Back to Berlin

The alarm went at 1:45am, after not much sleep. We were out the door by 2:25 for a 2:41 train to Victoria. From there we walked to the coach station and had a 1hr15 coach trip to Stansted airport. The joys of cheap airfares at silly times of the day! The airport was busy and security checks very tight. Our backpack was searched and tested for explosives (there were a few gadgets in there :-). We just made it to the plane on time, although got delayed by other passengers.

Once in Berlin (Shonefeld) we caught the S-bahn (suburban rail) but had to change to catch a bus for one stop because a section of track was down for planned maintenance. In total it took 9 hours in total to get to hostel in Berlin!

Dan and Beck's gave up waiting for us at the hostel (understandably!) so we wandered down the road looking for lunch. We found a shopping centre with a cafeteria but they didn't speak english so there was a lot of pointing and nodding!

Back at the hostel we met Dan & Becks & Dan's school friend Sascha. Sascha was new to Berlin (from Barvaria) so we were all keen to have a look around. It was good having German translator too!

We went to the flash new Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and tried to get cheap train tickets to Wolfsburg to visit Autostadt (VW museum and factory). We were too late for cheap tickets so decided not to go.




From there we walked to the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, a long walk down to the Siegesaule and back, then back to the Reichstag where we caught the elevator and spiral walkway up to the very top. It was dark (and cold) by this stage but had a great view over Berlin beautifully lit.
















We went back to Sascha's flat for dinner which was a couple of HUGE (50cm) pizzas, gluhwein, chocolate, Lebkucken (like gingerbread) and other junk food! We played cards and learnt our German numbers as we tried scoring ourselves (good excuse when we got the numbers wrong).

We caught bus and U-bahn (underground train) back to hostel. The buses are very punctual and have a display so that you know what the next stop is, so you know when to get off!

We had a late start on Sunday, after quite a late night. We met Dan, Becks & Sascha at Holocaust memorial to go through museum underneath the ground. It was a good museum though fairly intense with lots of information (as is common to museums like these). It was still raining once we got out, and decided that it was time to have some lunch. So we had some German food in a nearby cafe - Andrew tried Weisswurst, a white veal and pork sausage that is boiled which you have to peel the skin (made of pork guts) off to eat. (which Grace thought was a bit strange).

Following lunch we headed to Warschauer Str to see the East Side Gallery and walked the entire length to Ostbahnhof which isn't too long but when you're in the rain, it can feel like forever! So needless to say we were rather wet at the end of it.





So it was the perfect time to then get along to Fassbender & Rausch (the chocolate shop with large chocolate sculptures of famous Berlin landmarks) for some hot chocolate! And cake. They had some interesting flavoured hot chocolates, Grace tried a hot chocolate with chilli in it, she didn't like it very much.









After purchasing some chocolates for later consumption we headed back to Sascha's for dinner again, and cards. Then it was time to say goodbye to Dan & Becks as they were going to Autostadt the next day.

On Monday, we checked out Potsdamer Platz, and did some shopping! Soon it was time to head back to London, and the 9 hours it took us to get home. We caught the Stansted Express back to Liverpool St and then bus home.