April 8 2013

April 8 2013

Very sparse WIFI access, hotel charges so will try and find local pub with free WIFI...can you believe the Hilton charges?

LAT report

After a nice breakfast with the group we took off by cab to the grand central rail way station.  We were plenty early so we figured out where we needed to go to catch our train and went there.  We then headed back to the main floor for coffee at Starbucks.  The train car we are in has individual cabins with six seats and luggage storage over head...of course not enough for all of our luggage so we set two of the bigger bags on two of the seats praying no one else was going to come in and sit with us...we had reserve seats so we were ok it was just all our stuff we were worried about.  The train ran very smoothly and on the entire trip had about 19 stops, some in the Netherlands and some in Germany.  Never very long at any station.  There was a conductor that came by and checked our tickets about every three or four stops...and another conductor that took drink orders and delivered from the ding car.    Dick and Candy had lunch in the dining car and said it was pretty good..Linda and I decided to wait until we got to Berlin.  This was Dick's first train ride and he liked it..the worst thing was getting our bags on and off the train ... I think pulled a muscle in his neck helping us!  We arrived about 5:30pm in Berlin and decided after checking with the train info desk that taking a cab to the motel made the most sense.  The hotel is lovely and very centrally located.  We all went to a small cafe for dinner.  We are going to do a Hop-on-hop off tomorrow and the war museum across the street in the afternoon then to the radio tower for dinner (it looks like the space needle), we will also somewhere in all of this go to check point Charlie's to see the remains of the Berlin Wall.  Full day but will be fun!


LMR. Report

Early breakfast.  Said goodbyes to Brian and Dani, we know we will see them again!  Made our way to the train station, had coffee then rode in first class cabin (only four of us by ourselves) to Berlin.  Lovely countryside saw lots of cows, sheep, horses.  Conductor checked our tickets fairly often.  There were nice conductors in the Netherlands but crotchety in Germany.  They did serve drinks in the cabin.  Arrived in Berlin, had to take two cabs as most said four people and luggage would not fit.  The hotel is right across from beautiful concert hall there are amazing buildings around the courtyard, where we are staying is part of old west Germany.  Tomorrow will include city tour of sites including checkpoint Charlie.   Each of us have places or things we want to see.  Not sure two full days will be enough time.  Have not had to buy additional luggage or ship,things home yet...but there are 12 days left to go..the weather is getting warmer but still snow on ground outside of Berlin.  More to come.