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!

Getting It Back Together

Well, we finished the trip and I was either too busy or did not have good internet connections, so did not post daily while on the trip. I am going to start posting again, and will try to provide a daily account of the trip. Here goes......

Thursday, June 3 - Leipzig, Neichen
After WWII, one of my dad's cousins here in the US received a series of letters from cousins in Leipzig, Germany (written in German). I now have copies of those letters. Leipzig was at that time part of the communist German Democratic Republic. Times were difficult then and the letters reflected that, asking if the US cousins could please send coffee, eyeglass lenses, shoe soles, etc, all items they could not obtain in Leipzig.




On Thursday, before leaving Leipzig, we walked around the train station to find Ehrensteinstrasse 22, where our Kunze cousins lived at that time. Today, the neighborhood appears prosperous and well maintained.

After the walk, we picked up our bags and hiked to the Avis car rental shop to pick up a car and head to the country. We had a nice drive through the village of Oelschuetz, where the Winklers lived before coming to the US. Just 2 kilometers south of there we found a Pension (B & B) in Neichen at a family home. It was typical for the area, a courtyard with houses on two sides, several generations of the family living in one location. They also had a huge garden. The price was right, 20 euro per night for the room and 10 euro per person per day for breakfast. That is about $50 per day for room and a HUGE breakfast.

That night we drove to the Grimma, a larger town in the area with restaurants and ate at K House in the older part of the city. Fred had Salmon with potatoes and I had Schnitzel with fried potatoes and mushrooms - wonderful! We finished with a specialty of the house, an ice cream sundae with eier liqueur - yes, it is made with eggs, and the dessert was wonderful as well. So far, we have not lost ANY weight, despite walking miles per day. Till next time!

By Train from Dresden to Leipzig

Today we had breakfast in Dresden, packed, then rode the bus to the train station and purchased tickets from Dresden to Leipzig. We were able to get a good discount on the tickets because it was the middle of the week, the middle of the day, AND we were willing to take the "slow" train, 16 stops in 90 minutes. It was a pleasant ride through the countryside on a rainy but beautiful day. I found a schedule at the station that listed all of the stops, so was able to follow our trip on the map.

We went through Kuhren, the county seat of the area where our Winklers lived before coming to America in the mid 1800s. We also passed through Wurzen, another town linked to our Winklers.

We arrived in Leipzig and found the train station (Bahnhof) information desk. They were able to direct us to the city of Leipzig tourist information office just across the street from the station.

At the tourist information office, we found and booked a room in a reasonably priced hotel very near the train station. By that time, it was after 1:00 pm, so we walked to the hotel and were able to check in. At all of the locations except the Dresden train station, we met people with good English language skills, so had no problems there.

Once in Leipzig, we took a stroll through the Alt Stadt or old section of the central city. Our first stop was the Nikolai Kirche, dating from the 14th centruy. Between 1982 and 1989, during soviet occupation of the area, up to 2000 people of various religions gathered weekly in this church to pray for peace. One Monday in October 1989, 10,000 people gathered outside the church with candles lit to work toward a peaceful revolution.

After the Nikolai Kirche, we went to the Thomas Kirche, where J. S. Bach was cantor for 27 years between 1723 and 1750 and is now buried. After the church, we visited the nearby Bach museum, an interactive experience where we viewed various hand written scores and other memorabilia related to Bach. The museum maintains an archive of Bach related materials.

Leipzig has been known for centuries as a center for commercial expos, book printing and binding, universities, and music. It was not bombed as much during WWII as Dresden, and today we saw very little evidence of nearly 40 years of eastern occupation, at least in the Alt Stadt. Business appears to be booming, resulting in a lively town center.

We ate dinner at the Cafe Apoteke, Fred had stroganoff and I had veal goulash with potatoes, all of which was yummy.

A stroll back to the hotel with a diversion to the mall in the train station for necessaries shopping and we are in tor the night.

HOW TO: When traveling in a country where you do not speak the language, use online train schedules to do your research before going to the train station, then write down your destination, possible times, etc, on a piece of paper or take a map so you can show the rail service agent where you want to go. Whenever possible, pick up the train schedule at the station showoing all of the stops so you don't have to guess where and when to get off the train. Trains only stop for a minute or two at most stations, so refer to your schedule, then just before your stop, gather your belongings and head for an exit so you are ready to detrain. Allow someone else to exit first or watch at a prior stop so you know how to open the train door. On most trains, using the restroom while the train is stopped in a station is forbidden. If you tend to get motion sickness, try to ride facing forward.

Dresden Day 2

Perhaps you are wondering what we are doing in Dresden. Our Winkler ancestors came from a small town in Saxony called Oelschuetz, which is near Wurzen, which is near Leipzig, which is near Dresden. Dresden is the capital of Saxony and a wonderful historical city, so this is where our journey began.

Yesterday started off great with a good cheap breakfast at the Imbiss below our room. Sandwiches on hard rolls with salami and lunch meat, boild egg, great coffee. Then, to save time and our legs, we took the bus to the Altstadt, but got turned around when we got off the bus and walked almost all of the way back to the hotel before we realized that. Anyway, we started the Frauenkirche, originally completed in 1763. It was destroyed in 1945 and after German reunification, was rebuilt and reopened in 2005. It is a Lutheran church, and very beautiful in pastel colors with lots of gold. The cost to rebuild was more than 100 million euros.

Next we walked past a mural called the Parade of Nobles, 24,000 tiles of Meissen procelain on the back wall of the royal palace, depicitng 700 years of Saxon royalty, constructed in 1871. As I walked past this mural, I see the people our Winkler ancestors were named after, Johann, August, Frederick, Wilhemina.

The mural led us to the Catholic church, the Hof Kirche, another beautiful church, all light and airy with a wonderful pipe organ that someone was playing. We sat and just listened for a few minutes.

Around the corner is the Zwinger museum, which is a beautiful place, built around an open square, somewhat like the Louvre. We spent an hour touring the collection of Augustus the Strong's chinese porcelain collection, then realized there was another hour of Meissen porcelain from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, beautiful stuff.

After the Zwinger, it was back to the fischhaus for lunch, grilled trout for me and the Captains plate for Fred.

After lunch, we walked and rode the bus along the Elbe river. There is a bike/hike path along the river, going all the way to Meissen. Lots of people out, even on a rainy day, walking, biking, rowing, etc.

Gotta go - breakfast calls.