This morning I woke up and noticed I had a swelling under my left eye, which remains a mystery as I write this blog after our visit. I can only think I was allergic to the shampoo provided by the hotel as in the shower on Sunday morning a red rash also appeared on my upper arms which alarmed me slightly!
Neither of us felt we could do justice to the hotel breakfast as we were still full from our dinner of last night so we left the hotel early, content in the knowledge that we'd arranged a late checkout of 1pm as our flight back home didn't leave until 10pm in the evening.
We'd decided last night to do one of two things - a three and a half hour boat trip which left at 1.30pm or do some shopping in the wonderful department store of KaDeWe (a twin of Harrods) and enjoy a glass or two of champagne at one of the bars there. It all depended on the weather, which, as it turned out, was yet another gorgeous day.
We had to find the bridge where the boat trip departed from so we walked over to Alexanderplatz to buy our train tickets and to see if we could find a cafe serving coffee (I needed my fix of caffeine!). On the way we saw numerous police cars and noticed a tape cordoning off a bar and a couple of shops. It looked like there had been trouble the night before with broken glass and two cream roses lying on the ground.
I don't like Alexanderplatz. The place always has an air of menace, it looks and smells dirty and there are undesirables wandering around and making nuisances of themselves. We have been accosted in the past by gypsies, beggars and drunks so it's definitely not my favourite place in Berlin and presents the dark, seedy side of the city.
We popped into a cafe and had a coffee and a very light breakfast (croissant and mini pancakes) and then took the train to the next stop, Jannowitzbrucke. On the underground train we heard a man mumbling away to himself getting closer and closer, and yes, he came and stood right next to me. He was bent over, filthy dirty and stank to high heaven so I really didn't appreciate him standing right behind me! No doubt he was harmless, but it still scared me and I wondered just what had happened to him to make him like that. I dread to think.
At Jannowitzbrucke, we emerged from the smelly station and found the jetty where the boats left from. Our only concern was the lateness of the trip as it meant we wouldn't get back until 5pm and we'd then have to find somewhere to eat and collect our luggage from the hotel before heading to the airport on the train.
We walked slowy back to Alexanderplatz passing the remains of the ancient city walls on the way. Berlin was originally founded on two sides of the River Spree, very near to our hotel, and consisted of the villages of Berlin and Colln who were eventually joined together. The first recorded mention was in 1237, hence the 775th Birthday of the city this year.
At Alexanderplatz we bought Mikey a teeshirt and then carried on over to the river to go to the DDR Museum which is full of objects and details of life under the DDR Government. It's a lovely little museum and has a Trabant which you can sit in (it was terrible!). I laughed when I read the details that very early on Audi was involved in the building of the car!
We had a good look around the museum, had an excellent cup of coffee in their cafe, where they served authentic DDR food and drinks, and then had a look at the open air exhibition near to the Berliner Dom. There were lots of brightly coloured balls on sticks so the whole area looked very interesting with boards detailing how Berlin had grown over the years and how people had moved in and out of the city.
By now, the time was getting on so we had to get back to the hotel and check out. We'd changed our minds about the boat trip and instead decided to hit the food hall in KaDeWe, but we received a bit of a shock from the Receptionist at the hotel who said that all the shops in Berlin were shut as it was Sunday...
Deciding to go and see for ourselves we took the U-Bahn to the station nearest the store but found that, indeed, it was all closed up...Hmmm! No champagne for me then! Undeterred we returned to the U-Bahn and headed for Potsdamer Platz, another mecca for shopping but amazingly, although the centre itself was open for business, none of the shops were open, just the restaurants and cafes! I couldn't imagine our very own Milton Keynes being closed on one of the busiest shopping days of the week!
We were now undecided what to do so we walked over to the Spree River near the Government buildings and saw that there were several boat trips running from a jetty near the main train station. By now our feet were a little weary so we sank down onto a seat on top of one of the boats and looked forward to an hour of slowly meandering along the river and seeing all the sights.
It was a very pleasant hour, enlivened by a drink and a man in front of us who saw himself as a bit of a joker and insisted on waving and shouting to everyone who was walking along the river path. The trip took us almost to our hotel but of course, we ended up where we started and I suggested that rather than take the train back to the Nikolai Quarter we walk. Looking back it would have been a great day to do it as the weather was still dry and warmish, but we just ran out of time and had to catch a train back from Friedrichstrasse station instead.
We wanted to have an early evening meal so we wandered about the Nikolai Quarter looking for a place to eat and finally decided on a restaurant overlooking the statue of St George and the Dragon. The place was fairly busy with lots of people just having tea and cakes but we chose mixed grills from the menu which turned out to be well-cooked and very filling!
We lingered over the meal, not really wanting to go back to the hotel and collect our luggage but knowing that a long journey back home lay ahead of us. I really wasn't looking forward to the flight home as we would be getting into Luton at around 11pm, normally when I like to be tucked up in bed!
So reluctantly we paid the bill, collected our luggage from the hotel and caught the train to Alexanderplatz just as it was getting dark. Luckily there was a train just about to leave but there were hordes of people waiting to get on it which meant that I had to stand all the way to the airport. Hmmm! At the station near the airport there were hundreds of people streaming into the terminal building and my heart sank as the departure lounge at Schonefeld is tiny with very little seating. We found a table in the small cafe and Keith went to have a look at what was going on while I had the best cup of coffee of the entire weekend!
When he came back he said that the queue to go through to the departure lounge was horrendous so we quickly gathered up our belongings and joined all the people waiting. I was very worried that we would miss our flight as the queue was so long, although we were still two hours away from our departure time. Indeed, some of the check-in staff were hurrying passengers through to the front of the queue if their planes were already loading. Unbelievable!
We finally got through after about half an hour's wait but there were no seats at all in departures and the place was packed with people. I've said it before but this really is the last time I fly into this crappy little airport. We used to fly with Air Berlin into Tegel which is wonderful so next time we visit I really will think hard about which airport will get my custom!
I managed to get a couple of little presents for the children and then it was time to board the plane. Imagine my annoyance when they got to me and said that from now on all our bags had to go into the hold! Keith swanned through but I had to take out what I needed (my purse and car keys) and then it was taken away from me. Some passengers were really very angry about the whole situation and on the plane one woman kept arguing and arguing with the steward.
It seems as if easyJet are a victim of their own success at Schonefeld. They have their own terminal which is always very busy but now that they charge passengers to take hold luggage I would say 95% of people had a cabin bag with them which means that easyJet run out of space on the aircraft. On the way out they were asking us to put our bags in the hold in return for speedy boarding but here in Germany we were told the bag was going into the hold and that was that!
Luckily the flight was only an hour and a half which was a really good thing as I had a couple next to me who were stuck together like glue for the whole flight, kissing and canoodling and generally being downright embarrassing. Keith and I had two aisle seats so I was able to turn my back on them and ignore them but it was a bit off-putting! It seemed that as soon as we were up, we were going back down again and we landed at Luton at about 10.35pm. Keith got directed to a chip and pin machine to process his passport while I joined the short queue and by the time he joined me in the UK proper I had almost read War and Peace. Ha! It was supposed to be so quick and easy, but like the self-service checkouts at the supermarket, technology can go wrong!!
We raced out of the terminal to the shuttle buses and within minutes we were reunited with a very chilly and damp little A1, and then it was back up the M1 and thankfully home!
No comments:
Post a Comment