Arrived in Berlin on July 5-th from a July 4-th flight on the east coast of the States.
Live about a 30 minute train ride outside of Berlin Central. And Thank God for that. I head south tomorrow on July 8th. The hotel room is well designed, and very clean. It is close enough to the airport, and has a free shuttle from the airport which makes it a trouble free place to get to and rest one’s head. Especially on a long journey, and removes the headache involved in learning to find a train station, and also the major challenge (after a long journey) to learn to operate their ticket vending machine. It is a very comfortable hotel, and my room has a nice not too hard bed, wonderful huge long and high window. I recommend it as it is cheaply priced Hotel Meininger Berlin Airport. I wouldn’t mind having a studio with a kitchen added like this in New York City. My many thanks to the hotel staff for being friendly, respectful, and courteous.
Berlin is an interesting city with much going on. Berlin has a mix of many people. It has its native people, others from Western EU, number of people from the Eastern EU, and people from the world over. And it has many students as well. It is in the midst of modernizing, and re-building revolution physically, and in many other senses. I guess Berlin (Central) is trying to get away from the past and is a new Berlin in the becoming. Just like people, the past exists most probably because of our attachment to it in memory form, and I guess so long as borders have been created and things like countries, provinces, states, cities, villages, defined – there will always be getting away from the past. Getting away from something that only exists in the attachment to memories. Wonderful thing this memory of ours, and so called ‘collective’ memory. Wonderful. Good for Berlin, and good for all of us.
I took the free tour with New Berlin Tours (www.newberlintours.com). Our tour guide was wonderful and she was well versed in the German, and Prussian history. We got to see all the sites in Berlin Central that ought to be seen on a 1 day tour. The pictures here, and on other areas of the internet will hopefully be helpful to you. Thats almost all I am going to write about on Berlin Central. Its a good trip, and well worth it. You will also observe a several warm hearted people from Spain here as their economy has necessitated such a move. Berlin could use some warmth. Spain could use some efficiency and some modernization of their economy, and education system.It will be interesting to see what happens. I wish all of them well.
The tour that made me feel good about my Berlin trip was my tour to Potsdam The tour was also with New Berlin Tours, and was a paid tour. A perfectly priced tour. Potsdam is absolutely beautiful, and it has a slower place, and beautiful country style feel, and yet it is very urban. The pictures below will hopefully be of help to you.
I really loved my stay outside of Berlin Central. I got a whiff of how the country side would feel. Also, my 30 to 40 minute commute also gave me an idea of this as I could view many trees, and different species of trees, butterflies, and some local birds (and crows too). I could also view small cute cottages. Potsdam gave me an idea of a highly sophisticated urban area supported with the backdrop of beautiful nature. Whenever, there is a next time, I will try out the country side of Berlin or on a road trip from Hamburg to Berlin.
I will remember the automated recording that keeps getting played on the Berlin DB Bahn (local trains) ‘Austick Linxs.’ Very cool, and very funny. I can’t believe that some musician hasn’t mixed it into their music or song creation. It would sound awesome.
I head to the southern area of Deutsche land to Bavaria. Stay healthy, and happy my friends.
Ideas that could possibly help you out in Berlin or Germany:
Do the free tour of Berlin quickly, and ASAP. Then head out to Potsdam, and other nearby or even coutry side. It’s beautiful out there in the country. I highly recommend some sort of internet connection, with a computer device, and if you are driving bring a UK/Euro based GPS with you.
If you are like me who loves public transport then buses, and trains are your best friends, and regional trains are quite pricey. In Berlin, and rest of Germany after you buy your train ticket please make sure you insert it the machine and get it stamped. The 3-day or X-day ticket only gets stamed once. I was stopped and fined 40 Euros because I didn’t get my ticket stamped even after I had purchased and show proof of stamped 3-day pass, and 2 other stamped tickets, and the very morning I had purchased my ticket to head out to Berlin Central Station I had forgotten to get it stamped. The ticket collector or ticket master was a heartless beast. Cold and a good reflection of some things in Berlin, and psychologies you will run into. The ticket could be fought over at Berlin Central Station. I had no time for this sort of nonsense, and ate. God bless them all. I do think country side is beautiful. I will add more pictures, and possibly an image slider, for now, pictures are just below. I never thought writing, and managing the pictures would be like a part time job. It feels good at the end though. Please bare with this bare bones structured site.
