DAY 6: Berlin and Prague

Thursday, August 12th 2010

We woke up bright and early, at 7 am. Our hostess was leaving for work at 7:30, so we had just enough time to say goodbye. She wished us a safe journey and even prepared sandwiches and fruit for the road. So nice of her :) We got ready, had breakfast and finally left at 9 am. We took an S-Bahn to Potsdam Hbf, left our heavy bags in safety lockers at the train station, and walked to Sanssouci. The streets of Potsdam were more or less empty, and even the fountains weren't working yet because it was so early. We got to the Sanssouci park just before 10:00. It was gorgeous. Unfortunately we didn't have a whole lot of time to spend there because we wanted to catch a train to Prague, which was scheduled to leave Berlin Hbf at 12:36. We saw the old palace, and the new palace, and the Chinese house (I'm too used to seeing just red and gold colors in Chinese-styled houses, but that one was like a minty-green color). The whole time we were in the park, there were people jogging past us - what a scenic jogging route.

View from the hill where the old palace is situated

The Chinese house

The new palace

We didn't estimate our time very well, because we ended up being in a bit of a hurry to make the bus heading for the Potsdam train station. We got to the bus stop in time however, and some well-dressed lady helped us out with the ticket machine, which was very nice of her. We were at the train station on time and ended up even having some time to kill before the train to Prague. There was some confusion with the track for our train - it changed at the very last minute and there was a rush of people from one track to the other. Because of this mix-up all the people boarded the train at once, and madness ensued. A lot of the seats had been reserved, and we had some trouble finding two seats in the same compartment that would be free. Also, Pinky's half of the tent kept getting her stuck in the narrow hallway, which was funny. Eventually we turned around and started walking towards the front of the train, and it turned out that there were a lot of free seats there. We settled for a compartment where two Spanish guys were sitting, and breathed a sigh of relief. 

When the train was passing through Southern Germany, the scenery was absolutely stunning. Bad Schandau was gorgeous: mountains on either side of a river and small houses all along the riverbanks. The trip to Czech Republic took about 4.5 hours, and we arrived in Prague around 17:30.

As soon as we arrived at the main train station of Prague, we headed for our hostel. We'd reserved it in advance, and we didn't want to carry our bags for longer than we absolutely needed to. The hostel was very easy to find, it was close to the train station. The receptionist gave us the key and explained the rules. Our room was on the 3rd floor, and we took the stairs. With our rinkkas on our shoulders. Not so smart. The room was better than we'd expected it to be, and we had it all to ourselves even though it was a dorm, which was awesome. Lots of closet space, which we didn't really need because we were only staying there for one night.

The stairway at our hostel

It was very warm outside, so we changed into lighter clothes and went on a walking tour around the city. We had a tasty dinner at Café Amsterdam, and a giant beer each. The waiter was very nice so we left him a tip of whopping 30 CZK (which, as we later realized is about a euro, so I'm sure he was over the moon about it). After we'd eaten, we walked towards the Charles Bridge. The sun was setting at that point and there were tons of people everywhere. The view across the Vltava river was amazing - the castle was illuminated and the sunset made it even more awesome-looking. The Charles Bridge was beautiful, but packed with people. Mostly tourists, of course. We walked across it and then back, and started walking towards the Old Town, where the Tyn Church and the Astronomical clock are situated. The crowds made it slightly more difficult to appreciate the landmarks though. 

It got dark quite fast, and we were both tired, so we went back to the hostel. We went to bed sometime between 23:00 and midnight, and set our alarms for 7 am. We wanted to see as much as possible the following day, because we were supposed to take a night train to Budapest.

-Brain

Day 6: Potsdam and the way to Prague

Thursday, August 12 2010

We woke up bright and early at 7 am. We saw our hostess briefly before she left for work. We had packed all of our stuff on Wednesday so that we wouldn't have to do that in the morning. We walked to Griebnitzsee station, and went with the S-bahn to Potsdam Hbf with our luggage. We left it there in the luggage boxes, cause there is no way we could've taken that with us to where we were headed. We had to get the biggest luggage box for the two of us. It was 4€. 

We started walking to Sansoucci. The center of Potsdam was very quiet, there were hardly any people around. I had imagined that it is a long walk to Sansoucci, but it wasn't. And I'd been there before but we'd gone there some other way the previous times. We arrived there around 10 am. On the way there we were stopped once again, and they asked us for directions, in German this time as well. We sure do look like locals then...

