Bier, Bratwurst und Bahnsteige: Day 3

CrispyA · 23 Apr 17, 02:30 PM

Bier, Bratwurst under Bahnsteige: Day 3

We all slept well again and had an unhurried time getting up and getting ready. There was a bakery with a small cafe just down the road from the hotel and as it had very good reviews on Tripadvisor, we decided to have breakfast there.

The breakfast was really tasty. You order at the counter and help yourself to bread from their buffet - it was all really tasty. The meat eaters had the Guten Morgen breakfast, which included meat and cheese, whereas the veggie had the Muntermacher ("pick me up") which was fruit and bread. It wasn't cheap but it was very nice and set us up well for the day.

We like a good American diner breakfast but we did really like the typical German offering - it was simple but really tasty and much nicer than the oversweet offering you can end up with in hotels.

Today's plan was the East Side Gallery which is a section of the Berlin wall in Friedrichshain, formerly part of East Berlin. This section of wall is covered in paintings that celebrate the end of the wall and the bringing of freedom.

It was very cold again, so we wrapped up warm and wandered along the wall enjoying the art.

This picture of a Trabbi bursting through the wall is quite a famous one.

As is this one of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing

Unfortunately, the middle section has been quite substantially damaged by graffiti, so there are fences in front of the rest of the pictures. Graffiti like this really annoys me - why on earth would anyone think that they had the right to scrawl their name across something someone else worked hard to create?

We also paused for an album cover photo by the Spree river.

After the gallery, we walked up to Karl Marx Allee which is a famous street with typical East German architecture. It was starting to snow again so we got a quick picture of us looking suitably stern and then headed for the U-Bahn.

The next stop was Kurfurstendamm and some shopping. The guide book recommended Bikini Mall so we called in there to have a look. The shops were nice but all a bit fancy and we didn't want to buy things just for the sake of it, so we had a look and a comfort break but didn't actually buy anything. You do get to look into the monkey enclosure in the Zoo though and we spotted a red-bottomed ape scampering across the rocks.

There was some cool origami though.

Then we saw the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was damaged during the war and hasn't been repaired.

Everyone recommends the 6th floor food court at KaDeWe, so we walked there in the falling snow. The food court was okay, very similar to Harrods or Selfridges and once we'd had a quick look, we'd had enough. None of us are particular fans of shopping - we all like a bargain but nobody really enjoys just looking at shops so once we'd seen it, that was enough.

I did want to go to Kathe Wollfahrt, the Christmas shop, as I wanted a decoration as a souvenir. There was an amount of grumbling about this from the boys but I reminded them that I had booked and organised THE WHOLE TRIP plus I was speaking ALL THE GERMAN so they could indulge me for TEN MINUTES. I may have been a tad irritated at this point . . . :angry:

So, with Hannah on my side and the boys being suitably sheepish, we walked the very short distance to the Christmas Shop. Paul tried to put on his happy face but the giant Christmas tree and general jollity and Christmasness of it all was all too much for him.

(This is a man who whose favourite day of the year is when all the decorations come down, so a whole shop dedicated to sparkly decorations was never going to be top of his list. He loves clean lines and minimalism, and can't abide excess knick knacks, or "chuff" as we call it.)

I enjoyed myself, however, and bought a decoration which was the famous Berlin landmarks. I shall look forward to hanging it on the tree right in Paul's eyeline come December

.

We did also call into a souvenir shop so that I could get a fridge magnet. There wasn't much else to buy so we didn't bother. We had all been quite taken with Ampelmann, the little men on the pedestrian crossing symbols but the souvenirs of these didn't appeal either.

Back at the hotel, we went for Kaffee und Kuchen. We were earlier this time but the selection wasn't as good. We thought maybe they restock later on. We still had our cake and coffee though and planned another train ride.

This time we went south, but the S-Bahn was pretty busy and it wasn't as easy to see the sights. We got off at the Ostbahnhof and decided to try the R line, the regional trains.

Well, that turned out to be a fantastic decision and it cheered Paul up no end. First of all, the platforms were very quiet, and secondly, the trains were double-deckers.

Look how happy he is now!

To be fair, the girls got pretty excited too!

