Tuesday, 22 May 2012 – Drive to Berlin – Day 1
Got up and got showered for the road. Can’t remember for sure, but pretty sure Lisa shunned hot water again. At least it didn’t make her disagreeable, but I can’t see why she’d want to do it every day. Packed the car and drove down to the bakery for breakfast. Croissants for everyone, and some various juices and waters. Road trip, so everybody has to front-load the bladder. Then back into the car and got on the road. Inexplicably, everyone threatened to put me out of the car when I started on the first round of “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.” Road trip, right? Sheesh!
We started the trip by heading east to Dachau. Although it is not a pleasant experience, it is interesting, instructive and shocking. It was indeed quite sobering. Not much of the camp is left, since it was demolished after the war. The main building and main gate were still there along with the guard towers and the crematorium, but the huts had all been demolished. That makes it sound like there isn’t much to look at, but it is really a large, empty tract with a fence around it and the buildings mentioned above. We spent about an hour in the museum in the main administrative building from the old camp and then walked the grounds. We were ready to leave by then and went back to the car where Cindy had been waiting for us. She had been there before and preferred not to go again. Having been now, I can sympathize.
This is like our trusty Renault Scenic, that got somewhere around 1000 kilometers from a single tank of tasty diesel fuel.
Now, just a few notes about the car. It was a silver, 2012 Renault Scenic, a diesel beast with room for all 5 of us and our baggage. Two bucket seats up front, three seats in a row in the back and a third row behind that with two seats that could be folded into the deck to expand the cargo space. The girls found that sitting next to each other in the three seat row was a bit cramped, so we folded one of the far back seats up, leaving the other one stowed. Cindy elected to take the way-back seat, and Lynn and Lisa sat in the middle row, with our snack stuff between them. This seemed to work well for all, especially for Cindy, who “nested” in the back, falling asleep virtually within minutes of the start of any driving. Seriously. Once we started moving, she leaned over and pillowed up with the bags in the back and went to sleep. So we only really saw her while we were out of the car. Unfortunately, we had almost completed the trip before anyone noticed that the middle row seats folded completely forward for easy access to the hindmost row seats. Poor Cindy climbed in and out over the back seat with only the seat back folded forward for the whole trip.
Once on our way again, we settled on a route and headed off in search of a good stop for lunch. We headed by the most direct path for Donauworth, and stopped in Aichach. Brian, who drove the whole way, found a nice spot with tables outside. We had some beer (coke for Brian), and then ordered “Schnitzel Wiener Art,” which turned out to be very good Wiener Schnitzel with fries. Lisa got a rigatoni and Cindy had a shrimp salad. We all very much enjoyed our lunch. Then it was back to the road. We continued toward Donauworth, following the GPS and looking for signs for the Romantic Road. We were expecting to intercept it in a town called Rain, just south of the Donau River. Once we got there, we did find signs for the Romantic Road and began following them and turned off the GPS navigation, since it was determined to get us on the main autobahn.
Soon we realized we were headed southward and not northward and started looking at the map for any towns being mentioned on the signs we were passing. No joy, so we put a destination into the GPS again and promptly found ourselves on a narrow, unpaved farm road. Soon we were in the dark woods and found signs marking the road as a hiking and biking trail; no cars. We went through anyway. Finally, we emerged on the blacktop again and proceeded to the main highway to make up some time. Upon looking back at our GPS log on Google Earth, it seems we were not all that far off on our original track, but the detour provided us something interesting to remember.
We put Leipzig into the GPS as a destination to get us on the right track, but agreed to stop at a reasonable time. By about 1800 we were north of Bayreuth and decided to stop around 1900. When the appointed hour arrived, the next exit was for a town called Triptis. We took the exit.
Once in the town center we found a nice parking lot and a hotel with a restaurant right across the street. Brian and I went in to obtain rooms, and asked the lady if she spoke any English. She fixed us with a fairly severe look and said, “nein!” Then she loosened up and smiled and assisted us in negotiating rooms in broken but very understandable DeuEnglish. We got two rooms on the second (third) floor with nice dormers, which we opened immediately to cool the rooms down.
We went down to the dining room and ordered dinner. I had pork filets in béarnaise sauce with potato croquettes – delicious! Lynn and Brian had a delicious chicken breast stuffed with cheese and topped with herb butter. Cindy had a skirt steak which was a bit overcooked but still tasty. Lisa had ham and chicken skewers which she said were quite good.
After dinner we walked around the little town. It was very quiet and pretty. The old schloss was long abandoned but still imposing, with a single round tower at one end. Then we went to bed. The room was still warm when we went up, but slowly cooled as darkness dropped. Lynn and Cindy stayed downstairs for one last beer/wine before coming up. Without knowing the other had gone, Brian and I both went down to see what happened to them. Once everybody was in bed, Lynn, Lisa and I ended up talking until about 2330 before turning in.
Wednesday, 23 May 2012 – Berlin
Got up and showered. Pretty sure Lisa only used cold water. Thank goodness there was enough for Lynn and me! Packed up and met the Johnsons for breakfast at 0700. The breakfast was good, consisting of good bread, ham, salami, cheese and butter and jam. We then paid for our rooms and got on the road, just before 0800 and just after getting some fuel. The car says it can get 1000 kilometers from one tank, but I don’t know how much fuel it holds.
We only made one stop on the way and got to Berlin by about 1030. There was some traffic as we approached. As we entered the city, we drove past the former Tempelhof Airport, now a very large municipal park. Very interesting. We found the general location of the apartments we would be staying in, but could not find the exact location. We stopped in a corner bakery that was almost on the street address of the apartments and asked. The manager didn’t know but he did help a lot by calling the number on our booking sheet and then let us know the apartment manager would meet us in the bakery in a few minutes, so we waited.
