Last day in Berlin (Wednesday 6th September 2017)

Today we slept in, accidentally. The cleaner had closed the window yesterday so we weren't woken by the morning traffic as we had been in previous days. Anyway, the extra sleep didn’t hurt a bit. I wrote a couple of emails still chasing Kerry’s lost bag then we headed out for a late breakfast. It was raining this morning but still not cold – about 17C. Still no need for a jacket or jumper.

 

Breakfast was once again a coffee and croissant at the place we stopped at yesterday. This time we sat inside. Yesterday the cafe had these fantastic paintings of well-known, but “troubled”, rock stars from over the last few decades. Even Aussie Nick Cave scored a guernsey. But today they were gone. What shame!

A bit further down we dropped into girls fashion store so Kerry could finish off her wardrobe. The girls there were so helpful and understanding of Kerry’s plight. I’m especially grateful to one of the girls who was understanding of my plight – and bought me a stool to sit on! We took the gear back to the apartment and then headed for Alexanderplatz to catch the bus to the airport. For the princely sum of EUR 2.80 we took and interesting ride through the lesser known parts of Berlin. At the airport we followed up on our inquiries about the bag, thinking a face to face conversation might help. It didn’t. However, the girl we spoke to offered a small ray of hope saying that, “Your bag maybe amongst those” pointing to dozens of trolleys full of “lost” baggage. Astounding! Of course we weren’t allowed to go and search for it ourselves. I gave the supervisor the address of our next hotel in Prague, even though I’d already done that in the morning email I had written. By the way, I’ll never again think that Melbourne Airport is behind the times as an International airport. I have never seen such a dodgy airport as Tegel, Berlin. It’s a very shabby, very grubby, cobbled together airport if ever I’ve seen one. Nothing a good bulldozer wouldn’t fix. Well, as it turns out, that’s what would have happened already but for the delays in the construction of the new airport at Brandenburg.

We caught the bus back towards Alexanderplatz but in a whim jumped off at Turmstraße U-bahn station on Alt-Moabit. There we found a Turkish bakery where we bought a coffee and some sweet delicacies. Good decision, as shortly after we sat down the heavens opened up. While we enjoyed our afternoon tea we watched the rain come down quite heavily. It eased off after 15 minutes we headed off on foot in the direction of the bus. It was very enjoyable walking in the drizzling rain through a neighborhood that would see too many tourists. Buses kept flying by, not stopping even though we were occasionally art a bus stop. Eventually we made it to Hauptbahnhof – literally, the Main Train Station - where the buses had to stop, so jumped back on there and rode into Alexanderplatz.

I’ll just divert for a moment to make this observation. There is construction or re-construction everywhere in Berlin. Everywhere one’s gaze turns there is a crane to be seen. Many old buildings are being restored to their former glory of the 19^th century. Lots of empty lots with new buildings going up. I reckon Berlin will be getting close to its former glory in 10-15 years. It’ll be great to see then. Also, if you’re in Berlin and can catch a tram, the network is very extensive, then you must be in East Berlin because there aren’t any trams in West Berlin. I was a little apprehensive when I booked the apartment in Mitte, East Berlin but I’d come straight here again next time without hesitation. It’s a bit gritty, full of life, served by great public transport (including trams), bars, cafes, little boutiques, parks busy streets and quiet lanes everywhere. There’s lots of young people everywhere and children and babies too. It feels very safe.

Back at Alexanderplatz we went back to Primarck to return some items and bought a new suitcase for Kerry. This one is bright aqua so nobody will be able to say that they didn’t see it!! It cost just EUR 45 too. Which reminds me, as the Lonely Planet says, Berlin is not an expensive city to live in. For example, tonight’s dinner, two large Turkish pides covered in Turkish salami, tomatoes, mozzarella cost just EUR 3.00ea. From our corner grocery store we bought a 0.5 litre beer, a 0.7 litre mineral water, 250gm raspberries, 250gm blackberries, and an orange for less than EUR 10.00.

Kerry had a hankering for frozen yoghurt so we didn’t make it past the shop next to the grocery store. Sehr gut!! We bunged the pides into the oven to warm them up while we re-packed our bags ready for our train journey to Prague tomorrow morning. Berlin‘s been great, despite the troubles with the bag. Highly recommended!