The 6am wake up call wasn't needed as we woke about 5.30am as we have been doing in Koln. We had our bags packed and outside our door for collection by 6.30am. We then went down for the breakfast buffet which had a good choice of food although it was a bit crowded with all the Cosmos group (about 35-40 people). We sat with Gail and Richard from Christchurch and found he works with Raewyn and sits about 6m away from her at the council office. We also sat with Penny and Gisela from Australia. Both sets of people had already been traveling in Europe so it was good to share information with them. Richard and Gail had done a cruise from Venice to Greece and also spent time in Turkey including time at Gallipoli. Penny and Gisela had trained from Paris to Lourdes and on to Barcelona. All were happy and had had a wonderful time.


Last night we had dinner with Jean and Tommy from near Edinburgh . Tommy is a former policeman and now a professional soccer coach with "Hearts of Mithlodeaon“ (sp?) (in the premier league in Scotland). He still also does some civilian worker for the police. Jean is an ex school cook who now works part time in Marks and Sparks.. They have 3 children and various grandchildren none of whom are getting any presents from this trip!! They are with 'Archers’ which shares this trip with Cosmos. They are very well traveled and have done a number of cruises and a number of trips with this company.

The drive today was in 4 parts. They build a comfort stop in at about every 2 hours. The weather was not great. I was in shorts and lots of people asked if I was cold but in fact I was fine. The bus is a new Mercedes and is very comfortable. There is a strict seat rotation policy. Each day in the bus you have to move 2 rows clockwise. As all seats have good views it seems unnecessary but I suppose it removes any problems of people hogging particular seats . Everyone gets to sit at the front for 1 day. We also heard about the optional excursions. We thought it was not too much of a hard sell. Anita certainly emphasised the positives but also pointed out the hotel in Berlin is very central so you can easily do your own thing. We decided after some debate to opt for the group meal tonight (it was reasonably expensive), in part to talk to a few more people and also because there is a drive around to see the lights after tea. We also opted for a couple of the sightseeing trips in Poland.

As we drove out of Frankfurt Anita told us a bit about the city. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to have much of note. It is a biggish city and a transport hub. The little we saw seemed pleasant enough.

We then used the autobahn to make our way first north then east. The first 2 hours were in the previous West Germany. Anita gave us historical overviews during the day, most of which we knew but it was still of interest . I noticed the very red soil, the signs warning about deer and other wildlife crossing the road, the very green surroundings, pretty villages/towns all with church spires, lots of wind turbines and bright yellow fields of rape seed flowers. Anita said when cut the rape flowers goes grey and smell dreadful.

It was not an ‘oh wow’ drive but interesting none-the-less. It was hard to take photos because the sides of the autobahn seemed always to have trees when near houses etc, and the bridges seemed to have the sides screened with mesh or similar.

Our first break was at a former border checkpoint which is now a café. It cost 50c for a toilet visit which seems to be the standard price.

We were now in the former East Germany and Anita told us about the Trabant cars. She is Hungarian and said her father had to wait 5 years to get a car. It was basically made of cardboard!! You had 2 colour choices, white or whiter!! An American is now renting them out to tourists in Berlin to drive in and we drove past the place in the evening – the display one is in camo paint .. She said in the former East Germany only 2% of the people were self-employed and they paid up to 90% in tax!!

We also drove past the memorial to Buchenwald where 250,000 Jews were exterminated.

Our next stop was at Weimer for lunch. The main road into the town was down an avenue of trees and was very pretty and cool. This was a lovely town and we enjoyed walking around the centre. Our meeting place was at the statue of Goethe and Schiller who were born here. I have to admit I have no idea who Schiller was. We saw a building where Martin Luther had lived and worked as we wandered around and went to the marketplace where there were lots of bratwurst stalls. Having decided on the 3 course dinner tonight I decided not to eat much lunch but couldn’t resist 2 pastries – one apple and one walnut. John had a mandarin sort of cheesecake and roll. We also went into a couple of ordinary stores and bought glasses, sunscreen, and puder (powder) etc. The weather was OK – cloudy but not raining. Our group was very obedient
and we were all back at the meeting point at the right time. A good start.

About half an hour later Anita pointed out a former East German industrial area. The factories are gone but the apartment buildings remain. They are now painted in colour but had all been grey under the Communist regime. We also saw some in Berlin later – most now in colour but one block had been deliberately kept grey . I have no idea why the Russians were so keen on drab. The height of the ones in East Berlin was based on the wall – set so from the top apartments you could not see West Berlin.

The weather then packed up and the final stop was at one of the motorway roadside places which was not particularly memorable.

As we drove into Berlin we went past Checkpoint Bravo. We also went past the turnoff to Postdam. We could have gone there on a tour tomorrow but instead we are going out with Axel (a guy we met on the internet who is visiting us next year). We also saw the teddy bear statue, the symbol of Berlin.

The hotel is both flash and central – I didn’t expect both. It is about 10 minutes from the city centre. We even have a chandelier above our bed and a bath in the bathroom always makes John a happy chappy. We tried to ring Axel but had to leave a message for him.

At 6 .45pm we went out for the optional evening meal/excursion. We hesitated to book this as group meals can be mediocre but it was an excellent evening. We drove to the former East Berlin via Ke De We (the big department store) and had a meal in a restaurant nearby which was named after the original wall around the city from mediaeval times. It was the usual meal with unlimited wine and beer but the standard and selection were very good. We had a ‘kir’ cocktail as a starter and 3 courses where I actually had a struggle to choose. I had a mozzarella and tomato starter (not German but very nice) salmon and pancakes. John had lobster soup, pork and also pancakes.

The music was supposedly Berliner but it also included Waltzing Matilda, Pokarekare Ana and Scotland the Brave so was definitely geared to the audience. The 2 musicians (guitar and piano accordion) were a lot of fun. We sat with the couple from Edinburgh, a couple (Bill and Margaret) from Australia and another woman from Australia (Julie). Julie has tons of personality. She is a hairdresser and a real estate agent, traveling on her own but she has a roommate that Cosmos paired her up with for accommodation. Bill and Margaret mentioned their son and daughter in law had had a 100 party when they were both 50 so I had to ask their ages. They are 76 – I would never have guessed. We had a great time and were very pleased we changed our minds and decided to go.

The other reason for booking the meal was the promised drive back past illuminated sites. We stopped at Checkpoint Charlie and at the Brandenburg gate – it was cold and raining but it was no problem to get out of the bus and take photos. It was sobering to stand where the wall used to be and where many were shot attempting to escape. We also drove past the Chancellor’s Palace and Hitler’s Bunker. We were back before 10.15pm which was the deadline for Giovanni, the driver. There is an automatic record made of the time the driver is working and the length of time is strictly controlled.