Last night we took the 8-hour night train from Amsterdam to Berlin. When we booked the night train, we really did not know what to expect. There were no couchets (small travel beds in a separate compartment) available, so we purchased the only available option – two seats. When we got on the train, we saw that the seats were sectioned off into little rooms of six seats. Our seats were directly across from one another, and we were seated next to the sliding glass door of the small room. Unfortunately, our seats didn't recline at all, and they weren't the most comfortable we've ever experienced.
We were the first ones in our little room on the train, and we thought maybe, just maybe, if we were lucky, no one else would join us in our room and we might actually be able to lie down across the seats to try to sleep. This was true for only a small portion of the ride. About 2-hours into the ride, after we had eaten our dinner and Erin had taken a quick nap, other passengers began filling in the seats around us. It quickly became very hot and stuffy in the small room, and very uncomfortable. We used our inflatable neck pillows to try to sleep, but it was just impossile to fall asleep for any length of time. We both admit to having brief periods of sleep throughout the ride, but for the most part, it was a tough night's travel. But, on a trip like this, there will be nights worse than this - and nights better. We can only hope, and try to plan for, the latter.
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| Sure, the compartment looks inviting - when you first arrive. |
We arrived in the Hauptbahnhof Train Station (or the central station) in Berlin at 4:40am. Once we got off the train, we were quickly introduced to the crisp Berlin air. We had booked a hotel/hostel (private room this time), as close to the train station as we could find, but it was still a bit of a hike in the dark. Luckily, James had put a copy of the Google directions from the train station to our hotel on his Kindle before we left Amsterdam, and despite a lack of communication with the only train station attendent on duty, we headed off in the right direction.
Berlin at 5am - navigating was loads of fun in the dark, where the street names are all in German, and after a poor night's sleep. James patiently dealt with Erin's slow walking pace (due to the packs she was carrying), and her requests to only walk down well-lit streets, modifying the directions somewhat. When we got to our hotel, it was a bit after 5am. We knew we couldn't check in, but we were hoping they would at least let us hang out in the lobby for a bit until a coffee shop opened up. The desk clerk spoke very little English, but we were pretty sure he agreed to let us sit in the lobby and put our luggage in the storage room. Once we stored our luggage, Erin quickly fell asleep (bundled up in her three jackets) in a chair in the lobby, while James reviewed some Berlin maps and created a plan for our two days in the capital of Germany.
A few hours later, we wandered up to the free breakfast buffet for the hostel guests, which we felt we spiritually qualified for, even though we weren't checked in yet. The food did not appeal to Erin, but James enjoyed sliced meats, sliced cheeses, soft-boiled eggs (not hard-boiled, as we unfortunately found out), olives, rolls, cereal, toast, and yogurt. After we ate a bit, and Erin savored two cups of coffee to help her warm up – we headed out for the day.
Berlin is not a small city - in fact, it is very large and spread out, and the "sights" aren't really bundled together. For this reason, it was a bit more difficult to walk everywhere as we have done in previous cities. James suggested that we purchase a day-pass on the transportation system and it turned out to be well worth the 6 Euros each. We started by taing the underground (or "U") train to Alexander Platz where we admired the needle-shaped Tumr, Fernsehturm – the city's tallest structure. At this point James also started talking about scenes from the Bourne Ultimatum that took place in this plaza.
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| The Fernsehtrum, towering above Berlin as viewed from Alexander Platz. |
We walked around for a few minutes before catching the bus to Zoo station. The bus ride (the number 100 bus) provided us with some great views of the city as the bus travels from east to west, passing many of Berlin's major attractions en route. When we got to the Bahnhof Zoo station, we explored a bit by wandering through some random street shops, stopping to buy a few postcards, heading into a shopping mall in search of a bathroom, and walking around the Berlin Zoo area. Once we were done, we hopped back on the bus and headed towards the Berlin Wall.
