Berlin

November 2018

It's perfectly possible to get to Berlin by tea-time but after this trip we're left wondering if it's worth it. Not Berlin, Berlin is fantastic, but undertaking the journey in one hit. The trip from St Pancras, via Brussels and Cologne, is easy enough but it's very long and not very interesting. Next time we fetch up in the German capital it will probably because it's a convenient stopping point between two other destinations on a much slower perambulation around Europe.

That said, we set off for Berlin at 3:40am on a Thursday morning. By taxi. We wanted to get there in the early evening if possible and the 6:47 Eurostar allowed us to do just that, but meant either staying overnight in London or the cheaper option of a pre-booked taxi and a 3am alarm as there are no trains from Fratton that early. The car journey was as smooth as one could have hoped and we arrived at St Pancras an hour ahead of last check-in and very calm.
I was a little worried when booking about the Deutche bahn "print at home" through ticket because it only had one name on it, but a call to the DB helpline was quite reassuring and when I waved the piece of paper at the gate we were issued with official boarding passes (which no-one looked at again) and ushered through security.
The security area has changed since we were last there; there's still the x-ray machine with people faffing about because they hadn't prepared, but after that, passport control has become mostly automated. Actually, that's British passport control because the French are still using uninterested looking officers in booths for the most part.

After an eternity watching an advert for the new Harry Potter franchise film on every screen on a 5 second loop, we finally board our train. It's our first time on one of the new Eurostars, and while there are more facilities (like a charging point at every seat), despite the illusion of more space it still feels a little more cramped than absolutely necessary. By now though, for us, it's just a means to get to Europe and not the exciting new adventure of our first trip. A brief stop at Lille and we're soon in Brussels.
Annoyingly the escalator directly down to through trains is still out of use, presumably for some misguided security reason, so the transit to our ICE to Cologne is more rushed than ideal but we make it with a few minutes to spare and settle in.

The Brussels/Cologne ICE is fast - around 300km/h at times, and much more comfortable. We grab a coffee from the chap with a tray (proper coffee, not SWT Nescafé) and eat some of our packed lunch (it's still only elevenses really). The transfer at Cologne is much more relaxed and we have time to buy a delicious roll before climbing up to the platform. The Berlin train is bang on time although the carriages are numbered in reverse of expectations sending everyone scurrying to the opposite end of the platform from where they were waiting. The journey itself is not desperately interesting once beyond Hannover, and some five hours later, an hour after sunset, we roll into Berlin Hbf the biggest station I have ever seen - it's like something out of Metropolis with criss-crossing tracks on multiple levels.
A taxi whisks us to our apartment hotel near Checkpoint Charlie. Our room turns out to be more of a suite with a kitchenette, very comfortable, well-equipped and frankly a bargain.

Our friend Carrie has recommended a Bavarian style beer hall which is nearby so we head out in search of dinner and (of course) beer. On Charlottenstrasse, near the twin churches and concert hall, is Augustiner am Gendarmenmarkt looking suitable popular and full at seven in the evening but they find us a table and half a litre of beer disappears fairly quickly. We go for the "full German" to eat. Following a delicious fresh pretzel and mustard, we are delivered a sharing platter piled high with sausages, meatloaf, roast pork, crackling, dumplings and meatballs mounted on a bed of sauerkraut, and another beer or two. We, unsurprisingly, forego dessert and stagger back to the hotel for a welcome sleep, grabbing some breakfast from Lidl on the way.

Friday

The hotel has a small spa in the basement and after a refreshing swim/jacuzzi we head out.
Just around the corner is the Checkpoint Charlie museum. Checkpoint Charlie was the best known crossing point of the Berlin Wall (1961-1989) and this museum documents the post war history of Germany leading up to its construction and the many and varied attempts to cross the wall to escape to the West. It's a bit of an overload on the senses as the displays are packed in a warren of rooms, but it's fascinating to see part of your own history from the point of view of those who lived it rather than watched it on the news. It's housed in a building close to the original guardhouse and opened only two years after the wall went up, an analogue live-tweet of history perhaps.

By now we are in desperate need of a coffee so we are on the look out for something suitable as we head towards the Jewish Museum. At the bottom end of Friedrichstrasse a housing development the other side of a children's park has a massive elephant painted on its wall and there's a good looking coffee shop across the street. One milchkaffee and sly apple cake later and suitably refreshed it's off to the Jewish museum with its intriguing architecture and sensitive displays of Holocaust artefacts; household items left behind by those murdered by the Third Reich. Upstairs in the old building is an exhibition about Jerusalem, at once interesting and frustrating for the non-religious.


