Rachele

Just got back from London, Prague and Berlin and had an amazing time. My sister lives in London (Crouch End area), so we stayed with her, and since she has a small child, most of our meals were are home. Fortunately, she's a great cook! We took a little side trip down to Chartwell (Churchill's country home) and then stayed over down in Brighton. Chartwell is amazing, a National Trust property, and so well cared for. The grounds are just great and make for a really nice morning. Brighton is kind of kitchy but fun (it reminded me a bit of the Jersey shore) and we had great fish & chips at a restaurant called The Regency.

On 5/22 we took EasyJet from London Stansted to Prague (about $50 bucks a person!) My husband and I have had really good experiences with both EasyJet and Ryanair and recommend them both highly! We got in about 20 minutes early. We stayed in the Stare Mesto at the Hotel Clementin which is about a 3 minute walk from the Charles Bridge. Very nice small hotel with small but nicely but together rooms with a young staff that went out of their way to please. The hotel is in a 14th century building that I think is the narrowest existing building in Prague. We also thought it was extremely clean. We had a wonderful private guide in Prague named Sarka Pelantova ([email protected]). We found out about her in Rick Steves and she was great... really fun and informative and it was nice to get a personal spin on things. Had great beer and good food at a bunch of places, and we had very good luck in the Kampa Island area. The jewish sites in Prague are really interesting and moving, and it's just one of those great towns to walk around and kind of get lost in, find a nice beer garden and enjoy the day! We also enjoyed checking out the Museum of Communism near Wecheslas Sq. On 5/25 we took the train to Berlin -- not the quickest ride (4.75 hours), but very pleasant. It seemed to mostly follow a river (the Elbe?) and past little cottages with cute gardens. Very relaxing.... We arrived in Berlin and took the S Bahn from Ostbahnhof to Haekeser (sp?) Market in the Mitte- we stayed at the SAS Radisson about 5 minutes walk from the S Bahn right by the Spree river and the Berliner Dom. Nice, modern hotel with nice amenities and a huge acquarium in the lobby. We ended up eating a lot of Italian food in Berlin -- we don't eat meat, so that pretty much ruled out German food! We had plenty of great beer, of course. Took a great walking tour called Original Berlin Walks that was only 9 Euro if you had a Welcome Card, and it was great. Super informative and interesting, and I felt like I saw things I never would have found. Berlin is so spread out and under construction, things can get confusing! We found the city fascinating. The Brandenberg Tor was impressive and the new memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was unlike anything I'd ever seen and very moving. It just opened a few weeks ago and is a must. We went to the top of the Reichstag and the views and the dom itself were awesome. We flew back to London on Ryanair (you can reach Schoenfeld airport from the S-Bahn) and took a boat down the Thames to Greenwich, which is a nice day trip in London (the Cutty Sark is there the Greenwich meridian). Had lunch at the Trafalgar Tavern which was good and convenient. Flew back to NYC on Virgin. V. fun trip -- please post if you need any further details! Thanks for advise I got from this forum. It's great!

Kate

Rachele, thanks for coming back with a trip report. I've never been to Berlin, really must make more of an effort.

elaine

Hi
I have friends who combined a trip to Prague with a visit to Berlin a couple of years ago, and they raved about how wonderful Berlin is (in spring, at least)
That, and your comments have certainly whetted my appetite for a visit there
Glad you liked Prague too

Rachele

Thanks Kate & Elaine. It was a great time. Berlin was incredibly interesting and kind of surprising. There is so much construction going on, and then there is the Tiergarden (their Central Park) which is absolutely beautiful and you feel like you aren't in the city. I also never thought of Berlin as a river oriented city, but we took a boat trip down the river and it's a significant part of the city and a good time. It was nice ending our trip on the top of the Reichstag where you can check out the view and see everyplace you've been (and unfortunately things you didn't get to). I hope you make it there -- Berlin was definitely a unique place. And we did love Prague too -- I gets really crowded and times and you need to strategize a little to avoid the throngs, but we made it work and enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

ChevyChasen

yes please do tell us more!
i will be going later this summer.
how long is the original walks tour? can you plan anything else on a walk day or will it exhaust you? also would people (like my wife) who do not know that much about wwii/cold war history enjoy the tour with me?
my wife is into river boat trips- where do you catch them and how long do they take?which boat company did you use? how long do you need to queue to get up the reichstag? sorry for so many questions & thanks

Rachele

Chevy, the Original Walks tour was pretty long -- it started around 10:30am(if you meet up with them in East Berlin where we were staying) and lasted until about 2:15pm. It was pretty tiring but really worth it. My husband and I are very into history, but I think anyone would have found the walk interesting. It goes through Museum Island, the Unter den Linden, Brandenberg Gate, the new Holocaust Jewish memorial, some former WWII/Wall/Communist sites and ends near Checkpoint Charlie, so it's a lot of walking. The guides all seem to be fun and interesting and move a long at a good pace. It was a hot day, and probably will be for you, so you should probably bring sunscreen, water and a hat! I think they had a website, I would just search Original Berlin Walks. After the walk, we had a bite to eat (a mexican place across from the Checkpoint Charlie museum that was actually really good!) and then went to the museum. After that we stopped for a beer and then caught the boat for a 5:00pm run. We stayed right near the Berliner Dom just across the river from Museum Island and the boats were right next to our hotel (SAS Radisson). There are about 3 or 4 different boats offering tours that last about an hour along the Spree River right by the Dom. If you take the walking tour in the AM, you'll see the signs when you start the tour when you cross the river to Museum Island and the Lustgarden. I think the tours are mostly in German (ours was and we don't speak it!) but we had a great time anyway -- most of the buildings were recognizable, and we had a guide book and a map. We did it mostly to relax, anyway. They serve beverages (we had beer of course) and some snacks on most of the boats, so that's nice too. It's reasonable (5 euro each - not including the beer!) as well. As far as the Reichstag, we got on line at about 5:15pm and waited about 30 minutes to get in. It was really hot, but definitely worth it to go in the dome and see the great views from the top. We had gone by at around 10:30am and the line was just ridiculous. One of the people working there said it would be at least 1 hour and 30 minutes, so we decided to go back later in the day and were glad we did. It's a really interesting city -- I hope you have a great time!

ChevyChasen

Thanks so much Rachele! Cant wait to go

Rachele

You're welcome. Have a great time.

grebbs

Just read this trip report..sounds great..appreciated reading your journal.