Austria & Germany 2024 - Day 14 / Berlin

Steps today: 25 519 / 16.8 km

Last vacation day and I was officially sick with a head cold. Better on the last day I suppose, and I was not going to let it slow me down.

Yesterday we stayed West of the Gate, today we started in the East.  The plan was to take public transportation to the spot where we would start our daily walks down Kurfürstendamm Avenue when we here in 2006 (locally called Ku'damm and is the "Champs-Élysées" of Berlin).

We got to the intersection and started walking. It was not quite what we remembered, but it has been 18 years. I had also remembered that the U-Bahn entrance was a straight walk in from the sidewalk, but now it was on a angle so you had to go around it to get in. Ah well, so much for memory.

Things were really not familiar, and after about 15 minutes we reached a railway bridge...  what???  Sure enough, we were walking in the wrong direction! We hopped on a bus back to the starting place and started again. (Once we were on the right track, I saw the U-Bahn entrance that was facing the right way!)

It was a nice walk, and we recognized a few sites - like these bears! We recreated the pose, but I wonder why I was crouching last time?  2006 vs 2024

We stopped for a coffee and I didn't take any pictures! Blame it on my cold.

The first stop I really wanted to make was to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. In 2006 it was covered in advertising that was impossible to crop out! I had forgotten about the mosaics inside, they were spectacular!

Next was the Victory Column in the Park. The goal was to see it with a blue sky this time. 

We wanted to stop for a drink somewhere at this point, but couldn't find a place anywhere! All the little fork and knife and coffee cup logos on the park map lead to nothing! Still, it was a nice walk.

Just after the gate, Frank spotted a nice place for lunch that was about to open in 5 minutes. Perfect!

For dessert, I had my last Lillet Wild Berry Spritz of the trip and it was delicious. My streak ended on a high note (although more berries would have been appreciated!)

After lunch, we took a stroll through Bebelplatz and Schinkelplatz

And then remembered a café near the Cathedral so we headed there for a drink-with-a-view.

Next on my list was Hackesche Höfe, a complex of 8 interconnected courtyards which we missed on our last trip because we made a series of wrong turns. I think I was more curious about how we could have missed it than I was about the actual courtyards this time!  We found it and strolled around, but it didn't blow my mind. I am not much of a shopper, and the nice architecture didn't follow throughout. I went into a Christmas Shop and browsed the ornaments - they had one of weißwusts!! but it was 20€ so I choked.  

The last area on my list of things to do/visit/explore was the Nikolaivietel, an old quarter in the city.

We wandered around, then stopped for our last drink. Cheers to a great vacation!

And then, the last meal. This place looked promising and it wasn't that bad - just way too fast! We barely waited 5 minutes for our food so you can imagine it was not the freshest.  Still, it was enjoyable as a final vacation meal.

Great vacation overall, Frank said it was definitely in the top tier of all time.

By bed time, my cold was just awful. I was completely congested, my ears were ringing and had a killer headache.  The flight from Berlin to Frankfurt the next day was terrible because my ears never popped and it was painful! I see now why babies cry on planes.

The flight from Frankfurt to Montreal was marginally better, but my cold just got worse in the following days after getting home. Sucks, but I am thankful that if I had to get sick at all, it was not during the trip!

Austria & Germany 2024 - Day 13 / Berlin

Steps today: 26 238 / 17.28 km

The last stop of our trip: Berlin. 

In 2006 we spent a week here and visited most of the sights, attractions and museums, so there was less pressure this time to squeeze it all in.  We booked 2 days, and I wondered if 3 might have been better, but since it was all repeats, it turns out that 2 was just fine.

Thankfully, no problems with the train from Leipzig, seems that run of bad luck was over! We arrived at the hotel around 9:15AM and were told check in was only at 3PM so we could not have the room right away. We could get it at noon for an extra 15€, or wait until 3. We stowed our bags in their luggage room and set off on our day. It was a little drizzly at times and VERY windy, but thankfully it was not cold.

We took in all the main sights West of Brandenburg Gate:

World Clock

TV Tower

Town Hall

Neptune Fountain

Marx and Engels

Berlin Cathedral

Neue Wache (War Memorial)

Brandenburg Gate. Lots of tourists and crowd barriers, so it was tricky to get clear straight shots.

Time to stop for a drink!  Frank had the sniffles for a few days, nothing major, but I was starting to feel a little something in my throat so I was getting worried that I caught his cold...  perhaps alcohol was not the best idea - but hey baby, it's vacation!

Reichstag

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

I liked this one with the dome of the Reichstag in the distance

We had lunch in Potsdamer Square, I was happy to find weißwurst on the menu again! Normally they are sold in pairs, but here they were sold by the unit so I ordered 3. They brought me 5 of some other kind...  no way José! I am not missing my last chance to have my favourite sausages! They fixed their mistake, but then only brought me 2. I decided that was ok - I was only charged for 2 so it all worked out.

Sections of the Berlin Wall and Floor markers.  What always hits me about this row of double bricks to mark where the wall was, is how it doesn't follow any modern outline for buildings or streets. Berlin must have changed a lot since it unification!

Topography of Terror. A really sobering exhibit along a remaining section of the Wall

Check Point Charlie. There was a Disney Feel to it all. Did people really understand what they were seeing? Or were they just all lined up to ham it up in a picture "at a famous place" I dunno, it left a bad taste in my mouth. (I did however appreciate that there WAS a line up to get a clear picture).

It was almost 2:30PM by then, so we decided to go back to the hotel to check in (at no extra charge) and unpack.  Once that was done, we walked to the East Side Gallery. It was really impressive to see such a long stretch of the Wall still standing 1.3 km. The art was interesting, but a big section of it that's not facing the street was just all graffiti.

Oberbaum Bridge

By now we were beyond burnt! Frank's feet were ready to fall off, and I felt the cold I was hoping I didn't catch start to cling.  We took the train back to the area near the hotel and looked for a place to have a drink. The only non-fast-foody place we found was the lounge of the Park Inn Hotel! I had a Radler that tasted too much like beer and barely drank a quarter of it. What a waste.

We wanted something simple for supper, but it seems that's synonymous with fast food which is what I DON'T want. Italian is always easy, so we went to a nice place that was on the way back to the hotel.

Why are colds worse in the evenings and mornings? I was feeling awful by the time we went to bed. One more day to go, I was not going to let it slow me down!