We have lunch in the café of the nearby modern art museum, a really nice organic salad, before taking in the exhibition featuring modern German art and a special display of the Novembergruppe. It's always an interesting time spent in galleries showing how a country tells its story in its art. It also gave me an idea for our own art collective (Fire Monkey Arts).

By now we're getting tired so decide to call it a day and go back to the hotel, passing the Bush/Gorbachev/Kohl memorial, for a rest before another night at Augustiner's for a massive schnitzel. And although the schnitzel was more than substantial, with schnitzel there has to be strudel. It's the law. A couple of beers to wash it all down.

Unter den Linden and the Brandenburg Gate is not far, so we wander over. The wide boulevard is having new U-Bahn tracks and station laid under it so the overall effect is rather diminished but you still get a sense of its grandeur. The Gate itself looks its best at night and we're glad we made the effort even though the surrounding buildings have encroached on its space way too much making it look smaller than you imagine, especially in daytime. A busy day over we head back to the hotel. The habitual stop at Lidl for some breakfast provisions precedes a very good night's sleep.

Saturday

We are led to believe there's a flea market by Friedrichstrasse station with its impressive glass canopy but despite searching all around the station we can't find it and decide to carry on our way to Museum Island where we come across ... a flea market! A street full of interesting bric-a-brac, vinyl records and vintage clothing occupies the bank opposite the museums and on quite a chill morning we are also glad of the gluhwein on offer.
The Museum Kart we bought the day before gets us into the Bode Museum on the point of Museum Island. The Bode houses an eclectic collection of sculpture, Byzantine, Rennaisance and Gothic art, as well as a collection of altarpieces, coins and medals. Currently it has a fantastic exhibition of non-European art and makes interesting comparisons between it and so-called high art, asking the important question 'why is non-European art dismissed (even if it's admired) as "Tribal Art"?' something that needs a much wider platform.
The Bode also has a nice café where we lunched before heading off.

Further down the bank from the flea market is an art market which is great for a wander and views of the massively impressive cathedral. Crossing the bridge back onto Museum Island we headed for the Neue Museum, home to the city's Egyptian collection including the object of our visit, the world famous bust of Queen Nefertiti. There are many "world famous" artworks but only a few make your heart truly sing and the Nefertiti is one of those. It is exceptionally beautiful and well worth going to Berlin just to see it.

We're a bit tired now so a boat trip down the Spree appeals. Our bearings aren't completely true yet so we walk further than absolutely necessary to find the right pier but we do and an hour and a half of entirely German commentary later, but suitably relaxed, we head back to the hotel, pausing only to pick up the Chagall lithograph we'd bought for my birthday from a rather nice antiquarian book and print seller on the Gendarmenmarkt.

We have about an hour to rest before dinner at Charlotte and Fritz's, a rather good restaurant we'd booked ahead of our trip. We like at least one pamperful dinner when abroad and this certainly doesn't disappoint, beautifully cooked and presented dishes in elegant surroundings.

Sunday

Being suckers for a good market we get on the S-Bahn and then a tram, passing a significant section of the Wall left up as a memorial, to the Sunday Fleamarket at Mauerpark. The weather's turned a bit damp and the market space is not fully occupied but it's still big enough for a couple of hours worth of browsing and has every imaginable food truck outlet available, including an "Eastern" hot, spicy, milky drink which I initially can't drink it's so hot and certainly can't finish because it's quite unpleasant. Sarah is convinced she saw a different market from the tram and after peering up a couple of side streets in the increasing rain, there it is; the Arkonaplatz market full of the most amazing vintage and 'retro' furniture, fixtures and fittings alongside more regular bric-a-brac. The rain is getting quite heavy now so after exhausting all on offer we head back, picking up some food from the supermarket at the station. By mid afternoon we're back at the hotel and disinclined to go out again. We spend the evening relaxing, cooking and eating a very nice pasta meal, drinking a good bottle of Austrian red wine and watching British telly.

Monday

It's our last day and it will centre around our pre-booked slot at the Reichstag. First up however is the neon-green fronted, not at all hidden, Spy Museum. This turns out to be well worth the visit, more so if you are with younger travellers, chock full of history and interactive displays charting the course of the dark arts of espionage through the ages. There's an elaborate diorama of the "Bridge of Spies" made famous by the Tom Hanks film, code-breaking puzzles, and a dressing up booth! The only odd thing is that upon leaving (through the gift shop, naturally), you have to go back in the main entrance to retrieve bags and coats from the lockers.


