Category: Northern Europe & TransAtlantic

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

I was up at 5:00 and Chuck got up at 6:00 when our breakfast was delivered. We docked in the port city of Warnemunde at 7:00. We knew it was going to be a long day because we were leaving the port city to go to Berlin.

At 7:15, we joined the largest crowd yet in the World Stage. We were all waiting to catch the train to Berlin. There were various excursions taking the same train to Berlin but, once there, would split off into seeing and doing different things.

Our tour today: BEST OF BERLIN BY TRAIN (A SMALL-GROUP TOUR)

The tour description: History unfolds for you as you set out with a small group (maximum 25 privileged guests) to explore Berlin. Your tour begins as you board a chartered train for a 2 1/2 hour ride to Berlin, enjoying a breakfast snack and water along the way.

In Berlin, a private coach whisks you into the city and to your first photo stop at one of the few surviving pieces of the Berlin Wall.

Drive past Checkpoint Charlie — the point separating east and west, and for some East Germans, the Cold War gateway to freedom. Soviet and American tanks briefly faced off at this location during the Berlin Crisis of 1961.

Continue to Gendarmenmarkt — a 17th-century square and the site of the twin French and German cathedrals. You’ll also see the Schauspielhaus Concert Hall — a masterpiece of German classical architecture.

As you drive along Unter den Linden — a pretty, tree-lined, east-west thoroughfare that bisect the city of Berlin, your guide will point out the State Library and Humboldt University, Berlin’s oldest tertiary institution.

In Bebelplatz, you’ll see the square where the burgeoning Nazi Party held its infamous book burning. And in keeping with the theme, you’ll pass the World War II Memorial opposite the Bebelplatz Square.

Drive to a venue for an authentic German lunch.

Next up is the spectacular Brandenburg Gate — the only remaining city gate of Berlin and the former icon of separation between East and West Berlin. Ironically, and pleasantly, the Brandenburg Gate has now come to symbolize German unity.

Just a short stroll away is the Reichstag, originally constructed to house the parliament of the newly-founded German Empire. The glass dome designed by architect Sir Norman Foster is one of the city’s major landmarks today and was a later addition.

Drive by the Victory Column — a landmark that celebrates the military successes of Prussia over Denmark — and pass Bellevue Palace, the official residence of the President of Germany.

Now it’s time to shop ’til you drop on the Kurfürstendamm — Germany’s most famous shopping boulevard. You’re free to stroll along the broad, tree-lined avenue, boasting luxury department stores, designer boutiques, shops, cafés, clubs and restaurants.

Re-board the coach and pass by Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. This ‘broken tooth’ is an anti-war monument to peace and reconciliation.

Finally, step inside the Allied Museum, commemorating the U.S., British and French presence in Berlin from 1945 to 1994, and tracing the history of Cold War Berlin. Here you’ll find the original Checkpoint Charlie guardhouse, a Berlin Wall watchtower, a plane from the Berlin Airlift, and an American spy tunnel.

When it’s time to call it a day, you’ll travel back to the train station. On the train, your host will hand out a snack box, and drinks can be purchased from the trolley service during the train ride back to the pier.

Notes: The train ride between Warnemünde and Berlin is approximately 2 1/2 hours each way. The train is air-conditioned. Restrooms are available on the train. Bring local currency, as many vendors do not accept credit cards or US dollars. WiFi is not available on the train. Tour is not available by train on all sailings. There are numerous photo stops where participants get off and on the coach; not advisable for guests using a wheelchair. Bring local currency, as many vendors do not accept credit cards or US dollars. Use of public restroom facilities costs 50 cents – €1 cash. Shops are closed on Sundays and holidays; a few souvenir shops may be open.

We walked a short distance from the ship to the train station. Every group was assigned a car on the train. You had to remember your car number as it would be the same one on the ride back. In the car, you could sit either upstairs or downstairs. Each car was assigned a guide. I heard our guide, Kris, tell someone it got warm upstairs, so we chose the downstairs. The seats were comfortable but there was not a lot of legroom between your knees and the back of the next seats.

The 2.5-hour train ride through the German countryside and passing small towns was relatively smooth. I thought the countryside looked like our state – cows, horses, sheep, deer (although their red deer are much smaller than our white-tail deer). Kris was very personable and had a lot of information to share with us. Served us a small pastry and some iced coffee and bottled water.

Once we arrived at the huge train station in Berlin, we were met by our guide, Ben, who walked us over to where the tour bus was waiting. Unfortunately, while walking to the bus, one member of our group, didn’t notice a concrete barrier sticking up, tripped right over it, and fell down hard. Luckily, he didn’t appear to have broken any bones, but he was certainly scraped up.

Berlin has a population of approximately 4 million people – not to mention all the tourists. Today being sunny and in the 70’s, I think they were all walking around the city at once. So many people out and about.

