Berlin-Day 7

Berlin-Day 7

Actually we landed at Warnemunde, a seaport 285Km from Berlin.

Got into port about 6:00 and Lee had a tour into Berlin for a brief tour and walk around time scheduled for 6:20 assembly for our tour number. That means up at 5:15(ish), ram breakfast down the gullet, get down to the embarkation deck, line up, and get on the bus. All that was the good news.

The bad new is that the tour turned out to be the precursor for a trip to Hell. On the 3-½ hour ride into Berlin proper, a young lady just out of University read to us all about the wonders of Germany in very halting English. No sleep on the bus.

The actual tour guide boarded the bus as we approached the major tourist areas (Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, etc.) Not to bitch too much but she performed the following miracles:

·      She had forgotten her “QuietVox’ device that permits her to broadcast to all of her group (in earpieces we all were to wear) so we were mostly in the dark when we got off the bus to meander. Not a problem really as no one wanted to listen to her in the first place.

·      As she was obviously an ex-professor of Germanic culture, when went into excruciating detail on the life and times of very dead German royalty to the point that we lost most of our free time in Berlin. We were to have 3 ½ hours of ‘walk around time’ that was whittled down to 1 ½ hours.

·      At a minimum, the guide said “Ja” at least 300 times, more like 400. She frequently spelled words for us dumb Americans so we would be sure to know she was smart. All in a screechy voice.

The Reichstag. Thru the window. At speed. Don't blink.

Brandenburg Gate

After the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, the German government decided to commemorate the past by creating a line of cobblestones two stones wide that follows the exact line of the wall. The street was dug up on the exact line and the blocks now show the zig-zag configuration. Quite impressive!

 Cobblestone line marking the line of the wall

On the ride to Berlin, we used the main highway. As Toni had decided not to take the trip (smart girl!), Lee saw mile (actually kilometer after kilometer) of massive wind turbines in farmers fields. Literally thousands. On the ride back to the ship (on very scenic but poorly maintained back roads), at least 30% of the old (and new) houses had solar panels on the roofs, either generating electricity or heating water. America has a looong way to go.

Back on the ship at 6:20 with the sailing theoretically set for 6:30. Busses were still arriving at 7:00 so the day was apparently chaotic for everybody.

We are underway for Gdansk, Poland for day 8