There's a massive shopping centre across the road which includes a tube slide from second to ground floor. Wandering through we fetch up at Friedrichstrasse and the Christmas shop we'd seen earlier in the trip. Gifts duly purchased and lunch beckoning, we make our way along Unter der Linden, through the Brandenburg Gate, towards the Reichstag, scouting out the entrance before finding a nice café in the park opposite. It's a hot buffet and the day is warm enough so we sit outside with our meals and beers marvelling at the fattest sparrows either of us have ever seen.

Timed entrance tickets to the Reichstag have significantly cut the queues we had been warned about and our party are soon in the lift up to the dome. It's quite a spectacular structure and the views in the gathering gloom are still impressive.

Our daughter had stayed in Berlin a couple of years ago and recommended we visit the Schwulesmuseum, It's our last afternoon so we decide that's where we'll finish. Looking at the map it seems not far the other side of the Tiergarten but the park is larger than it looks and it takes a while to cross. On the way we pass the Soviet war memorial and a large equestrian statue in its own clearing, and quite a thirst is worked up. The museum itself is a history of LGBT activism and persecution and thankfully has a very nice coffee shop. It's along way back to the hotel and we're out of cash - there's no direct transport route anyway, so we drag our weary feet back past the art installation that has marked "nearly home" for us during our stay. Dinner is at Maximillian's, a slightly smarter version of Augustiner's, which includes a massive salad, another schnitzel and, of course, beer.

Tuesday

I've had the foresight not to book a desperately early train so the morning is not a mad rush, our taxi gets us to the station in good time and our journey back is as uneventful as our journey out, save for the excitement of spotting the Wuppertal suspension railway, and it's not long before we're back in Cologne, then Brussels and the Eurostar back to London. Once again the train from Waterloo is delayed and the arbitrary nature of UK platform allocation precipitates the usual mad rush for seats when the train eventually arrives and less than two hours later we are home.

Carbon saved by not flying: 140kg

Practical tips for Eurostar travel

Having travelled by Eurostar more than a few times now,  I've picked up a few ideas about how to make experience pass as smoothly as possible. Here are my top ten tips for travelling from London:

1. Firstly, if you're travelling from another UK mainline station you can book a through ticket via the Eurostar site (eurostar.com). This will almost certainly save you money, possibly lots of it. Just click on the United Kingdom tab when searching and find your local station. 
2. On arrival at St Pancras the Eurostar terminal is well signposted and there's a nice sized area outside the barriers to gather yourselves. Here you will also find the help desk and the collect at station ticket terminals. There are quite a few gates and they'll have particular trains showing on the screens above them but you can use any that are open if the queues are shorter. (Update: the queueing system has changed a little since Brexit and the pandemic so is actually now a little smoother)
3. BUT before going any further get yourself ready for the security check the other side of the ticket barrier. There's very little room once through the gate so empty your pockets now. If you have a coat you will have to take it off for the check so put all your loose items; phone, coins, keys, wallet etc., in its pockets, otherwise put it all in your hand luggage or even a carrier bag. 
4. Have your tickets and passports ready. If you've printed your own tickets you'll need to have the QR code showing so you can press it up against the reader on the barrier - this takes a couple of seconds so don't take it off until the light goes green and the barrier opens.
5. The security check area is, as I said, immediately after the gate. Hopefully you'll have read and acted on point 3 and are completely ready to proceed. You'll need a tray. They are kept under the conveyor so grab one and put your coat in it with your bags on top. If you've got a suitcase get another tray for that and push them up towards the x-ray machine. Walk through the metal detector and collect your belongings from the other end of the belt. Remember to push your trays towards the end where they'll get swallowed up and sent back to the start. Not doing this annoys other people. Move away towards passport control before even attempting to put all your stuff back where it belongs but preferably wait until you get all the way through. The checks are much less onerous than at the airport but getting ready cuts time and allows a brief smug smile to pass across your lips.
6. This is not really a tip but there are two passport checks, UK and France, out and in, and of course your passport is already in your hand by now isn't it? Join the right queue - all windows will take EU passports, only one or two will take non-EU ones (edit: sadly that is now the window you want). Hand it over open at the appropriate page and wait politely. Try to avoid getting in the queue behind the thoroughly disorganised person with at least two massive suitcases because there's always one.
7. When you get through to the waiting area you can finally reorganise yourself at your leisure. You won't need your ticket again but make a note of which coach you are in and check the screens for boarding notices. There are two travelators up to each of the platforms and getting the right one will depend on your coach number. Incidentally, coach 1 is always nearest the exit in London, while coach 18 (or 16 in the new e320 trains) is always nearest in Paris - useful to know if you've got a tight connection.
8. Once it's announced that your train is boarding, people will rush. Everyone has a reserved seat and there's plenty of time so rushing seems unnecessary, but if you have a large case you'll need space on the luggage racks by the entrance doors to your coach. However, there's usually another rack just inside the carriage and medium cases will fit in the above seat racks so assuming you aren't the person with two massive cases getting in everyone else's way, you can confidently saunter along and take your seat once all the hullabaloo has died down. 
9. Going to Brussels? Look out for the escalator halfway along the platform at Brussels Midi if you're making a connection for an onward train, it'll save you time and hassle.
10. Exiting Gare du Nord Paris is just like any other regular station, but when coming back it has one of the most uncomfortable waiting areas going, so try not to get there too early!

