We are trying a few different things this trip. First we are packing lighter, not as many clothes and not packing things “we might need” only what we know we will use. Secondly, we are adding more train travel to our plan. The trains are so easy and dependable and with less luggage we hope it works well.
Our trip started with a long travel day, a three hour car drive from Yanbu to Jeddah (closest international airport), a 2 hour wait to catch the plane, a four hour flight to Istanbul and another four hours to Frankfurt. After travelling all night, we arrived in Frankfurt mid-morning, we made it through immigration very quickly. It was very nice to not have checked baggage, no waiting to pick it up or having to carry it. From the airport, we had to take an inner city train from the airport train station to the main Bahnhof (train station) to catch the train to Berlin.
The train from Frankfurt to Berlin was OK, not as comfortable as I would have liked but nice. They had small footrests that Elizabeth was able to use to get more comfortable and she liked it. We passed through an area that was full of wind powered generators, several hundred within a few kilometers. We kept gazing across the countryside as the train sped toward Berlin. It is so weird when you start to get excited when you see cattle and pigs in the pastures, you realize how different life is in Saudi Arabia. Forests, crops and plain old grass are all sights you take for granted until you don’t see them.
We arrived in Berlin late afternoon and took a taxi to the hotel Concorde. It turned out to be a very nice hotel near the Ku’Damm (major shopping district in what was West Berlin before the reunification). Later we went to the Europa Center, saw the clock of flowing time . The Kaiser Wilhelm Church (one of my favorite sights in Berlin) was being worked on, we did not go inside today, it was too late and was closed for the evening. All around Berlin we kept seeing statues of Bears, we found out they are Buddy Bears and they are cute and interesting.
It was easy to get to Zoo Bahnhof, from our hotel however, I was having trouble getting used to the train map and figuring out the platforms. Since we got into Berlin fairly early we had time to go to the Reichstag and the Brandenburg gate on the first evening. There were street artists, drawing on the sidewalk, others dressed in costumes and others playing with large bubble wands. There were also some street musicians playing violins and sax. I always enjoy listening to the street musicians. We walked around a while and then we ate at a sidewalk cafe in the median of Unter den Linden, a large tree lined boulevard similar to the Champs-Élysées in Paris. We had a Kabob (Shawarma sandwich) and a Bratwurst (Brat) sandwich , we watched the sun set behind the gate. As darkness fell on the city we watched the flood lights illuminate the Brandenburg Gate. It was very nice, almost as nice as the Eiffel tower, but not quite as magnificent. It was a very nice evening.
We got off to a good start and went back to the Reichstag building, the Brandenburg gate and Unter den Linden . We rode the S-Bahn downtown, but are still having trouble with S-Bahn directions. We stayed around downtown and watched the town wake up. It being Saturday, it quickly got very busy with street people and tourists. We saw quite a few "street actors" that each had their gimmick to make money. Guys dressed as East German Secret Police ( Stasi ) that you could get your picture with, one guy dressed in Soviet Military clothing stamping postcards with various “official” stamps. People dressed in bear costumes, as Darth Vader and other movie personalities. It was very nice to listen to the soft jazz or violin music being played by the street musicians.
We rode down Unter de Linden in a bicycle taxi to get to the Victory Column. We spent some time at the Victory column and went to the top for a great views of the Tiergarten. We sat at the cafe near the column and had cold drinks. You have to go underground to cross under the street and get to the Victory column. There were more street musicians playing in the underground corridors, you could hear them from far away and it was nice.
Later in the afternoon, we rode the S-Bahn to the Wall memorial and walked around. The wall construction, remnants and the stories about escapes and failures are interesting. We continued on to Alexanderplatz, a large plaza on the West side of Berlin. There were more street artists performing their various acts. One act was a man and woman posing as statues, when you put a coin in their cup they did a little show, it was nice and we videoed it. They also had people doing “free falls” off a tall building. About every 10 minutes somebody would jump and free fall toward the ground only to be safely stopped before they hit the ground. There was also a kiddie carnival set up in the middle of the plaza.
