We did indeed get up at 6--all except Bella, that is. She opted to be a true teenager and slept in. It was Sunday and we decided that the chance to go to mass in the deepest church in the world in the Salt Mines was simply too cool of an opportunity to miss. Happily, for church goers, they allowed us to take the elevator down as well as up. The ceremony was quite pretty. As were the grounds--much more peaceful on an early Sunday morning.
The service was in Polish of course so we didn't understand a thing, although Carolyn could pick out the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary. Again, she was amazing at both driving us to and then back to the pension after church.
Bella was up when we got back and joined us for another amazing breakfast. Then we all finished packing.
Not surprisingly, there wasn't really room for all of our baggage in the small car, but we stuffed ourselves and the bags in clown style and got to the airport (I love you Carolyn) by noon.
First we had to wait to be told which line to wait in. Carolyn and Bella, who were going home, found out quickly, but we had to wait for over an hour. There was nowhere to sit. They heroically waited with us.
Our gates were next to each other and our flights not too far apart. We all got some snacks. I borrowed a few zlotty to get my last fabulous cheese snacks. Enjoyed a surprisingly decorated bathroom.
We said goodbye, and we got on the tram to our very tiny propeller airplane. I slept on the plane and was then charmed that everyone got a chocolate heart on arrival.
We arrived around 5 p.m. and found out that all our souvenirs had taken on weight. The luggage was awful. We found an info desk and bought passes for the buses an trams around town. After some hiking, we found the right bus (Catherine proving herself to be an amazing navigator), and got off on the right stop, but where was our hotel? Catherine eventually got Google working and we staggered several blocks with all of our luggage to the hotel Kaiser. NOT impressive on the outside.
On the inside, there was a sign telling us the hotel was actually several floors up. The little lobby on the 6th floor, looked much more impressive. We got the key, and were directed back down to the fifth floor. Our room was fine, but no air-conditioning. Just a fan.
There was a train station right there, by 7:00 we were at the Hard Rock Cafe Berlin.
Pretty basic cafe. I've decided that Hard Rock Cafe's outside of the states are mediocre. But they're still fun to visit.
Cool cymbal chandelier though.
And very cool guitar made out of a piece of the Berlin wall.
The food was plentiful, if mediocre. Dave ordered this revolting looking burger with a brat. Can you say, "heart attack?"
Cute people at the pressed penny stand.
After eating we explored some souvenir shops and stared in the windows of an amazing looking Christmas shop.
We saw the outside of the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial--looks like a ruined tower.
It was here that I hit a travel wall. I wasn't sick, just finished with exploring for the day. Catherine was also done and she was feeling sick. However, there was a cool looking fountain nearby, so Dave and I went to see it, leaving Catherine to rest. The fountain was more amazing than we expected. The water was red. We called Catherine over to look. She agreed, it was worth the look.
Red water headed down this cascade to the lower level.
Then we made our way back to the hotel, did some laundry by hand and prepared to be up early the next day--but were cheered to remember that we could sleep in on the rest of the days.
June 29, 2015 Berlin
Up early to get to the Reichstag. First stop was the Hauptbahnhof (main train station). HUGE place.
Catherine found some pretzel bites in different flavors, which made me happy, because I only saw the big pretzels and couldn't decide what I wanted. On the way out there were people handing out free high C drinks as samples. Nice sample! And, I figured it was much needed.
It's hard to get tickets to see the Riechstag, and in fact, I was only able to get tickets to see the famous dome. We were told to get there 15 minutes early. We did. Were first in line and the staff was late. But it was ok. It was a beautiful day. We had some time to enjoy the scenery.
And also this impressive little monument.
At last we were allowed into the dome.
We were given headphones that explained not only the Reichstag, but also all the views we were seeing on the way up and down. We took it slow, and really enjoyed ourselves. None of us are hugely political, so the information we got was just right for us and don't think any of us minded not being able to tour the inside of the building.
This shade moved with the sun.
The central cone.
