along a big “X.” On the front of each house there is a nameplate showing the original family, and other plates listing any subsequent residents. One of the houses seemed to have a Russian gift shop, but we didn’t stop. We walked along half of the “X.” At the north end of the neighborhood there is a wooded hill with a little Russian Orthodox church, <b>Alexander-Newski-Church</b>, at the top. (Jen waited at the bottom of the hill. No way was she going to walk up another hill on her sore feet, especially to see a church.) It was like a little jewel box. Luckily, the door was open. It was even smaller on the inside. Photography was not permitted, but there is a souvenir desk where I bought some postcard views of the inside of the church. Apparently the church has been in constant use since it was built.

Our next stop was the <b>Neuer Garten</b>. We entered by the main gate, and soon came to the Dutch style settlement that was built for the servants of the nearby Marble Palace. The buildings glowed in the afternoon sun. I walked along the Heiliger See to the Marble Palace (it was undergoing renovation, and much of it was covered, but the part I saw was brick!). Then back along the pathways to the Orangerie, a little greenhouse whose fa&ccedil;ade mixes Egyptian and Greek elements.

Although there were still things on my Potsdam to-do list, and we were getting the hang of the public transportation, I had to admit to myself that we had done what I wanted for most of the day. Jen was being a good sport, but was time to give her a choice. The nearby tram route went through the altstadt and then all the way to the train station. We could stop in the old town for more exploring or we could get the train to Berlin. It was getting late in the afternoon, and, deep down I agreed with her decision to return to Berlin. The tram dropped us in front of the train station, and we rode the S-bahn all the way to Alexanderplatz. After her initial negative initial opinion, I think Jen ended up enjoying Potsdam, and I know that I would love to go back to explore more, including the more usual tourist stops.

Our other goal for the day was the <b>Tausche</b> shop in Prenzlauer (open from noon to 8:00pm.) Tausche is a Berlin company that makes messenger-type satchels. Jen was quite interested in buying one of these bags to carry her laptop. We had never been in this neighborhood, which has the reputation for being the bohemian area of the former East Berlin. Coming out of the U-bahn, we saw lots of head shops and other alternative type commerce that was concentrated in the area around the station.

The Tausche shop was a few blocks away. We enjoyed our walk in this lively neighborhood. We saw lots of children and baby strollers; bicycles zipped everywhere as people were getting home from work. The shop was small and displayed the different sizes of satchels. Each bag comes with two interchangeable outer flaps. The walls were covered with the wide variety of flaps available. Jen picked out a satchel and a computer case insert, and selected 2 flaps. I got carried away and chose a bag for myself along with a camera case insert and 2 flaps. There was some sort of frequent flaps program: after buying 5 flaps, the 6th is free. So for 20&euro; more, Jen got 2 more flaps. http://www.tausche-berlin.de/index.html

We walked the few blocks to <b>Gugelhof</b>, an Alsatian restaurant on Kollwitzplatz. We didn’t have reservations, but were early enough to be seated at one of the few unreserved tables. We ordered salad, cheese fondue (for 2) and beer. Everything was excellent and we were too full for dessert! (39.60&euro;)

By now it was dark. On the way to the U-bahn station, we passed a weird round brick building in a park-like area. There were signs explaining that this was an old water tower from 1875, but that it also had a dark history. Apparently it was a model for the earliest concentration camps; in the 1930’s the Nazis tortured people in the basement part. From what we could tell, the tower is now being used as apartments. I hoped to come back to see the <b>Wasserturm</b> in the daytime.

I was getting better at choosing our transportation routes to minimize walking for Jen. We took the U-bahn to the S-bahn to another S-bahn right to ‘our’ street. The rest of the evening we organized our luggage (side trip to Dresden the next day) and met our daily quota of German TV. Without a doubt the biggest star on German TV was <b>Knut</b>. He is the baby polar bear (“eisb&auml;r”) that was born at the Berlin Zoo and had just that week come out in the public viewing area. What a cutie! We saw lots of video on TV of Knut rolling around in a sand pit, or eating from a bottle; in one segment, a guy sang a series of pop songs in English – “Hey Knut” “You are so Knut-iful” “I feel Knut”! Knut’s picture also graced all the newspapers and magazines.

Here is the link to the photos from Tuesday, March 27: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZsmzZuzbEQ

I have no idea if anyone is still reading this report, but at least it's getting me to label my photos and gather my thoughts!

We're out here reading! I have to confess, though, I'm getting your trip confused sometimes with a woman who is also posting at the same time a report on a trip through Germany, Italy and Belgium with her college age daughter! Both great reports.

We are heading to Berlin this summer, and it is great to get the perspective of places you visited with a teen. I was just noting the information about the Prenzlauer area as this probably would appeal to my older son. I even checked out the website for the bags you got, thinking this at least might be a shop he'd be interested in. (but probably not...)

skatedancer, Prenzlauer Berg is a lot of fun, from what we've seen. We did get to go back there later in the week for part of an afternoon. Here is a cool site for the area:
http://www.jurkun.de/en_strasse.htm

Oh yes, we're definitely still out here, reading and learning! You can't imagine how insightful your story is for me, heading to Berlin in June with 17-year-old son on his graduation trip. I am enjoying your links and photos immensely...many thanks!

Jes

Jespere, I'd love to know more about your planned trip with your son. I'm sure he will enjoy it, Berlin is such a dynamic city, with a fascinating past and an exciting future.

