I woke her up at 3.30am, well it was 9am somewhere! She was very surprised that Ivor and Denise were coming, although pleased as she is friends with Denise. However, she was not aware of the final destination, and as I had checked in online she didn't get to see the ticket and we were flying from Heathrow T5. We managed to keep it a secret; right up to the flight was called. She had a top 3 of Vienna, Switzerland or Frankfurt - wrong, we were off to Berlin.
The flight was 1.5 hours and as it was with BA you got a breakfast roll on board. We landed at Berlin Tegel and then caught a bus and a train into the centre of Berlin. I had already organised the hotel, which is a short walk from Potsdamer Platz. Although it was only 11am we were able to check in for one room to leave our luggage in.
It was very cold so we wrapped up warm and went for a walk. We walked up the road and got to the first (of many) Christmas markets and had a look round, it is very interesting, but when you have seen one, you have seen them all, in fact there does not appear to any difference whether you are in the UK, Paris, Vienna or Berlin, they all sell the same, have Glühwein and are in wooden huts. We did test the Glühwein and it was very nice, I also had a bratwurst as I was hungry. We walked around the market and lo and behold a Starbucks appeared, so time for a quick latte, check my email and rest. After this we started walking towards the Brandenburger Tor, built in 1791, and the Reichstag. We had a look around, it was getting very windy and bitter, I knew I should have worn my coat! We wandered along 'Unter den Linten past the hotel Adlon, where Michael Jackson held a baby over the balcony. We saw the Russian Embassy and several other buildings.
It was cold and we needed a coffee so I picked the Cafe Haus Einstein which looked rather nice, but turned out to be very expensive. Denise and I decided to have hot chocolate, with rum, however they forgot to give us the rum, which was disappointing, although the good thing is they didn't charge us for it either. We then found another Christmas market for Linda and it was the same as the one before and the one after but we wandered around, had a look at a few things and then didn't buy anything as usual.
After this we decided to walk back to the hotel for a rest, it was about 1600. On the way we found another Christmas Market, but as it cost one euro to get in, we decided to by-pass it.
At the hotel we rested in our rooms, we had been up since 0330 so were slightly tired by this stage. We met up about 1900 as we were going for a meal, we chose an Italian across the road, which was very nice. We made the mistake of going for a starter and then a main course, as the starters were rather large, I had mushrooms stuffed with spinach covered in a cheese sauce, followed by octopus, Linda had feta cheese followed by spaghetti carbonara. It was delicious but we could not finish the meal. After this Ivor decided we needed to go for another walk, so we did, it was cold as I did not have my coat, gloves or hat as I thought we were only going for dinner. We wandered around the market again; it hadn't changed since the last time. I stopped outside Starbucks so I could log into the free Internet to check the Chelsea score (two nil up at this stage). It was very cold with an icy wind and soon we wandered back to the hotel and early to bed.
On Wednesday we were up early as the intention was doing a walking tour. I did set the alarm on the iphone but forgot to move the clock forward an hour - so I wanted to get up for 8am, which is 7am English time but fortunately we woke up in time. Linda did wake me up in the night as she was too hot and needed the air con put on, didn't know how to do it, so decided to wake me up at 3am to ask me if I knew. I was not too pleased to say the least!
We stayed at the hotel NH Berlin Potsdamer Platz which is very nice. Breakfast was plenty consisting of coffee, rolls, cheese, meat, bacon and eggs followed by fruit. I got stuck in, remembering of course to eat fruit to keep myself healthy. We left the hotel at 0930 and caught the train to the east meeting point at Hackescher Markt. It was cold so I had my coat with me, but as it was going to get colder during the day I was not going to put it on yet, Linda also made sure I had my gloves and hat with me, I of course made sure I had Ipad2 with me!
The walking tour was 4 1/2 hours long and it was interesting, but a very long walk, we did cover most of East Berlin around the museum area, the wall, the Reich era and a few others, most of it was built by a bloke called Karl Friedrich Schinkel - never heard of him, can't have a twitter account. We did stop half way round for coffee and I had one sitting down, and then a take away to help me on the rest of the tour, by now it was raining, so I had to put my coat on. It was light rain for a bit and then it poured and poured and suddenly the tour was not so interesting. We did manage to go the whole course but at the end we were like drowned rats!
We decided we needed to have a coffee to warm up, as we were wet and cold and also to dry out, and lo and behold in the west, appeared a sign,’ Starbucks’. So gingerbread latte's all round. We stayed there for about half an hour, time to check the email, news and the weather forecast - wet! We then walked back to Checkpoint Charlie and took some photos in the rain. Denise was hungry and fancied a McDonald's and Linda wanted one as well, so I resisted temptation and just had nothing. We then walked back rain to the Topography of Terror, had a look round before going back to the hotel to dry out. I had to book in online (waste of time as I would find out) and the time in my electronic diary was of course English time, so we went for a lovely dark beer in the local restaurant, and after 30 minutes I ran back to the hotel, booked in, printed out the boarding passes and ran back to the pub.
We then found a different Italian restaurant, which was rather busy, but Linda had pizza with several different cheeses and salami, which she then pulled off and gave to me, I had pork in a Gorgonzola sauce - lovely. As we didn't have a starter we had desert, Linda had panna cotta and I had tiramisu. By now we had had several drinks and eaten a lot so we needed a walk, it was about 10pm so we decided to go to the market, which as closed, apart from one Glühwein store, so me and Ivor had a glass. We decided to walk up to the Brandenburger Tor and see it in the evening lights, I saw a bus and said let’s get on that, we did and it was going the wrong way! This did explain why other people were getting off and we ended up at the Philharmonic Orchestra Opera House, which looked good in the rain.
