BA Boomerang, Bratwurst and Buddha - Berlin to Hong Kong - Day 2 (War Graves and Olympic Stadium)

BONZO · 1 Oct 16, 09:49 PM

BA Boomerang, Bratwurst and Buddha - Berlin to Hong Kong

CAST LIST

Me (Shaun): 50 something, loving all the travel
Alison: 50 something (just!), also loving all the travel
Link to trip report index: Here

Day 2 – Thursday 15th September 2016

We were up at a reasonable time this morning although probably like most people you never sleep all that well on the first night away from home. (I forgot to mention yesterday that the hotel had left a note for us offering the option to bypass having any cleaning/room service in exchange for a €5 voucher to be used in the bar. We decided this was a really good idea – we didn’t really need maid service – and we would really make use of the voucher, together with the free beer voucher that we were given at check-in for being IHG hotel group members!)

We went downstairs to the breakfast area which was the normal buffet set up but with more continental breakfast items and some full English items, juice, cornflakes etc.

After a leisurely breakfast we went back up to the room to finalise plans for the day and more importantly how best to travel to the different locations.

Today’s itinerary was to pay our respects to Alison’s grandfather who was shot down over Berlin in a raid during WW2 and to visit some sites visited by my late father during his National Service in Berlin in the late 40’s/early 50’s.

We strolled out to Alexanderplatz station and after a bit of muddling we bought two one day passes for the S-Bahn from a slightly bemused lady at the ticketing counter.

Tickets duly validated on the platform, we took the train to Pichelsberg. It’s always interesting to see the suburban areas of a city as the train passes through various areas well off the tourist trail. We exited the train station and arrived in a very quiet and leafy part of Berlin with nothing much around apart from a few houses and a restaurant opposite that didn’t open until late afternoon.

Google maps checked and we set off through some quiet streets to find an unassuming entrance to the actual war graves. At the entrance were a couple of information boards giving some background information to the war effort and the reason behind the cemetery.

We signed the visitor’s book, looked around and found Alison’s granddad’s gravestone. A very solemn and moving place, very peaceful and absolutely well maintained.

It was particularly moving for Alison as her father died just 3 months ago and he had visited his father’s grave not long before he died, so we were recreating his footsteps. Our only regret was not taking any flowers with us – we expected there to be a flower seller there.
We lingered a while to pay our respects and then took a slow walk back to the station.

By now it was getting close to lunchtime and I remembered seeing a restaurant on the way from the station, not the one directly outside. We went into the Tiroler Bauernstuben but most of the meals on offer were quite substantial (and very pricey) so we just sat in the gardens and had a couple of beers.

before heading over the road to the petrol station to get a couple of hot paninis to eat on the train.

As mentioned, part of my reason for coming to Berlin was to follow in my late father’s footsteps and now this was a good opportunity to re-trace his National Service days. Family legend had it that he had spent some time in and around the Olympic Stadium and swimming pool. Luckily, the stadium was only a few stops back along the line on the way back to the hotel so I thought we may as well stop and take a look.

The actual stadium close to the train stop and the walk way to the entrance was quite impressive.

I had reviewed the pool before and found that it was open air and open for public swimming so with costumes in hand we found the entrance to the pool, paid our money (€5 each) and in we went. It was a little dilapidated – it didn’t feel like the building had been updated much since being built - but oh boy, was that swim really welcome to cool down. When the weather is good there’s nothing quite like a swim in an open air pool!

We sat on the side for a while and let the scorching sun dry us off while we watched kids of all ages throwing themselves off the 10m diving board before toweling down and getting changed to head in to the stadium itself.

The stadium was open for visitors so we bought tickets to have a look around – we wanted to take the audio tour, but they needed photo ID (as well as charge) and we didn’t have our passports with us. Not to worry – we just took the paper guide and took ourselves off to look around.

We walked around the inside of the stadium and sat down for a coffee (Alison here: boo! Not Starbucks!) and took in the view of stadium.

All very impressive despite its age and lots of internal modernisation had been undertaken to bring it up to scratch. Overall a real impressive structure despite it being Nazi architecture. They didn't shy away from the dark history of the time - it was fully ackowledged.

We wandered around the grounds and took in the sculptures, stables, Bundesliga hall of fame and Olympic oak amongst other items here before calling time. I did think about stopping off at Charlottenburg to take in the palace but I was flagging quite a bit by now due to the heat and humidity.

We arrived back in our hotel without any incident and collected our voucher from reception for being such good environmental citizens.
After a quick refreshing shower we returned to the bar to cash in our voucher and also use our free drink coupon and consider food options for the evening. Well, we were in Berlin, had Thai last night so Lebanese was the only to go then!

