So this should be our last day in Berlin and should be in Copenhagen by 7 pm if all goes to plan. Yeah I laughed too. In meantime some final thoughts on first trip to Germany/Berlin while we sit in DB lounge. At present trains seem to be running but generally 10-40 minutes late. As long as we get to Copenhagen tonight don’t care
1. People. Generally warm, friendly and helpful. Apart from BoB. Majority speak English well. You sense with some service people that just beneath the service civility may quickly vanish especially if no effort made to speak the lingo. The owner of our apartment went above and beyond the call of duty to help when needed.
2. Food. Plenty of it with generous servings but can be a bit on bland side. Lots of meat and potatoes. Strong Asian presence around us – and Italian. Don’t give you bread and water with meal cf most European countries. Beer keeps your fluid level up. Apparently.
3. Drink. They like it. Beer is a little on the warm side for me but still very passable and reasonably priced. Once again wine servings by glass are very generous. Found some good coffee spots , in general better than expected. Just needs a bit of research
4. Public transport. Very good as expected. U train can get crowded but then there were strikes . Streets are wider than Paris and Barcelona for example and cars less of a nuisance. But man the bloody cyclists! They think they rule the road and the bloody footpaths yet on most roads have a dedicated lane! Assholes the world over.
5. Weather. Yeah could be time of year but generally cloudy but warm , an annoying combo for the fashion concious like moi. All our trip we have heard how warm this Autumn is. No shit Sherlock. Then why dress like NoN ya clowns. Yesterday was simply glorious and left us with great impressions of the city
6. Icons. Classic architecture. Nice easy city to walk around and icon hop. The river is much less impressive than Seine for example and hard to find a place to sit by it and relax with a beer sadly. It meanders rather than flows. The Festival of Lights was simply stunning.
So all in all it was a great visit despite the problems at the end. They did in fact lead us to our best day here of course. Segway remains an excellent way to see the city – always recommend them. I do not feel the need to rush back anytime soon having spent a week but then not really into the bar/drinking/nightlife scene which I imagine rocks. All the bears I can bear at present methinks. Would be totally different place in summer. Dresden was well worth the visit . And don’t the Germans love the bubble wrap jackets!
Or veder sane das folkies
Update : Ok, the train left on time no problems. It is an odd system they use though . I thought all first class seats had reservations by default. We certainly did and of course someone was sitting in my Seat 61 ( experienced rail travellers in Europe would be aware of the excellent internet site ” The Man in Seat 61″. That was me today ). ” Are you sure you are Seat 61″ . ” Let me have a look. Oh no I am seat 54 ” . Hike it sweetheart . For the next few stops it did seem like musical chairs. And there were at least 3 people at each end standing in aisle as appeared to be no seats ? Hello WHS?? And this was first class remember. We then get to a Hamburg and the train splits in two with our half going on to Copenhagen . The fun continues. Then we get to the Ferry part where the train actually drives onto Ferry. Cool. ” Ladies and Gentlemen, for safety reasons you must leave the train while on Ferry and go to upper decks” WTF, people have been standing for two hours ! Anyway we went up on deck where it was a tad brisk but something different certainly. A 45 minute ferry trip and then board train again and drive off. And when we get to Nykobing in Denmark they tag another train on the back. It was an interesting day. Would have been a day out for your average train tragic.
In general though the surprising inefficiency played in our favour. We ordered a hot meal and a warm beer (sadly) . It was pretty good. Took forever for them to come and take away our glasses which was a pain on a high speed train. But they forgot to charge us it appears …
Safe and Sound in Copenhagen
flashman181 