As ever, the train was spotless, comfortable and ran exactly to time. We got off at the Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) and marvelled at it for a little while.

The trains all run on different levels and it is somewhat reminiscent of the staircases at Hogwarts or an Escher drawing. It's a real feat of design and efficiency and we thought it was great. We are not trainspotters at all but you have to appreciate a fine station!

We stocked up with a couple of beers and snacks on the way back to the hotel and chilled for a little while. For our last night, we fancied another German meal and settled on the Gasthaus Krombach, which was about a 15 minute walk away, just off the Kurfurstendamm. It has been my original choice for Paul's birthday meal but then I spotted the Dicke Wirtin which was nearer to the hotel.

We had a lovely meal - the service was really friendly and the food was great. It was similar food - sausages, meatballs and noodles for the veggie, but all really well cooked and with substantial portions. The grilled bratwurst was really good, as was the sauerkraut, and we all enjoyed our meals. It was a comfy, cosy and laid back place and we were all really impressed with it.

We had a leisure stroll back, pausing to pose with a Berliner Bear. As ever, Hannah wins best posing.

Then it was relaxing in front of the snooker, watching Judd Trump getting beaten in shock defeat, before bedtime.

Melbatb · 23 Apr 17, 07:45 PM

Another great day! Must get back to Betlin - last went in about 2000! You really packed a lot in!

CrispyA · 24 Apr 17, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Another great day! Must get back to Betlin - last went in about 2000! You really packed a lot in!

There's so much to do! Can definitely recommend

katiebaz · 25 Apr 17, 10:17 PM

Love the album cover photos, very early 80s 😀 Another great day and you have really made me want to visit a Berlin.

**smithlane** · 4 Oct 18, 10:56 PM

Another fab day. Jim is exactly the same as Paul when it comes to Christmas, he's such a scrooge! Shame I don't care and the house still looks like Santa has thrown up in it for the month of December

CrispyA · 5 Oct 18, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by smithlane

Another fab day. Jim is exactly the same as Paul when it comes to Christmas, he's such a scrooge! Shame I don't care and the house still looks like Santa has thrown up in it for the month of December

Is it a "man" thing? Me and Hannah love putting the tree up but the boys just roll their eyes!

**Goldia** · 7 Oct 18, 09:25 AM

More train rides today! It does sound fascinating. The station with all the trains running through it looks incredible. What a great trip!

CrispyA · 7 Oct 18, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by Goldia

More train rides today! It does sound fascinating. The station with all the trains running through it looks incredible. What a great trip!

It was very Harry Potter!