<i><u>Wednesday, March 28</u></i>

It was another fantastic sunny day in Berlin. This morning Jen slept late while I headed out to the <b>Gem&auml;ldegalerie</b>, the museum of Old Masters paintings which is part of the Kulturforum, located about a mile from the hotel. I saw a bus route marked on my map, but decided to walk. At the gallery, I was required to check my tote bag. I had some really confusing moments while I dealt with the lockers (I used the ones downstairs, but there are some on the main level as well) – I didn’t realize that you had to put a 1&euro; on the inside of the door as a deposit. I only had a 2&euro; coin, so had to get change. Then I arranged for an audioguide – had to leave my driver’s license. After getting all the preliminaries sorted (!) I had about an hour, which I spent with the oldest German and Flemish paintings (Cranach, van der Weyden, Van Eyck, etc.) This museum has a very strong collection, and I had to tear myself away without seeing the Italian paintings or the Dutch (Vermeer). Non-flash photography is permitted.

I took the bus back to the hotel (I was very glad I discovered that bus, as we used it a lot later in the week.) Jen and I checked out of the hotel, leaving two piles of luggage: some to be retrieved later in the day for our trip to Dresden, and the rest to be stored until we returned on Friday. We made our way to the <b>Reichstag</b>, where we had 12:30 reservations for lunch at the caf&eacute; up next to the dome. Because of these reservations we were able to bypass the line, and go directly to the handicap entrance, where we gave our reservation confirmation number, passed through the metal detectors, and rode the elevator to the dome. We learned of this from caroline_edinburgh’s trip report – thanks!

There is a big outdoor terrace at the base of the dome and we walked around, taking pictures in all directions, before we went in for lunch. We were seated at a window table, and had a wonderful view east towards the TV tower. Jen ordered the beef strips in gravy and I had he wiener schnitzel with fried potatoes, cranberry sauce and salad. We ordered the Berliner wiesse beer again; Jen had hers mit Rot, and this time mine was mit Gr&uuml;n (woodruff). There was a lot more syrup in this beer, so it was sweeter than we’d had last time, but very tasty. We both preferred the gr&uuml;n to the rot. Jen had a pear dessert (pear and chocolate mousse, pear sorbet and pear poached in red wine) which was delicious (two spoons!) We were surprised by the number of babies in this restaurant. It was a fairly expensive place, not one where I would have thought to bring an infant. I suppose that I wouldn’t want to stand in a long queue with an infant either.

After lunch we walked up the dome. It’s a striking structure, with wonderful views of Berlin. The best views, in my opinion, were as we were walking up rather than from the top. Looking into the dome itself was very cool, although it was a little dizzying for both of us to look down towards the building below – I had to hold the rail. I was surprised at the fair number of people who blithely walked the wrong direction on both the up and the down pathways. When we left the dome we were able to catch an elevator right away. Although we did not have wait in the queue for the Reichstag, I’d saw it would be well worth an hour or so.

We had a few hours until our train to Dresden, so we decided to go to the top of the <b>TV Tower (Fernsehturm)</b>. Although it was a little odd to do this right after the Reichstag dome, I wanted to take advantage of the good weather, and we had just enough time (we thought.) We rode the bus the length of Unter den Linden and across Museuminsel. There was a line for the tower. After about 20 minutes we reached the front of the line, just to have the woman in the ticket booth announce a 10 minute break. Ugh. Finally the elevator zoomed us to the top. It was interesting: as clear as the weather looked outside, it was a bit hazy looking from the tower. The views were pretty cool, but the afternoon sun made glare for the views west (towards the Reichstag, Tiergarten etc.) and the windows were disappointingly dirty.

We were a bit rushed because of the time we spent in the queue. It was crowded on the observation level, and there were some windows that we had to give up on because people were blocking the view. We must have hit at some kind of peak time, because when we were leaving we saw that the line to enter was very short. Neither of us was sure that going up the tower was worth the price of the admission (around 8,50&euro; each.) Although the views are very different (the Reichstag is much lower) I found the walk up the Reichstag dome to be much more enjoyable – and it was free. Of course we were pretty rushed in the TV tower, so that may have influenced our reaction. I definitely wouldn’t recommend doing these back to back. http://www.berlinerfernsehturm.de/home_en.asp

We went back to the hotel, collected our luggage, then took the S-bahn to the Hauptbahnhof. We purchased tickets (2nd class with seat reservations both ways), got cash, water and a magazine and it was time for the train. The station is huge and on many levels! We tried taking an elevator down to our platform, and got to the right level but the wrong platform. So it was back up in the elevator and then down the escalators to our platform.

The train ride to <b>Dresden</b> was fine. We took a taxi to our hotel, the Hilton, which was right on the square with the Frauenkirche. There is some ongoing construction outside, but nothing too disruptive. Our room had a fabulous view of the church. The little table in front of our window was set up with clementines on a china plate, chocolate bars and fancy bottled mineral water. The room really had everything – I especially loved the little adjustable reading lights that came out of the headboard. The Hilton rubber duckie in the bathroom made us smile. We really liked this hotel; the central location meant that we could walk everywhere in the alt stadt.

I’ve traveled enough with Jen to know that there’s always the risk that once she hits the hotel room she will not leave again. This was one of those times. Didn’t matter that I had good restaurant suggestions. She wasn’t going anywhere. Nor was she hungry. For that matter, neither was I, really. So we enjoyed our clementines and chocolate and a few other things from my ‘snack bag’ (I always travel with nuts, dried fruit, luna bars, and whatever miscellaneous food we accumulate as we go) and called it an evening.

