travelgirl2, that's a good question. We tend to be "serial travelers", returning to our favorite places for a re-visit. It's kind of like coming home when we get back to a place that we've been and enjoyed.

My first trip to Europe was 2 weeks of cross country skiing and train travel to Germany/Austria back in 1983 (my husband had been to the region previously). We each could speak a tiny bit of German.

It turned out that both my daughters studied German, so we took them to Germany/Austria for 2 Christmas breaks while they were in high school. All of this travel was to Bavaria and Austria (and Prague), and we'd never been north of Frankfurt/Aschaffenburg (where we have relatives).

My younger daughter has continued her study of German, and that is her major in college. She spent last summer in an immersion program, and is quite proficient in German, so Berlin seemed a natural choice for her spring break last year.

We found Berlin to be an energetic, vibrant, cultured, interesting city. It is so big and so spread out that it really takes several days to get a good feel for the place. We knew that the other 2 members of our family would also enjoy Berlin.

My husband and I decided to have a get away trip in September and we had several options on the table: Scottish highlands and islands, Norway, Italy, or Berlin. He chose Berlin and I was happy to go back (and very happy to be traveling with him).

When we realized that the girls' spring breaks would be the same week this year (for the first time in 4 years) we decided to take one last family trip (the oldest is graduating in May). Again we talked about several possible destinations, but Berlin won out. We really want our older daughter to see the city, and both my younger daughter and my husband had finished their respective one week visit to Berlin wanting more. I'm the only one who will be visiting for the third time and I enjoy it enough to be happy with that. They will all find it relaxing to stay for a whole week in one spot, and Berlin has plenty to keep us occupied.

I'll add that I have been other places in Europe, including a "roots" trip to Romania. I've been to various parts of the UK seven times. 2008 will bring me back there twice more: to London in April for a quick getaway with my husband and to Scotland in August with my younger daughter.

I have several other destinations on my "short list" for future trips, but I know I will always enjoy returning to my favorites.

noe-- I always love returning to my favorites too. It's fun to feel at home and yet discover new things.

Out of curiosity, where did your daughter do her immersion program? How did she like it?

On another note-- we've found that our kids still want to travel with us, so don't worry that this will be a last family trip! As long as you go somewhere they want to go, they'll manage to come!

<We purchased a first class Eurail Twin pass at the airport train station, good for 5 train travel days in a 30 day window. €380/$530.>

380 euro x 1.55 = $595, figuring in charges for foreign exchange, etc.???

Surie, I do hope the travel with the girls will continue because they are the most fun travel companions. They do have more time at their disposal while they are still in school.

My daughter was in the Middlebury program last summer. They do an excellent job in their language schools and she emerged from her 7 weeks much more confident in her German. Middlebury has a 'language pledge' where each student pledges to speak, read, write only the chosen language for the entire time. This extends to computer, tv, etc.

PalenQ, I'm pretty sure this was the rate in September when we traveled. I think I took the $ amount from my credit card statement.

probably - i neglected reading Sept and just honed in on 03/02

even at current rates a great deal - i'm sure you saved tons over regular walkup flexible fares

and i would always say first class IME is infinitively finer than 2nd class as 2nd class can get quite crowded

i was on trains in Germany in Jan with a pass and loved just hopping on

i always enjoy reading about one of my very favorite cities - Berlin

thanks

We too are train travelers - have always used the trains exclusively on our 5 trips to Germany. On this upcoming trip I will probably rent a car once we leave Berlin because we are planning to visit some pretty small villages.

<b>Old Bits of Berlin</b>

<u>Chapel of the Holy Ghost</u>
This chapel is the only remaining part of a medieval hospital. It was small and fairly empty but did have some nice sculptures on the arches. It is located in Mitte.

<u>Marienkirche</u>
This medieval church is adjacent to the communist-era TV tower, the steeple and the tower make an interesting juxtaposition. It’s worth going inside to see the late medieval wall mural of the <i>Dance of Death</i>.

<u>St. Nikolaikirche/Nikolaiviertel</u>
This is another medieval church just a few blocks from Marienkirche. Nikolaiviertel is as close to an altstadt as Berlin gets. It is a lively area of winding streets, attractive shops, and fun restaurants.

<b>Old Town Spandau</b>
Spandau used to be a separate town but is now part of Berlin. The s-bahn brought me right to the center of the old town, where I walked the streets (some half-timbered structures) and explored the following:

<u>Farmers market</u>
In the middle of the altstadt I picked up food for a quick picnic

<u>Old town wall</u>
There is a fairly small section of intact medieval town wall.

<u>St. Nicholas church</u>
14th century gothic church in the middle of the old town

<u>Renaissance Fortress</u>
This is said to be the best preserved Renaissance fortress in northern Europe. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Havel and Spree. It is a fairly large fortress complex built in the Italian style.
http://www.berlin.de/tourismus/sehen....en/00175.html
or
http://www.bfr.pl/index.php?option=c...&amp;Itemid=39

<u>Julius Tower</u>
Built in 1230, it is part of an earlier castle which was incorporated into the Renaissance Fortress. The tower is 30 meters high, and gives great views, including of Potsdam and Berlin.

<u>Gothic House</u>
This is the oldest structure in Spandau. You can see some fabulous old rooms, including some original painted ceilings, and a cross section of the wall. There is a nice little museum upstairs

<u>St. Mary’s Catholic church</u>
This 19th century (iirc) church has some stunning painted walls. I almost didn’t stop here, but am so glad I did. It is a beautiful church and the volunteers/guides I met there were some of the nicest people I met on the trip.

