Part 2: AirlinesAngel’s Berlin Adventure

Sep 7, 2010 by AirlinesAngel

Welcome to Berlin

The taxi ride from the airport, although short, took in many of the sights of Berlin including the Brandenburg Gate, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and the occasional remnants of the Berlin Wall.  Although history was never my strong subject at school, I knew some of the stories of Berlin past plus I can just remember when the Berlin Wall fell.  Included in the trip were two tours of the city one in the afternoon and the next the following morning.

Hotel de Rome

The hotel, part of the Rocco Forte group,located in Bebelplatz, used to be the home of the former Dresdner Bank, opened in October 2006.  The hotel interior combines the old with the new and compliments the exterior and surrounding area.  In keeping with it’s history the swimming room located in the old Jewel vault has black tiling where the safe deposit boxes once were placed and some treatment rooms are located behind thick vault doors.

The Suites have the original wooden panelling complete with secret compartments and wounds from the conflict.  The rooms are exquisitely furnished and the monsoon shower is perfect after a day seeing the sights of Berlin.

Tours of Berlin

The tour went  off the beaten track in Berlin, focusing on the East of the city, taking in the Jewish Quarter and the Museum Island.  In the Mitte neighbourhood of Berlin is a delightful dance hall “Claerchens Ballhaus“, it is one of the few that has survived in the city.  They hold regular dance classes and the doormen dressed in Tuxedos check your attitude at the entrance.

The following day the tour took in parts of Friedrichshain district which has plenty of examples of Street Art and Graffiti.  Although it does not initially sound interesting, it was.  Some of the art work had stories behind them, such as the picture below of the Astronaut – at night the lights from the corporate properties along the street casted a shadow, on the outstretch arm, of a Flag in his hand.

Or this, Mr Talion, goes round placing price tags on the art work around cities, check his Flickr page for more examples.

This for me, was a great introduction to the city of Berlin, it is easy to get to the main attractions, but it’s nice to be shown the lesser advertised areas.  Both tours had great guides, who made the tours informative, interesting and above all fun, so much so you didn’t notice the time pass, or how much you had walked.  The afternoon tour was with Berlinagenten and the Street Art tour by Go-Art! Berlin.

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As with all good things, they must come to an end, the time had come to head back to the airport for the flight home.  Getting to the airport, with less than two hours before the flight was due to depart I expected the check in desks to be open, instead there was a large queue for the economy check in.  I decided to check us in via the mobile check in, however it would not accept the passport expiry date for the APIS.  Eventually an agent arrived, whilst setting up the desks, he didn’t not make eye contact nor acknowledge the waiting passengers.

Onboard the crew, were very welcoming and soon we were airborne.  The Captain was very informative and kept us updated as we not only had headwinds of 140-160MPH, but Heathrow had restrictions on arrival due to extremely poor weather conditions.  Once on the ground it was a short taxi to our stand and with the weather against us we were only 30 mins late (which to me isn’t a delay).

As I said this was a great introduction to Berlin and I look forward to planning a longer visit to the city.

Happy travels

AirlinesAngel

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About the author  AirlinesAngel has over 10 years experience within the aviation industry. Recently completed a MA in Airline and Airport Management and is now returning to work.

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