I wasn't able to edit, so here's information about the restaurant at the top of the Reichstag:
Tables can be reserved by telephone on +49 (0)30 - 22 62 99 33 or online at [email protected].

Forgot to give the price of our meal at the restaurant at the top of the Reichstag: 54,80euros.

Here are the pictures from Wednesday (mostly Reichstag and the view from the TV Tower):
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZsmzZuzbGY

This installment covers Dresden with a lot of info on visiting the Green Vaults, Historic and New.

<i><u>Thursday, March 29, Dresden</u></i>

I was up at 8:15 in preparation for the <b>Historic Green Vault queue</b>. Visiting this exhibit was the major point of our side trip to Dresden. As of mid-2006, the 8 original rooms of the treasure chamber in the Residenz palace re-opened to the public, with most of the original contents again on display (the Historic Green Vault.) Some of the treasures are exhibited in museum space upstairs (the New Green Vault.) There is separate ticketing/admissions for Historic Green Vault.

Admission to the Historic Green Vault was via timed ticket ONLY. I knew that most of the day’s time slots were pre-sold, but that 25% of the tickets were retained to be sold to people in the queue beginning at 10:00 each day. Since we were free to structure our day around the Green Vault, I didn’t care what time of day we went. In fact, I preferred afternoon, since Jen was likely to be asleep til midmorning. Somewhere around 1:00 or 2:00 would probably be perfect. (Last admission was 6:00, I think.) I figured that for afternoon tickets I wouldn’t need to be first in line, and I didn’t want to stand around in the chilly morning forever, so I took my time getting out the door.

The front desk had given me a map when I checked in, but it was pretty basic and I was having a hard time getting oriented. I walked out the door and turned in the completely opposite direction to the one I should have gone. I walked for about 5 minutes without seeing anything promising, so I stopped a passerby for directions. Turned around, retraced my steps to the Dom, past the hotel, then went down a road with the famous meissen mural of the Procession of Princes, alongside the Catholic cathedral, around a corner, and there was the Residenz Palace. Across the street was the Zwinger.

I stepped into the queue at around 9:15. It was cool and very windy. Brrr. With my wind-block fleece jacket I was warm enough with my collar up. Most of the people within earshot were speaking German. We waited in a little forecourt of the Residenz that had beautiful flowering trees. Out of boredom I took out my camera to shoot some pictures, which caught the attention of the fellow ahead of me in line. He and the other man in his group had the predecessor camera to my Canon XTi. He was very interested in my lens, the 18-85IS, which I had just purchased the week before.

A little camera digression here. I am not a huge camera expert, but I love to take pictures on my travels. The XTi was my Christmas present. I first used the camera in London two weeks earlier. On that trip I had the camera’s factory-issue 18-55 lens (very lightweight), and also a 75-300 lens from my previous Canon film SLR. I liked the close-up ability I had with the big zoom lens, but it was very heavy and I had a fair amount of shake. I’d read about the 17-85IS lens on Fodor’s and was intrigued. I went to the local independent camera store, talked a long time with the shopkeeper and, of course, purchased the lens. I decided to put that lens on the camera and bring no other lenses. On balance I was happy with my choice. My bag was heavy enough as it was.

Anyway, the guy in line struck up a conversation with me about the lens. We started in German, which lasted until my turn to speak and then switched to English. That was kind of fun. At 10:00 the doors opened and the line began to move slowly. We were all glad when we passed the point where the building began sheltering us from the wind. When I got in view of the ticket counter at 10:25, there were about 150 tickets still available for the day (I took a photo of the ticket board, which you can see in my photo link). As the people ahead in line bought tickets, you could see the numbers on the board decline. By the time I got to the front, the earliest available tickets (just a few) were for 1:00pm (perfect for us.) I’d say that to get tickets that day, a person would have had to be in line by 10:30.

I went to the TI office, which was across the street, and waited in line for 10 minutes to find out that they didn’t sell day passes for transit and that the only maps they sold were for the full city – no smaller map of the downtown areas. They gave me another 1 page paper map, a bit better than the hotel map, and directions to the transit office. I walked to the transit office which shared space with a souvenir/tourist shop. I bought transit passes (some of the restaurants were a bit out of walking distance, especially with Jen’s bad feet) and a really GOOD map of the town.

Then I walked through the Glockenspiel Pavilion into the <b>Zwinger</b> and the sight just about bowled me over! The <b>Kronentor</b> is better in person than in the pictures. The big gold crown sparkled in the sunlight. I took pictures and heard the Meissen bells of the <b>Glockenspiel</b> chime at 11:00. On my walk back to the hotel, I bought some carved wooden Easter and Christmas figures from a sidewalk vendor. I treasure the German ornaments I already own, and was happy to pick up a few more for the Christmas tree and Easter baskets.

Jen was up and pretty much ready. On my earlier misguided wanderings I had seen a <b>Wiener Feinbacker</b> (a German bakery chain) so we went there for a late breakfast. Two thumbs up for the pastries. We walked towards the Residenz Palace, stopping to take a look inside the <b>Hofkirche</b> (Catholic cathedral) and to walk up some stairs to a terrace with a fine view over the river. Jen kept hurrying me. Although I knew how close the Palace was and that we had plenty of time, she knew we only had a 15 minute admission window for the exhibit and she hates to be late for anything. Thanks to her efforts we arrived quite early.