The fellow showed up and took us about a block up the street to an office where he looked up our reservation and told us our apartment would be ready after 1500. He gave us the key and location of the parking place for our car so we left, parked the car, and started our visit for the day. Since our location was right at Checkpoint Charlie, we took a few photos of the sentry box and went into the Checkpoint Charlie Museum right there on the corner. It was very interesting, but just as the guide book said, it was quite cluttered.
Then we started looking for something to eat and found a nice sidewalk café on the East side of Checkpoint Charlie. Lynn had an enormous bowl of won ton soup. I had a brie sandwich. Cindy had a salad and Brian had a sandwich also. Lisa had a chicken sandwich. Brian and I had radler to drink – a beer and lemonade mixture that is very refreshing in the heat.
We took a hop-on hop-off double-decker bus tour to get a quick assessment of what to see and how to get around. It was nice, but it was a hot day (around 80 degrees or more) and we were sitting on the upper deck and my head was roasting. As long as we were moving or parked in the shade or breeze, it was very nice. The long stops in the sun were hard on my naked head. The tour was good, and we got some good tips on where to go and what to spend more time seeing as we walked around the next couple of days.
After the tour we checked in to our apartment. It was a nice place with two bedrooms and a couch made for sleeping. Lisa seemed satisfied with it for sleeping but we all had to promise she could have a cold shower after the rest of us were done. She’s tough!
Cindy wasn’t feeling well after the tour, so after some discussion of what to do, she decided to stay and rest while the rest of us walked around to some of the sights. We walked first to Unter den Linden, then down to the Brandenburg Gate. Then to the Reichstag and then back to Potsdamer Platz. We had dinner at a small Italian place near Checkpoint Charlie. I had some spaghetti carbonara, Brian had a pizza, Lynn had a foccacia bread that looked like a pizza and Lisa had a 7 acre calzone. Good stuff, and then we headed back to the apartment and to bed.
Thursday, 24 May 2012 – Berlin
Got up and went downstairs to the bakery for breakfast. Got a few things and brought them back up to the apartment to eat. Then we headed out for the day. Cindy felt better, still not 100% but good enough to come out for the day. First destination was the Franzosicher (French Hueguenot) Church. Once we got there, we found that it did not open until 1000. We backtracked and went to the Topography of Terror Museum next to the Martin Gropius Museum. It is on the site of the former Gestapo and SS headquarters during the Nazi era, and also has the only remaining section of the Berlin Wall still standing.
The museum was fascinating and depressing, as it illuminated the planned, systematic and institutionalized use of terror to further and protect the Nazi regime. It also showed how Goebbels was able to sell the Nazi Party as the best way ahead, despite the fact that terror and murder were used as instruments of the regime from the very outset. It was a relief to exit the museum building and walk down the outdoor exhibit that was much less depressing.
After leaving the museum we walked back to the same lunch spot we ate at the day before and had pretty much the same things to eat. Then we went back to the Huguenot Church again to see the inside as it was now open. It was quite plain in the style of Calvin, not even having any pews or a cross on the altar.
Next we decided to split up. Lynn and Cindy wanted to go shopping at Alexander Platz and Brian, Lisa and I wanted to go to the Stasi Museum. We all walked to Alexander Platz together and Brian, Lisa and I got on the U-bahn to Magdalenestrasse for the museum.
The Stasi Museum was in the former Stasi headquarters building. It was also pretty warm inside, no air conditioning. We paid 5 Euro each and walked up to the 4th floor and began the tour. The place was fairly spartan. Since we were really in a former office building, each floor had a central hallway with offices on each side. This is where the stuff was – in the offices. We initially saw few English text things to read, but found more as we went on.
Much of the exhibit had to do with people who had been arrested by the Stasi for opposition to the East German government. Many of them had interesting stories and we enjoyed reading the history. However, some of the most interesting things were the spying and surveillance devices. There were many tine spy cameras and concealment devices like handbags and buttons that had cameras and recording equipment in them. Also, hollowed out tree stumps, watering cans, mailboxes and trash cans were used for concealing spying equipment. There was an interrogation chair with a scent collection jar hidden in the seat. The scent was then used to queue tracking dogs when needed. Very interesting.
There were also some preserved offices arouond the director, Erich Mielke. His office was preserved pretty much as it was when he was last there as were those of his secretary and deputy. The utter plainness was interesting, as was the 1950s style telephone system. Only Mielke had a real desk; the others just had what we would consider modular furniture of an era two generations before our current cube farms.
We finished our visit to the museum and went back to meet the girls at Alexander Platz. We had agreed to meet at a snack and beer area, sort of an outdoor food court, so Brian and I had some beer. Lisa was unable to get any Pschitt! so she had to settle for Sprite this time. The girls showed up soon and also had some drinks – Lynn had beer and Cindy had a glass of wine. We started walking back to Checkpoint Charlie by way of the Berlin Cathedral, looking for a good stop for dinner on the way. The cathedral was an very imposing and beautiful structure. After a few photos, we continued on.
We got almost all the way back to Checkpoint Charlie and spotted a Bavarian restaurant. We stopped and had a great meal. I had schnitzel, Lynn had bratwurst, Lisa had some other sausages (again, no Pschitt!), Cindy had a roast pork dish and Brian had the most interesting thing, schweinshaxe – a roast pork knuckle or shin. All was delicious and we left quite satisfied.
After dinner we went back to the apartment and called it a day. Lynn and Cindy went straight to bed. Brian, Lisa and I stayed up for a while watching what appeared to be “Germany’s Funniest Home Videos” on TV. They were funny!
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