The top of the building is not closed. There is literally a hole in the roof that catches the rain and sends it into this funnel. It does not look as though the funnel would be large enough, but I guess it is.
family selfie
Good views of the city.--Such as the Brandenberg gate.
This was the only thing in Berlin where we had to be somewhere at a certain place and time, so now we were free to do as we pleased. We wandered to a nearby gift shop that had blue shirts for only 9 euros, got those and a new backpack for me as the old one was literally coming apart at the seams. We did not get the mutant duck bear.
Next door we had hot chocolate and croissants and planned out a little better what we wanted to do in Berlin. We decided to take the train to Alexander Platz and work out way back to the Brandenburg gate. It took a little bit of doing, but Catherine is good at subways and got us there. The first thing we saw was a modern and unromantic mall, but we had to go there because Dave and Catherine are obsessed with Build a Bear.
(The store for people who can't make up their minds)
I took a quick look and then went across the hall to my obsession, the oil and vinegar store. This store had samples of ALL the oils. I had a great time, and bought some Tuscan seasoning for dipping oil. I went back to Build a Bear to discover that they had made TWO bears. (I nobly refrained--at least at that time, from mentioning that we had a whole bag of bears ready to be donated at home) I caught the end of the stuffing ceremony. The lady was really animated and fun. Dave and Catherine were super cute about it.
(Your Bear does not live from honey alone)
On the way out, I noticed the sign for Lottz mini-Berlin on the third floor. Could this be the amazing miniature world I saw on a documentary??? YES!!!!! This was the most amazing place!! Miniature world heaven--the detail is incredible. Every 20 minutes it would go dark so the city could be seen at night. And there was even a thunderstorm.
Every one of these people at the rock concert is unique
Shaun the Sheep
The stork bringing a delivery.
A worker.
After this, we were hungry and wanted to find some good street food. Specifically, curry-wurst which Carolyn and Bella had raved about and which seemed to be on every street corner. No problem finding a snack bar, but worst customer service ever. I got the curry wurst. Huh. A mediocre wurst, with a mediocre sauce. Not a fan. Presumably, this was a good wurst--as there were big lines. Fries are served with mayo, not ketchup.
Here's one of the few attractions that we didn't see. The TV tower. You can eat an expensive meal at the top. We figured we'd already seen a lot of views and eaten at expensive places.
We also found bears. These are not hard to find. They are everywhere and painted in all kinds of ways.
This wasn't a house of horrors--it was more like an interactive, fictional macabre tour. Not in the least scary, just funny and spooky. We caught the English speaking session. They put us in a group of about 30 and we moved from room to room. The idea was that it was the time of the Black Plague and Jack the Ripper was on the loose (apparently there is one of these in London). There were actors in every room.
We took a 1 minute boat ride to get to one of the rooms, one of the tourists, Marcus, was picked as the head troublemaker. In one room there was a monk who accused us all of being sinners. In another there was a judge who called up tourists to accuse them of crimes. When we were told about plague and leeches, we could feel the leeches on the bench. There was a torture room, one tourist was taken away and presumably something went horribly wrong. In another room we were incited to a revolution! We were hungry! We wanted big potatoes! And we wanted them NOW! Marcus was again selected for a special spot in the revolution. Alas, he was killed. In the room with a butcher which obviously, had sharp implements, we could feel our hair being cut. Jack the Ripper showed up as the strobe lights went on and we all felt a poke in the back. Naturally, the Dungeon tour exited into the gift shop.
Dave was getting antsy. We hadn't meant to spend all day on weird side tourist attractions. He wanted to be sure that we saw the important Berlin. We would, but there was one other stop to make first--
The Ritter Sport Store!!
We looked at St. Mary's Church along the way.
As we were walking, my feet began to be a little sore, and it seemed that they might even be swelling a little. No surprises there, I was only amazed that my feet hadn't been a lot sorer a lot earlier. . The Ritter Sport store was loads of fun. The first thing we did was to "make" meaning, we chose three ingredients and they mixed them up in some chocolate for us, our own Ritter Sport candy bars.
