Germany > Berlin in one day

Germany - A nap at Berlin station

Around six o’clock, the train approaches Berlin. The last day of the holiday has arrived. After a short night, we are all a bit groggy. At the station, we set our belongings aside and take a nap. Not until half past nine, after reading a new Telegraaf, do we take our luggage to a depot. We board the S-Bahn and head toward the city center. We assume the S-Bahn is also free with the Interrail pass, but we aren’t entirely sure. We get off at Alexanderplatz. Judging by the style of the buildings, we think we are in former West Berlin. Wrong! From the more than 200-meter-high observation deck of the TV tower, it turns out we are actually in the center of East Berlin. Using the TV tower viewpoint and an information booklet, we plan our route through the city, trying to make as much use of the metro as possible to see as much as we can in one day. With the S-Bahn, we go to the Brandenburg Gate. At this gate, it is no longer distinguishable where the former wall once stood. It seems as if they are doing everything to make it disappear. At the Reichstag, the outline of the wall is still visible on the ground. Inside the Reichstag, we visit an exhibition about the history of Germany and the building itself. From the Brandenburg Gate, we walk to Potsdamer Platz. Here, a small piece of the wall has been preserved. A few streets further is Checkpoint Charlie, the border with the American sector of Berlin. A border post has been preserved here as a reminder of reunification. In the nearby museum, we see how various escape attempts took place and watch a film about the fall of the wall.

Germany - The Reichstag in Berlin

By now, it is half past four in the afternoon. We take the S-Bahn to the center of the western part of the city. Here, the city feels completely different—lively, with bands and shops. We wander around the Kurfürstendamm. We eat at… McDonald’s (again). After eating, we are a bit tired of strolling. We plop down on a square where several bands are playing. Artists and sketchers are also busy around us. As I hobble around (because of a blister—well, it is the last day) and cross the street, a police officer immediately scolds me. Instead of stopping traffic for me, he tells me I should use the traffic light next time. I explain that I will be traveling back to the Netherlands within two hours. It makes no difference; his lecture is meant for a future visit. At a quarter past eleven, we leave the increasingly lively square. We board the S-Bahn again. Almost inevitably, the journey includes another stop at McDonald’s. In the metro, we can’t find a direct connection to Hauptbahnhof. Asking around, we learn we need to transfer at either Bellevue or Friedrichstrasse. We choose the latter. The first two stops go smoothly, but at Bellevue, the train reverses. At the interchange, we discover there is construction. We must transfer at both Bellevue and Friedrichstrasse. By now, we have exactly half an hour left before an extra day would be charged for our luggage, and forty minutes until our train. We quickly head back to Bellevue.

Germany - Checkpoint Charlie

Around midnight, we run to the depot at the station and then rush to the train. We find an empty compartment and take our seats. As we roll out our sleeping gear, we pass all the stations we had just visited. We calculate that we have traveled about 156 hours during the holiday—six full days including the boat trip. Then we realize we are not in the train car to Amsterdam, but in the one to Utrecht. The front section goes to Amsterdam, but there is no space left there. The journey to Utrecht takes half an hour longer. After traveling across Europe on trains that sometimes run only once a day, an extra half hour doesn’t matter. We stay put.