Visitors to the <b>Historic Green Vault</b> are required to check EVERYTHING before entry – all coats, bags, cameras. We used the coat check counter – charge of .50&euro;. I was not entirely comfortable with leaving my camera, passport, wallet, etc. with a coat check person. Later I saw that there were self-serve lockers that we could have used, and they were probably free (with a 1&euro; deposit).

After checking all of our belongings we were still early for our admission time. This actually worked out well as there is a good assortment of treasures in the “before” room – some of them quite extraordinary. Lots of the collection’s oldest items were displayed here. My favorites: the medieval rock crystal goblets, the drinking vessel of Czar Ivan the Terrible, and the very odd 15th century “Adder Tree.” This is a golden tree with Jesse on the ground, Madonna and Child in the branches, and lots of shark’s teeth hanging from the tree’s limbs.

As we were milling around, an announcement was made for us to queue, and a few minutes before 1:00 the guards began scanning the tickets and admitting people in ones and twos to the “air lock” type entrance. There are two very heavy doors. The first door opened, and we went through. The second door did not open until the first was completely closed behind us.

The rooms of the Historic Green Vault are set up to closely mirror the treasure chambers of August the Strong from the early 1700’s. Astonishingly, most of the rooms survived the bombing of Dresden in 1945, although three rooms were completely destroyed. All 8 rooms have been restored/rebuilt to their original splendor. They are filled with many of the treasures that were originally displayed in the rooms. Some objects have been lost over time, but overall this is the most extensive intact royal collection in Europe.

The Historic Green Vault rooms – the rooms themselves and the objects in them - move in sequence from lower to higher degrees of ornateness. The d&eacute;cor of each room reflects the relative value of the materials displayed. The first room is amber, the second ivory, the third white silver (most of the original contents were melted down in 1772, so the room now houses ruby glass in addition to some silver), followed by silver gilt, then the large precious stones hall (with the jewel encrusted Obelisk), coats of arms, jewel collection (where the famous “Moor with Basket of Emeralds” is displayed) and bronzes. The excellence of craftsmanship and the sheer number of ornamented treasures in these rooms is staggering.

Even more amazing is the fact that the most priceless of the treasures are displayed upstairs in the 10 rooms of the <b>New Green Vault</b> in a more traditional museum display. We tried to hit only the highlights, since we were pretty sated by what we’d seen downstairs. We found, however, that the objects were of such consistently high quality it was hard to breeze through. The very best room is the one dedicated to the creations of the court jeweler, John Melchior Dinglinger, notably the Golden coffee set and “The Throne of the Great Mogul Aureng-Zeb” tableau. The very last room is small and contains the “Dresden Green.” the largest green diamond in the world, beautifully cut and set in a pendant of precious stones. We thought this was the single most impressive thing. Jen bought a postcard of the diamond to send to her boyfriend hinting that would be the type of present she would love to receive(!)

By the time we left the Residenz, we were in a state of visual overload. There was just so much to look at, and nearly everything was ornate and detailed. Early medieval art is what makes my heart sing, but I am very glad that we saw this exquisite Baroque collection. Seeing it in the middle of Dresden, a Baroque city through and through (albeit rebuilt), provided an integrity of historical context.

We walked to the Zwinger so that Jen could see it, especially the Kronentor. I stayed to take a quick look at the <b>Old Masters</b> collection, but Jen had more than met her quota of museums, so she bowed out. We agreed to meet for dinner in an hour or so. In addition to the admission price I paid 5&euro; for a photography permit, which I had to attach to my camera in order to take (non-flash) photos of the paintings. I concentrated on the early Italian, German, and Flemish art. I was holding my camera, and in every gallery that I entered the guard was vigilant about confirming my photo permit. At the same time, in front of the major paintings, such as the Raphael <i>Sistine Madonna</i>, there were plenty of people shooting pictures with their cell phones and pocket digital cameras. If a place is going to be vigilant about something like photography, then be consistently vigilant!

I was able to see the museum’s special Cranach exhibit, which had been slated to close, but which was held over until summer. It was a fairly small exhibit, and not as strong as the excellent Cranach exhibit I saw in Prague in December, 2005. There were other Cranachs displayed in their usual places in the museum. My biggest beef was that the room housing the early German art had way too much glare from its many windows. There were some paintings that just couldn’t be viewed from any angle.

It seems like we are good for one ‘real’ meal per day. It was now time for today’s meal, and we were both hungry. There were several contenders, but we chose one within walking distance, the <b>Altmarktkeller S&auml;chsisch-B&ouml;misches Bierhaus</b>. This was a large but cozy beer cellar. The menu featured some pages of Saxon food and other pages of Bohemian cuisine. I ordered goulasch and Jen chose a platter of grilled meat (sharing some with me). For dessert, I had the apfelstrudel and Jen had some dumplings that had a berry filling and vanilla sauce. I think this worked out that I ordered Bohemian then Saxon and Jen ordered Saxon then Bohemian!

We finished the evening by watching Germany’s Next Top Model, which was hosted by Heidi Klum speaking in her native tongue. We agreed that the show – and the contestants - were much better the American version.