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| That's right - Zoo Station with the U2 line. Is it that obvious that James mapped out the itinerary? |
We got off a few stops before we anticipated because the area we were in looked intriguing, and at this point we really wanted to walk around. We walked in the Kreuzberg neighborhood, near Potsdamer Platz, which reminded Erin of 5th Avenue in New York - may high-end stores, and some very large malls. We walked into a few places here and there as we headed toward the site of the fallen Berlin wall. The Berlin wall was built in 1961 and divided the communist German Democratic Republic (Eastern Germany) from the Federal Republic of Germany (Western Germany). In 1989, the wall came down, and in 1990 Eastern and Western Germany were unified. Both of us were alive (albeit young), and remember when the Berlin Wall came down, so it was quite interesting to see it first-hand. We quickly arrived at Checkpoint Charlie, the entrance from one side of the wall to the other. The site itself looked a bit like the World Trade Center site because it was somewhat blocked off and you couldn't see very much. However, we were still able to see some portions of the graffiti-filled wall.
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| A still-standing section of the Berlin Wall. |
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| The approach to "Checkpoint Charlie" and the American-controlled section of Berlin. |
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| A stern warning for Checkpoint Charlie visitors. |
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| Now Checkpoint Charlie is a tourist stop, replete with a photo opportunity and a McDonald's. |
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| Tabitha makes an appearance, with a giant, friendly hotdog. |
After visiting the wall, we headed into East Berlin, which was distinctively different than the West side of the city. The Eastern side was still run down and had not been built up in the same way that the Western side had been. There weren't big shopping centers or restaurants on the street, and the prices were decidedly cheaper.
Neither of us found the German food favorites - heavy sauces, sausages, etc. - that compelling. But, being in Berlin, we decided to eat in East Germany for lunch. Naturally, we chose Vietnamese. We found a small, reasonably priced restaurant where we ate lunch and worked on planning the rest of our time in Europe. Erin was really disappointed that we weren't able to make it to Spain this trip because of the train strike in France (which is still going on). James was sympathetic, and agreed to try to find a way to make it to Greece instead (another place she really wanted to go). We mapped out a reasonable plan for the rest of our time, which included a few more night trains, but also gets us to Greece.
Following our lunch and some more local exploration, we took the surface (or the S) train see Berlin's acclaimed "symbol of unity," a piece of art called “Molecule Man” near the Treptow station. We then headed back to the Hauptbahnhof Train Station. On the train, both of us nodded off for a few minutes – a clear indication that we needed to get some sleep. However, we arrived at the train station with our goal in mind: to head to the travel center and book some more of our train tickets since we now had a clear travel plan mapped out for the rest of our time in Europe. After discussing our travel plan with the ticket agent, and finding out that some of the trips we had planned would take 14+ hours by train, we realized we would have to make some changes. To Erin's dismay, we concluded that going to Greece would simply be too difficult in this short of a time span. James did his best to console Erin, and after a few tears, Erin eventually got over it and realized that not going to Spain or Greece this trip just means that we'll have to make another trip to Europe someday.
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| Erin, James, and the tri-parte "Molecular Man." |
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| Tabitha was very welcome in Berlin. |
By this time it was about 6pm and we still hadn't checked into our hotel (or showered!), and we were both feeling quite tired. We walked back to our hotel, checked in, and were pleased to find out that we had a huge bathroom with a full shower and tub. Erin enjoyed a nice long shower, followed by a bit of American television (well, CNN – but, it still felt good to have some background noise on that was in English). James was frustrated by the fact that the hotel did not provide free internet, despite the fact that their brochure stated otherwise. The only internet option available was a connection that cost 8 Euros per hour, which is something we just weren't willing to pay.
A quick side-note, the Germans we encountered in Berlin did not seem to speak English very well, or to have any desire to try to communicate with us. We ended up using Erin's translation app on her blackberry a few times in order to get our message across. This was the first country we have been in where most of the people couldn't pick up at least a few of our words.
Following our refreshment in the hotel, we decided to leave and get some food, and to try to find a free internet connection. We asked the hotel front desk staff about any nearby internet cafes, but they just looked at us a bit confused. We eventually decided to wander around and try to find something on our own. Since we still had the unlimited pass for the underground system, we hopped on and went a bit more into town, getting off at the Friedrichstraße station (while that looks like a "B," it is actually a double "s"). As soon as we got off the train, we came across a very trendy (and healthy) cafe that had Wi-Fi. We enjoyed a nice dinner at SuperGut Food and then caught up on our e-mails until nearly 10pm when they were closing. We were in a fun neighborhood, so we walked around and enjoyed the street-performer playing a keyboard, and the spotlights highlighting the fall colors in the park. Once we were done walking around, we took the train back to our hotel and we both fell into a much-needed deep sleep.
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| Berlin at night - dark once more. |
