This was the first time either of us have ever been to Berlin. A simple and pleasant train ride from Hannover got us there around mid-day on October 16th. The train station was about 2 miles from the hotel so we took a taxi rather than drag our bags. It was a very nice Hilton right in the middle of the city, and Leslie got us upgraded to a larger room with access to the Executive Lounge based on my past travels with Hilton.
The first afternoon we walked about a mile in a light but very cold rain to get the tickets for a hop on/hop off bus we wanted to take. We spent the rest of the day driving around the city on this bus, and had dinner that evening in the executive lounge. We actually did that for 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners as the wine was also free.
The next day we also toured the city on the bus, and while we stopped at a few places, my favorite was the 7 story department store “KaDeWe”. It was very high end and each floor was dedicated to a type of product from high end jewelry to ladies accessories to groceries and food specialty items. Leslie also found a great scarf store named “Fraas”. The cashmere scarfs she was interested in were $200 and up! We didn’t get one. Of course we also did the typical tourist stuff around the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, etc.
I actually enjoyed Berlin and the history there, especially around WWII and the cold war aspects. Leslie did not like it as much as me (although she enjoyed it) because it was too haphazard in design and development.
Bakers Be Gone 