<b>My assessment of Dresden:</b> It makes a wonderful side trip from Berlin. The Green Vault may be my favorite thing we saw on this trip. I’m not the biggest Baroque fan in the world, but alt stadt Dresden really is so completely Baroque that it works well. It’s very hard to believe the devastation that this city suffered in WWII – the rebuilding has been very well done. And, although Dresden could have used at least one more day, spending two nights there made it feel less rushed (even though we really only had one day.) Given the time limits of our trip, I’m glad that we didn’t take any more time from Berlin.

<b>My recommendations for visiting the Green Vaults:</b>
1. If you visit, you should see both the Historic and the New Green Vaults.
2. You can buy a one-day pass for 12&euro; that includes the New Green Vault and the other State Museums (such as the Old Masters gallery, the porcelain collection, the arms &amp; armor collection, etc.) It does NOT include the Historic Green Vault, which has separate admissions prices, and, no price concessions.
3. Come to the Historic Green Vault 30 minutes early to check your belongings, pick up your audio guide, and see the “before” room (it is covered by the audio guide). Although you’ll come back out through this same room at the end, by then you will have seen so many treasures that it will be much harder to focus on the individual objects.
4. If possible, see the Historic Green Vault and the New Green Vault at different times or even different days, if possible. The admission tickets are completely separate, and you could easily have lunch in between viewing the two collections. I think that if we had separated our visits we could have appreciated the objects more.

Pictures from today: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZsmzZuzbHc

We're almost done! These next few days should be shorter, and I should have it all posted by tomorrow.

<i><u>Friday, March 30</u></i>

We were both glad that we visited Dresden, but we were excited to be heading back to Berlin. This was our earliest morning by far – we were up, postcards mailed, breakfast purchased and to the taxi stand by 8:30. Our train left Dresden at 9:05. We shared a compartment with 2 women who had been born in South Korea, but who lived in Germany. They spoke Korean non-stop for the 2 hour train ride. It kept Jen awake, but I found it rather good background sound (although I wasn’t trying to sleep!)

The Berlin Hauptbahnhof was decorated for Easter with huge pictures of rabbits. Jen reminded me that we needed new transit passes. It still surprised me that we could just hop on the trains and trams without depositing tokens, punching tickets, or having to show our pass. It seemed that there would be rampant cheating. We hadn’t seen any signs of the rumored plainclothes transit enforcers. We really got our money’s worth from our transit passes; many days we rode public transportation all day long.

We checked back into the M&ouml;venpick; our new room was next door to our previous room but was completely different inside. The bedroom and the bathroom were much larger and more normal in shape and configuration. Although it was nice to have the extra space, I actually missed the glass block wall of the bathroom. We both missed the seating alcove with the comfy chair.

In doing her research, Jen learned of the <b>Turkish market</b> that is held on Tuesday and Friday afternoons along the banks of the Landwehrkanal (just south of the Kottbusser Tor U-bahn station.) Once we left the train we just followed the stream of people heading to the market. Stalls were set up on both sides of the sidewalk on the canal side of Maybachufer street. We plunged in with the crowd. There are lots of food stalls: meat, fish, fresh produce, olives, nuts, couscous. And flowers, fabric, cheap children’s clothing, shoes, sweaters. The men behind the booths chant about their wares. About half the people shopping were Turkish women. These were either old, with wheeled plaid marketing carts, or young, with babies in strollers. Either way, we really had to watch our ankles.

We bought some dried fruit/walnut mix, turkish delight, grapes, more turkish delight, and a <i>g&ouml;zleme</i> (pastry filled with cheese and spinach) which we ate hot off the griddle – delicious! We were excited to find a 5 pack of socks for just a few euros (we were running out of clean socks in our suitcase.) One vendor was selling trinkets. We picked out a few things, some little metal bells that Jen wanted to bring back for her friends, a felted bag, mother-of-pearl earrings. The stall owner began to bargain with me. I joined in, which mortified Jen so much that I had to stop. I’m sure we ended up paying more than we should have, but it was pretty funny.

This was a wonderful way to spend an hour. On the way back to the U-bahn station I stopped at a shop and bought one of those plaid plastic(?) suitcases. It was all folded up, about the size of a magazine. The shopkeeper called it the “large” one. It cost 2,50&euro;, and I figured it would be good insurance in the event that I am not allowed to carry my big clock box on the plane – I’ll put the clock and my small duffel inside this plaid thing. When I looked at it later, I found that it is truly huge; maybe I should have looked at the “medium” one!

We decided to go back to KuDamm, and rode the U-bahn west to the end of the line. The train car was almost empty, and two men approached us. We tried to ignore them, but they spoke and sort of dangled a license in front of us. Suddenly we realized they were undercover transit police and were asking to see our tickets. So much for the scary strangers in the isolated rail car! We quickly pulled out our day passes which passed inspection.

We rode a bus up and down <b>KuDamm</b>. Our only stop was H&amp;M, and for once it disappointed us. It was very crowded, and Jen did find a couple of accessories she liked, but we thought the store had missed the mark with the spring line. We both agreed that the Madonna-designed collection was boring. It is being highly promoted (saw lots of ads for it in England also) but I cannot imagine the clothes are selling well. This was all the shopping Jen could do, so I know her foot was really bothering her. We never did get back to KaDeWe.

