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| Not even morning yet |
Today we were up before 6:00 and on our way to the train shortly after. Criminey where are all these people going so early in the morning? Our Metro train was packed and we had trouble even getting on, but 15 minutes later we were at Gare de l'Est and waiting to see what track it would leave from. It was still dark when we left and didn't get light until we were well north of Paris. Everything going according to plan when the train slowed down and they announced that there was a problem on the tracks up ahead and we would be delayed 15 minutes, not a good thing to hear since we had 15 minutes between trains in Mannheim. Of course we ended up being 30 minutes late and we were resigning ourselves to a several hours wrangle with Deutsche Bahn (German Trains), when I asked the gentleman next to me if it was likely that they would help me get rebooked.
He promptly got on his smartphone and looked up our train. It turned out that it was going to be 32 minutes late, so we were worried for nothing.
We made the connection in great shape and headed for Berlin with stops in Frankfurt and other cities as well.
One of the cities where we made a stop was Wolfsburg, home of Volkswagen. The plant completely dominates the city and if under the worst outcome they would go out of business it would be disastrous for both the city and Germany. Don't think it will come to that, but who knows.
Shortly after we left Wolfsburg headed east, we passed into the countryside that was formerly East Germany, behind the old Iron Curtain and in to Berlin. It has been kind of hazy most of the day today and the sun goes down early this time of year, so we took a taxi to our hotel. It's about half a block off of Kurfurstendamm, one of the main arteries in Berlin and in a very nice section of town. It's much colder here than Paris and so while we were out walking I bought both gloves and a watch cap. The forecast for the next few days is for cold and rain so I'm sure it will be a good decision. Tomorrow we plan to take a hop on-hop off bus tour of Berlin in the morning and then go to the museum that is presenting the big exhibition on Botticelli. Berlin became first stop on our holiday when we got cold feel on Budapest because of the refugee exodus and it's accompanying complications. Botticelli was the icing on the cake.
He promptly got on his smartphone and looked up our train. It turned out that it was going to be 32 minutes late, so we were worried for nothing. 
We made the connection in great shape and headed for Berlin with stops in Frankfurt and other cities as well.
One of the cities where we made a stop was Wolfsburg, home of Volkswagen. The plant completely dominates the city and if under the worst outcome they would go out of business it would be disastrous for both the city and Germany. Don't think it will come to that, but who knows.
Shortly after we left Wolfsburg headed east, we passed into the countryside that was formerly East Germany, behind the old Iron Curtain and in to Berlin. It has been kind of hazy most of the day today and the sun goes down early this time of year, so we took a taxi to our hotel. It's about half a block off of Kurfurstendamm, one of the main arteries in Berlin and in a very nice section of town. It's much colder here than Paris and so while we were out walking I bought both gloves and a watch cap. The forecast for the next few days is for cold and rain so I'm sure it will be a good decision. Tomorrow we plan to take a hop on-hop off bus tour of Berlin in the morning and then go to the museum that is presenting the big exhibition on Botticelli. Berlin became first stop on our holiday when we got cold feel on Budapest because of the refugee exodus and it's accompanying complications. Botticelli was the icing on the cake.
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