Mine was a rhubarb, carmelized coconut and hazelnut. Dave made one with a double sour cherries and gold stars and Catherine chose carmelized almond bits, vanilla cookies and gold stars. The chocolate had to wait 30 minutes to cool, so we explored the rest of the sore. Upstairs was a display on how chocolate is made, and there was a café with chocolate fondue and fruit.
Naturally, there was all kinds of chocolate to buy--and we did.
They even sold a little hot/cold bag to carry it all in for only 1 euro. We stuffed the chocolate in, picked up our specialty bars, and took a train to finally see the Brandenburg Gate, passing the British Embassy on the way.
We also found the American Embassy later on.
Okay FORGET the gate, FORGET anything else, THIS is the only way to travel. Why didn't we find this at the beginning of the trip??? Why were there three of us which seemed to be too many to use the bed??? Why was this bed AT our destination rather than on the way to it??
We got there around sunset, so the lighting was horrible for pictures, but the gate was still impressive.
Also impressive was the Jewish memorial nearby. We spent some time wandering through the memorial.
By now my ankles were significantly swollen and a rash was developing that itched.
Nothing could be done about that so we walked to get some water. Down the way we could see the golden statue of Victoria, we all wanted to see it, but it felt as though we walked forever to get to it.
Happily, we could walk by way of the famous Tiergarten. So beautiful! It reminded me strongly of Opa who would always begin to tell us stories with, "Im tiefen Wald" (in the deep woods). And that was it---no story, just a terrific beginning. Anyway, the part we saw had lovely woods, ponds, occasional statues of animals and lots of bikers.
All of us were tired so found a pretty bench and rested and watched the world go by. Alas, Catherine and I both needed a bathroom and the statue still awaited. The GPS said it was only .5 mile away but it felt much much further.
It was indeed impressive.
From a distance, I thought the tower of the statue was covered with candles. No, those are cannons.
From the statue we could see the train station in the distance. Catherine and I began to head toward it. Dave took a detour to look at another statue across the street more closely.
Yay Weber State. Truly a global school.
As we approached the train station we could hear angry voices and see police lights.
At first we thought it was an accident, but it turned out to be much bigger than that. It was a huge protest--scary looking, especially after seeing so much history of WW2 violence. This is a good place to mention that police sirens in Germany have not changed since the 1940's. Anyway, there was a Burger King with a bathroom just before the riot (I mean, protest), so we ducked in to use the facilities and waited for Dave to catch up there. We had to walk right through the protest to get to the train. I asked one of the policemen what it was all about? The issue was immigration and both sides were there to be heard and the police were there to be between the sides.
On the train platform we had a good view of the anti-immigration side. They were much better prepared than the pro-immigration side with flags, signs and speeches claiming that immigrants were taking jobs. They even sang the German National Anthem.
We got off the train to eat dinner at Wok to Walk and had a delicious bowl of noodles with shrimp and cashews with garlic sauce. Next train got us home at 10:00.
I put my poor ankles up on cushions with a cold towel. The rash had developed into bright red angry blotches, very hot and very itchy.
We had walked 11 miles. I was glad to think that I didn't have to get up early the next morning.
June 30, 2015 Berlin
Slept in, and then tried the free breakfast at the hotel. LOVE IT! This was similar to what was served at the hostel in Krakow. It's what I think all breakfasts should look like. Just for fun, I made a list so if I ever have a ton of money plus a ton a time to fix breakfast I can serve this up.
Milk, juice, coffee, scrambled eggs, fat little sausage patties, long thin wurst, pickles, mozzarella balls, mushrooms, slice of butter cheese, a cheese board with three more fancy cheeses, aufschnit (which is a selection of salamis), sliced peppers, black olives, tomato cucumber salad, basket of hard boiled eggs, yogurts, butter, cream cheeses, liverwurst, bowls of dried fruit, nuts, four kinds of breakfast cereal including cornflakes and muesli, a selection of breads, good german rolls, some sweet breads, fruit cocktail and a tin of cookies. I LOVE Germany.