Ben said this past weekend, Berlin hosted a huge marathon and the city was still cleaning up from it. In addition, there were still numerous road closures. I don’t know how the bus driver dealt with all the closures, tight turns, and people jaywalking everywhere. I just had to hold my breath at times.

Most of the time, we were taking photos from inside the bus which is not easy, but we did get to have some photo stops. At these, Ben would give us more detailed information about the places and show photos from that time period. He was a very good guide.

We stopped at a small German restaurant for lunch. It was very crowded and warm. I found myself not really hungry for beer, sauerkraut, warm potato salad, three different kinds of sausages, and a warm chocolate lava cake. I sampled a small portion of the food but everyone else at the table ate and drank generous portions. They were highly complementary of the food and beer. I’ll have to take their word for it.

Back on the bus, we headed to the Allied Museum. We had about 30 minutes here. They had the original building of Checkpoint Charlie here and an airplane from the Berlin Airlift.

After we left the Museum, we did stop for some shopping, but we only had about 20 minutes. Luckily, there was a Christmas store nearby, so I was able to get my Christmas ornament.

The traffic was terrible, and we were 20 minutes late back to the train. We were the last group to board.

Once we were settled in, Kris gave us a soft pretzel roll, some peanuts, a cookie, and another bottle of water. I ended up napping some on the way back.

It was dark and cold when we made it back to the ship and we had a long wait for all the people to try and make it back onboard. The ship finally opened another gangway, but it would have been better if they had anticipated how long the line would be when the train got back and had both gangways opened right away.

We were glad that we took the long tour into Berlin as it was very moving to see all the places we had only read about. But we were very tired by the time we got back so we didn’t go to the last performance of the local brass band that was the evening entertainment. I heard that they were very good.

We were happy to call it a night.

Travel Trivia

Germany

There are over 1,000 varieties of sausage in Germany. It’s safe to say that Germans love their sausage! Some kinds of sausage you’ll find in Germany are: 

• Bratwurst
• Blutwurst
• Weisswurst 
• Knackwurst
• Currywurst

These sausage types are all flavored with different spices.

Gummy Bears are a German invention. Hans Riegel of Bonn, Germany created his own sweets company in 1920. He came up with the idea to create gelatin-based fruit snacks when his hard candies stopped selling at street fairs. He didn’t completely invent the recipe himself, but he did perfect it. They take inspiration from Turkish delight and Japanese rice candy. Today, the sweets maker Haribo runs a program in which local children can swap acorns for candy, with the collected acorns being sent to nature preserves to feed animals.  

The Cologne Cathedral is located in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. It is home to the second-tallest spires. These huge spires make for the largest church in the entire world. 

Germany still has thousands of unexploded bombs located throughout the country? They’re leftover from WWII. 

At the age of 16, citizens are allowed to start drinking wine and beer.

In 1916, Germany became the first country to adopt Daylight Savings Time. It wasn’t until 1918 that it became custom in the United States. 

Sixty-five percent of the highways have no speed limit at all – the famed Autobahn!

There are over 20,000 castles in Germany, most of them being at least 100 years old. Many of these castles were turned into museums, hotels, or cultural art centers for people to enjoy.

Keep your gas tank full! It’s illegal to run out of fuel on highways.

Berlin, Germany

In Berlin, smoking in public areas such as streets, schools, government agencies, restaurants, and hospitals is considered illegal. To this day, the smoking ban remains with only a few exceptions. Berlin also remains one of the few cities found in Europe that has smoking laws in bars.

Berlin has the longest “beer garden” in the world which spans approximately 1.5 miles long.

This area features 300 breweries from all over the world that set up stands during the summer and certain festivals.

Located in Berlin’s most posh shopping districts, you can find real Gold ATMs in the district of Galeries Lafayette. These ATMs allow you to withdraw gold bars that weigh up to approximately 9 ounces.

The SOS morse code distress signal was first adopted in radio regulations issued by the German government. This first took effect on the 1st of April in 1905, later on becoming the worldwide standard after the Second International Radiotelegraph Convention signed in the city of Berlin on November 3rd, 1906, coming into practice by the 1st of July in 1908. Typically, SOS stands for Save Our Souls, Save Our Ship, or Stop Other Signals.

Berlin is home to around 2,500 public parks and garden spaces. Many city squares and neighborhoods also feature small greenery around the area such as green strips along the road and small patches of flowers and trees in the city. 

The city of Berlin is also called ‘The Graffiti Capital of Europe’ as this city has some of the most aggressive street taggers in all of Europe.

The Berlin White, also known as Berliner Weisse, is Berlin’s beer specialty.This drink is a cloudy, sour beer often made from a combination of malted barley and wheat. This drink grew in popularity during the 19th century in Berlin which cemented its reputation as a Berlin specialty. 

However, by the late 20th century, only two breweries in Berlin produced this type of beer. Additionally, this beer is also traditionally served in a glass shaped like a bowl with flavored syrups like raspberry syrup or other artificial flavorings to balance out the sour flavor of the drink.