Overall, travelling by Eurostar is quick and hassle-free and hopefully these tips will aid restful travelling. 

Any comments, thoughts or suggestions, even corrections are most welcome.

Amsterdam

May 2015

Our third visit to Amsterdam was lovely; it's an easy-going city perfect for a short break and we always have a great time. Our previous visits have been in winter so a trip in spring is a welcome change, especially as on our first trip coincided with frozen canals and the lowest temperatures for 20 years. One of the main reasons we've come back again is to visit the newly refurbished and fully reopened Rijksmuseum as well as to enjoy a much needed holiday. Usually we opt for the Iamsterdam city card, but this only gives a 10% discount for the Rijks, so planning ahead I discover that there is also the 30 day Museumkaart which will get us in to everything the city card does, plus the Rijks, for free. Alongside a four-day travel pass from GVB it works out at much better value all round. Armed with this information and a clutch of train tickets we set off from Fratton on a promisingly sunny morning.

Booking a through ticket via Eurostar.com is both simple and usually excellent value as the Fratton to London portion can be very much cheaper this way and is valid for travel from whatever terminal you arrive at, across London, to St Pancras. However, every time we approach the underground clutching our Fratton to London International tickets, we are ever more certain that they will fail to open the barrier and we'll have to show them and explain ourselves to the busy TFL attendant to let us through. And then of course, out again. Why this should be is beyond me but these frustrations aside, boarding the Eurostar is as straightforward as ever and we're soon on our way.

Brussels midi station is still a bit on edge after the recent attacks, so the usually convenient escalator down from the Eurostar platform is closed.  We end up working our way around and down to find the Thalys departure area where no-one is as sure as our Eurostar train manager was as to which platform the train to Amsterdam will be leaving from. Twenty minutes, we are told, and all will become clear. Hanging about for this revelation in a rather stark waiting room is fine but there's no departure board in there or indeed any other information source so we're taking turns to check the board before our train appears proving the Eurostar announcer right all along. However, there's a little more confusion as we're initially directed towards the wrong train but a very helpfully strident platform assistant points everyone across to another Thalys arriving on the other side of the platform and we're soon hurtling through Belgium at speeds far in excess of those managed by even the fastest UK trains. A standard class seat in a Thalys is also much more comfortable, even if the much trumpeted WiFi is patchy at best.

Arriving in Amsterdam I realise my complacency in having been twice before means my planning has fallen short of actually getting to the hotel, I haven't even brought a map, so after buying our travel chipkaarts there's a few minutes working out where the hotel is exactly and what tram we need to catch to get there.

The hotel is in a very nice area by the Vondelpark and looks quite promising from the outside but once inside things get different very quickly. We have to pay in advance which is never a good sign, and there's no lift. We're on the third floor. Struggling up the increasingly steep stairs I manage to knock a picture off the wall before the stairs turn up the final flight almost vertically. The bed is great but the bathroom is pokey and a bit worn and, get this, we share a window with next door!

Tuesday

Breakfast is not included and at an extra €10 per person, not worth it, so we head off towards Museumplein for on the way is Bagels and Beans where we enjoy a fresh and tasty.breakfast in a funky setting before our visit to the Stedelijke, which is rapidly becoming my favourite modern art museum. Alongside the regular and intriguing exhibits there's a special exhibition of the Amsterdam School, the architectural style movement looking a lot like the bastard child of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Vienna Secession and absolutely fabulous.