After feasting, we took the train back to the Hard Rock Café area. Love the train posters.
We went back to Kaiser Wilhelm church,
we still couldn't see the ruined part, but we did get to go into the new part. Amazing looking--huge blue glass windows, a polka-dot floor and a live organist.
Catherine wanted to go to a nearby by store that was selling dresses for only 9 euro. There was also an Ampelmann store. The Ampelmann are a story. These are the stop and go people shaped street lights on traffic corner.
Some time ago the government decided to change the shape of these "Ampelmann." The public went ballistic. Now the Ampelmann are iconic and there are souvenirs everywhere. Anyway, my ankles still looked scary so I decided to rest while they looked at souvenirs.
No such luck. The Christmas store was right in the area and now it was open and I couldn't resist. WOW! WOW! WOW!
Amongst a thousand other wonders I found a gorgeous woodcut for 200 euros. I texted Dave to come look to see if this might be THE souvenir for us on this trip. We decided to think about it.
While looking for dresses Dave found these beauties. Daisy Duke meets Maria Von Trapp---I dunno.
The lederhosen weren't much better.
Yikes. I followed him over to the Amplemann store. We bought some cute little things and had a drink in their café. Then we took one of the double decker buses to Check Point Charlie.
Much smaller than I imagined. There were soldiers staffing it, whose sole purpose was to pose for the tourists. Across the street was a little exhibit that had a small part of the Berlin wall and pictures, also an exhibition with a bigger piece of the wall for a price.
We skipped that, and walked the 5 minutes to see the 100 meter section of preserved wall.
Interesting, with lots of posters of information.
I wanted to see the Topography of Terror museum, but we all thought we'd better have lunch first and none of us fancied another curry wurst.
So we went to Potzdamer platz
On the way Catherine finally found the spaghetti Eis she'd been looking for the whole trip.
Cool manhole cover
and found Andy's Diner and Bar "a premier sports bar and grill." They served up huge hamburgers and sandwiches with cute American Flags.
Their nachos were much better than the Hard Rock nachos. Fortified, we wandered around Potzdamer platz just to look.
Inside the huge mall.
A "Lego World" was here too. Catherine went back later, after we had left to fly home and tells us we didn't miss much. Giraffe is cool.
We skipped this attraction.
Then we walked through Marlene Dietrick Platz and saw a pretty "piano Lake" and fountain.
We took the train back to the wall and saw my Topography of Terror museum. This was billed as a must see sight on trip advisor, but I was disappointed. It was free, so it's difficult to complain, but it was just big pictures and information about the war. Also, it was not air-conditioned. We were all hot and tired and so decided to go back to the hotel for a rest. But on the way to stop and see the Ostbahnhof (East train station) where another part of the wall had been preserved with the graffiti intact. It took forever and a lot of walking around the station and grounds to find it, but we did find it and it was interesting and we even got to add a little graffiti ourselves.
It was a long trip back to the hotel, but we got there in the end and did rest for a few blissful hours.
This was my favorite subway stop----the one right by our hotel. At the end of a long day it was a wonderful sight to see.
We got up around 8:30 and got back on the train to go to the Brandenburg gate area, grabbing a some dinner at the train station.
Train Bear
And a window display at the station. (I think my sweetheart doesn't love me anymore)
The real goal was to be at the Reichstag at 10:15 for a light show, but we had time to see the gate again in the moonlight. Simply beautiful.
We went to the wrong side of the Reichstag, but we heard the sound of the show beginning and ran (or hobbled in my case) to the viewing area. Quite an impressive light and sound show was projected onto the building about the history of Germany.
Once again, the neat transportation was already at the destination where we wanted to go so we couldn't use it.
It was a beautiful evening with a cool breeze and a spooky moon.
It was such a nice evening that we opted to walk to the Hauptbahnhof. We had a little trouble finding the 2nd train that we needed, but got there in the end.
July 1, 2015 Berlin
Last day of trip. Slept in a little (7:45). My left ankle was a bit better--still hot and swollen, but not quite as red. Right ankle close to normal. We enjoyed the standard fabulous breakfast, then went to the Berlin zoo. Beautiful day, and a lovely zoo. This zoo had the best polar bear ever.