We took the U-bahn to Wittenberg Platz to pop in a hair salon we had passed earlier in the week. My husband is a huge fan of Alpecin shampoo (since 2002 when it was in our hotel room in Regensburg) and he requested that we bring back “5 bottles of the white stuff.” We had spotted Alpecin products in the window of this salon and hoped they would have the “white stuff” for sale. We created quite a stir walking into this tiny hair salon where no English was spoken and trying to convey that we wanted 5 bottles of shampoo. Who knew that Alpecin made so many different colors/types of shampoo? We finally found the “white stuff!” But there were only 2 bottles available. We grabbed those, and added 2 bottles of “doppel effekt” shampoo with caffeine. Since my husband loves caffeine in his coffee, I was hoping he’d enjoy it in his shampoo. (I found out when I got home that this shampoo is supposed to counter the effects of balding by stimulating the hair roots, or something. Well, he’s 56, so I suppose it may be a good product for him!)

By now it was 4:00pm, and Jen was ready to go back to the hotel and rest. I remembered that the M29 bus stopped at Wittenberg Platz and went right to our hotel. As an aside: the bus stop and tram stop shelters have benches, as do all of the U-bahn and S-bahn platforms. We never had trouble finding an available seat while waiting. We did have to stand on some buses, trams, and trains, but not often.

I got off the bus early to visit the <b>Gem&auml;ldegalerie</b> again. This time I saw the Dutch and Italian paintings. Heaven! Fabulous collection including Botticelli, Giotto, Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Lippi, Raphael, and even one painting by my favorite Italian painter, Gentile da Fabriano. I only saw one Vermeer, but I think the museum owns two. Did I miss one, or is it away on loan?

I also breezed through the <b>“Dior in Germany”</b> exhibit at the Kunstbibliotek in the same building (separate admission charge.) The exhibit, which covers the years 1947-1957, commemorates the 50th anniversary of Dior’s death. There were original Dior sketches, dresses, accessories and jewelry on display, as well as magazines, ads and photographs. Just as the museum reached closing time I managed to buy some art postcards and a terrific poster from the Dior exhibit. Jen is my fashion lover, so I knew she’d like the poster for her dorm room. I figured that since I was already going to be carrying a gigantic clock box with my luggage, why not a rolled poster also? http://www.modekultur.info/index_e/background_dior.htm (the poster has the photo of the model “Lucky” in the black ruffled dress, which is the last picture on the web page)

I returned to the hotel a little after 6:00. Jen was ensconced in the bed with her computer and the TV and she would not budge. It looked like we’d have to scrounge dinner from the snack bag and the fruit bowl again. Although we could probably have made that work, I ended up going to the little corner pizza shop and brought two individual margherita pizzas back to the room. We enjoyed the wonderful grapes from the Turkish market and watched two consecutive zoo shows, and then our favorite: Quiz Taxi!

Pictures from today: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZsmzZuzbIg

how long a ride was it to the Turkish market, and do you know what the hours are?

Would you put the Reichstag dome as a must-do? Is the appeal more in seeing the dome or the view of the city? I know that it is best to do it with the lunch reservation, so I just want to be sure it's worth making the commitment (more from the need to be there at a particular time, not the price)

We will be also going to Krakow this summer, so look for my report late August (I saw that is on your wish list)! (our itinerary: Krakow, Warsaw, Vilnius, Berlin, Hamburg)

I'm trying to figure out our Berlin hotel. I thought that with teens along, the Mitte area might be best, because it looks like that is a very lively place at night. I think the places I'm looking at are near the Haekaescher Markt? Otherwise, staying in Charlottenburg. Do you or anyone else reading this have thought on this? From what I can tell, it looks like you end up on the U-bahn no matter where you stay.

Dresden sounds lovely.

Were you able to see other parts of the Kunstbibliotek besides the temp. exhibition, and was the Kunstbibliotek worth it? I have it on my list as something I'd like to see but may not fit in. I generally like libraries, though.

Thanks noe847. That's probably the most detailed description of the Historic Green Vault that I have read online. I'm glad you liked it!

Both Green Vaults on one day plus the Old Masters Picture Gallery are indeed visual overload. Heavens! I was tired after the Historic Green Vault alone.

Joe, the Kunstbibiothek is NOTHING. Absolutely not worth to see. If you're interested in libraries then see the new State and University Library. It's quite interesting modern architecture plus it is home of the famous script of the Mayas (plus some other old scipts and prints), to see upon request in a special room.

skatedancer:
The Turkish market is not far; still in central Berlin, on the U-bahn 1 route. For us it was three stops from our hotel. If you were coming from the Hackescher Hofe area, you'd be 5 stops on the U-8 route. The market is in the same general area as the East Side Gallery, so they could be fairly easily combined.

My guidebook said that the Turkish market is from noon to 6pm on Tuesdays and Fridays. Here is a link about Berlin street markets that says 10am to 6pm. http://tinyurl.com/3d47c5 So, I guess afternoon is a safe bet!

I would put the Reichstag dome as a 'must-do' with or without lunch, that is, I say 'do it' even if it involved standing in line. It is marvelous for both the dome itself and for the views. Somehow you feel that you are doing something significant. The hours are quite long (entry until 10pm, open until 1am, I think) and I've read that the lines are shorter at night. It would be very cool to do after dark, and I think that's what I'll do next time.

As for scheduling, it is tricky to commit to particular dates and times to do things. I decided to book our lunch reservations (picked lunch for cheaper prices and more accessible menu) for the day we already had something else scheduled - our late afternoon train ride to Dresden. That way, we left ourselves flexible for potential day trips that would be more weather-dependent. Actually, I think my first choice was a for the Saturday that we landed, but the restaurant was fully reserved by the time that I called. Another good day could be a Monday, when lots of the other sights/museums are
closed.

