Bremen/Berlin, Germany

January 23, 2008 - February 8, 2008

Tuesday, January 22, 2008; On this trip, I visited family in Bremen and also spent some time in Berlin. It was snowing the morning of departure in Bloomington. I kept my fingers crossed that the plane would fly. The 10:18 AM flight left about 10:55 AM and arrived in Detroit at 1:20 PM.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008: The flight from Detroit left on time and arrived in Amsterdam's Schiphol airport the next day at 4:53 AM an hour earlier than scheduled. The flight to Bremen was on time and we arrived at Bremen's Airport about 11:05 AM. The weather was about 8C/46F and overcast. Bärbel and Manfred were there to greet me at the airport. It was great to see them again.

Thursday, January 24, 2008; After breakfast, I rode with Manfred to Nindorf to pick up a load of potatoes. I met someone there that spoke english quite well. He worked in Washington state about 11 years ago at another potatoe farm. There had been quite a bit of rain in northern Germany and many areas were flooded, especially around the Weser and Aller rivers . On the way back to Bremen, Manfred drove through some of the small towns, taking a detour when sighting a sign saying 'Hoch Wasser' (high water).

Baerbel and Manfred asked me if they could plan on us going to Muritz National Park on Tuesday and that they would then drive me to Berlin on Thursday. That sounded like a great idea. Later, Baerbel and I took the bus and tram to the altstadt for a walk around. It rained. We went into Knigge where we bought some dessert for the evening. http://www.ich-und-ich.de/

Friday, January 25, 2008; Today I got out on my own and did some walking. I headed down Theodor-Billroth Str., Korn, over the bridge to the altstadt, popped a u-turn and headed back on Buntentorsteinweg, a 2+ hour walk. I brought my umbrella with me and of courseÖ no rain. In the evening, I visited Rita, Nina and Wilhelm. Wilhelm was a little late getting home due to a small auto accident No injuries, just a big scrape. http://www.andrea-berg.de/

Saturday, January 26, 2008; This morning we all went to watch Christopher play soccer. This kids are pretty good, and they won all their games. After the games, Baerbel, Claudia and I were dropped of near the Ostertor to watch the Samba Karneval parade. Awesome,,, lots of samba drums, a brat, and some gluehwein.

Tonight was the party for Manfred's 60th birthday. It was a blast. Great food, lots to drink, and dancing too. Fritz (oben), friend of the family, informed me that he has a new shop and wanted to show it to me tomorrow. He has welding stuff that he sells and does. http://www.feiern1.de/pdf/geburtstag/oldi-renovierung.pdf www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVRq5VsQONQ

Sunday, January 27, 2008; Got to sleep in a bit this morning. After breakfast, Fritz (oben) dropped by and Manfred and I headed out with him to his shop. It was just a short walk down the street, not far at all. Claudia came over with her PC and I had to kid her about it. I think it was only 256K for RAM. She said it was an old slow computer. I told her it was 'pitiful'.

Monday, January 28, 2008; Today after lunch, I walked in the other direct on Theodor-Billroth strasse to the IKEA store. That is always interesting. Later in the afternoon, we went over to Christa's for coffee, then went over to Claudia's for some dinner. Claudia gave me a CD with some pictures from the birthday party.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008; This morning, we headed east to the Mueritz National Park. At 10:55 AM, we were crossing the old east-west border after a rest stop at Rastaette Gudow. We visited the town of Lübz and had a nice walk around. We also had a walk the Fleesensee and then the town of Waren. We then had a little trouble finding a hotel. This was the off-season and may hotels were either full or closed. We found the Hotel 'Altes Gutshaus' and ate there later that evening. A couple of Luebzer beers too.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008; This morning we headed to Warnemunde for some sightseeing. While walking around, there were some people from a German reality show there, they had cameras so they must be preparing to do some filming. After Warnemunde, we went to the Kempinski Grand Hotel Heiligendamm and walked along the beach. This is the hotel (on the beach) where President Bush visited earlier. Before having dinner, we visited the Mueritzeum museum for the Mueritz National Park) in Waren. We then strolled over to eat at the Restaurant Pension, U-Nautik.

