The train ride to Berlin was very nice with only two stops in Dresden, then direct to Berlin. The train was not very full & the ride was fairly smooth. The main train station in Berlin is huge & very modern. I picked up a 5 day welcome Berlin card for $45 which covers all transit in town plus discounts on tours & to museums. After that I headed to the Park Inn in the eastern part of Berlin for another free 2 night stay. The hotel is a short walk from the metro train. I had a regular room in the hotel which seems a little old & the area is a little rough with graffiti on some of the nearby buildings.
Down the street from my 1st hotel in Berlin.
Over the next two days I visit the DDR museum, the Berlin cathedral, Checkpoint Charlie museum, the Berlin Wall, & the Eastside Gallery which is a graffiti art wall on another section of the Berlin Wall near the river. I also went on a 4 hour walking tour, very informative & only $12.
I didn't realize when I decided to finish my trip in Berlin that it was the same weekend as the European soccer championships. I am not sure how I was able to use my points to book a room. The Berlin transit system is very complex, so I had been using an app to figure out which trains to take to get from place to place. It worked great until I needed to get from my first hotel to my second hotel. There is a streetcar & subway stop with the same station name, but I found later that they were in two different parts of town. I chose the wrong one & ended up on the outskirts of town, it took me more than hour to get back to the right place.
My last hotel is the Art'oel on the west side of Berlin. It was in one the nicest neighborhoods in Berlin. I had 2 nights free plus one night that I paid for ($65) & took advantage of a promotion to get 35,000 points. This is enough for 2-3 free nights. The hotel had an Andy Warhol theme with his artwork in the hallways & in the rooms. I wasn't happy with my stay there, the AC didn't work, wifi was very slow, & they didn't clean my room on the final day.
I decided to do some people watching on the day of the soccer game. There were tons of fans all over town. The Barcelona fans seemed to outnumber the Italian fans by about 20 to 1. While I was watching the fans, they had two old guys performing skateboard tricks. They were really good.
There was also another area with people bungee jumping from a high rise hotel. I watched the game on TV, it wasn't very close. Barcelona won 3-1.
I wanted to visit the Olympic stadium, but unfortunately it was closed to tours because of the soccer game. I did get a few photos from outside the stadium.
I did get in a few runs at Tiergarten park, which is where the Berlin marathon starts. The park is huge with lots of runners. I went to the Bradenburg gate a few times, but couldn't get any good photos since the soccer fan fest (for 5 days!!!) took place there. I also visited Charlottenburg palace on my last day & walked around some different parts of town.
Even though I had been to Berlin 15 years ago, a lot had changed & it was a cool place to visit. After having lots of German food over the last week, I decided to go to an American themed restaurant for my last dinner on my trip that was a few blocks from my hotel.
I noticed that even though the 80s punk rock style has gone away in the USA, many people in Berlin still dress that way.
My flight from Berlin to Frankfurt is at 9:45 am, then I go from there to Dulles, & on to Charleston arriving at 7:00 pm ( I hope). I don't have any tight connections, so hopefully things will go smoother then they did on my trip over. I really don't feel like running through any airports this time or spending an extra 6 hours stuck somewhere. The Berlin airport is very small & outdated, so I am going to get there at least 2 hours before my flight to give myself plenty of time to check in. Overall this trip has been a great experience, I visited 11 countries & stayed in 19 cities over 47 days. But it will be nice to be home & to take it easy for awhile.
Here are some photos from my 5 days in Berlin.
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