The S-Bahn train we rode goes through the Tiergarten and it was nice seeing all the trees and greenery, it is a huge wooded park (520 acres)in the middle of Berlin. Later in the day we got on the “hop on hop off” tour bus and rode around the city seeing the sights. Berlin is a lot different than when I was here in 1990 just after the wall fell. All the train stations and buses are now connected making travel easier. The main squares have all been rebuilt. The prosperity of the West has spread to the East however you can still see major differences between the East and West areas. Karl Marx street in the East side, once the sight of the Soviet May day parades is very run down, it once rivaled Unter den Linden and the KuDamn. We rode a bus to Museum island and walked around taking pictures of the beautiful buildings. We walked to the TV tower and went to the top. We got back on the bus and went to Checkpoint Charlie and rode around town until dinner. We really have enjoyed the food here in Berlin, we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe tonight, I had BBQ ribs, she had pulled pork sandwich, both were very good. The German beers are very good, tonight we had the Berliner Pils. The HRC was just around the corner from our hotel and as we walked to the hotel we stopped and had Hagen Daz ice cream cones, it was refreshing and cool. We closed out the night by writing a few post cards and hit the sack.
July 23, 2012, Happy anniversary to us!!! 37 years of marriage and a lot more to go.
A quick breakfast at McDonalds, (always a good safe breakfast) and off to the train station. We went to the East Side Gallery to see the Berlin wall art. We had been there last night, we liked our pictures so well we wanted to take more. The East Side Gallery is where a bunch of artists painted a 1.3 kilometer section with their impression of the wall and it coming down. I think it is a major sight to see while in Berlin. There is some controversially about restoring the paintings, it is in the courts to be decided. We alternated between the “hop on hop off” bus and Bus 100 criss crossing the city seeing the different sights. For dinner, we ended up at the HRC again, tonight we shared potato skins and BBQ ribs, had several more beers and then hit the ice cream parlor on the way to the hotel, life is pretty good. We stayed up late packing for the trip to Dresden tomorrow, we got a little wound up thinking about it and it was hard to go to bed.
TJ & EA
Our trip started with a long travel day, a three hour car drive from Yanbu to Jeddah (closest international airport), a 2 hour wait to catch the plane, a four hour flight to Istanbul and another four hours to Frankfurt. After travelling all night, we arrived in Frankfurt mid-morning, we made it through immigration very quickly. It was very nice to not have checked baggage, no waiting to pick it up or having to carry it. From the airport, we had to take an inner city train from the airport train station to the main Bahnhof (train station) to catch the train to Berlin.
The train from Frankfurt to Berlin was OK, not as comfortable as I would have liked but nice. They had small footrests that Elizabeth was able to use to get more comfortable and she liked it. We passed through an area that was full of wind powered generators, several hundred within a few kilometers. We kept gazing across the countryside as the train sped toward Berlin. It is so weird when you start to get excited when you see cattle and pigs in the pastures, you realize how different life is in Saudi Arabia. Forests, crops and plain old grass are all sights you take for granted until you don’t see them.
We arrived in Berlin late afternoon and took a taxi to the hotel Concorde. It turned out to be a very nice hotel near the Ku’Damm (major shopping district in what was West Berlin before the reunification). Later we went to the Europa Center, saw the clock of flowing time . The Kaiser Wilhelm Church (one of my favorite sights in Berlin) was being worked on, we did not go inside today, it was too late and was closed for the evening. All around Berlin we kept seeing statues of Bears, we found out they are Buddy Bears and they are cute and interesting.
It was easy to get to Zoo Bahnhof, from our hotel however, I was having trouble getting used to the train map and figuring out the platforms. Since we got into Berlin fairly early we had time to go to the Reichstag and the Brandenburg gate on the first evening. There were street artists, drawing on the sidewalk, others dressed in costumes and others playing with large bubble wands. There were also some street musicians playing violins and sax. I always enjoy listening to the street musicians. We walked around a while and then we ate at a sidewalk cafe in the median of Unter den Linden, a large tree lined boulevard similar to the Champs-Élysées in Paris. We had a Kabob (Shawarma sandwich) and a Bratwurst (Brat) sandwich , we watched the sun set behind the gate. As darkness fell on the city we watched the flood lights illuminate the Brandenburg Gate. It was very nice, almost as nice as the Eiffel tower, but not quite as magnificent. It was a very nice evening.
