Christmas Markets and more! Berlin Nov/Dec 2018 - Day 3

[smithlane]

Day 3 - Monday 3rd December

Had a little lie in until 8am today but we were all up, dressed, packed and ready to leave the room by just after 9am. We went down to check out and leave our cases with Bell Services.
First order of the day was breakfast and a good one at that as we didn’t know when we would next be having food.
H had found a place on Trip Advisor that looked good and was just around the corner called Cafe Einstein.
A quick 5 minute walk and we arrived. Got seated straight away, wasn’t too busy at all.

I went with the scrambled eggs and bacon with a Diet Coke, H scrambled eggs and salmon and a tea and mum scrambled eggs and bacon and a cappuccino. We got some bread rolls to share. Didn’t take long to arrive and when it did it all tasted great. Apologies no photos, too busy eating!
Once we paid the bill of €35 we walked to Friedrichstraße station where we had got off the train yesterday as H had seen a supermarket in there that she want to buy some chocolate from. I bought some bits for the kids and Jim too, can’t come home empty handed! Got some various flavours of Milka bars and these mini chocolate Santa’s for their stockings.

There was also a great gift shop in the station called Nanu Nana. I bought these tiny baubles and chocolate sticks for hot chocolate to also put in the kids stockings.

We now walked around the corner to the great home wear shop Butlers H and I came to the other night. I bought a couple of baubles, some star fairy lights, a glass Christmas tree to put them in, a glass star with lights and some chocolate smarties again for the kids stockings. €46 altogether.

I loved these table settings!

From here we went a couple doors up to the other shop we had gone to called Depot where mum bought a few Christmas decorations and my sister a Christmas mug for my niece and nephew. I miraculously came away empty handed!
H’s shoulder was really aching so we sent her back to the hotel to chill out while mum and I popped over the road to Starbucks so I could get the last 3 YAH city mugs for my collection. Mum kindly paid for these as a belated birthday present for me.
We were now flagging a bit too, I think these last few days of pounding the pavements were catching up on us so we too headed back to the hotel.
We had a lovely hour just chilling in the lobby bar with a drink.
We then got our luggage and did a mass reshuffle of our cases to try and fit everything that we had bought this morning . With some clever repacking we got it done in the end. Before we left we asked a lady if she could take our photo of the 3 of us on the hotel stairs. I also went and took a few more from the top of the grand staircase.

Once done we asked concierge if they could get us a taxi. This turned up almost immediately so were soon loaded up and on our way back to the airport.

A piece of the Berlin Wall outside of the hotel

There wasn’t much traffic so we arrived at 2pm. Check in wasn’t yet open so we took a seat until it was. Out of no where a huge queue had formed so had a little while to wait.

Once we got seen the lady said we could check hand baggage in again but as I had my mugs in mine I wanted to take it onboard with me. She was a little shirty when I explained I didn’t want to check it in and said I would have to see at the gate. Well anyone who read my travel day from La Guardia to Tampa this summer will know they said the same thing to me and lo and behold there was loads of room in the overhead lockers . It must be a standard thing they say on short haul flights.
Once that was done we then joined the mahoosive queue for security. It wasn’t moving at all as we soon realised they hadn’t opened the gate yet. I can’t emphasis how tiny this airport is, the queue was snaking round the terminal.

After about 20 minutes they finally opened it up but still had a long wait to be seen by a passport officer then wait to go through security. The 2 security machines are literally at the gate so once through you’re there, that’s it. There’s no airside terminal just a kiosk selling hot drinks and pastries and the tiniest duty free shop I’ve ever seen! We just took a seat and waited it out.

I had had an alert to say our 16.25 flight was now delayed until 16.46 so hoped it wouldn’t be pushed back any further. H and I went to get a Diet Coke for us and a coffee for mum as well as a couple of muffins and a croissant. €21 altogether.
I took a quick look in Duty Free to kill some time but this literally took me 2 minutes. Surprisingly nothing was purchased
At about 16.20 they began boarding and thankfully nothing more was said about my carry on. We were soon settled in our seats, row 6 A, B and C right behind Club.
It was then I realised I’d left my coat in the departure lounge! I had to try and make my way off the plane with other passengers still making their way on! Eventually got to the front and alerted the cabin crew. They let me quickly run back and get it, phew! Drama over I got settled back into my seat and put the last episode of Season 1 of The Handmaids Tale on my iPad. We were delayed further until 17.15 as we had missed our take off spot but wasn’t too bad in the end.
Flight was very smooth and we landed in Heathrow at 18.00 UK time.
Were off the plane very quickly as we were so close to the front then had to get on the train to the main terminal. We went straight through the kiosks at Passport Control with minimal queue which was good. Had quite a walk to the luggage carousel then had to wait a while for our flight to be unloaded. A flight from Turkey still had their luggage going around so once that was cleared ours started. Luckily our suitcases were some of the first off so once we had those we walked straight out to the taxi rank.
Got in a black cab straight away and was home by about 7pm where Jim had cooked us a meal which was very welcome!
So that brings an end to our weekend away. I had such an amazing time, Berlin really surprised me. The people were so friendly, the history fascinating and the Christmas markets wonderful! I will most certainly be back, definitely with the children as I think they would really enjoy the city.

So what’s next?
We are less than a week away from spending Christmas in the Alps then Jim and I are off to Vegas in February for his 40th. I’ll be doing a pre trip report soon for that. Probably while the others are off skiing and I’m relaxing watching them from the balcony . Still haven’t booked flights for next summer but I’m not too worried yet, she says... ! The BA sale better be good

A huge thank you as ever to anyone that’s read and commented.
TTFN

[HappyPanda]

It sounds like you had a fantastic trip away and you definitely managed to cram a lot into your 4 days! Thanks for sharing xx

[Goldia]

Ha ha, you found some Starbucks mugs! Well done you!

It was great reading your trip report, interesting to see some of the sites again. The markets looked fab, you packed such a lot in to your trip.

I hope you enjoy Vegas. Have you been before? We have friends who live there, but the last time we went was 2001! We need to rectify that really, it's been on my list for ages. I'm sure when I read your trip report I will be inspired to get planning!

[disney owl]

great trip thanks for sharing

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by HappyPanda

It sounds like you had a fantastic trip away and you definitely managed to cram a lot into your 4 days! Thanks for sharing xx

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We really did, there was so much to see we could really have done with an extra day. A good excuse to go back though!
Thank you for reading

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Ha ha, you found some Starbucks mugs! Well done you!

It was great reading your trip report, interesting to see some of the sites again. The markets looked fab, you packed such a lot in to your trip.

I hope you enjoy Vegas. Have you been before? We have friends who live there, but the last time we went was 2001! We need to rectify that really, it's been on my list for ages. I'm sure when I read your trip report I will be inspired to get planning!

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Haha of course I did
As ever, thank you so much for reading Abby

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by disney owl

great trip thanks for sharing

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Thank you for reading

[sparks1]

I’ve only just found this as I’ve booked a Berlin break at Easter. I’ve really enjoyed reading about your trip and picked up lots of handy tips so thank you very much! 😊

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by sparks1

I’ve only just found this as I’ve booked a Berlin break at Easter. I’ve really enjoyed reading about your trip and picked up lots of handy tips so thank you very much! 😊

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Thank you for reading. I hope you love Berlin as much as we did, I'm sure you will as there's so much to see and do. Have a fab time!