My impression is that the Hackescher Market are would be a fun area of the city to stay. It is absolutely hopping when we saw it during the daytime. Plus, Museuminsel would be right there, and you'd be within walking distance of Nicolaiviertel. We never got to Charlottenburg (6.5 days in the city, and there's so much we didn't get to do!), so I can't comment on that area.

You are right about my interest in Krakow. I will be very interested in your experiences. Write your trip report fast :) because it looks like I will be going in mid-September. My husband and I will be Berlin for 8 nights, and I'm thinking of staying by myself an extra week so I can get to Krakow. I'll have to read some solo traveler accounts to psych myself up!

Thanks Ingo and JoeTro. Dresden was one of those places that really exceeded expectations, and the exhibits were of unusual excellence.

I have some Dresden/Green Vault links that I had intended to put in my trip report:

dresden museums
http://www.skd-dresden.de/en/info.html

green vaults:
http://www.skd-dresden.de/en/museen/..._gewoelbe.html

Here is a nice article from the Economist that describes the Historic Green Vault, the New Green Vault, and some history of the treasures and what happened during and after the war:
http://www.economist.com/displayStor...ory_id=7905259

I did not get to see any of the Kunstbibliotek, JoeTro. I barely had time for the Dior exhibit (I entered 45 minutes before closing, but they started shutting everything down and trying to shoo us out just a short while later.) I'm glad that Ingo can give an assessment on the library's value as a destination.

Ingo, I am interested in any information that you could provide about the new State and University Library.

<u><i>Saturday March 31</i></u>

This was our last day in Berlin!

Our original plan was to go to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Because of the deterioration of Jen’s feet, however, this seemed inadvisable. I had no idea how much walking would be involved, but I suspected it would be more than she could easily handle. The walking tour to Sachsenhausen took 6 hours, so that would be a lot of time on the feet. We debated for a while, then reluctantly decided that we would have to put this at the top of our list for the next visit.

The only scheduled item was to go to St. Hedwig’s for the 6:00pm vigil Mass. We had the rest of the day available. Hmmn, what to do? We briefly considered going to the zoo to try to see the little eisb&auml;r Knut. We didn’t have any info how Knut-spotting was being handled, however, and suspected there would be a huge crowd on a sunny Saturday the first week the little guy was out on public display. We also concluded that there would likely be too much walking at the zoo.

We decided to spend the day seeing the things we’d read or heard about that still intrigued us, keeping walking to a minimum by riding public transportation as close as we could to each site. During the course of the day we became even more adept at public transportation, as we repeatedly rode the S-bahn, the U-bahn, the bus and the tram. Here’s a summary of our stops:

Breakfast at <b>Caf&eacute; Einstein</b>
I suggested other places on my list, but we settled on our stand-by, the Caf&eacute; Einstein. As Jen said, “Why mess with perfection?” We took the M29 bus this time, which left from the hotel and stopped just a block or two from the caf&eacute;. We ordered our usual food and varied the drinks once again. I had hot chocolate and fresh-squeezed o.j., Jen ordered iced capaccino and orangina (blood orange flavor). We probably should have tried the Caf&eacute; Einstein branch at Unter den Linden, but it was our last day and we were feeling sentimental about our favorite breakfast spot .
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<b><u><i>Scheunenviertel (old Jewish quarter)</i></u></b>
Jen has spent a lot of time in her class learning about this area of Berlin, and had some specific sights to see.

<b>The O&amp;G (Obst &amp; Gemuse) bar</b>
There is something famous about the history of this bar, but I think you might need to be taking her German class to know, since I can’t locate any info on the internet about it. We took her picture in front of the bar with the bar worker who was cleaning windows.

<b>Tacheles</b>
This ruined building (across the street from the O&amp;G) became a center for avante garde artists in the early 1990’s. We gave a little look around. What we saw seemed a bit self-conscious, more hanger-on than cutting-edge, but that could be my woeful lack of knowledge of the contemporary art scene.

<b>Neue Synagogue</b>
Down the street a little bit was this gorgeous synagogue built in 1866, which was burned on Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938. On the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht restoration work began, but only the fa&ccedil;ade and the dome were rebuilt, with the rest standing as a memorial.

<b>Rosa Luxemburg Platz</b>
Another place that was featured in Jen’s German class. Brass quotations from Rosa Luxemburg, a Polish-born German communist, are imbedded in the pavement of the sidewalk. From what I gathered, there was a confrontation there between the communists and the Nazis in the 1930’s(?) I may well be quite mistaken about the history, but I can say that Jen was pretty excited to get pictures of these places to take back to show her class.

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<b><u><i>Prenzlauer Berg</i></u></b>
It was great to see this neighborhood again. We stopped in a nifty little home goods shop close to Prenzlauer Allee and made a few purchases: aprons, printed plastic tablecloths (we thought they were tote bags when we bought them), egg cups printed with the street map of Berlin, hanging postcard holders.

<b>Water Tower</b>
I wanted to see the Water Tower in the daytime. In addition to the fat water tower, on a raised grassy area there is a tall skinny tower and a smaller round building. Somewhere I read the nicknames of these buildings, but I can’t find it now  Up top there are benches and lovely views of the neighborhood. Also on the property is a very large playground, The best part: a plaza with table tennis and these big bouncy squares – like gentle trampolines – level with the ground. One article called this area a “hip cruise ship.” Lots of families were out enjoying the afternoon. There was what looked like a street market, but we didn’t investigate.

