Berlin: Night & Day 1 June 7-8
Even though the Condor flight left Seattle an hour late, 10:30 pm, we landed in Frankfurt only 15 minutes late. How do they make up so much time in the air?
We were able to clear immigration/customs and another security check and made it to our connecting flight with minutes to spare. The security checks in Germany feel (and I mean FEEL) a bit different. If the security wand beeps, the officer grabs said location, without the preamble to which we US citizens are accustomed, ie, "I am going to pat you down here, alright?" and then uses the back of their hand. Not so in Germany, much more up close, personal and quick!
We got a taxi to our Homeaway lodgings, where we were greeted by Merlijn alum Lou Price and Europe-first timer Amy Roehrig, both Arizona acquaintances. Our abode, "The Loft", is very large:
Topography of Terror a museum on the site of the Stasi headquaters, the Jewish memorial
We were able to clear immigration/customs and another security check and made it to our connecting flight with minutes to spare. The security checks in Germany feel (and I mean FEEL) a bit different. If the security wand beeps, the officer grabs said location, without the preamble to which we US citizens are accustomed, ie, "I am going to pat you down here, alright?" and then uses the back of their hand. Not so in Germany, much more up close, personal and quick!
We got a taxi to our Homeaway lodgings, where we were greeted by Merlijn alum Lou Price and Europe-first timer Amy Roehrig, both Arizona acquaintances. Our abode, "The Loft", is very large:
And has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. The eight of us, this includes Canada Bob Warner (Green Valley friend), are each paying about $30 a night, what a deal! We all chose to retire in short order.
June 8
Our first adventure was a Fat Tire Bike tour of Berlin. Quite the adventure just getting to the meeting point at Alexanderplatz. First, find the subway, second figure out how to operate the ticket machine and then which line to take and transfers to make. We made it with one minute to spare.
The tour gave us an excellent rundown of the highlights of the city. And the tour guide, Claudia, did a very good job of providing historical context of the sites. Claudia pointed out that many of the statutes adorning buildings look, and are, older than the building. The statutes were buried in the rivers before WWII in anticipation of allied bombing. After the war the statutes were returned to the reconstructed buildings. Our destinations included Babelplatz, where the Nazis burned 20,000 books May 10, 1933, Check Point Charlie,
The Brandenburg Gate
the Tiergarten (the Central Park of Berlin), the Reichstag (parliment), the Spree River, museums and oodles of churches.
After the ride we walked along the Eastside Gallery, which is an international memorial for freedom. It is a portion of the Berlin wall which is still standing and had been converted to a canvas for 118 artists from 21 countries.
We then returned to our loft exhausted!
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