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Published: August 7th 2007
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Neat looking hill
View from the bus on the autobahn 6am came too quickly as I got about 3 hours sleep. While we were stopped waiting for the elevator to go down to breakfast, some short dark haired girl yelled out to her friend, "We'll have to find another guy to buy us dinner tonight!". She then looked at my friend and me and stated, "Some guy bought us dinner last night". I honestly didn't hear her so I looked at her dumbfounded while Suzi said "Uh huh". Really what were we to say. When we went down to breakfast, 2 very long lines awaited us and after given our room #, the longer of the 2 was ours. By the time we got to the actual buffet there was no butter, no buns & only one type of bread and some cheeses and like one type of meat left. I grabbed what was left of the spread, ham and bread and Suzi & I disgustingly looked for a place to sit. Luckily a Spanish lady nodded to let us sit across from her. Since neither of us knew the other's language, we smiled and pointed. What had happened was that the spread I picked up for my sandwich was actually
a chocolate cream! I put it on my ham sandwich anyways. Nothing goes un-noticed by Suzi. 😊 She said "Did you put that chocolate on your sandwich?" and I replied "Yes I did" with a matter of fact voice. I meant it in a way that "there was nothing else to put on it". Actually it was pretty good. This may be a new trend for myself. The Spanish lady started giggling and I thought it was because she saw what I did. Here she put sugar on her hard boiled egg instead of salt! She was pointing to the sugar & then to the egg and I showed her what I did to my sandwich. So we had a good laugh from the lack of food situation.
There was a light rain when we departed Frankfurt at 7:30 and were introduced to Tunde, Franco and a tour director in training, Analishka (sp?) So with our Hungarian guide, Italian bus driver, Polish trainee and our brand spank-in new (1 1/2 day old) bus, our tour started. The road we used was the AUTOBAHN and traffic was not going fast as I had imagined.. Even in the passing lane, vehicles
Pretty picture
More beautiful German countryside were not flying past, maybe 65 miles per hr. I was disappointed in the autobahn! I felt like I was back home & we were on the turnpike. I had heard so much about how fast it was and it was not. Maybe it was the part we were on, I don't know.
Our first stop at TRUCKERSTUBEN consisted of 2 tall pillars that represented the borders between east and west Germany. This was where we would have to shell out the first of much money to pay to use a toilet! I briefly thought about holding it but the next stop wasn't until 11:30, so 50 euro cents it was. Germany seemed to have large amounts of graffiti on anything. At first I wondered if most was professionally done because some of it was really pretty.
Next stop: WEIMAR, known for Luther, Schiller and Goethe and earlier as the "Athens of Germany". We had lunch at a small place called Frischback where we just pointed to what we wanted which was a pizza with cola for 3.30 euros. There was a cool seashell/fossil shop and a bank that looked like a palace. Why don't any of our
Houses
German village banks look like that? Weimar also had its share of graffiti that took away from some of the otherwise pretty buildings. We were here about an hour sob by this time it was sunny and warm and included another 50 cents bathroom fee. Our 3rd stop was a gas station for 30 minutes. Near Jena, we saw a Trabant Car also known as a "cardboard car". We were all amazed at the looks of it.
Past Jena, we arrived in Berlin about 4:45pm to our hotel, Econtel which was odd looking yellow/green with murals painted on it. This funky looking hotel was in West Berlin and had free internet in the lobby. The rooms were plain with no ac but luckily it was cool out, so we kept the window open. Each time we took a shower, the floor got wet because it was nothing more than a drain in the corner of the bathroom with a curtain going around! It was clean and a decent size and was quiet. We had our 1st optional excursion; a "BERLINER DINNER" in East Berlin at Wirtshaus Alte Stadt Mauer. This would end up being the only place where we would get
Old East/West Borders
Our 1st stop at Truckerstuben a choice of appetizer, entree and dessert for the entire trip. The food was great and we were entertained by 2 guys with one playing the guitar and the other playing the accordion. The d'oeuvre was sushi, mozzarella and swiss cheese, meat with sweet pickle wrapped in it. The pork sausages with sauteed potatoes and sauerkraut was very filling so I couldn't finish it. For dessert, I tried the rice pudding with cinnamon along with the all inclusive drinks. he he Wine and 2 beers kept me happy the rest of the night along with the 2 Australian couples from Adaline we sat with!
After dinner, our bus passed part of the BERLIN WALL, then we stopped at CHECKPOINT CHARLIE. Since it was 9pm, it was difficult to get clear pictures. STUMBLE #1 happened when I was walking fast, checking out the soldiers' pictures that were displayed, not paying attention to some construction. I stumbled over a piece of concrete sticking out, but I managed to avoid a fall. Our last stop was seeing BRANDENBURG GATE lit up at night. It was a pretty site and I couldn't believe I was here! A very nice evening indeed!
In
Homes in East Germany
Another window seat opportunity review: Stumble #1
Bathroom fees for the day: 1 euro
Quote for the day: Yes I did!
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