Boring title, great trip.

We had originally planned to visit Berlin from Potsdam, but the camping/bike routes did not work out. Looking at the train schedules, we discovered that Wittenberg was, in fact, only two stops from Berlin on the fast train. Hmmmm. A new plan was hatched. With the camper in a great, safe, spot, we put together an overnight bag and made reservations for a night at the Marriott in Berlin.

Our actual trip to Berlin began smoothly – the taxi showed up.  The ICE (high speed, intercity) train we had booked only took around 40 minutes to get to the Hauptbahnof in Berlin.  (Just as well; the air conditioning was struggling!) The Hauptbanhof (main train station) was heaving, but we found our way to the underground train, or U-Bahn, and took one to the Brandenberger Gate. Popping back out into glorious sunshine, we could admire the iconic symbol of Berlin.

We never served in Berlin, but, the location of the old US Embassy Chancery right next to the Branderberger Gate has always been a topic of conversation and, happily, it was not given up, even though it lacks a large setback. It was fun to actually see the fabled building, from both sides.

We then walked to our hotel at the Potsdamer Platz.  Our hotel was wonderful and gave us a room at 11:00 AM, so we were able to freshen up before heading out for a light lunch.

We signed up for a Hop On/Hop Off bus tour, including a Canal and Harbor Cruise.  We were actually somewhat disappointed in this; the commentary was rather uninspiring and there were two scheduled ten minute driver breaks during the tour.  As it was over 90F, this made sitting in full sun most unpleasant.  Especially as after the second break, when the driver announced that there was a problem  with the bus and we would have to join the next bus.  When this arrived, it then proceeded to take a second 10 minute break.  At this point, we gave up and took a U-Bahn back to Potsdamer Platz, though we managed to find an ice-cream stop to cool us down!

We had a great dinner back at the hotel. The meal was great and we had fun chatting with an Indonesian waitress and a Romanian waiter.

The second day was a little cloudier and while it was cooler we set off to walk to Checkpoint Charlie.  The original is in a Museum, which we did not visit, but the copy still sitting in the middle of the street, gave us enough vibe. Happily today, it is merely a tourist trap on a through street.

We then took the U-Bahn to visit the DDR Museum, which explains life in Berlin before the Wall came down.  (https://www.ddr-museum.de/en) It was quite sobering. They had recreations of living rooms and listening posts(!!). We passed on the opportunity to drive a video Trabant. Actually, lots of people still have, and cherish Trabants. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant) The parallels between the DDR and Cuba are obvious – we felt right at home!

We came out of the Museum to a rainstorm, which was not even mentioned on the weather forecast!  We were near the boat dock so we headed there swiftly (having left our rain garb at the hotel.)  A boat was setting out for the cruise and had adequate rain protection so we happily got on board.  It was almost a private cruise with only about eight people on board. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

The commentary was much better than the bus. We never think of Berlin as a river city, but, like every major European city, rivers were essential to its founding and development. After the boat tour, we set out in search of lunch.

We ate lunch beside the Marien Kirche, a church dating from the mid 1200’s, sitting outside in the shade as the sun was back out and it was cooler than the inside of the small restaurant.

We then decided to visit the Berlin Wall Memorial.  We had hoped to walk the length of the Memorial but our plans were thwarted by a localized thunderstorm!  We managed to see a section, seeking cover from the rain for a short while.  The exhibits about the effects of the Wall’s construction on families on the east side of Bernauer Street, who found themselves unable to visit their relatives on the other side of the street, were sad. The whole section is several blocks long and there are lots of exhibits. You can really understand the size and complexity of the wall, with anti climb barriers, barbed wire, a free fire kill zone, and towers.

We made a quick stop at the Documentation Center but did not make it any further as we did not want to miss our train.  

After a quick S-Bahn trip back to Potsdamer Platz (Denise for the win), we returned to the hotel, picked up our bag and headed to the Hauptbahnhof only to discover that the ICE train we booked had been cancelled.  And it was hot in the Hauptbahnhof as it turned into another day in the 90’s. Worse, everyone’s ice cream machines were broken! A hour’s wait was NOT appealing!

So we decided to take the Regional train which left at the same time as the ICE would have but took three times as long. (We figured that if we were controlled, no one would care as we actually had the more expensive ICE ticket.) Turned out to be a most pleasant trip. We sat on the upper level and the train was nicely air conditioned so we were happy. The train stopped at the Potsdamer Platz Station. We then realized that had we simply booked on the slower, Regional train, we could have gotten off at the Potsdamer Platz station on arrival, avoided the chaos of the Hauptbahnhof, and gone directly to and from our hotel at the Potsdamer Platz.  While the train would have been slower, the trip would have been faster and much cheaper and easier. Such is life! 

Arriving back in Wittenberg, we even found a taxi at the station, which saved us a long, hot, 45 minute walk back to our campsite outside town. All in all, a great trip.