I’m back in Germany again. It’s one of those things – two of my cousins happen to be here at the moment, and my friend D said “I’m in Europe for New Year’s… want to meet me in Germany in January?”
This trip has had the shortest preparation period of all the international trips I’ve taken – flights booked a month beforehand, hotels even less, and barely any research done on my destinations! Since its both D and my birthdays on this trip, we decided to make it extra-special by taking the train down to Prague for our birthdays, and we’ll be heading down there tomorrow. The holiday is bookended by a few days exploring Berlin, a city I’ve not been to before, but I’ve been assured by all who have, that it is fantastic! So far it’s been pretty good!
I arrived at Frankfurt airport flying on Singapore (first time flying with them, and I was pretty impressed – good service and not too terrible economy class, and the big plus was that I managed to get a couple of hours sleep during the veeeeeeery long 13.5 hour flight between Singapore to Frankfurt!) Like last time I flew to FRA, the airport was very quiet, and I managed to get my baggage, change into multiple layers (it was very cold!!) and get through passport control and customs within about 20 mins! The passport control desk was deserted of customers – I wasn’t sure I was in the right place as there wasn’t any queue whatsoever! Unlike the disbelief I usually get in Australia, the immigration lady recognised my name and asked me if I had relatives in Poland, even though I was obviously born in Australia from my passport. That felt very strange!!
The train transfer was pretty painless. I validated my Eurail pass at the DB office at the Frankfurt Flughafen Bahnhof, and since I was running so early, booked a new reservation on a slightly earlier train. This one was an IC, rather than the ICE I’d originally booked (a slower train with more stops) but I was happy to have a longer, earlier trip which took place next to a heater to get away from the bitter cold in the long distance train station!
I’d booked a seat in a compartment, and had it to myself for about two hours of the five and a half hour trip, before being joined by a (possibly French or Belgian) couple and their small baby. They apologised for the small amount of noise the baby made, but the only issue for me was that the guy hopped out at every stop for a cigarette and came back in reeking of smoke. They were pretty friendly though.
The trip was otherwise uneventful, but we passed through many small towns, gloriously green countryside and even a solar power farm! The pictures through the train window didn’t turn out wonderfully, but you get the picture – fields and fields of solar panels. Very cool!
Berlin HBF was a little scary – it’s the biggest train station in Europe apparently! I managed to find my way to the suburban rail to get to Alexanderplatz, with the added bonus of having multiple people asking me for directions as if I was a local. Must have looked like I knew where I was going!
Arriving at Alexanderplatz, I had a vague idea of where to go to get to the hotel (it was supposed to be 5-10 mins walk) and a map, but was waylaid by a girl begging while I was perusing my map. Checkin at the Holiday Inn was easy (I know – I usually stay at places with more character, but we wanted somewhere clean, central and easy for the first part of the trip) and we were given an Executive Room (er… it has a mini minibar and a view of the Fernsehturm!)
After a quick freshen up, I went for a wander around Alexanderplatz to get the lay of the land, since D wasn’t joining me until the next day. I didn’t do much, just wandered around the shops a bit, picking up some GF bread and water, before heading back to the hotel for a traditional Berliner meal – Currywurst and chips!
I slept sooooooo well. After only 3 hours or so of sleep the night before, I really needed it! The second day was spent mainly waiting for D to arrive from the airport after a quick morning wander, and then we battled our way through the rain a bit further afield and found an awesome Mexican place for lunch – Dolores, a funky, relaxed place to get burritos, soup, salads and the most amazing homemade lemonade ever!
We checked out the Galeria Kaufhof (they have a champagne bar as well as a deluxe gourmet food section – very civilised, although they didn’t stock many jackets which weren’t of the puffer variety!) and found an extensive secondhand clothes shop which was just over the road from the hotel. They have a huge vintage 70s and 80s section, but unfortunately these aren’t my fave vintage periods! They did have some gorgeous heavy coats, but they were too heavy to take home, and besides, I’d never need them in Aussie heat. Sigh. No coat shopping for me.
Two Weeks Away 