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A little more sightseeing
in Berlin
before taking a train to Wroclaw
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Looking out of our hotel
window, Leipziger Street looked extremely quiet, but then
this was a Sunday morning. It looked like a lovely sunny
day and as we had a free morning before taking the train
into Poland, we were looking forward to doing a bit more
exploring.
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We didn't realise before
we booked this trip that our luggage would be taken by road,
enabling us to travel by train much more comfortably. We
really liked this aspect of the journey. |
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We didn't want to walk
too far because we needed to be back by 11:00. Luckily the
hotel was very centrally located and it didn't take us long
to walk to the famous Checkpoint Charlie. |
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Later, we walked to Potsdamer
Platz. |
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Remnants of the Berlin
Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) in their original location,
now serve as a poignant reminder of the sad past. |
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This photo (not ours)
was taken in 1982 at the same location, on the western side
of the wall looking east. The once-famous square had became
marooned and destroyed in the "death strip", the
no-man's land between the western and eastern walls, where
so many people lost their lives attempting to escape from
east to west. |
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A double line of bricks
reminds people where the wall once stood. They can be seen
all over the city. |
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The square has been totally
transformed since 1989, when the wall came down. |
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it was time to return
to the hotel to join the rest of the group. This is the
route we walked this morning. |
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After a short coach ride from the hotel
we were back at Berlin's central station. We arrived forty
five minutes before our train was due to depart. Our tour
manager recommended that we buy a snack for the journey
because it would probably be of better quality than we
might get on the train. Geoff went off to find something,
while Bruce waited on the concourse with the small amount
of carry-on luggage that we had. He arrived back a little
later with what looked some delicious filled bread rolls.
We all then made our way up to the platform to await our
train.
Geoff was happy to have some more train-spotting opportunites!
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Shortly before our scheduled
departure time, a Polish PKP Intercity train arrived and
we were soon on board. |
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Our compartment was configured
like this one. |
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Travelling from Berlin
to Wroclaw was the first stage of our rail journey in Poland.
Stage two would be from Wroclaw to Krakow on 19th May with
the final stage from Krakow to Warsaw on 22nd May. |
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We were allocated the
middle seats opposite one another. Martin, our tour manager,
told us that he would rotate the seat allocations so that
people didn't get allocated the same seats on all journeys.
Geoff went off to the bar to get himself a beer to accompany
our lunch. |
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| We were seated in the last carriage on the
train and it was possible to walk to a viewing area at the
back. Geoff took the video on the left. When one of his friends
commented that it would look better if taken from the driver's
perspective, so Bruce reversed the video, shown on the right. |
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Seen from the train as
we went through the city of Glogów. |
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Geoff was delighted to
see this engine when we stopped in the city of Lubin. |
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It was late afternoon
by the time we arrived at Wroclaw Glowny station, where
a local guide was waiting for us. |
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A short coach ride later
and we arrived at our hotel, the HP Park Plaza. |
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We joined the rest of
the group for dinner in the hotel's restaurant. |
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We had an early night
as we looked forward to a full day in the city tomorrow. |
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