We then got on the bus 200 which is a good bus to get, if you wanted to go to West Berlin and the Zoo, unfortunately we didn't, however it did take us to a central location, where we could get 100 bus back the other way. We had paid fifteen euros for a group day ticket so we wanted to get our monies worth. We had a look around the Brandenburger gate and the promenade before catching the tube back to the hotel. I must admit not everyone was enamoured with Foots Tours tonight, and I certainly didn't get any tips! It was about midnight before we got to bed.
Happy Birthday Linda, it's Thursday and you're a year older. I had made a card for her and bought her some chocolate from a famous Berlin store, both without her noticing. We had a late breakfast, checked out of the rooms, left the luggage in the store and went out, it was warmer today and no rain. We caught the tube, but managed to get on the wrong train, well it was going in the right direction, and after a few stops changed to another line which took us to the west side of the city, Kurfurstendamm and shopping! Linda was in her element (and Denise) with all those shops, and they looked in several, we even found them a Christmas market, which strangely enough sold exactly the same as every other one I had visited. I just find a seat, sit down, let them wander around and they find me when they are ready to leave
As it was Linda's birthday, she was allowed to look at the Steiff bears and then as another present I bought her one, such a romantic and with all these surprises I must be allowed at least 2 visits to Swaffham auction on my own! I did get a nice Bugatti case for my iphone4s, which if I can't have car at least I can look at the case and dream of the car!
We didn't stop for coffee which meant I got a headache from a lack of caffeine. We took the train to Hackescher Markt and the Jewish quarter, where there was another market, I have seen them all now. Linda and Denise had chips, before we saw a star in the east (with a bucks on the end) and so finally we stopped for a coffee. After this we had a walk around the area, saw the synagogue and then caught a train to Unter den Linden and visited the Jewish holocaust museum. They searched you before you went in, which meant taking everything out of your pockets etc. It was ok, but once you have seen one museum and read about the holocaust, the others tend to repeat it from different angles, but the story remains the same, however, it did give me some thoughts for Sunday and the service on King Herod!
After is it was a short walk back to Potsdamer Platz time for Ivor to have a last Glühwein (I was driving tonight so could not join in), but I did have a cooked steak sarnie and enjoyed it. We got back to the hotel and collected the bags and then took the train and he bus to the airport, it takes about 45 mins and was a pleasant ride, although the train was busy. I managed to get them on the right train, in the right direction so they were pleased.
We arrived at the airport, only to find the plane was delayed, it was a different plane, so our seats had changed, so I don't know why I bothered with all the hassle of checking in online! We had a last Starbucks at the airport, before going through the security area and waited for the plane. It left about 90 minutes late, and then when we got to the gate, the seats had changed and we were dotted all around the plane! We were not amused and complained, it didn't do much good. When we got on the plane our original seats were empty and the excuse constantly was that the plane had changed, it must have changed at least three times! The pilot never mentioned a plane change but the winds in England for the plane being late.
Happy Birthday Linda, it's Thursday and you're a year older. I had made a card for her and bought her some chocolate from a famous Berlin store, both without her noticing. We had a late breakfast, checked out of the rooms, left the luggage in the store and went out, it was warmer today and no rain. We caught the tube, but managed to get on the wrong train, well it was going in the right direction, and after a few stops changed to another line which took us to the west side of the city, Kurfurstendamm and shopping! Linda was in her element (and Denise) with all those shops, and they looked in several, we even found them a Christmas market, which strangely enough sold exactly the same as every other one I had visited. I just find a seat, sit down, let them wander around and they find me when they are ready to leave
As it was Linda's birthday, she was allowed to look at the Steiff bears and then as another present I bought her one, such a romantic and with all these surprises I must be allowed at least 2 visits to Swaffham auction on my own! I did get a nice Bugatti case for my iphone4s, which if I can't have car at least I can look at the case and dream of the car!
We didn't stop for coffee which meant I got a headache from a lack of caffeine. We took the train to Hackescher Markt and the Jewish quarter, where there was another market, I have seen them all now. Linda and Denise had chips, before we saw a star in the east (with a bucks on the end) and so finally we stopped for a coffee. After this we had a walk around the area, saw the synagogue and then caught a train to Unter den Linden and visited the Jewish holocaust museum. They searched you before you went in, which meant taking everything out of your pockets etc. It was ok, but once you have seen one museum and read about the holocaust, the others tend to repeat it from different angles, but the story remains the same, however, it did give me some thoughts for Sunday and the service on King Herod!
After is it was a short walk back to Potsdamer Platz time for Ivor to have a last Glühwein (I was driving tonight so could not join in), but I did have a cooked steak sarnie and enjoyed it. We got back to the hotel and collected the bags and then took the train and he bus to the airport, it takes about 45 mins and was a pleasant ride, although the train was busy. I managed to get them on the right train, in the right direction so they were pleased.
We arrived at the airport, only to find the plane was delayed, it was a different plane, so our seats had changed, so I don't know why I bothered with all the hassle of checking in online! We had a last Starbucks at the airport, before going through the security area and waited for the plane. It left about 90 minutes late, and then when we got to the gate, the seats had changed and we were dotted all around the plane! We were not amused and complained, it didn't do much good. When we got on the plane our original seats were empty and the excuse constantly was that the plane had changed, it must have changed at least three times! The pilot never mentioned a plane change but the winds in England for the plane being late.
We landed about 22:10 and then there was a queue in immigration, as they had only two people on the desks, ridiculous. It took about an hour to get through, it was quicker when they were on strike! In fact the non EU visitors desks had more staff, less queues and people were through quicker. We got back to the car and finally got home about 1am.
You can see some photos here.