We left on the early morning train for the Berlin Transfer by Train tour. The train trip takes 2.5 hours and you arrive at Berlin Hauptbahnhof station. From there you get a coach transfer to Potsdamer Platz where the tour begins.
After spending 2.5 hours in a shared sitting cabin with three French ladies who did a remarkable job pretending not to speak English we decided to exit our private train at the Berlin-Lichtenberg station. We thought our tourist map was telling us one thing, however we were wrong and now found ourselves stranded on the outskirts of Berlin.
After visiting a local retail establishment to procure some lip gloss Leslee managed to misplace her glasses. Now I was left to do the navigating for the remainder of the day.
We made our way back to Berlin-Lichtenberg station to procure train tickets for the remainder of the ride to Berlin Hauptbahnhof.
It took about 20 minutes, after losing an hour on the detour, to finally arrive at Berlin Hauptbahnhof and begin our day off the ship on our own.
First we headed to Checkpoint Charlie the #1 tourist destination in Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie for those who are unaware was known to be the best crossing point of the Berlin Wall separating East from West. What we didn’t realize was that none of the wall was still present.
We got directions to the Berlin Wall Memorial which we were told contains the last piece of the Berlin Wall with preserved grounds behind it. These grounds include the Marienfelde Refugee Transit Camp & Museum.
15 minute walk from Checkpoint Charlie
On the way to the Marienfelde Refugee Transit Camp & Museum we noticed the former location of the Berlin Wall had been marked by stones along the pavement. This gave us the opportunity to span the wall and stand on the East and West at the same time.
Afterwards we took a ride on the Berlin U-Bahn which we found was divided into two distinctive parts most likely due to the previous separation of East and West. We headed due south of our previous destination to Mehringdamm and the surrounding suburbs.
We had read about exquisite patio displays in the region but after about 1-1/2 hours of walking around we were never able to find the actual place shown on our map.
We eventually gave up and decided to have a German pastry instead.
Tired and confused we headed back to Central Berlin with many miles under our feet. There seemed to be an abundance of graffiti everywhere.
Once back in the heart of Berlin we walked around the City for awhile but found everything was deceptively far from the next thing. It kind of reminded me of being in Las Vegas and thinking everything was just right over there!
Eventually we ran across a young man and his bike taxi service which we acquired to take us to the famed Reichstag Building. But alas, his girlfriend showed up, he gave us his best apology and left us at the side of the street. Once again we were back on our own and our tired two feet!
We reached the Reichstag Building, home to the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany. We relaxed here, on the lawn, like many others.
Before long the day was getting short and it was time to get back to the rendezvous point for our return to the port of Warnemunde.
Unfortunately for us we made it to a nearby train station only to find there were a multitude of tracks and as we had not arrived with the group, had no idea which was the proper platform. As luck would have it, the local currency exchange is always a good resource for an English speaking person when in another country. We gave it a shot and were on our way.
We learned a valuable lesson on this excursion. Be careful what you sign up for, especially if you do not speak the language. Many of the words and streets in Germany look or sound exactly the same. It quickly becomes confusing. We definitely would have been better off to stick with an established guided for this destination.
Cruise Port: Berlin (Warnemuede), Germany
Tour Name: Berlin Transfer by Train
Cruise Line/Ship: Norwegian Cruise Lines | Norwegian Sun
Tour Guide: European Land Excursion Services