We walked around the park, saw the old palace, the new palace, the dogs' graves that the habitant had, I forgot his name already. Friedrich the Great I believe. I had told Brain about the potatoes that people bring to the graves, and she totally didn't believe me. But there they were, the potatoes. On the dogs' graves.

 

This is either the kitchen or the servants' house. It is by the New Palace. 

The Chinese Teahouse

Earlier we had asked for a tram & bus schedule from the security guards. They didn't really understand a lot of what we asked, I felt. The bus 695 goes every 10 minutes. When we were walking towards the bus stop we waw the bus leave. We waited for a 606 to S Hauptbahnhof. I was a little scared that would we make it to the regional train that was to take us to the Berlin Hbf where our train for Prague left.

We did make it. It was the 11.57 regional train. We had a little time to go buy water bottles from one of the shops in the main train station. The previous day we'd checked the platform where the train was going to leave from. It was platform 2. We then noticed that it was platform 2 on the big screens. Didn't think much of it, they had just changed it. There were a lot of other people too. We saw two Finnish InterRailers, I asked them if they were going to Prague, the whole platform change had confused us. There was an announcement, that the train for Prague leaves from platform 2 instead of the one we were on. All the people rush to platform 2, because the train was to leave any minute now.

We didn't have reserved seats, so we just had to find a free compartment. We didn't know which end of the train was reserved, and of course we started to walk that way that was reserved. All the compartments were becoming more and more reserved. I had my part of the tent attached to my bag horizontallly, so it was quite wide. I didn't know how else I would've attached it to my bag. So I kept getting stuck and hitting people with my tent when I was trying to walk in the train's small corridoors. People were coming towards me, and walking after me, trying to find their reserved compartments or free compartments, like we were.

We turn around and walk and walk and finally find a compartment where we weren't alone, but it wasn't packed either. We had two Spanish guys there too. They didn't talk to us. Except at one point, when they asked where we were from. Since we speak English together, it is confusing for other people. I don't think they really believed us when we said we were from Finland. They said they're from Spain. Like we hadn't figured that out. C'mon, it's easy to guess where they were from. We didn't tell them that.

The scenery in Bad Schandau was gorgeous! 

We got to Prague, got some money out from the ATM. We found our hostel  (Hostel Jednota) that was really close to the train station luckily. We went to check in, and soon left to go back to the train station to reserve spots from the night train to Budapest. We walked around Prague, and Vaclavske Namesti, had salads and huge beers in Cafe Amsterdam. Brain's post is more detailed about this night.

-Pinky

DAY 5: Berlin and Potsdam

Wednesday, August 11th 2010

We woke up at 9 am and it took us about 1.5 hours to get ready, because we weren't in too much of a hurry. We took a regional train to Ostbahnhof and walked over to the East Side Gallery. It's an international memorial for freedom, in the form of a long (1.3 km, according to the Wikipedia page) chunk of the Berlin wall with paintings on it. For some reason, I thought that it would be indoors (the word "gallery" confused me), but it wasn't. Not that I was disappointed or anything, just not what I expected. We walked all along the wall and took pictures of the pieces we liked. Some were really cool, here are some examples:

Pinky photobombed Einstein.

We got to the end and turned back. We noticed some sand sculptures behind a fence and came closer - it was some sort of an exhibition called Sandsation, but it had an admission fee of 5€, and we weren't interested enough to pay that. We had a Cuba Libre break at a small beach bar, which was pretty much deserted because the weather wasn't very good. We got back to the Ostbahnhof train station and after figuring out which S-Bahns we needed to take and where to change, we went to the Charlottenburg castle. We didn't have the time to go inside, so just strolled outside in the gardens. Something for the next time, perhaps.

 

We made our way over to Potsdam and wandered around a park there. Walked past a large church (Nikolai church, I think) that Pinky said she'd never seen in her life, even though she's visited Potsdam several times. I don't know how that's possible :D We took a walk through the city, which seemed quite cozy.