We got off to a good start and went back to the Reichstag building, the Brandenburg gate and Unter den Linden . We rode the S-Bahn downtown, but are still having trouble with S-Bahn directions. We stayed around downtown and watched the town wake up. It being Saturday, it quickly got very busy with street people and tourists. We saw quite a few "street actors" that each had their gimmick to make money. Guys dressed as East German Secret Police ( Stasi ) that you could get your picture with, one guy dressed in Soviet Military clothing stamping postcards with various “official” stamps. People dressed in bear costumes, as Darth Vader and other movie personalities. It was very nice to listen to the soft jazz or violin music being played by the street musicians.
We rode down Unter de Linden in a bicycle taxi to get to the Victory Column. We spent some time at the Victory column and went to the top for a great views of the Tiergarten. We sat at the cafe near the column and had cold drinks. You have to go underground to cross under the street and get to the Victory column. There were more street musicians playing in the underground corridors, you could hear them from far away and it was nice.
Later in the afternoon, we rode the S-Bahn to the Wall memorial and walked around. The wall construction, remnants and the stories about escapes and failures are interesting. We continued on to Alexanderplatz, a large plaza on the West side of Berlin. There were more street artists performing their various acts. One act was a man and woman posing as statues, when you put a coin in their cup they did a little show, it was nice and we videoed it. They also had people doing “free falls” off a tall building. About every 10 minutes somebody would jump and free fall toward the ground only to be safely stopped before they hit the ground. There was also a kiddie carnival set up in the middle of the plaza.
The S-Bahn train we rode goes through the Tiergarten and it was nice seeing all the trees and greenery, it is a huge wooded park (520 acres)in the middle of Berlin. Later in the day we got on the “hop on hop off” tour bus and rode around the city seeing the sights. Berlin is a lot different than when I was here in 1990 just after the wall fell. All the train stations and buses are now connected making travel easier. The main squares have all been rebuilt. The prosperity of the West has spread to the East however you can still see major differences between the East and West areas. Karl Marx street in the East side, once the sight of the Soviet May day parades is very run down, it once rivaled Unter den Linden and the KuDamn. We rode a bus to Museum island and walked around taking pictures of the beautiful buildings. We walked to the TV tower and went to the top. We got back on the bus and went to Checkpoint Charlie and rode around town until dinner. We really have enjoyed the food here in Berlin, we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe tonight, I had BBQ ribs, she had pulled pork sandwich, both were very good. The German beers are very good, tonight we had the Berliner Pils. The HRC was just around the corner from our hotel and as we walked to the hotel we stopped and had Hagen Daz ice cream cones, it was refreshing and cool. We closed out the night by writing a few post cards and hit the sack.
July 23, 2012, Happy anniversary to us!!! 37 years of marriage and a lot more to go.
A quick breakfast at McDonalds, (always a good safe breakfast) and off to the train station. We went to the East Side Gallery to see the Berlin wall art. We had been there last night, we liked our pictures so well we wanted to take more. The East Side Gallery is where a bunch of artists painted a 1.3 kilometer section with their impression of the wall and it coming down. I think it is a major sight to see while in Berlin. There is some controversially about restoring the paintings, it is in the courts to be decided. We alternated between the “hop on hop off” bus and Bus 100 criss crossing the city seeing the different sights. For dinner, we ended up at the HRC again, tonight we shared potato skins and BBQ ribs, had several more beers and then hit the ice cream parlor on the way to the hotel, life is pretty good. We stayed up late packing for the trip to Dresden tomorrow, we got a little wound up thinking about it and it was hard to go to bed.
TJ & EA
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