Berlin, Deutschland. Tuesday, 8th May 2018
A good sleep broke at 06:00. Initial tea with 'sev' and Britannia toast. Getting ready to visit the Berliner Dom (Berlin cathedral) and the Ritter Sport chocolate museum, in the first half. Urmila is ironing clothes on an iron stand using an iron provided by the hotel. This hotel, InterCity Hotel Berlin Hauptbahnhof is huge and good. Well appointed rooms, good breakfast, proximity to the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station). As a bonus, a local transportation ticket for all three zones -A, B and C, for the number of days of your stay, is included in the room price! Great !
An eventful day, looking back. I say 'looking back' because I write this at 19:25, sitting on the carpetted floor of room no. 705, 7th floor of our hotel. The last evening too I had sat on the carpetted floor near the window, watching the Hauptbahnhof with the interesting trains come and go; sipping coffee. It is a wonderful evening today too, with the sunlight strongly streaming into the room through the window. At 19:28!!
To go back to the day, we had set off at 10:00 - a luxury one cannot afford if travelling with a tour operator - our destination being the Berliner Dom. Just near the Bahnhof, Urmila slipped on the smooth flooring and fell. Returned to the hotel for clean up, then stepped out again, delayed by about 20 minutes. Caught tram M5 opposite the Hbf and rode under a clear blue sky and a bright sun, to Hackesher Markt. The place was lively and clean. The residential buildings were impressive. Directed by friendly locals, we reached the wonderful building of Berliner Dom, the cathedral of the protestants. Purchased tickets (Euro 14/-) and entered. The interiors were magnificent and had a certain richness to them, complete with
perfect stained glass windows and a high ceiling decorated with frescoes and glass! Took a tour of the majestic building, following signs. Ascended two flights of broad, beautiful stairs, to the Dom Museum. Another sign pointed to another, narrow flight of stairs, with the words 'Dome Walkway' painted on it. After a quick discussion, we decided to give it a go. After two more flights of stairs, we were confronted with a sign that read, '132 steps more to go. The climb is physically demanding.' We stopped in our tracks and almost decided to call it off, but ended up agreeing to carry on. We then started ascending stairs that resembled those in the Qutab Minar at New Delhi - narrow and scary! After reaching a level floor, we followed the sign 'Dome Walkway -> -> ->'. This led us into a narrow corridor, through one door and another. There was no sign of the path leading upwards!! Perplexed; feeling claustrophobic, we went back, once again deciding to call it off. At the starting of the level floor was a security personnel - a lady who asked us why we wanted to go back without going to the top for the panoramic view. She reminded us that we had paid Euro 14/-. Just then, a group of tourists arrived and we joined it, feeling better for the company. After three more flights of stairs in the narrow confines of the dome, we were on the walkway - a narrow path that encircled the dome on its exterior, affording magnificent, 360 degrees views of Berlin! We were indeed glad that the lady had egged us on.
After savouring the amazing ambience and the wonderful views for some more time, we began the descent. It was easy and quick. Exited through the Dom souvenir shop. Located a
bus stop just outside the Dom's gardens and caught bus no. 100 to an area called Unter den Linden and walked to the Ritter Sport chocolate shop. It was simply divine being among chocolates! The shop was large, well laid out and glittering wrappers with their sweet contents beckoned us from all directions. At the centre was a spiral dummy display of the various flavours that Ritter Sport had to offer. We were kids once again!
Purchased a few and clicked photos. Checked out the shop's attached café, but did not find anything interesting. Exited and looked around for a restaurant. There were a few in the area but all were crowded -mainly office crowd. Entered one that had a smaller crowd, only to find that they did not serve chicken. Thus, decided to return to our hotel for lunch. Back to the Ritter Sport shop, opposite which was the bus stop. Waited long for bus no. 147. It finally arrived; and brought us to Hauptbahnhof, via Friedrichstrasse Bahnhof. I happened to spot the Am Weidendam pier (conspicuous by the 'Star' sign of the cruise operator) and decided to take the same route there, this evening, for a river cruise.
Enjoyed a lovely but rather expensive lunch (chicken breast pieces with rice, mushroom and vegetables; a salad with chicken strips; draught beer and ginger ale) at our hotel. Rested in the room for some time and then out again, a little after 16:00. Found that bus no. 147 was delayed, hence took a train (surprisingly crowded!) from the Hauptbahnhof, Friedrichstrasse station being just one station away. We reached the pier well before time, hence spent a few minutes over cappuccino at a small restaurant just opposite the pier. Stepped on to the cruise boat at 16:45 and went to the upper deck, readied with colourful chairs. Though it was quite hot, we immensely enjoyed the next one hour watching the main
sights, the principal constructions and the locals of Berlin. This cruise revealed to us that side of Berlin which we had come to associate with European capitals - I mean to say that we finally took a liking to Berlin. Back to Friedrichstrasse Bahnhof; Urmila wanted a comb which we readily found at a cosmetics store in the station premises. It cost Euro 1/79. I gave the lady at the counter Euro 1/80. She started returning the ONE CENT to me !! When I held up my hand to show that it wasn't necessary, the lady immediately dropped that small coin into a transparent box - full of small coins - at her side and indicated to me that the entire collection in that box would go to charity! Back home, bus conductors do not even bother to return one rupee when you hand over a ten rupee note for a nine rupee ticket!
Rode a crowded train back to Hbf. In that crowd entered an elderly gentleman with a bicycle, yet not a murmur of protest was heard, not an eyebrow raised. Imagine a similar situation in Mumbai's local trains during peak hours! After exiting the station, we walked straight in the direction of the river, instead of turning right to our hotel. The knowledge that the river lay so close to our hotel, was given to us by the cruise. The spot by the river was indeed charming - the same spot that we had admired from the boat a little over an hour ago. Clicked photos and returned to the hotel. It was 18:45. Good time !
Settled the hotel bill, It is now 20:23 which means that penning the day's events took almost an hour! Urmila is ironing her dress. Knorr tomato soup with croutons was lovely. Accompanied by Shreeji khakra! Good! Packed our bags immediately thereafter; wish to leave minimum work for the morrow - need to wake up at 05:00; catch the 08:34 to Amsterdam.