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<b><u><i>Nicolaiviertel</i></u></b>
This is the oldest part of Berlin, with the original street layout, a medieval church, and reconstructed buildings. From what I’d read, the East Germans rebuilt this area as a showpiece for Berlin’s 750’s anniversary in 1989, including reconstructing some historic buildings from other parts of Berlin. It is a charming, intimate area, although very small. There were lots of people walking around and street musicians outside the Nicolaikirche. We found a lovely little shop that sold Latvian woolens and Estonian wooden wares and table linens. We bought felted wool socks that were made in Berlin to Latvian design and some beautiful wooden spoons. The fountain outside the <b>Red Rathaus</b> was beautifully lit at night when we came back to this area for dinner at Zur Rippe.

<b>Nicolaikirche</b>
This 13th century church is now deconsecrated and functions as a museum. I didn’t stay very long, but did see the “Spandau Madonna.” I think some of its religious artwork was moved to the nearby Marienkirche. At the shop here I bought a fantastic map “Berlin Panoramakarte &amp; Stadtplan.” It is in German and English (“Berlin Panoramic Map and Street Plan”) ISBN 83-87442-63-1; one side has a bird’s eye panoramic view of the streets and buildings of Berlin; the other has a detailed street map. It is very large, so would be impractical for carrying around for daily navigation, but is a very useful aid for planning a trip – and for review, I’m finding.

<b>Public WC</b>
Just have to mention this very welcome sight near the Marienkirche, convenient to Nicolaiviertel and the TV Tower area. Well worth the nominal charge!

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<b><u><i>Unter den Linden</i></u></b>
We spent the last part of our afternoon at this quintessential Berlin promenade. It was bustling with people. We ended up sitting on a bench in the sun and watching the changing show on the street and sidewalk. The only thing that marred the sight was the huge advertisement for Madonna’s H&amp;M collection hanging on the Kronprinzenpalais, which was under renovation.

<b>Neue Wache/Memorial to the victims of War and Tyranny</b>
Within this classicist former guardhouse, the remains of an unknown soldier are buried here among soil from WWII battlefields, and the remains of an unknown concentation camp prisoner are buried among soil from concentration camps. From the entrance of the building, you look into a central courtyard, where there is a replica of Kathe Kollwitz’ Mother with Dead Son sculpture (larger than the original), under an oculus in the roof which is open to the elements. The plaque mounted on the building is pictured in my photos, and is worth a read.

<b>Opera Caf&eacute;</b>
This caf&eacute; is in the former Crown Princess Palace. We had a mid-afternoon snack of torte (fig mousse torte for Jen, quite exceptional cheesecake for me) and orange juice. And as a last fling in Berlin, we came back to this caf&eacute; after dinner for hot chocolate and dessert (chocotorte for Jen, marzipantorte for me – the best of the week)!!

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<b><u><i>Bebel Platz</i></u></b>
This is just behind the Opera on Unter den Linden.

<b>Book burning memorial</b>
We were able to see this memorial twice today: in daylight and at night (after the nearby Opera Cafe.) It is a square of glass laid in the pavement of Bebelplatz. Looking down through the glass we could see a white room lined with white bookcases, all the shelves empty in tribute to the 25,000 books burned by the Nazis in 1933. At night this was particularly striking; the room is illuminated and glows ghostly white in the darkness.

<b>St. Hedwig’s </b>
We returned this week to Mass, arriving a bit before 6:00pm. After exploring the inside, including the side chapels in the downstairs area (I’d like to go back to visit this church after reading more about it in English), I casually rechecked my printout and learned that I had the time wrong - the service on Saturdays was at 7:00 (it’s 6:00 on Sundays.) Jen had a minor meltdown at my mistake, but it gave us time to return to our hotel, drop our packages and big camera, call to change our dinner reservations, and return to the church.

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<b>Zur Rippe</b>
This cozy restaurant in Nicolaiviertel was perfect for our final dinner – nice pub with a menu of Berlin specialties. We each ordered the special: grillhaxe with crackling, rye bread and mustard and .5 liter of the beer of our choice – for 8,50&euro; apiece. It was delicious, even better than the grillhaxe at Zur Leztzen Instanz.

After dinner, and our wonderful dessert at the Opera Caf&eacute;, we took our last bus down the length of Unter den Linden, and our last S-bahn ride to Anhalter Bahnhof.

I stayed busy packing up to leave in the morning. I rolled the Dior poster very tight so a to minimize the chance of creasing, and put it in the shopping bag with the big clock. This would be, I hoped, one of my carry on items. Just in case, I had my secret weapon: the plaid plastic “suitcase.” I tested the plaid bag out to make sure it would fit the clock box and duffle if necessary. Once unfolded that plaid bag was massive! It wasn’t so much of a suitcase as a REALLY big, zipping rectangular bag with handles. I think it would have fit all of my checked and carry-on bags.

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ps:
Here is a blog entry I found that is dedicated to the type of plaid plastic suitcase that I bought. ( I typed &quot;cheap plaid suitcase&quot; into Google.) I knew it would hold my clock + small duffle, but I wasn't relishing the thought of trying to carry the thing.
http://koranteng.blogspot.com/search/label/plaid