Tuesday and Wednesday, June 8 & 9 - Berlin

We left our little apartment in Leipzig today and after one more tour through the train station, we headed out for Berlin on the train.  The Leipzig train station is quite a sight rivaling some of our best malls here.  Lots of shops and all kinds of restaurants.  We have eaten at a fish restaurant in the station twice during our combined stays here and the food was very good. 

Leipzig Hauptbahnhof

In Berlin, we found the tourist office in the train station, and asked for help with accomodations.  They explained that there was an aviation "fair" or exhibition and most of the hotels were booked.  We said pension, not too expensive, would be good and they found us a room in a hostel near the train station, actually a guesthouse of the Berlin Stadtmission, operated by the Protestant church. 

We had a very comfortable room with wifi and great breakfasts.  We were also walking distance from a laundry, which happened to be in a camping place in mid-city.  We learned later that the camping area was actually on former "no man's land" between east and west Berlin. 

We had purchased "city-cards" that provided transportation and some admissions, so took the metro or U-Bahn to a station near the Brandenburg Gate, and then walked Unter Den Linden, the tree-lined main boulevard in  Berlin that was laid out and planted in the mid 1600's.  Most of the trees were destroyed for construction or used as firewood during WWII, but were re-planted in the 1950's, so the street is again today a vibrant and beautiful part of the city.

We walked past the Russian embassy stopping at the Einstein Cafe for late lunch.  Then on past opera houses, monuments and museums to the Catholic Berliner Dom, which sits on the river Spree.

Berliner Dom

When we learned there was a concert scheduled in the Dom the next evening, we bought tickets. 





Then we noticed tour boats on the river and we were took advantage of the ride and toured the city from a river boat.  How relaxing!

After the river tour, it was almost 7:00 pm, so we headed back toward the Brandenburg gate to hop the U-Bahn toward our hotel.  Well, we had to pass the Einstein Cafe again and I thought a place like that must have ice cream, so again we stopped to refresh ourselves.

On Wednesday, we headed out again to see one of the 5 museums on Museum Island.  We spent a couple of hours there, then went across the river for lunch at a Radison Hotel, where I had Tandoor Salad and Fred had Currywurst with french fries - YUM!

After lunch, we went back to the hotel and I did some online stuff while Fred went to the laundramat.  That is an experience as well in other countries.  Well, the clothes were not getting dry, but he knew we needed to head toward the cathedral for the concert.  I suggested we walk to the train station and get a cab there.  We told the cabbie we had concert tickets and he went all out to get us there on time, including going the wrong way on a one way street and almost getting in an altercation with a bicycle rider. 

The concert was worth it - what a beautiful place.  There was a chorus of about 120 voices, an orchestra,  and one of the numbers featured the pipe organ. 

By the time the show was over, we were hungry, so headed to the Gendarmenmarkt where we chose the Refugium Cafe, built in what was once a chapel near the Berlin Koncerthaus.  We sat outside where Fred had fish and I had veal. 




What a day!  We are tired and happy - ready to start the next leg of our adventure - we move on to Poland tomorrow!