There was no e-mail service at the hotel last night (Saturday), but wifi is back up again, so I am posting the entry that was supposed to go up yesterday (Saturday).
But come back again soon, because I will be posting a new entry for today (Sunday) before I crawl under the duvet for the night.
Saturday, 25 August 2012
Berlin
The day begins with an especially early breakfast at the hotel so I can make my 8:45 admission time for visiting the Reichstag Dome, fortunately just a quick taxi ride away. The external walls are all that remain after the Allied bombing and the subsequent fires that collapsed the dome. British architect Norman Foster redesigned the inner legislative spaces of the building and added a spiraling glass dome that provides light for the building and panoramic views of the city for the tourist. It’s best to disregard all the mumbo-jumbo about the symbolism of the building, the re-unification of the city, and the moving of the national capital from Bonn back to Berlin, and just enjoy the eye-popping experience.
From
the Reichstag it’s a short hop on the
S-Bahn to Europe’s newest (and
largest) train station—Berlin HauptBahnhof--where I take the opportunity to find the right platform for Monday’s departure
to Amsterdam. Among all the technological
advances at the station, no one thought of having “redcaps” to help get luggage
from taxi to train. I’ll let you know
how I make it with my bags.
Another
S-Bahn ride takes me back to Kurfustendamm just in time for lunch in
the Roof Garden of KaDeWa, Germany’s
largest department store and a rival for shopping honors to Harrod’s in London. And just to make everyone’s mouth water,
lunch is Sauerbraten, red cabbage,
and roast potatoes—so large a portion I may skip dinner and so good I may go
back tomorrow!
This and That:
Ÿ Bringing my iPad was a really good idea.
At home I downloaded a series of guides and maps that I am able to use
anywhere, even without wifi access. And
I was able to download from my computer back at the hotel the document that
enabled me to enter the Reichstag (no
printer needed; just wave the iPad
page and I’m in).Ÿ In spite of all my years of travelling I always forget that things may look perfectly clear and neat on a map but are often surrounded by the complexities of the real world of crowds and construction.
Ÿ The helpful “clicking” at stoplights to warn pedestrians when to cross the street is really loud and annoying.
Ÿ While the heart of the former East Berlin has been beautifully restored, the former symbols of Western consumerism in the Kurfustendamm have been allowed to go to seed a bit—reminds me of the area around Piccadilly in London.
Ÿ Two things hard to find on the streets of Berlin: a bottle of Pepsi (as opposed to Coke) and an unattractive male.
That’s all for today.
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