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Our ship docked in Warnemunde Germany at 6:00 a.m.. We had booked an excursion to see Berlin by bus, and at around 6:30 we left the ship and walked a few hundred yards to a train chartered for our tour. Kathy and I were 10 years old when the Berlin wall was put up, so we were quite excited to have a chance to see for ourselves check-point Charlie, and what was left of the wall.
We had a two and a half hour train ride to Berlin. The train cars were arraigned in compartments, each compartment holding 6 persons. I had planned on taking lots of pictures of the German country side, but the window was very dirty, and the train seemed to spend a great deal of time between either dirt levies or dense forest, so very few pictures of the country side were taken.
The train had a kind of diner car where you could order a beer or coffee, and you could smoke there too. Kathy and I made a few trips to the diner car for a smoke and a beer. We had a guide named Birte who got us from the ship to Berlin and back. We thought Birte was wonderful. She had an adorable personality and we enjoyed talking to her on the train.
Berlin was quite a revelation and our tour guide was very very good. She always kept us informed if we were in the old East Berlin or the old West Berlin. Everything that was new since "Re-unifications" was pointed out and it is absolutely amazing how much they have accomplished.
We had lunch at the Speignbergen Hotel and it was quite nice and then had some time to stroll the Kurfustendam and window shop since it was Sunday and everything was closed.
A long day but a really interesting one... Here are a few pictures.