(Part One of this posting is here. It explains how we decided on our itinerary, how our flight was canceled, how we never got to our destination, and our day of woe at Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport.)
Arriving In Berlin
At the end of a long day of flying, the one thing a weary traveler wants to see if their bag pop up on the baggage belt. Sadly, on this trip, it was not to be: we had arrived into Berlin Tegel but our bags had not. We try not to check a bag if it can be avoided, but, with ten days and the need for heavy winter clothes, it was not an option on this trip. Luckily we both had carry-ons, so we would not be without anything to wear. But, nevertheless, it was a letdown.
There were a fair number of people who did not get their bags, so we headed to the baggage office to file a claim. Since the line was quite long, I offered to let Philip go upstairs and relax in the lounge while I waited. After about a half hour or so he reappeared, just as I was about to be called in to have my claim taken. The person taking my information was nice enough. I hadn’t spoken German for about two years, so I was really pleased that I was able to conduct the whole thing without switching to English. And, after so many mishaps I was happy to score any victory I could, no matter how small.
We left with our paperwork and, after another quick lounge stop, headed to the curbside to get a taxi to our hotel, which we’d managed to book in Amsterdam. Our first three nights would be at the new Hotel Indigo, just a block north of Alexanderplatz, which is pretty much the center of life in eastern Berlin. By the time we arrived to our hotel it was about half past five Friday evening. We checked in, showered, and set about finding something to eat.
The temperature in Berlin statistically should be about 40F in early December. The day we arrived the high had been only around 20F, so it was very cold. We walked south from the hotel and through the Christmas market at Alexanderplatz and strolled to the market on the other side of the train station.
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| The TV Tower, one of Berlin's most famous sights |
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| At Alexanderplatz |
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| Looking down the street, toward Alexanderplatz, very near our first hotel |
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| At the Christmas Market upon Alexanderplatz |
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| Ferris Wheel and Berliner Dom |
For dinner we ate at some mediocre place right at Alex, as our preferred place was packed and had live music. We were up for low-key, so we skipped that. After dinner we were exhausted, so it was back to the room to unwind and go to bed. We’d been awake for about 36 hours, so we were pretty exhausted.
Saturday and Sunday: No Bags. Still.
Saturday and Sunday were filled with us going to stores to get just what we needed to get through. We didn’t buy much because we didn’t know when the bags would arrive, so we did not know how much stuff we would need. And, we made sure to get some Christmas market time in, too, in spite of high temperatures around 19F. (More here, where I wrote about it at the time.)
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| Weekends are crowded at Berlin's many Christmas Markets |
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| Christmas Market Ferris Wheel |
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| The crowds at Alexanderplatz |
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| Merry-Go-Round and Christmas Market |
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| Vendor stalls at the Christmas Market |
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| It was really too packed to move! |
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| Our first Glühwein: hot wine, mulled with spices, and a shot of amaretto thrown in for good measure. The perfect thing for a cold day! |
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| The Humboldbox, a temporary museum on the former site of the East German parliament, where they are reconstructing a replica of a former Prussian palace that existed on the site |
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| From the terrace atop the Humboldt Box, looking out toward Alexander Platz |
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| Looking out at the Lust Garden, blanketed in fresh snow |
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| Scale model of what the Prussian palace looked like during the time of Frederick the Great |
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| From atop the Humboldt Box, looking west, down Unter den Linden, toward the Brandenburg Gate |
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| Looking east, at the Berlin City Hall |
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| Looking southwest, with the church domes of of Gendarmenmarkt in the distance, the Christmas Market at Opern Palais in the foreground |
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| Another of the TV Tower, with the fog playing with the Christmas lights |
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| The Berliner Dom just at the left |
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| Another of the Lust Garden |
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| Following the crowd to the Opern Palais Christmas Market |
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| Heading into the Christmas Market |
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| Oh, the crowds! We quickly gave up and headed to Prenzlauerberg for dinner at one of our favorite Berlin haunts |
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| Awaiting the U2 train at Alexanderplatz. It was a mob scene! |
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| Ah, time for a nice, tasty dinner |
Monday: Changing Hotels & A Reunion
Monday morning we got up, got ready, and packed our things to get over to our second hotel, the one we had booked when we made our plans to arrive into Berlin on Monday. It was snowing again, so we decided on a taxi, versus public transport.
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| Me in the lobby of our first hotel, awaiting our taxi to hotel number two |
At the Hilton, we headed directly to the Executive Lounge to check in. It was not even noon, so I wasn’t sure there would be a room ready for us. The agent thought there was. There were several calls. He was furrowing his brow. “My colleagues are trying to figure out what is going on. It looks like there is somebody already in the room. There are two suitcases there.” They were our suitcases! Finally! He walked us up to the room so that we could say for sure if they were our bags. We were both glad and relieved to see them.
We unpacked a little and headed out again. This day was indeed the worst, weather-wise, of the entire trip. It was in the upper 20s, but with a wind chill of 15F, and snowing sideways. It was harsh!