We found one called Qadmous and looked at the menu and location online which happily translated into English via Google. We took a nice early evening stroll to the restaurant, away from the hustle and bustle of the square. Mainly nice tree lined roads overlooking Volkspark Friedrichshain, a lovely large public park.

There were plenty of spaces to sit down so we took our place on the outside terrace and studied the menu – all in German!

Our waitress was fluent in English so we just jabbed a finger at the various pictures (it looked like a mixed meat platter of kebabs) and ordered a couple of cocktails and beers and settled down.

The food was absolutely delicious, a bit like an upscale, authentic Comptoir Libanais restaurant. Blooming marvellous, one of the best meals I’ve had for a very long time.

We finished up with mint tea and coffee.

We waddled back to the hotel but I really should’ve used the toilet before I left and I was busting to go. Luckily the park was still open although late at night and I wondered if they had a public toilet in there? After a couple of quick sorties all I found was a number of “ladies of the night” so I just had to get a shuffle on and use the toilet in the reception in the hotel before calling it a night.

Datapoints:

Starbucks count today: 0
Starbucks total for trip so far: 2

Steps today: 16323
Steps total for trip so far: 34511

Miles today: 8.2
Miles total for trip so far: 17.3

Melbatb · 2 Oct 16, 06:59 AM

It must have been a special day for Alison.

We used to live in Erding - where the beer is made. Beer is certainly a big part of German life

shirley · 21 Oct 16, 10:14 PM

Good day, esp finding the grave, very moving.

DS2 loves German beer and you were drinking one of his favourite's Erdinger, love the glasses they pour them into.

ashc13 · 29 Dec 16, 11:24 PM

Very moving day for Alison
You packed a lot in again today! Great pics of the stadium. Seems like you are enjoying Berlin? Will you get back again for a longer visit?

BONZO · 30 Dec 16, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by ashc13

Very moving day for Alison
You packed a lot in again today! Great pics of the stadium. Seems like you are enjoying Berlin? Will you get back again for a longer visit?

We'll possibly return one day as I'd like to see more of the canals and outer districts like Charlottenburg.

In the meantime there's lots of other places to try out - Boston / Salem trip report up soon and new trip later this month - watch this space :-)