At 6 pm we met up with our hostess and a girl that was also staying at their place. The four of us went to Babelsberg, and had dinner at an Italian restaurant. I ordered a risotto ai frutti di mare, and it had octopus in it, which was a new experience for me. After dinner our hostess took us on a tour around Babelsberg and showed some landmarks, like the house that Harry Truman stayed at when he signed the order for the atomic bombs to be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is also a memorial to the victims that died in the bombings. Behind the house was the river along which the Berlin wall used to go. Then we walked to Berliner Strasse - the set of the movie Pianist. Apparently quite a few famous movies, such as Inglorious Basterds, were filmed at the local movie studio (see Wikipedia article here).

It had been another long day full of walking, so by the time we got back to our accommodation we were once again deadly tired.

-Brain

Day 5: Berlin

Wednesday, August 11 2010

We'd gone to bed really early the previous night and now woke up at 9. We started the day by washing some laundry. We didn't have too much clothing with, which meant we needed to wash clothes often.

At 11.37 we were at the train station and went with a Regional Train to Ostbahnhof. We wanted to see the East Side Gallery. It's a part of the wall that was dividing Berlin.

We walked back to the beginning of the wall where we started. Saw the O2-arena, and Sandsation from the outside. There were some holes in the fence that was supposed to prevent people from viewing the sand sculptures from the outside. We didn't want to pay the 5€ to get in, so we took pictures through the fence. Then a French girl asked us for directions on how to get to the Brandenburg gate, and we, the non-locals, told her which way to go. :)

The we spotted a beach bar and ordered Cuba Libres.

From Ostbahnhof we took a train to Westkreuz. There we changed to S41 ring S-bahn going to Westend. We walked to Schloss Charlottenburg. I'd never been there before, and now we just walked around it. We got asked that do we know something about the German phone cards, I guess we looked like locals, but we didn't. 

Eventually we walked back to Westend and went with a S42 to Westkreuz and then an S7 to Potsdam Hbf. At the Hbf we bought milkshakes from McDonald's because we needed some quick energy. It was more like a sunday, not really a milkshake though. 

We started walking towards Potsdam's center. On the way there we got asked for directions once, in German. We understood him and just replied in English. And then we did a little detour. From the Hbf you walk on a bridge and from there you can get to this park so we went there and sat around for a while. 

From the park we walked towards the Nikolaikirche, and then continued on towards the main street of Potsdam. There was this gate type thing and we walked through it, and turned to the right. We saw a building that I'd seen before. I'd actually been inside that building. My friend went to that school. Our hostesses daughter. 

We started walking back. On Brandenburger Str.s end we saw Potsdam's Brandenburg Gate. Then we noticed the time and had to rush back to Potsdam Hbf, we were meeting with our hostess and the other girl who was staying with them. We went to this Italian restaurant in Babelsberg, a part of Potsdam. I got lasagna. We walked back to our accommodation, our hostess was showing us places, where Harry Truman stayed during the Potsdam conference. And where he signed the papers that the USA can drop the atom bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In front of the house there was a monument, that had only been there for a month or so when we were there. The house is right by Griebnitzsee, the lake. Glienicker Brücke is the bridge with two colors: light and dark green. We continued on, and to the Babelsberg film studios, they had the sets from The Pianist there for example. The sets are Berliner Strasse. 

We got home, and our hostess said she hadn't received a reply from the camping site in Innsbruck. She called them and reserved us a place for our tent. For some reason the camping place asked for the language that we speak, I don't know why. We said English, because listing Finnish, English, Russian, German, Swedish and French would've been too difficult. "Well, we both speak Finnish and English. She speaks Russian and has studied French. I've studied Swedish, German and French..." No, thanks, English is good enough.

-Pinky

DAY 4: Berlin

Tuesday, August 10th 2010

We took the S-Bahn to the Griebnitzsee station and walked to our accommodation. I was half-asleep, so the journey is a little fuzzy. We arrived there around 7 am, and our hosts were just about to leave for work. We had some breakfast, although I couldn't eat much because I was so tired. I took a power nap, but Pinky woke me up at half past nine because she was bored. We got ready and headed for the city center. Saw the Brandenburg Gate and got the mandatory tourist pictures in front of it. Saw the Holocaust memorial, which was pretty impressive. I kept trying to figure out the symbolism of it, and later on read from a brochure that there is no symbolism to it. Pöh.

Brandenburg Gate

Holocaust memorial (you're not supposed to walk on those!!)