One fun family activity that your family may enjoy doing is karting in Berlin. It's different than the ones we have in California. My kids and I had such a blast racing each other in Berlin, while my wife had a drink at the bar. We've only been to a couple but here's a complete list:

Kart-World und Freizeitpark Am Juliusturm GmbH - www.kart-world-berlin.de -
Go-Kart und Freizeitzentrum Niederg&ouml;rsdorf
JFK Jugendfreizeitkart GmbH -
Kartland - www.kartland.de
EFK Kart- und Eventcenter Berlin
Mobi Grand Prix Kart - www.mobi-kart.de NEW &amp; SUPERFAST 9 PS Honda racer
Andreas Straube - www.straube-motorsport.de
ROK Kart Hallenbahn Indoorkartbahn Rokitta - www.rok-kart.de

Like you, we also thoroughly enjoyed Berlin, this upcoming summer visit will be my 9th or 10th visit. We were supposed to venture out to Budapest or Krakow but everyone expressed that they'd rather hang out in Berlin.

noe-- your report is great. Very interesting to hear about Spandau. I've been curious about it and it sounds like it would be a good excursion.

Your daughter's summer at Middlebury sounds idyllic, and a good idea to do that before her semester abroad.

Hope you keep going on the report!

DAX, thanks for the kart info. My husband is intrigued and we will bring the list with us.

Surie, Spandau's altstadt is definitely an anomaly when you consider that it's part of Berlin now. It feels like a small town. Depending on how many days you have in Berlin, it makes for a nice excursion. I wouldn't make it my top priority for a first trip, but it was great as part of my second visit. But I am especially susceptible to very old buildings (I have a special soft spot for Romanesque).

I have a few more posts before I finish this report: next will be the Quedlinburg day trip. After that Cologne (which is not written) and then maybe a wrap-up and a picture link.

<b>Day trip to Quedlinburg</b>

I had a long list of potential side trips from Berlin, but the promise of 1600 half-timbered buildings lured me to Quedlinburg, a UNESCO World Heritage site 3 hours from Berlin by train (including one connection). I left on a 7:30am train and returned to Berlin in time to meet my husband for dinner. That gave me around 6 hours: time to walk all the streets in the altstadt and poke into several shops and churches. I took a million pictures.

At one point as I was walking with my very obvious SLR camera in hand, a local woman pushing a stroller beckoned to me and led me to one of the towers in the old city wall – the <u>Sternkiekerturm</u>. I fed in some coins to open the turnstile so I could climb up 3 or 4 stories for a great view over the town. The tower, which had been heavily altered over the years, was on the grounds of the Schlosshotel “Zum Markgrafen.” (It was actually one of two medieval towers on the hotel’s grounds).

The <u>half-timbered houses</u> were pretty wonderful. They spanned several centuries, and were in various stages of repair. Some were spectacularly restored, many were under scaffolding, and lots more stood in crumbling decrepitude. Many had no plaster, and I absolutely loved seeing the different patterns of brickwork between the timbers. The weather was very cloudy and gray for the first part of the day, and my pictures are moody and a little somber. Eventually the sun came out and the houses really sparkled in the brilliant sunshine.

The oldest half-timbered house in Germany, from the 14th century, is now the <u>Fachwerkmuseum St&auml;nderbau</u>, but it was closed on Thursdays.

My very favorite part of Quedlinburg was the Romanesque <u>church of St. Servatius</u> on the <u>Burgberg</u>, a former hilltop convent complex on the southern edge of town. The sanctuary was simply amazing – huge, heavy and still. Treasure rooms adjacent to the choir (up some stairs behind the altar) are filled with jewel-encrusted bibles and reliquaries. The oldest knotted tapestry in Europe was displayed in a room above the gift shop. There are some other buildings on the hilltop, including the <u>Residenzbau</u> which contains a <u>Schlossmuseum</u>. I didn’t have time to tour this, although the collection sounds interesting and eclectic (ice age fossils, regional costumes, etc.).

I ended up running for the train, which I made with less than 30 seconds to spare.

I don't remember doing this, but apparently I uploaded the pictures from the Quedlinburg day:
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZsmzZuzUQwg
And, btw, I guess there were three medieval towers on the hotel property.

Thank you for this enormously helpful and well organized trip report! Filing away both for my future trip reports and for my upcoming trip to Berlin with my husband and in-laws.

xxx

If you want to sample some pretty decent Thai food, try &quot;Good Time&quot;. Located on Hausvogteiplatz, just one block east of Gendarmenmarkt.
For lunch, most main courses from the daytime menu are 10 Euros or less.

The 12 Apostel is indeed a place where quality of service (and food) can change a lot from one day to the next!

Wonderful report. I was just thinking about going to Berlin. Must be ESP. ((*))

Enjoyed your pictures of Quedlinburg, it jogged my memory of the place. In some ways the renovations are too perfect that some of the natural charm is lost. They ought to replant the vines and brushes around some of those timber buildings. Thanks for sharing your picture album.

Thanks, Cowboy1968. I'll make a note of the Thai restaurant - all 4 of us love Thai food and the price is right!

Just a quick update: I called Red Maps to get another copy of the Berlin map and found that they now accept credit cards. Makes the ordering even easier. (212 255-4645)