Our latest weekend trip took us up to Berlin. Berlin is around a 7 hour drive from Kaiserslautern, so we decided to try a different mode of transportation that we hadn't used up to this point. The DB (German train company) offers overnight trains for longer distance trips, so we decided to give that a try. We boarded the train in Kaiserslautern around 10:30 and made the 1 hour trip to Mannheim where we caught the overnight train. We were traveling with Toni and Warren, so we reserved a 4 person coachette to share with them. I was kind of nervous because I didn't really know what to expect. Turns out it worked out pretty well (as well as an oversized closet with 4 beds in it could be!) I didn't sleep very well, but I think everyone else was able to get some sleep. I think I slept for maybe 4 of the 8 hours that we were on the train. Here is what our "closet" looked like. It was cozy to say the least!
We arrived in Berlin around 7:30 AM on Saturday, and hit the ground running. We found out way to our B&B where we showered up and dropped off our bags. First on the agenda was visiting some of the Museums that Berlin has to offer. We went to the Pergamon Museum and the Neues Museum. Both of them were very cool and well worth the time. The main exhibits at the Pergamon were several different monumental buildings that were reconstructed in the museum. The Pergamon Altar and the Market Gate of Miletus were excavated and brought to Germany from Turkey, and the Ishtar Gate came from ancient Babylon. All three were very impressive.
Ishtar Gate
The Pergamon Altar
Market Gate of Miletus
The Neues Museum had a very large exhibit of Egyptian antiquities that were found on several different expeditions. The prize piece of the exhibit was the famous bust of Nefertiti. The bust is very impressive in pictures but is ten times better in person. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures......booooo!
Next it was on to Check Point Charlie. The museum was very informative and we could have spent half of the day in there alone. There was so much to go through. It was very worth while for me because I didn't really know much about it before we went there. I thought the coolest part of the exhibits were how they showed the different ways that people tried to escape and make it across or under the Berlin Wall.
After we made it through that museum, we made out way over to a museum that was called the Topography of Terror. This museum was built on the site of the former SS headquarters from when the Nazi's were in power. It was a very somber place, but well worth the time to see. The German government built it because they wanted the people to never forget what went on during that time in their history. Also, outside of the Topography of Terror stands the largest segment of the Berlin Wall that is still standing.
On to day two!
Day two was filled with lots of plans...........that never really materialized thanks to the Bahn Police. No, we didn't end up in a German jail, but we did end up a little lighter in the wallet. Many people had told us about a walking tour of the city that they highly recommended, so we made that first on our list of things to do. We bought our day pass, as we had done the day before, and boarded the train. We were running a little bit late, so we were going to be cutting it close to make it on time. The we saw the dreaded Bahn Police. They come around every so often to make sure that people actually have tickets and aren't just riding the trains without paying. I handed him out ticket, and he looked at me with a very confused look on his face. He told me that we hadn't validated out tickets. I told the man that the tickets had the time and date printed on the ticket, so I thought we were good. He proceeded to tell me that "We have rules here in Germany, and we need you to get off the train at the next stop." So, after we each had to pay the man $40 Euros a piece, we were on our merry way. Of course by that time, we had missed our tour, so we had to come up with another plan for the day.
It all ended up working out though, because we found a really cool market/flea market that we wandered around for a while. We could have spent a lot of money there, but the Bahn Police had taken it all.....haha. After the market, we ended up doing our own tour using a guide that was in the Rick Steves book that Toni and Warren brought with. That walk included the German Reichstag (the German Parliament), the Berliner Dome, and the Brandenburg Gate. It was a long day of walking, but we got to see a lot of the city. We ended our night in an Irish Pub. We enjoyed a couple pints of Guinness, planned some activities for our trip to Ireland in April, and then called it a night.
Brandenburg Gate
Berliner Dome
German Reichstag
We headed for the train station in the morning and made the long haul back to Kaiserslautern and were home by 6:00 on Monday. Berlin was a pretty neat city with lots and lots of history. It was well worth the time. I would definitely recommend going there, but make sure that you remember that they have rules! We will be stamping and double stamping all train tickets from here on out!
We are really excited to meet Ron and Connie Koehn (some of Andrea's family friends) in a few weeks in Salzburg, Austria. Another post and pictures will follow that trip!
