Capitols of the North ~ July 2013 ~ Jenno

All the packing at last has been done, and it is almost time to leave our house in Adelaide, and go to the Airport. The excitement was mounting, and at last we were able to board the Cathay Pacific plane, and our destination was Berlin. I was so excited, and my husband was also. All those months of thinking and planning our trip. Unfortunately we realised that we were in economy class, and we had not a lot of space. I watched three movies, and now it was time to grab a blanket, & try & have a nap. It was a nap. So hard to go to sleep. The idea in the future, I will have two pre days. The plane seemed to go on for ever and ever. We are heading for Frankfurt Airport. This is a huge airport, but it worked out fine. It was 1 am & even though we were in a huge line, it was not moving. Both of us needed a sleep again. As we were chatting away, I was thinking of the Trafalgar Tour that I had chosen. We start from Berlin and finish in Moscow.

We are going to get on a domestic plane to Berlin - Tegal. It was a smooth ride, and we arrived in the Airport. We were tired, and my suitcase seemed to be heavier than ever. We chose a wonderful man who showed us some sights & it was very interesting. Our tipping starts from now!!!! Because we got to Berlin a day before we start our trip no transfers were available for us. We met up with our Travel Director, Veronica Stel during the day, and she wanted to look at our passport, because to go in to Moscow we need a special Visa. Veronica said everything was okay. We had just left a cold state, and in Berlin the temperature today was 23C, and warm. We are now at Hotel Andels, and it is very comfortable. We finished the day and had quite a few hours of sleep.

Hotel Andels Breakfast at leisure. 4th July. Weather 21C.

We are expecting six more people, to make the 49 people on our Trip. So we decided to have a look around Berlin. When we are in a country we have not seen before we always go on the hop on, hop off bus. It took us about 3 hours, to see the sights. By this time we realise that we need to get back to the hotel, because at 4PM we are going on an orientation tour, and we are meeting our other passengers. We saw many walls and they have writing on them. Also beautiful rainbow colours on the walls also. I met Sandy, who lives in Melbourne, and she was in contact with me. Over the last month, she decided to leave the "Trip Group".It was good to catch up with her. She was in a single room. There were approx. 9 ladies plus a male who was also solo too. We enjoyed talking to him, and we were told he is from Canada. Also there were six New Zealanders and a couple more. I found it very interesting talking to people who are not from Australia. We had 49 on the coach, and we were going back (or forward) rotating each day. We all did very well, & it was a great idea. Again I brought too many clothes with me, but my luggage was not as bad as other times. I have added the Driver, and Veronica on to the list of people. She was brilliant, and she is Dutch. But she speaks quite a few languages, and she recently learnt Russian. Enough to communicate with others if she needs to.

This evening we had at 4pm an orientation tour, and it was followed by a Welcome Reception. I expected sandwiches, but we had a lovely array of German Food. Tiredness came again, good to go to bed, and after breakfast we were having our first Local Guide.

Today we had our first Local Guide. We were shown some of the sights. The Brandenburg Gate was the first place to visit. Also the Reichstag, and the Kurfurstendamm. In our time we went to the Pergamon Museum. This is where we got an English book, and I have not read it through, but we have it here for when I decide it is time to read it. It is heavy reading. I have to now say that my husband took his laptop and I was hoping to have some good photos. When we got home, we don't know what happened, but we lost everything. I had my camera, but was unable to post any pictures. The Prussion Palaces and gardens in Berlin and also in Brandenburg. I found this to be absolutely stunning. Quite a few of the New Zealanders would come on the coach to have a look around, but when we were doing our optional excursions they were given some information from the Guide, and they were happy to go shopping. They must have had a new wardrobe. I found them to be friendly, and easy to talk to. We were shown where Checkpoint Charlie was. The Neues (new museum) , did not offer sufficient space, St'u'ler who was tasked to build the New Museum, that was opened in 1859. Later on the reconstructed until 2009, by the Architect David Chopperfield, for about 300 Million Euro.

The Brandenburg Tor was the only structure left standing in the ruins. It was closed in 1961, and that is when the Berlin Wall was built. In 1989 the wall was falling, In 2000 more thorough reconstruction of the monumental structure was carried out. I felt sad about the wars, and Germany was bombed, as were other surrounding places. I have always enjoyed looking at the Brandenburg gate.

We had our Optional Excursion - Berlin by night. It was fun with German food, and we all had fun with a few drinks included. I don't drink alcohol, but Veronica looked after me. During the day I noticed that my ankles were starting to swell. So a good rest for me tonight. We all thought that we all got on so well. No one grizzled, or complained when we were on the coach. We were told not to eat on the coach - that rule was broken when we arrived in Russia.