Berlin, Deutschland. Sunday, 6th May 2018
Among the European capitals visited so far, Berlin is the least impressive - lot of trash lying around, with cigarette butts and spittle for company. A few weird characters, too! Still I am sure it has its beautiful parts which we hope to cover in these three days.
Woke up at 05:23, lazed in bed till 06:00. Now getting ready. Weather is beautiful, hope it remains so. Set off at 10:00 after a filling breakfast(the Frankfurters were awesome!) at the hotel, Hotel InterCity Berlin Hauptbahnhof(main train station). Made enquiries at the Hbf and boarded a train for Warschauer Strasse. The train took us through lovely areas of the city - these included Alexanderplatz and Hackesher Markt, that we had seen the previous evening when they were glittering and bustling with activity. From Warschauer Strasse station we walked to the East Side Gallery - the preserved remains of the Berlin wall. The feeling was fantastic! We were actually seeing what we had only read about in history books or watched on NatGeo!
Clicked photos at this site steeped in history; strolled for a while along the beautiful river Spree, just behind the wall. Then walked back to Warschauer Strasse station and boarded a train to Ostbahnhof. From there we changed into a bus - S9 - for Spandau(Is the name familiar?); a beautiful 18-minute ride which afforded glimpses of a river, in addition to charming churches and well laid out housing colonies, the last named reminding us of Bratislava. Spandau was picturesque. Purchased a tin of Krombacher beer and our favourite chocolate Ritter Sport; plus an apple juice at SPAR mini mart, inside Spandau Bahnhof. Boarded bus no. 638 and after another delightful ride of approximately 20 minutes that took us outside the city into clean and green environs, we alighted at a place called Am Park 2.
The setting was superb - the quiet main road bordered by greenery on either side through which peeped the red roofed cottages of the locals. Obliging denizens guided us in the direction of the lake Gross Glenlike, but we were unable to locate Alexander House. As we strolled along looking here and there, we spotted a lady and her two daughters enjoying a Sunday lunch on the spacious lawns of their beautiful bungalow. Asking them paid dividends, as they directed us appropriately to the spot which I had primarily come to Berlin for !! It was absolutely thrilling to see in person the house made famous by that wonderful author Thomas Harding, - Alexander House; or, 'The House by the Lake !!
Clicked photos and retraced our steps, once again thanking the family. Took a small detour along a road marked 'Am Park 2-8'. This led us into a private area dominated by identical red bricked and red roofed bungalows, in a neat formation. Tried to shoot a video but were stopped by a resident. Returned to our hotel by the same route, clicking away. Now (17:29) drinking coffee in the room. Set off once again at 19:00, after a much needed rest. Took the U-Bahn(Metro) no. U55 from the U-Hbf(the underground train station of Berlin Hauptbahnhof) - a clean station whose walls were covered with Black and White pictures of the different Bahnhofs of Germany. Our destination was the Brandenburger Tor(gate), another piece of history. The area reminded us a lot of Heroes' Square, Budapest.
Clicked photos and began walking in the direction of Alexanderplatz, whose TV tower seems to be omnipresent. many tourists around, a few behaving weirdly! Stopped at Café Lebensart(preferred to sit indoors though our favourite pavement sitting was available) for Jack Daniels, Ginger Ale and a chicken dish with French fries. Enjoyed the meal. No sooner had we crossed the clean, sparsely populated road than bus no. TXL arrived. It brought us back to the Hauptbahnhof. We crossed through the station building(for warmth) and walked back to our hotel.
