The White Crosses
The White Crosses are a memorial to those who died at the Berlin Wall.
The White Crosses
Time dictated that I didn’t have enough tiome to visit the actual wall. Perhaps next time?
Pancakes In Berlin
I like my crêpes, but these were just ordinary pancakes, as they weren’t made from buckwheat.
Pancakes In Berlin
A pity really, as when I saw the stall, I felt I’d like one!
Berlin’s Pseudo-Tourist Buses
Berlin has a short bus route numbered 100 across the centre using double-deck buses, that doubles as both a tourist and a general route. It passes a lot of the main tourist sites in a similar way to London’s route 11.
Use of this route is included in the Berlin Day Transport Ticket. I caught the bus from the Zoological Garden.
Like New Buses for London, they have two staircases.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is one of the landmarks of Berlin.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
I remember standing here a few years ago with C discussing the merits of one of the most radical reconstructions of a bomb-damaged church. I think we disagreed, in that she disliked it and I liked it.
It is certainly a different approach to that used at Coventry Cathedral.
In some ways though perhaps the approach taken at Liverpool with the church of St. Luke is more honest, as you are showing war in all its horror. It was after all, C’s favourite church.
In some ways that fact, illustrates her attitude to religion. When I met her, she went to church regularly and had even as a fifteen-year-old a few years earlier, made the decision to change parishes. By the time she died in terrible pain, she had no faith left!
She would be horrified at what is going on in the world in the name of religion. Surely no-one of a sane mind could approve some of the atrocities perpetrated in the name of gods in the last few years.
Surely now over 70 or so years after the end of the Second World War and over fifty years after he first performed it, Bob Dylan’s, With God On Our Side rings even more true.
Dating A Building In Berlin
I saw this next to my hotel in Berlin.
Dating A Building In Berlin
I can’t say I’ve seen anything so honest elsewhere giving the date of a building.
Double-Headed Into Berlin
One thing that puzzled me about the train, was that our short six coach train, needed two powerful engines to pull it into Berlin at rather a pedestrian pace, as this picture shows.
Double-Headed Into Berlin
The locomotives are power Siemens Eurosprinters, which are rated at 6,400 kW each.
Compare this with the Class 90, that regularly take me to and from Ipswich, at a similar pace to that at which I crossed Poland. These haul nine coach trains with just 3730 kW.
I find all this very puzzling!
Arrival In Berlin
Berlin has a Hauptbahnhof , that was opened after C and I visited around 2004. I took these pictures on arrival.
It is very much a station on several levels and finding where you need to go can be tricky for visitors. Especially, those with heavy cases!
As is typical with many stations on the Continent, staff were conspicuous by their absence, although the Tourist Office stays open until 22:00. Other cities could take note.
I had a complicated journey on the S-Bahn to get to my hotel, which meant two changes to get quite a short distance. But I managed it in the end. Berlin certainly needs to develop an easy-to-understand city train map, like say Munich.
Warsaw To Berlin By Train
I did well to have a good breakfast in Warsaw before I left, as the train journey took six hours and the only complimentary food was one cup of coffee. I did have a good supply of EatNakd bars, which because of the general availability of good gluten-free food, I hadn’t been using as food.
So Warsaw to Berlin could best be described as a two EatNakd bar journey.
I took these pictures en route.
It is meaningful to compare the Berlin to Warsaw route with the line from Kings Cross to Edinburgh. The Polish route is 575 km long and makes the journey in 5 hr 24 mins at an average speed of 106 kph, as against 632 km in 4 hr 22 mins at 144 kph.
But the biggest difference is in capacity. The Polish route has four trains each way of just six coaches each day, whereas East Coast run upwards of twenty much larger trains.
Both lines are electrified and the Polish line appears to be a lot straighter, as it was generally built later than the East Coast Main Line.
Plans are afoot in Poland to improve the speed and service. This will improve the time from Warsaw to Berlin.
The cost of the ticket was €80 in First Class, which is probably probably more than you’d pay on East Coast with a prudent booking in the same class.
My Itinerary For Gdansk
I’m putting my itinerary here, so I can get it at any time.
26/27 April – Gdansk
Arriving in Gdansk on Wizzair 1612 at 23:35.
Restaurants
28/29 – Warsaw
Trains to Warsaw from Gdansk
06:52 – 11:24
08:52 – 14:39
10:52 – 16:39
13:43 – 18:45
Restaurants
30 – Berlin
Trains to Berlin from Warsaw
09:55 – 15:16
Restaurants
1 – Cologne, Brussels, Amsterdam or The Hague
The Anonymous Widower 