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| Peter and Oma on the ICE to Berlin |
After waking at 5:30 we did a few language lessons then made our way to the breakfast area of the Eden Hotel Wolff where we had our usual excellent buffet breakfast for the last time this trip. We have come to enjoy the variety and quality of bread and fruit. We were proud of Peter’s willingness to try new things with an open mind, and he found the Bavarian breakfast to definitely to his liking. Although Bavaria is our favorite part of Germany, there are several things around Berlin that we wanted to see. Checking out of the hotel was quick since the travel agent had pre-paid for our room. The travel agency, to-europe.com, got much better rates on the rooms than we could ever have made on our own.
The Hauptbahnhof is a short walk from our hotel and we found our track quickly. Mary had upgraded us to an ICE train since it makes very few stops and travels at a much higher rate of speed. The other train going from Munich to Berlin (IC train) would take four hours, but the ICE made the trip in less than three hours. Using the information and tickets provided by the travel agent, we found our train car (wagon 28) quickly then got to seats 33, 34 and 36 and found that the seats were around a table with fold out leaves. We shared the table with a pleasant young German man in seat 35.
The five-hour train ride passed quickly since the seats were comfortable and we could get up and move through the train if needed. We made it to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof a little after 1 pm and walked the short distance to the Adina Hotel where we checked into our room on the 4th floor. The room was very nice with a small kitchen, washer and drier, a king sized bed in a separate room and a comfortable side bed in the sitting room.
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| Brandenburg Gate |
After unpacking, we got directions to the nearest post office from the front desk at the Adina Hotel. It cost about $1.25 for each postcard stamp to send expedited to Peter’s parents, Nicholas, his grandfather and to the Ferrell boys. Mary had picked up a guide to the walking tour in Berlin and we made our way to the Brandenburg Gate. This 18th century gate is located on the site of the older city gate constructed around 1670 following the Thirty Years War.
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| Potsdamer Platz |
Because of the many tall buildings in Berlin, Mary’s cell signal was very weak making navigation difficult. After several navigation errors we decided to purchase tickets on the “Hop-on, Hop-off” bus. The price for an unlimited two day pass was $118 euros including a night tour through Berlin at a day of our choosing. We laughed because the young man selling the passes said that he wanted to try to conserve paper but the receipt with all of our passes was about 12 feet long. After printing, he realized that he had failed to give us the 25% discount from the travel agent so he refunded our payment, printed a refund receipt then another 12 feet of receipt. We were issued earbuds that we could plug into jacks providing narration in any of fifteen languages. We took the bus by several locations but didn’t get off until we were at Potsdamer Platz where we decided to explore on our own.
From Potsdamer Platz, we followed the path of the Berlin Wall using cobblestone markers along the streets. When we came to the “Topography of Terror Center” we followed a remaining section of the Berlin Wall taking some snapshots and reading about the history of the wall beginning in 1961 and continuing to the fall in 1989. An interesting exhibit at the center dealt with what Germans knew about the Holocaust and the Nazi propaganda that was passed to German citizens in the 1930s and 40s. Since we were starting to get hungry, we walked back to Potsdamer Platz for dinner.
The square got its name because it sits at the location where the road to the city of Potsdam passed through the city wall around Berlin. The open square was used for military drills and parades. Potsdamer Platz was completely destroyed during Allied bombing in World War II then was later divided by the Berlin Wall in 1961. The area experienced extensive redevelopment following German in reunification in the 1990s. The first traffic light in Europe was in Potsdamer Platz in 1924. The 100-year-old traffic light remains on display in Potsdamer Platz.
There were a lot of food stands at Potsdamer Platz offering sausages, beer, pastries and other choices. Mary found a place with crepes while Peter and I went to a stand with sausages and Frikadelle which are like a patty of meatloaf on a roll like a hamburger. All of the meats were cooking on a wood-fired grill and smelled delicious. Peter had currywurst with pommes (fries) which he liked a lot. I was really surprised that he liked the curry ketchup. He was also able to pump regular ketchup on his fries. I started to have one of the foot-long bratwursts on a brotchen (bun) but I opted for the Frikadelle which was really good. We ate at an outdoor table by the Warsteiner tap. I had a weißbier, Mary and Peter had lemonade.
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From Potsdamer Platz, we followed the path of the Berlin Wall using cobblestone markers along the streets. When we came to the “Topography of Terror Center” we followed a remaining section of the Berlin Wall taking some snapshots and reading about the history of the wall beginning in 1961 and continuing to the fall in 1989. An interesting exhibit at the center dealt with what Germans knew about the Holocaust and the Nazi propaganda that was passed to German citizens in the 1930s and 40s. Since we were starting to get hungry, we walked back to Potsdamer Platz for dinner.
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| Peter at the Berlin Wall |
The square got its name because it sits at the location where the road to the city of Potsdam passed through the city wall around Berlin. The open square was used for military drills and parades. Potsdamer Platz was completely destroyed during Allied bombing in World War II then was later divided by the Berlin Wall in 1961. The area experienced extensive redevelopment following German in reunification in the 1990s. The first traffic light in Europe was in Potsdamer Platz in 1924. The 100-year-old traffic light remains on display in Potsdamer Platz.
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| Peter with a currywurst |
There were a lot of food stands at Potsdamer Platz offering sausages, beer, pastries and other choices. Mary found a place with crepes while Peter and I went to a stand with sausages and Frikadelle which are like a patty of meatloaf on a roll like a hamburger. All of the meats were cooking on a wood-fired grill and smelled delicious. Peter had currywurst with pommes (fries) which he liked a lot. I was really surprised that he liked the curry ketchup. He was also able to pump regular ketchup on his fries. I started to have one of the foot-long bratwursts on a brotchen (bun) but I opted for the Frikadelle which was really good. We ate at an outdoor table by the Warsteiner tap. I had a weißbier, Mary and Peter had lemonade.
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| Peter at Checkpoint Charlie |
After we had eaten, we walked the short distance to Checkpoint Charlie, a major crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. It was called Checkpoint Charlie because it was the third checkpoint opened by the Allies and used the NATO alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie) for the checkpoints. The checkpoint was the only border crossing officially authorized for use by military personnel and diplomats. The structure at Checkpoint Charlie has been used in many movies including “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”, “Octopussy”, and “Bridge of Spies”. We took several photos then went into a gift shop so Peter could purchase a snowglobe and a small piece of the Berlin Wall.
We caught a subway from Checkpoint Charlie to Invalidenpark near the Adina Hotel. We believe that Invalidenstrasse and the park were named because of the number of hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the area. We relaxed a bit in the room before deciding on our Saturday outing to the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen near Oranienburg, about 45 minutes from Berlin by subway. We turned in with Peter on the roomy sofa bed and us in the separate bedroom. We all went to sleep quickly and slept well.
We caught a subway from Checkpoint Charlie to Invalidenpark near the Adina Hotel. We believe that Invalidenstrasse and the park were named because of the number of hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the area. We relaxed a bit in the room before deciding on our Saturday outing to the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen near Oranienburg, about 45 minutes from Berlin by subway. We turned in with Peter on the roomy sofa bed and us in the separate bedroom. We all went to sleep quickly and slept well.
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