We walked over to the Reichstag, and there was a freakishly long line in front of it, so we didn't even bother trying to get in. It would've taken hours, and we only had two days in Berlin. I'll just have to go there next time I'm in Berlin, because it did look impressive. We walked towards the Hauptbahnhof, and noticed beach chairs on the river bank, facing the station. It was a beach bar, so we decided it was time for cocktails. We rested our legs and enjoyed the refreshing drinks. It was very hot and sunny, and I regretted wearing jeans and taking a hoodie with me..

We then walked to the main train station and just had to get ice cream because it looked so delicious. I even made the effort to order mine in German, and got a larger portion than Pinky, who didn't even try. Hehehe. After the ice cream break we took the S-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz. It looked very metropolitan - tall buildings and lots of cars. From there we walked all the way to Checkpoint Charlie. 

It was lunch time, so we ate at a small Chinese restaurant, and then bought iced caffé lattes at Starbucks (I desperately needed some caffeine in my system, and it definitely helped). We strolled back to Potsdamer Platz and started heading back "home". We spent the rest of the evening socializing with our hosts, and then finally went to sleep. I think I was probably out cold as soon as my head touched the pillow.

-Brain

Day 4: Arrival to Berlin and Potsdam

Tuesday, August 10 2010

We went to our accommodation with the 6:15 S7 train going to Potsdam Hbf, but our stop was Griebnitzsee. The walk to the house seemed like really long walk with 12 kg bags. I'd walked the way numerous times before and remembered it really well. It was just that we were really tired, and had heavy bags. At least the weather was nice and fresh. 

We got to our accommodation around 7:05. We had breakfast and the hostess and a girl who was also staying there left for work. Brain wanted to go to sleep, and I just wanted to take a shower. I felt so disgusting. It was so nice to take a shower! Eventually I had to wake Brain up, and we checked our emails and school stuff. And our Salzburg accommodation situation, as in they're fully booked which means we can't go there. Which wasn't good. Also, we had some issues with our Innsbruck accommodation, so we agreed to ask for help from our hostess later that day.

We left for town. We went to Zoologischer Garten, we bought snacks from a bakery there. I ordered mine in German. And I got laughed at. I tried my best, and it was a really long word! It was some sandwich. Brain ordered her snack in English. The reason we went to Zoo was that bus 100 left from there and we wanted a little tour around the important parts of Berlin, and this bus was good for that. Before we got on the bus, we found some store where Brain bought batteries for her camera.

We got out of the bus near the Reichstag. We walked to the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, took the obligatory touristy pictures. Then we walked back to the Reichstag, and decided that we can't go there now, because the line of people who want to go to the top was already in the middle of the field that's in front of the building.  So we take pictures near it. There are also these little fountain type things. The water stops every once in a while and then it continues. We were jumping over those, and waiting for the water to start. We were running through the fountain, when there was no water and saw how many times we'd dare to run through it. We didn't want to get wet. 

 (pictures are clickable)

Then we continued walking towards the Berlin main railway station. We saw a beach bar, or river bar if you will, and had a tages cocktail (I think) there. It was a good break to relax, because we were still tired.

 

After finishing our cocktails we went to walk around the train station. We bought ice creams, and since I got laughed at the previous time I tried to speak German, I ordered mine in English. Brain ordered hers in German (she's never studied it, though) and her ice cream was bigger than mine. :(

We went from Berlin Hbf to Potsdamer Platz. We wanted to see Checkpoint Charlie. On the way there we saw some cars.

We got hungry and ate in a small chinese place. We then bought coffees from Starbucks and I bought a Berlin-bag from some kiosk.  We walked back towards Potsdamer Platz and saw these awesome bikes. There were 8 people there, the seats were in like a circle. Some were biking backwards too. :D It looked awesome. We got to Potsdamer Platz and sat around there for about 1,5 hours and we were just writing our diaries. We were so tired. Eventually, after 5 pm we got up and found our way back to our accommodation. Our hostess was helping us with the train to Prague. Also she sent an email to our Innsbruck location, in German, if they'd understand that better than our English email. She said that if they don't reply in 24 h she will call them.



-Pinky

Berlin, Germany

Germany is located in central Europe. It shares a border with Denmark, Poland, France, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands. 

