Today will be some stories about public transport in Berlin, and some big things.
One big thing is visible from our room, and probably from pretty much all over Berlin. The east germans built it to show how clever they were, and some longed for it to fall over as it would surely bridge the wall that enslaved them!
Kerry likes looking out the window, checking out the passing traffic.
We have a U Bahn station near us so for our outing today, down we went – U probably means Underground. The other option is the S Bahn, which might as well mean Surface Bahn. We navigated the English options on the electronic ticket machines and bought ourselves an all day pass for a group of five for €15, and hoped onto the little yellow train that soon zoomed into our station.
Cassidy liked to be able to touch the roof on the platform, not exactly big places and not places I’d like to be full of crowds of people.
We got off one station along at alexandra Platz which is at the base of the big thing. Here you can see an S Bahn train station/line, and a tram. Also very interesting is the girl approaching. If you look really carefully you can see she is holding a card in her right hand. In nice English, she asks me if I speak English. So pleased to be able to help after nearly two weeks of struggling with new languages, I foolishly said yes. Then she held up the card which looked very much like one I had seen a couple of days before outside the Brandenburg gate. They are pleading for money for sick children, and best not engaged. With a quick No, not interested, she moved on to nail a weaker target. Later we saw her being huddled out of the market area by angry stall owners; who no doubt thought they were bad for business.
And here is a first for me, a real live on street electric car charging station. Cool.
We wandered the markets, buying some freshly cooked bread, crepes with various additions like Nutella, cinnamon, sugar, smarties; but not all in the one! Later we came to the same stalls for lunch and enjoyed a variety of the local specialities. All the stall holders spoke enough English to help us get by, and for them to make a sale!
Jacob had great stories and photos of the TierGardens under snow and was keen to show us. Unfortunately this was just as the weather turned and a chill wind descended along with light misting rain. This made looking around not so pleasant, but fortunately we were able to make the most of the trees in the gardens for shelter. Even saw a proper red squirrel!
Autumn is starting.
Then we came across another big thing. This one was very impressive, and as it was sitting in the middle of a big roundabout, they’ve built nice tunnels to get there. Obama spoke on the steps not so long ago, I hope they stopped the traffic for him. Down the long road you see the Brandenburg Gate which was the symbolic entrance to the city, and this big thing is called Victory Column. It symbolizes any of the many victories of the various armies of Prussia, which preceded the formation of modern Germany. Most of these seem to be over the poor ol’ French. Though I think the French got their own back from time time too. All these warlike antics are new to us Aussies.
As we walked down into one of the tunnels crossing the road, we heard this lovely violin music from the guy playing at the intersection of three tunnels, so the sound was just so clear.
click to hear the violin. video is not so good, but the sound is nice
So after cruising some more around some other markets, we’ve retired home early. The sun has come out, but I fear the nice weather has gone for the time being
Last but not least, RIP Steve Jobs, a man who enabled me to do many things I would not have been able to without his innovation, vision, and catering for those like him willing to wonder outside the square.
And just one more thing:
Some photos from the shopping expedition in Berlin, plus the Munich train system map. Yes, we navigated this!
See how cheap the cigarettes and alcohol are without the taxes we have in Australia. Not saying that’s good…. Just saying …
P