She was active and played up to the crowd. We saw her being fed fish and bagels which she ate very delicately off of the back of her paw.
I also liked the flocks of birds and the nocturnal creature display, also the hippos.
The treetop bird walk was disappointing, but the kids playground and all the landscaping was beautiful.
As you see, we got a good view of the lions being lazy just like our cats at home.
The zoo had beautiful landscaping and fun statues.
We left around 1 and had lunch at Wok to Walk again. This is the area with the Christmas shop. Dave and Catherine went back to the Amplemann store, while I went to oogle the Christmas shop one last time. They joined me and I did buy one of the beautiful woodcuts, with Dave smiling, but rolling his eyes.
This has been given a place of honor on our fireplace mantel. I like it better every time I see it.
Since we were in the area, we went back to Kaiser Wilhelm church, and finally got to see the inside. I believe this is officially the klunkiest touring we've ever done--we literally went to this church 5 times. Like Sir. Edmund Hillary with Mt. Everest---we went because it was there.
This floor mural was empty for one nano-second so I could take this picture.
A major, not-to-be missed Berlin sight is museum island with five different museums. But even more amazing to me was this drinking fountain. Possibly the only one in Germany--maybe all of Europe.
On museum island, the Pergammon museum looked to be the best.
Impressive grounds
It was full of ancient things. We saw the gates of Babylon
a replica of the tower of Babel and other things from the old-testament. We also saw the palace gates of the Grand Califf.
Model of the tower of Babel
I liked this pottery shard. It looked like something the makers of Scooby-Doo would have drawn.
There was a very good audio guide. I was disappointed that Nefertiti was in one of the other museums, but the Babylonian gates were enough wonder for one person in one day.
Next stop was the Berlin Cathedral.
We considered skipping the paid portions as we had been to so many Cathedrals, but I'm glad we didn't. The Cathedral is HUGE and breathtaking.
We climbed all the way to the top there were neat things to see on the way up, such as this model of the Cathedral.
Even cooler was this model that is inside the wall. That is not a picture below, you could look into the wall itself.
The model inside the wall.
There were beautiful statues
And this weathervane.
At the top at last we saw the bells and the city.
Also on the roof are bees.
From the heights, we went to the depths--all the way down into the crypts. There was quite a collection.
Several were in gold. I think this might be Kurfursten Friedrich Wilhelm (1620-1688) and his wife.
This one for sure is Konig Friedrich 1 (1657-1713)
Most poignant was a little room all in white which contained the coffin of the unnamed princess. I guess all of us were touched because none of us thought to take a picture. I left the crypts to rest. Turns out Dave and Catherine were also resting on the other side. But it didn't take long to find each other. By now it was about 7 and we were all hot, hungry and tired.
The Ampelmann restaurant was close and we walked there by way of the river. It was a beautiful evening with boats going up and down the river and people in the park.
Dave wanted a street brat, but we didn't see one and he kindly gave up the idea in favor of the restaurant. We had giant schintzel and good potato salad while an oomp-pah-bah band played outside.
The green "GO" ampelmann
And the red chairs for "Stop"
After dinner we strolled slowly toward the train station. Catherine wanted a last giant Hard Rock Cafe sundae and Dave wanted some last minute souvenirs. We got the souvenirs, and then found this weird little french shop, Pylones, that sold weird kitchen gadgets.
We bought a new refidgerator pen and went to the Hard Rock Ugh. 40 minute wait. We settled for Haggen Daz next store to Pylones. We got the best table, meant for little kids, but away from the smokers that are everywhere in Europe.
Darn. We were at that table for about two minutes and then the store closed and our table went away. No matter, we took our ice-cream to the island in the middle of the street and sat (which at the end of a trip in and of itself, is an amazing experience). Eventually, we got up to go back the hotel, we took a slightly different was and found a great bear statue fountain.
