Tags
Berlin, Germany, Photography, Railways, The Grand Tour, Travel
10:18.
I had a lovely (if late) night with and old friend and colleague from my Siemens days. Ellen no longer works for Siemens Mobility which means we don’t get to see each other as often, so it was great to spend the evening catching up.
Adding to my interesting mix of hotels, last nights bed was in a homestay. I stayed with a lovely German chap of Lebanese birth who rents out the spacious spare room in his apartment in the Gesundbrunnen district. The area’s a multi-ethnic melting pot with a great mix of cafes and local restaurants with food to suit all tastes.
Now I’m packing up and heading to Berlin HbF to dump my suitcase before going for a wander. Back with pictures soon…
13:30.
Having made it to the Hauptbahnhof the first job was to leave my bag, which is easier said than done. Left luggage lockers of a decent size were at a premium. I enxed up going round and round for about 10 minutes until I found one that was free. It reminded me of motorists driving round a busy car park, hoping someone will leave! The other thing is the toilets, which take the pee in more ways than one. I’ve rarely seen a queue for a gents, but the HbF achieves it, mainly because they charge a €1.50 and the machine is so slow queues build up.
Bag dumped I headed back to Geshundbrunnen with the idea of getting pictures in the area. There’s an old WW2 flak tower which I wanted to visit, but as I was taking pictures at the station a Polish train came in that was heading across the border at Frankfurt (Oder). I stayed there during my last Innotrans in 2022. The train was only going to take an hour to cover the journey so I thought “why not?”. I quickly entered the trip details in my Interrail ticket app and there you go! I’m now paying a flying visit to Frankfurt!
This train has a buffet car and if the journey was longer I’d have been very tempted to have polished off a Polish lunch on board!
Today’s mix of travellers includes an American family (unusual) and a handful of medal wearing Poles on their way home from yesterday’s Berlin marathon.
15:30.
Well, that was fun! I was in Frankfurt (Oder) for little more than an hour but I discovered some interesting history – both railway and political, as well as getting some useful pictures. I also made sure the train I booked back to Berlin was another Polish service in order to eat in the buffet car, where I treated myself to a traditional Polish shoup with dark bread.
23:45.
Having had a fantastic time in Berlin and a goodbye beer with Ellen in a biergarten by the Hauptbahnhof I’m now heading for Switzerland. I was worried that trains might be busy so I booked 1st class seats. I needen’t have worried. My coach is almost empty. Right now I’m on ICE699 which is bound for Munich, although I’ll be transferring to another service at Frankfurt. Only DB being DB have helpfully texted me to say my connection’s running 40 minutes late. Good job I didn’t book my onward trip from there, eh?
Still, I’m enjoying the luxury of an uncrowded 1st Class ICE. Let’s hope the next one’s the same, but now it’s time to get a couple of hours sleep.
I’ve a small favour to ask…
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Cheers,
Paul