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| Me at the Guggenheim in Berlin. It wasn't that great but it got us out of the snow for a few minutes |
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| My favorite thing at the Guggenheim: an unassuming iron cow |
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| The Christmas tree in the main hall of Berlin's Haupbahnhof, the main railway station |
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| Another of the main hall |
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| The Hauptbahnhof's Christmas tree |
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| At the Berlin Haupbahnhof one enters from the main entrance onto the middle level; the trains are both one level below and one level above the middle level. Just so funny to see the train up in the air like that, above the open station. Berlin's station is now the largest in Europe. |
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| Stopping at the Tiergarten Quelle to get out of the weather and have a beer in a nice, warm place |
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| The old-fashioned, cozy atmosphere of the Tiergarten Quelle |
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| The perfect thing for a cold Berlin day: goulash |
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| The Christmas Market near the Kaiser-Wilhelm Church |
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| The Christmas Market near the Kaiser-Wilhelm Church |
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| The Christmas Market near the Kaiser-Wilhelm Church |
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| The Christmas Market near the Kaiser-Wilhelm Church |
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| Shoppers strolling down the Ku'damm, western Berlin's main shopping street |
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| The Christmas Market near the Kaiser-Wilhelm Church |
Tuesday through Saturday
We’ve spent enough time in Berlin now that we have seen everything there is to see. Everything. So, when we go we spend our time visiting with friends, shopping, strolling, and just generally being in the city. Early December is an excellent time to visit because the Christmas markets are up. For me, there is no better time to visit Germany than in early- to mid-December.
The weather was record-breaking, with the snowiest December in decades, according to the television. The temperatures were about twenty degrees off their norms. Having lived there before, I was used to a cold day or a few cold days here and there but this long of a spell was unexpected and really something to contend with. But, the weather did not keep us from visiting with friends and thoroughly enjoy doing almost nothing.
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| Tuesday In Potsdam |
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| Tuesday In Potsdam |
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| Tuesday In Potsdam |
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| Me in Potsdam |
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| Tuesday In Potsdam |
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| Tuesday In Potsdam |
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| Tuesday In Potsdam |
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| Tuesday In Potsdam |
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| On the train back from Potsdam to Berlin |
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| Friedrichstraße sign that they put up at Christmastime |
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| Wednesday morning, out the window of our hotel room |
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| Snow |
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| Gendarmenmarkt, with the Konzerthaus and Dom in the photo |
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| Philip, freezing in front of the Konzerthalle |
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| Upon Pariser Platz, with the Brandenburg Gate in the background |
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| Pariser Platz |
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| The new UBahn station at Brandenburg Gate |
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| The new UBahn station at Brandenburg Gate |
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| The Berlin dancing bear |
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| Another pass through the Berlin Hauptbahnhof. This is from the rear entrance |
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| The railway station from a little further away |
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| Hamburger Bahnhof: once a train station for trains to and from Hamburg, now it's a modern art museum |
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| Hamburger Bahnhof: since it was 12Euro to get in we skipped it, as we're neither very into modern art. At least not $16 worth into it! |
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| Back at the main railway station, looking at the lower level |
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| Next we headed west and to the KaDeWe |
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| ...and, then, for lunch: a Döner Kebap. So, so tasty and filling. Excellent! |
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| We also went to the Museum of Photography, which wasn't all that interesting. It's great if you want to see lots of photos of naked women done in very artistic fashion. Otherwise, no thanks |
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| Flopped out in the snow |
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| Even though I've seen this on a regular basis, I am still always amazed at these guys with propane tanks on their back powering grills just below their chests, grilling wurst. It still seems crazy to have a whole sausage stand sitting on one's shoulders. Thank goodness for the umbrella: if he catches fire it'll keep it from spreading! |
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| At Potsdamer Platz |
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| Me at Potsdamer Platz |
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| Philip in the mall at Potsdamer Platz |
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| The mall at Potsdamer Platz |
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| Sledders, with the high-rises of Potsdamer Platz behind |
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| Some idiot on the edge of the building, chipping snow from the room and defying death |
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| No clue even what the shop was but I thought the sign was funny |
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| Back at Alex |
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| Back at Alex |
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| Back at Alex |
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| Philip at Alexanderplatz |
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| The vendor stalls at Alexanderplatz |
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| The Christmas Market at Gendarmentmarkt: the one most geared to tourists, though with the least character and not at all interesting |
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| A quick bite with friends at the market at the Opern Palais |
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| Friends we visited with are building a house in the countryside outside of Berlin. This is their roof, complete with built-in steel footings for the chimney cleaner. How clever! |
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| One of the few things we've not seen in Berlin: Schloß Schönhausen, in Berlin Pankow. It remains someplace we've not been because it was closed the day we were there |
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| We saw this scene so many times: people dragging Christmas trees behind them on tabaggans |
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| Saturday inside the department store Galleries Lafayette |
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| Saturday inside the department store Galleries Lafayette |
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| Back at the Christmas Market near the Kaiser-Wilhelm Church: our last Glühwein |
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| Back at the Christmas Market near the Kaiser-Wilhelm Church: the last Bratwurst |
Sunday
No matter how much you dread it, the last day of vacation always comes, and, for this trip, Sunday was time to go home. We were up early and downstairs at the lounge when it opened at 6:30 for breakfast. After a quick bite it was up to fetch our bags and off to Berlin Tegel. I wrote here about how my reservation was all jacked up, so I won’t rehash it other than to say that SkyTeam totally screwed up my reservation.
Our flight went from Berlin to Paris, where our two-hour layover turned into a four-plus-hour layover. Luckily it was just our flight, so the Air France lounge wasn’t too crowded. As the thirty-minute delay turned into sixty, then two hours, we started to worry that we would not be getting out. Finally they announced that our flight was delayed because there was “a security issue” with the plane. Great.
We did eventually get to board. This was our first time to be on the Airbus A-380. As we were in main cabin, I saw no difference between it and any other plane. Our flight was uneventful, as was the trip through immigrations and customs and on into DC.
Trip Conclusions
In spite of a really rocky start, another great trip to Germany! How can you not be in love with Germany at Christmastime?
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