23 Apr 17, 02:30 PM	#1
	23 Apr 17, 02:30 PM CrispyA Imagineer
CrispyA Imagineer Join Date: Oct 11	Bier, Bratwurst und Bahnsteige: Day 3 Bier, Bratwurst under Bahnsteige: Day 3 We all slept well again and had an unhurried time getting up and getting ready. There was a bakery with a small cafe just down the road from the hotel and as it had very good reviews on Tripadvisor, we decided to have breakfast there. The breakfast was really tasty. You order at the counter and help yourself to bread from their buffet - it was all really tasty. The meat eaters had the Guten Morgen breakfast, which included meat and cheese, whereas the veggie had the Muntermacher ("pick me up") which was fruit and bread. It wasn't cheap but it was very nice and set us up well for the day. We like a good American diner breakfast but we did really like the typical German offering - it was simple but really tasty and much nicer than the oversweet offering you can end up with in hotels. Today's plan was the East Side Gallery which is a section of the Berlin wall in Friedrichshain, formerly part of East Berlin. This section of wall is covered in paintings that celebrate the end of the wall and the bringing of freedom. It was very cold again, so we wrapped up warm and wandered along the wall enjoying the art. This picture of a Trabbi bursting through the wall is quite a famous one. As is this one of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing Unfortunately, the middle section has been quite substantially damaged by graffiti, so there are fences in front of the rest of the pictures. Graffiti like this really annoys me - why on earth would anyone think that they had the right to scrawl their name across something someone else worked hard to create? We also paused for an album cover photo by the Spree river. After the gallery, we walked up to Karl Marx Allee which is a famous street with typical East German architecture. It was starting to snow again so we got a quick picture of us looking suitably stern and then headed for the U-Bahn. The next stop was Kurfurstendamm and some shopping. The guide book recommended Bikini Mall so we called in there to have a look. The shops were nice but all a bit fancy and we didn't want to buy things just for the sake of it, so we had a look and a comfort break but didn't actually buy anything. You do get to look into the monkey enclosure in the Zoo though and we spotted a red-bottomed ape scampering across the rocks. There was some cool origami though. Then we saw the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was damaged during the war and hasn't been repaired. Everyone recommends the 6th floor food court at KaDeWe, so we walked there in the falling snow. The food court was okay, very similar to Harrods or Selfridges and once we'd had a quick look, we'd had enough. None of us are particular fans of shopping - we all like a bargain but nobody really enjoys just looking at shops so once we'd seen it, that was enough. I did want to go to Kathe Wollfahrt, the Christmas shop, as I wanted a decoration as a souvenir. There was an amount of grumbling about this from the boys but I reminded them that I had booked and organised THE WHOLE TRIP plus I was speaking ALL THE GERMAN so they could indulge me for TEN MINUTES. I may have been a tad irritated at this point . . . :angry: So, with Hannah on my side and the boys being suitably sheepish, we walked the very short distance to the Christmas Shop. Paul tried to put on his happy face but the giant Christmas tree and general jollity and Christmasness of it all was all too much for him. (This is a man who whose favourite day of the year is when all the decorations come down, so a whole shop dedicated to sparkly decorations was never going to be top of his list. He loves clean lines and minimalism, and can't abide excess knick knacks, or "chuff" as we call it.) I enjoyed myself, however, and bought a decoration which was the famous Berlin landmarks. I shall look forward to hanging it on the tree right in Paul's eyeline come December . We did also call into a souvenir shop so that I could get a fridge magnet. There wasn't much else to buy so we didn't bother. We had all been quite taken with Ampelmann, the little men on the pedestrian crossing symbols but the souvenirs of these didn't appeal either. Back at the hotel, we went for Kaffee und Kuchen. We were earlier this time but the selection wasn't as good. We thought maybe they restock later on. We still had our cake and coffee though and planned another train ride. This time we went south, but the S-Bahn was pretty busy and it wasn't as easy to see the sights. We got off at the Ostbahnhof and decided to try the R line, the regional trains. Well, that turned out to be a fantastic decision and it cheered Paul up no end. First of all, the platforms were very quiet, and secondly, the trains were double-deckers. Look how happy he is now! To be fair, the girls got pretty excited too! As ever, the train was spotless, comfortable and ran exactly to time. We got off at the Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) and marvelled at it for a little while. The trains all run on different levels and it is somewhat reminiscent of the staircases at Hogwarts or an Escher drawing. It's a real feat of design and efficiency and we thought it was great. We are not trainspotters at all but you have to appreciate a fine station! We stocked up with a couple of beers and snacks on the way back to the hotel and chilled for a little while. For our last night, we fancied another German meal and settled on the Gasthaus Krombach, which was about a 15 minute walk away, just off the Kurfurstendamm. It has been my original choice for Paul's birthday meal but then I spotted the Dicke Wirtin which was nearer to the hotel. We had a lovely meal - the service was really friendly and the food was great. It was similar food - sausages, meatballs and noodles for the veggie, but all really well cooked and with substantial portions. The grilled bratwurst was really good, as was the sauerkraut, and we all enjoyed our meals. It was a comfy, cosy and laid back place and we were all really impressed with it. We had a leisure stroll back, pausing to pose with a Berliner Bear. As ever, Hannah wins best posing. Then it was relaxing in front of the snooker, watching Judd Trump getting beaten in shock defeat, before bedtime. __________________ West Coast July - August 2014, Howdy Texas! August 2015, Rocking in the Rockies July - August 2016, Bier, Bratwurst und Bahnsteige: Berlin 2017, Touring Tennessee 2017, Expedition East Coast 2018, Hola! Madrid 2019, Great Lakes Grooving 2019, It's Czech, Mate, Prague 2022, Veni, Vidi, Edi, Bibi Italy 2022 Edited at 03:48 PM.

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