Thursday, January 31, 2008: This morning after breakfast, we drove through the countryside for awhile before getting on the autobahn to Berlin. The drive into the city and finding the Mark Apart Hotel on Lietzenburger Strasse was easy. After checking in and putting the bags in the room, the three of us went for a walk along the Ku'damm. We went into KaDeWe (Department Store of the West) for a look around the food court. There was food from all over the worldÖ and not cheap. We ended up having some coffee and cake on the top floor that had a spectacular view of the city. We then headed back to the hotel where we said goodbye. They still had a long drive back home to Bremen to make.

On my first trip to Berlin in 1999, I was only there for 2 days and didn't really get to see much of it. I wanted to visit Sanssouci but the tours were booked up. I visited Berlin again in 2004 with a friend so we had to share some of our interests. Again, I missed Sanssouci. I even missed my hike up the Brandenburger Dome. This wasn't the fault of my trip sharing, but with perhaps too much beer some evenings. The beer caused the days to be shorter due to sleeping in. This time I will try and play it a little smarter. Wish me luck.

I headed back out to to the Ku'damm for some refreshment. The hotel's neighborhood has plenty of restaurants nearby. I ended up eating on the Ku'damm from the street vendors. I think it was Krakauer (polish sausage) Great food! I also visited the Savignyplatz area seeking out places to eat over the next days. I also visited the Saturn store where I checked out the PC and Macs. I visited the interior of Wittenbergplatz for art-deco I later settled in at the King's Pub on the Ku'damm. I had been here a few years ago with a friend and found it an inviting place with Gemuetlikeit.

Friday, February 1, 2008: This morning I headed over to the Bahnhof Zoo where I bought my rail ticket to go back to Bremen and a 72 hour pass for the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, and Buses. I then took the S-bahn to the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof to check it out, then walked over to the Reichstag building to walk up the dome. Next, I headed over to the Brandenburg Gate, and Pariser Platz. I kept heading east on Unter den Linden, taking a peek at the Czar's 1832 house at U.d.L. 63-65 and other sites along U.d.L..

I then went over to the Rotes Rathaus, Marx-Engels Platz/ Schlosspl., the Nikolaiviertel, the Gendarmmarkt which includes the Franzoesischer Dom, the Konzerthaus, and the Deutscher Dom, and then over to Friedrichstrasse where I stopped for some coffee at 'Einstein Kaffee' and visited the Mini dealership. Next stop is at Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger Platz for the Daimler City and Sony Center. This area was nothing for many years, being cleared out because of the 'Wall'. From here I headed southwest on Stresemann Str., passing Martin Gropius Bau, Topography of Terror, and then arrived at the Anhalter Bahnhof at Askanischer Platz. By now my feet were sore so I took a taxi to Wittenbergplatz for a easy stroll back to the hotel for some rest.

Saturday, February 2, 2008: Today, I took the S-Bahn from Zoo to Alexanderplatz. From there I alked to Kollwitz pltaz. This is in the Prenzlberg part of the city. I saw an old synagogue, the houses on Hussmannstr., the KulturBrauerei, once the home of Schultheis.beer, the Judischer Friedhof, and ate at the Restauration 1900 restaurant (rostbeef with green suace, potatoe/pumpkin cakes and a Maerkisher Landmann dark beer. There was a markt with food and other goods. I purchased some snacks and then took a taxi back to Alexanderplatz to save my feet.

From here, I rode the S-Bahn to Tiergarten where there was flea market going on. After browing the goods, I strolled down Strasse de 17. Juni to the Siegessaule for a little climb for a view. Next I started heading south through the Tiergarten arriving at Wittenberg platz and the Ku'damm. It was now time to take a bus tour of the city. I had already seen most of the city, but I needed to rest my feet and this would give me another perpestive of the city.

Ater the city tour, I went back to the hotel for a rest. Next I headed out toward Adenauerplatz, Charlottenburgplatz, and then back to the King's Pub. While there, Claus told me about the parade that would happen on Sunday starting at 11:44 AM.