Lunch is at our favourite old style (but actually modern) café up by the Blauwbrug. We discovered its welcoming embrace during our first visit that freezing February and spent half the afternoon lounging on their sofas drinking coffee and mulled wine and stroking the cat before venturing out into the cold again. Now unfortunately cat-less, it's still a nice place to go and we enjoy a fine sandwich before heading back to Foam, the photography gallery, where there's a couple of  thought provoking interpretations of the migrant crisis.

Our first two evenings have followed much the same course; beers at Het Hok before traditional Dutch fare at the very popular The Pantry two doors down. ''Traditional" here means various flavours of mash with a smoked sausage or giant meatball alongside other hearty cooking like ham hock and beef stew. The food is delicious and the atmosphere convivial.

Wednesday

Wednesday is all about the Rijksmuseum. Well, nearly all.
It's another sunny day as we stroll across Museumplein past the holocaust memorial and iamsterdam sign. The entrance to the museum is through the basement so, skipping the queues with our museumkaarts in hand, we dive in.

We spend more than half the day exploring the newly and brilliantly refurbished Rijks. And while much attention is focused on the "Gallery of Honour" with Rembrandt's Night Watch taking centre stage among some of the greats of the Dutch Golden Age, the lower galleries house examples of some of the most exquisite craftsmanship you can imagine and there are other stunning works at every turn. The museum displays are well organised, by date mostly, but it's worth taking some time to plan your way around as it's not necessarily obvious which is the best route to take. The first floor, for instance, is in two unconnected halves as the roadway cuts through it. All things considered it's a brilliant way to spend a few hours even if the lavatories are harder to find than you'd prefer.

After a late spot of lunch we head off across the city so we can visit Rembrandt's House again. Our route to Waterlooplein takes us for the first time in three visits along the metro, which is as clean and efficient as you'd expect and after a wander through the flea market we arrive. To my mind Rembrandt van Rijn was something of an alchemist with paint and a trip to this house museum is always a joy, for me at least. Today we are in time for the paint mixing demonstration and we discover they've recently opened the top floor showing the studio space his students would have used, and in the new building there's a great exhibition of nudes drawn by him and his contemporaries too.

Across the road is a bar on the canal and a much needed beer is enjoyed while watching the boats pass by. On the opposite corner of the canal, nesting in a half submerged boat, is a family of cootes and unfortunately one chick has got out onto the water. One of the parents desperately tries to persuade it back into the boat, a task seemingly beyond the chick's capabilities - the side of the boat is a good foot out of the water - unfortunately all to no avail as a seagull swoops down and carries the youngster away. Nature red in tooth and claw, so to speak, was not what we were expecting in this quiet corner of Amsterdam!

Today is also the day in the Netherlands when they remember the war dead. There's a two minute silence at 8pm and a big gathering in Dam Square with the King attending, which is throwing the tram schedules well out of whack and we end up walking most of the way back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. We've booked at the Koffiehuis van der Volksbond where we've dined on previous trips and it's just as lovely as before, even if it's a bit weird being there in daylight on a warm spring evening. A perfect end to the day.

Thursday

The following day is Liberation Day, a public holiday, and the crowds are out in force on another beautiful sunny day. We wander up to Dam Square with a view to seeing the World Press Photo exhibition at the Niewe Kerk but it doesn't open until the afternoon so we visit the fairly dull royal palace instead before pottering about the city centre and having a beer by the Niewe Maarkt.

After returning for the photography exhibition and some coffee and cake we decide it's high time we took to the water. There are boats of all types and sizes thronging the canals and more than one collision but it's wonderfully relaxed and good humoured and we have a ball.

Dinner is at a nice little restaurant in the centre that our friends have used before. There are no reservations taken at this very popular place so timing is everything. We get one of the last tables and enjoy a decent meal with excellent service.

Oh, and if someone offers you a Dutch salted caramel lolly just politely decline. If you don't, at some point later your mouth will be filled with the most hideous liquorice powder and you'll be left gagging into a nearby canal.

Friday

Friday morning sees us grabbing breakfast in a café near the station before catching the train home. Brussels' Eurostar experience is about the most relaxed of the three principal stations and aside from a brief stop at Calais, completing the set, we're back in London by (late) lunchtime. We're travelling back to Portsmouth via London Victoria and thanks to the ongoing disorganisation of British railway operators we stand, necks craned, staring at the departure boards for an eternity until just five minutes before departure it finally shows us which platform our train will be leaving from. This, naturally, precipitates a mad rush for a seat in the right part of the train before we can settle down for the final leg home.

Carbon saved: 50kg