• Capital: Berlin
• Currency : euro (€).
• Probably one of the busiest railway stations is the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, the main railway station. There are trains to and from Berlin Hbf all the time. It is easy to arrive with a train from Copenhagen. There are  nighttrains to/from Amsterdam (NED), Paris (FRA), Vienna (AUT) , Zürich (SUI), Budapest (HUN) etc. Reservations are recommended for these trains.
• S-Bahn (suburban metro railway according to wikipedia) is good to use. You can use the InterRail ticket, so no need for extra tickets. The InterRail ticket is not valid for U-Bahns (the subway)

Berlin has a lot of historical monuments from the GDR times. You could spend several days just going around and looking at all these things. Unfortunately we are (probably) not spending a week or so in Berlin, so we will have to decide on the places we really want to see. Here are a couple suggestions and places that I have seen and would like Brain to see as well.

The main railway station Berlin Hauptbahnhof was opened in May 2006. Most of the trains, U-Bahn and S-Bahns go through this station. There are great food places, a hostel near by. 

 I took this picture in June 2006.

Things to eat:

• Currywurst (in Curry 36 in Kreuzberg, or in another place which does have a name but I can't read my handwriting so I have no idea what it's called, but it's by Eberswalderstrasse, U-Bahn U2 goes there)
• Döner

Places to see:

• Checkpoint Charlie (Friedrichstraße)
• East side Gallery (1.3km of Wall left on Mühlenstraße)
• Holocaust memorial
• Madame Tussaud's Museum
• Reichstag (it's possible to go to the very top, but lines might be long especially during the summer, I think I waited for 45min in December so imagine what it's like in the summer)
• Unter der Linden (park & road)
• Brandenburg Gate
• Potsdamer Platz (1km south from Brandenburg Gate, close to southeast corner of Tiergarten)
• Siegessaule & Strasse den 17. Juni (entrance fee to Siegessaule)
• Gendarmenmarkt (Deutscher Dom & Französischer Dom)
• Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) on Kurfurstendamm
• Berlin Wall Memorial
• Potsdam (S-Bahn S7 to Potsdam Hbf)
• Berliner Fernsehturm (TV tower - close to Alexanderplatz, entrance fee 10.50€)

Unter der Linden is located right by the Brandenburg Gate. Strasse den 17. Juni starts directly from the other side of the Brandenburg Gate. What I mean is that Brandenburg Gate is between the two roads, Unter der Linden and Strasse den 17. Juni. Basically if you go see the Gate, you will see these two streets. And you will see a glimpse of the Siegessaule, the victory column which is on the other end of Strasse den 17. Juni. 

The Reichstag, the parliament of Germany, is very near Brandenburg Gate, and so is the main railway station. The holocaust memorial is very near as well. All these places are within a walking distance, eventhough now there is a U-Bahn track U55 going from Berlin Hbf to Bundestag and continuing from there to the Brandenburg Gate. We are not going to use it, we can very well walk. All these places are so near to each other. And the spaces between look so nice. 

If you have the time you must go to Potsdam. It's very easy. Either go with a regional train or S-Bahn S7 to the Potsdam Hbf, main station, and walk around, or use trams and buses. Sanssouci is a wonderful place especially during the summer. It is incredibly beautiful. I do not know if we have time to go to Sanssouci. 

Then some pictures...

I have taken all of them. When, you ask, that is mentioned under the picture.

This is the main entrance to the Zoo of Berlin. I believe the entrance fee was 7€ for students. Most people use the other gate to go in, which is right by the Zoologischer garten station. This gate is a little farther away from the public transport stations.

(August 2009)

The Holocaust Memorial

(December 2005)

The Brandenburg Gate

 

(December 2005)

Siegessaule and Strasse den 17. Juni

 

 (June 2006)

 

(August 2009)

All the times I have been to Berlin Strasse den 17. Juni has been blocked for cars. It's always empty. I wonder if this time I'll see it full of cars? Maybe... 

Sanssouci

 

(August 2009)

I am extremely excited for Berlin. I've been there 5 times I think for about a week each time.That's why I thought that Berlin would be so easy to visit, because I knew where everything was already. Boy, was I wrong. I know the places, but I have no idea where they are except for the Brandenburg Gate area, or how to get to those places. My usual tour guide will be in New Zealand when we will be in Berlin so I'm going to have to read the map in a city that I already knew like my own pockets... ;) This is going to be interesting.