Back by 10:00 to finish packing. We were taking a LOT of Catherine's stuff, plus a surprising amount of chocolate back home.
She was active and played up to the crowd. We saw her being fed fish and bagels which she ate very delicately off of the back of her paw.
The treetop bird walk was disappointing, but the kids playground and all the landscaping was beautiful.
As you see, we got a good view of the lions being lazy just like our cats at home.
The zoo had beautiful landscaping and fun statues.
We left around 1 and had lunch at Wok to Walk again. This is the area with the Christmas shop. Dave and Catherine went back to the Amplemann store, while I went to oogle the Christmas shop one last time. They joined me and I did buy one of the beautiful woodcuts, with Dave smiling, but rolling his eyes.
This has been given a place of honor on our fireplace mantel. I like it better every time I see it.
Since we were in the area, we went back to Kaiser Wilhelm church, and finally got to see the inside. I believe this is officially the klunkiest touring we've ever done--we literally went to this church 5 times. Like Sir. Edmund Hillary with Mt. Everest---we went because it was there.
This floor mural was empty for one nano-second so I could take this picture.
A major, not-to-be missed Berlin sight is museum island with five different museums. But even more amazing to me was this drinking fountain. Possibly the only one in Germany--maybe all of Europe.
On museum island, the Pergammon museum looked to be the best.
Impressive grounds
It was full of ancient things. We saw the gates of Babylon
a replica of the tower of Babel and other things from the old-testament. We also saw the palace gates of the Grand Califf.
Model of the tower of Babel
I liked this pottery shard. It looked like something the makers of Scooby-Doo would have drawn.
There was a very good audio guide. I was disappointed that Nefertiti was in one of the other museums, but the Babylonian gates were enough wonder for one person in one day.
Next stop was the Berlin Cathedral.
We considered skipping the paid portions as we had been to so many Cathedrals, but I'm glad we didn't. The Cathedral is HUGE and breathtaking.
We climbed all the way to the top there were neat things to see on the way up, such as this model of the Cathedral.
Even cooler was this model that is inside the wall. That is not a picture below, you could look into the wall itself.
The model inside the wall.
There were beautiful statues
And this weathervane.
At the top at last we saw the bells and the city.
Also on the roof are bees.
From the heights, we went to the depths--all the way down into the crypts. There was quite a collection.
Several were in gold. I think this might be Kurfursten Friedrich Wilhelm (1620-1688) and his wife.
This one for sure is Konig Friedrich 1 (1657-1713)
I don't know who this poor coffin belonged to.
Children's coffins were mixed in with the others.
Most poignant was a little room all in white which contained the coffin of the unnamed princess. I guess all of us were touched because none of us thought to take a picture. I left the crypts to rest. Turns out Dave and Catherine were also resting on the other side. But it didn't take long to find each other. By now it was about 7 and we were all hot, hungry and tired.
The Ampelmann restaurant was close and we walked there by way of the river. It was a beautiful evening with boats going up and down the river and people in the park.
Dave wanted a street brat, but we didn't see one and he kindly gave up the idea in favor of the restaurant. We had giant schintzel and good potato salad while an oomp-pah-bah band played outside.
And the red chairs for "Stop"
After dinner we strolled slowly toward the train station. Catherine wanted a last giant Hard Rock Cafe sundae and Dave wanted some last minute souvenirs. We got the souvenirs, and then found this weird little french shop, Pylones, that sold weird kitchen gadgets.
We bought a new refidgerator pen and went to the Hard Rock Ugh. 40 minute wait. We settled for Haggen Daz next store to Pylones. We got the best table, meant for little kids, but away from the smokers that are everywhere in Europe.
Darn. We were at that table for about two minutes and then the store closed and our table went away. No matter, we took our ice-cream to the island in the middle of the street and sat (which at the end of a trip in and of itself, is an amazing experience). Eventually, we got up to go back the hotel, we took a slightly different was and found a great bear statue fountain.
Back by 10:00 to finish packing. We were taking a LOT of Catherine's stuff, plus a surprising amount of chocolate back home.
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