1 Oct 16, 09:49 PM	#1
	1 Oct 16, 09:49 PM BONZO Imagineer
BONZO Imagineer Join Date: Mar 02	BA Boomerang, Bratwurst and Buddha - Berlin to Hong Kong - Day 2 (War Graves and Olympic Stadium) BA Boomerang, Bratwurst and Buddha - Berlin to Hong Kong CAST LIST Me (Shaun): 50 something, loving all the travel Alison: 50 something (just!), also loving all the travel Link to trip report index: Here Day 2 – Thursday 15th September 2016 We were up at a reasonable time this morning although probably like most people you never sleep all that well on the first night away from home. (I forgot to mention yesterday that the hotel had left a note for us offering the option to bypass having any cleaning/room service in exchange for a €5 voucher to be used in the bar. We decided this was a really good idea – we didn’t really need maid service – and we would really make use of the voucher, together with the free beer voucher that we were given at check-in for being IHG hotel group members!) We went downstairs to the breakfast area which was the normal buffet set up but with more continental breakfast items and some full English items, juice, cornflakes etc. After a leisurely breakfast we went back up to the room to finalise plans for the day and more importantly how best to travel to the different locations. Today’s itinerary was to pay our respects to Alison’s grandfather who was shot down over Berlin in a raid during WW2 and to visit some sites visited by my late father during his National Service in Berlin in the late 40’s/early 50’s. We strolled out to Alexanderplatz station and after a bit of muddling we bought two one day passes for the S-Bahn from a slightly bemused lady at the ticketing counter. Tickets duly validated on the platform, we took the train to Pichelsberg. It’s always interesting to see the suburban areas of a city as the train passes through various areas well off the tourist trail. We exited the train station and arrived in a very quiet and leafy part of Berlin with nothing much around apart from a few houses and a restaurant opposite that didn’t open until late afternoon. Google maps checked and we set off through some quiet streets to find an unassuming entrance to the actual war graves. At the entrance were a couple of information boards giving some background information to the war effort and the reason behind the cemetery. We signed the visitor’s book, looked around and found Alison’s granddad’s gravestone. A very solemn and moving place, very peaceful and absolutely well maintained. It was particularly moving for Alison as her father died just 3 months ago and he had visited his father’s grave not long before he died, so we were recreating his footsteps. Our only regret was not taking any flowers with us – we expected there to be a flower seller there. We lingered a while to pay our respects and then took a slow walk back to the station. By now it was getting close to lunchtime and I remembered seeing a restaurant on the way from the station, not the one directly outside. We went into the Tiroler Bauernstuben but most of the meals on offer were quite substantial (and very pricey) so we just sat in the gardens and had a couple of beers. before heading over the road to the petrol station to get a couple of hot paninis to eat on the train. As mentioned, part of my reason for coming to Berlin was to follow in my late father’s footsteps and now this was a good opportunity to re-trace his National Service days. Family legend had it that he had spent some time in and around the Olympic Stadium and swimming pool. Luckily, the stadium was only a few stops back along the line on the way back to the hotel so I thought we may as well stop and take a look. The actual stadium close to the train stop and the walk way to the entrance was quite impressive. I had reviewed the pool before and found that it was open air and open for public swimming so with costumes in hand we found the entrance to the pool, paid our money (€5 each) and in we went. It was a little dilapidated – it didn’t feel like the building had been updated much since being built - but oh boy, was that swim really welcome to cool down. When the weather is good there’s nothing quite like a swim in an open air pool! We sat on the side for a while and let the scorching sun dry us off while we watched kids of all ages throwing themselves off the 10m diving board before toweling down and getting changed to head in to the stadium itself. The stadium was open for visitors so we bought tickets to have a look around – we wanted to take the audio tour, but they needed photo ID (as well as charge) and we didn’t have our passports with us. Not to worry – we just took the paper guide and took ourselves off to look around. We walked around the inside of the stadium and sat down for a coffee (Alison here: boo! Not Starbucks!) and took in the view of stadium. All very impressive despite its age and lots of internal modernisation had been undertaken to bring it up to scratch. Overall a real impressive structure despite it being Nazi architecture. They didn't shy away from the dark history of the time - it was fully ackowledged. We wandered around the grounds and took in the sculptures, stables, Bundesliga hall of fame and Olympic oak amongst other items here before calling time. I did think about stopping off at Charlottenburg to take in the palace but I was flagging quite a bit by now due to the heat and humidity. We arrived back in our hotel without any incident and collected our voucher from reception for being such good environmental citizens. After a quick refreshing shower we returned to the bar to cash in our voucher and also use our free drink coupon and consider food options for the evening. Well, we were in Berlin, had Thai last night so Lebanese was the only to go then! We found one called Qadmous and looked at the menu and location online which happily translated into English via Google. We took a nice early evening stroll to the restaurant, away from the hustle and bustle of the square. Mainly nice tree lined roads overlooking Volkspark Friedrichshain, a lovely large public park. There were plenty of spaces to sit down so we took our place on the outside terrace and studied the menu – all in German! Our waitress was fluent in English so we just jabbed a finger at the various pictures (it looked like a mixed meat platter of kebabs) and ordered a couple of cocktails and beers and settled down. The food was absolutely delicious, a bit like an upscale, authentic Comptoir Libanais restaurant. Blooming marvellous, one of the best meals I’ve had for a very long time. We finished up with mint tea and coffee. We waddled back to the hotel but I really should’ve used the toilet before I left and I was busting to go. Luckily the park was still open although late at night and I wondered if they had a public toilet in there? After a couple of quick sorties all I found was a number of “ladies of the night” so I just had to get a shuffle on and use the toilet in the reception in the hotel before calling it a night. Datapoints: Starbucks count today: 0 Starbucks total for trip so far: 2 Steps today: 16323 Steps total for trip so far: 34511 Miles today: 8.2 Miles total for trip so far: 17.3 __________________ http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sign...igpic534_1.gif 1988 ~ Contemporary ~ Honeymoon 1989 ~ Off site 1994 ~ EuroDisney ~ Santa Fe 1999 ~ Off site 2001 ~ CBR (Aruba) ~ Poly (Tahiti) 2003 ~ WL & HRH 2004 ~ Pop Century, RPH, CSR, PBH, Contemporary 2006 ~ DLP ~ Newport Bay 2007 ~ POR ~ HRH ~ GF 2008 ~ All star sports, BCV, RPH, Vero Beach, VWL 2010 ~ OKW ~ BCV ~ HRH ~POP Century ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL 2013 ~ AKL ~ HRH ~ BCV ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL Edited at 11:39 PM.

29 Dec 16, 11:24 PM	#4
	29 Dec 16, 11:24 PM ashc13 Serious Dibber
ashc13 Serious Dibber Join Date: Mar 05	Very moving day for Alison You packed a lot in again today! Great pics of the stadium. Seems like you are enjoying Berlin? Will you get back again for a longer visit?