Berlin: revisited

Berlin is not only the 'new' capital of Germany, it's also our international Hollywood. Famous actors and musicians visit or work regularly in Berlin. I recently read that our well-known director Wim Wenders has shot an ice-cream commercial with Liv Taylor (The Lord Of The Ring) here! Though the city has much more to offer than the possibility of meeting music or movie idols. That's why I was so excited to go there for three days after not visiting for 8 years, and this trip started really different than the last one aswell.

Back then we had travelled the 600 Km by car, which of course took about 7 hours, making only 1-2 short breaks. We must have been lucky with no traffic jams caused by road works on the Autobahn (highway), too. However, this time we went by the fastest train we have, the ICE, which depending on the track section reaches up to a speed of 300 km/h(our). Okay, our internet connection wasn't the best but I think that it's generally a more relaxing way to travel longer distances. You don't have to concentrate on traffic, you can just lean back to read or to take a nap and the direct ICE connection took us there in only 4 hours! Despite of that, you don't need a car in the city, just take a taxi ride, go by bus or use the subway (U-Bahn).

We walked approximately 200 meters from the station to our residence, a Best Western Hotel near the KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens), which is a maintainable distance in my opinion, and if you want to see all the monuments, museums and parks your going to be on your feet the whole day anyway. :)

NEXT posting: On our way through the city: architectur, monuments and curiosities like fancy Trabbis (standard car of the DDR, Deutsch Demokratische Republik, 1949 until 1990)