20190526 Elegant Elbe
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Elegant Elba Sunday, 26 May & Monday, 27 May 2019 Of course we reset the hotel this morning. We woke up ahead of the alarm and striped the bed to begin washing the sheets. Then we took our showers and exchanged those towels to wash and dry. We had some of the mini cinnamon rolls Liz had found at the Grocery Outlet. They were tasty if also a little tough but they were welcome and made the coffee that much better. Liz was apprehensive driving on I-5 but she did very well and her confidence is building. I did agree that when we get back from Prague I will drive the freeway and back to the house. She does not need to agonize about that drive while we are on vacation. We arrived at the Lufthansa desk about fifteen minutes before they opened. Since we had checked in on line we processed quickly through the baggage drop off procedures. We did ask if we could upgrade to Economy Plus but they didn't have that category with seats together so we didn't take them. After we boarded the aircraft the plane was being towed out to the runway and we heard and feld a loud snap. The tow-bar cracked and we had to wait until they could locate another rig. That took about fifteen minutes and then we were off. Our luck held because when we landed in Frankfurt we did not get assigned to a ramp but were to b e picked up by buses and shuttled to the terminal. Someone forgot to order buses for out aircraft so we had to wait about 20 minutes for coaches to reach us before they would offload the aircraft. Then, when we landed in Berlin we were assigned to a gate but there were no agents or bag handlers available to receive the plane. That was three for three for Lufthansa. It seemed a bit unprofessional in our minds today but we were met by Viking and all was well. Simon James, our Program Director, met us at the Sheraton Berlin Grand Hotel Esplanade and boarded the bus to brief us. “I am British but I also speak American so we will easily understand each other.” He spoke of our events for the next three days. He had our keys and quickly sent us on to our rooms to catch our breaths. This cruise will be our seventieth cruise or land tour and we are very familiar with the title of cruise director. This also is our seventh cruise on Viking so we have experienced several systems with them. On our China and Ukraine cruises we had tour guides who remained with us on board the ship and for all excursions. We have also had Viking representatives at the hotel for both pre and post cruises who would then host excursions and then hand us off to the ship staff or airport assistants to continue our journey. This operation was new to us. Simon would be our program director for the duration of this entire trip. He would supervise our Berlin hotel stay and excursions for two days and remain with us as we toured Potsdam on the way to meeting Viking Astrild. Once onboard the ship he took on the duties of a “traditional” cruise director, hosting all onboard activities. He briefed us concerning the 397 next day activities and established the excursions and assigned coaches. Once we would finish the final sailing, Simon would coordinate our last two days in Prague and insure transfer to our city excursions. Then he would meet us at 3:15 am on our last morning and insure we had an agent to assist our transfer through the airport. Since the actual time on the Elbe was half the time that Simon would be with our tour group, I realized that Simon operated opposite another program director who would perform the same duties on the Viking Astrild while it sails back to Potsdam. There must be two more program directors performing the same mission on the Viking Beyla, the Elbe sister ship of our vessel. But for today our group could choose to join a walking tour of the area at four o'clock. We went to our room but as soon as our luggage was delivered to our room but we went out early to explore the vicinity and to find a currency exchange. In the lobby we met one of Simon's assistants, Luther, who is a local resident. We spoke of riding the US Army Berlin Duty Train several times in the 1980s and he inquired a bit about that operation. He gave us some directions of the local neighborhood and we set out for a walk. We were not far from a favorite department store of our past, the KeDeWe (Kaufhaus des 398 Westerns). Similar to Bloomingdale, Macy's, or Herrods of London, we better realized where were in the city. We did not stop to reminisce but continued walking the area. Eventually we returned to the hotel shortly before Luther was to conduct his walking tour of the area. We converted some dollars to Euros at the hotel and joined his excursion. As we left the hotel we crossed the Landwehrkanal, a 10 kilometer long canal parallel to the River Spree. It connects the upper part of the Spree at the Osthafen (Eastern Harbour) in Friedrichshain with its lower part in Charlottenburg, flowing through Kreuzberg and Tiergarten. As we walked Luther spoke of the division of Berlin and the establishment of the American, British, French, and Russian sectors of the city after World War II. Most people know of this history but they are not aware that so much of East Germany surrounded the divided city of Berlin. The US Army duty train went 110 miles through Communist East Germany in the dark of night. We continued down embassy row past those representing Estonia, India, Italy, Japan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates before reaching the Tiergarten. “The central district of Tiergarten is known for its huge park, home to the Berlin zoo, the Victory Column with its winged statue and the lively, lakeside Café am Neuen See. To the south, galleries and designer shops around Potsdamer Strasse attract art lovers and in-the-know visitors. Bordering Potsdamer Platz, the Kulturforum includes several State Museums and the Berliner Philharmonie concert hall. The park is 520 acres in size and is among the largest urban gardens of Germany.” We did start the walk but left the tour to go back to the hotel and the Gastatts Ambrosius. We were hungry and still tired so planned to have an early evening. The restaurant filled our hopes as a familiar, small Gasthaus we learned to love when we were first stationed in Germany in 1971. They had a Müller-Thurgau and a Silvaner so we ordered a glass of each. Our second glasses showed our preference as they were both Müller-Thurgau. I selected What Germans eat on Sundays: rolled beef with red cabbage and boiled potatoes. Liz ordered Wiener Schnitel from calf with French fries and salad. The red cabbage was odd tasting and dense. My feeling was that the menu was too ambitious for a small place and there was a lot of microwave cooking taking place here. The rest of our dinner was satisfying and met our search for a typical, German small restaurant. We were back in Germany after all. On the way back from the restaurant we stopped at a market and bought a couple bottles of Müller- Thurgau for our room for the next two days. We would not and did not last long when we got back to the hotel. We were very travel tired. 399 Tuesday, 28 May 2019 Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,748,148 (2018) inhabitants make it the second most populous city proper of the European Union after London. The city is one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, and contiguous with its capital, Potsdam. First documented in the 13th century and situated at the crossing of two important historic trade routes, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417–1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), and the Third Reich (1933–1945).[7] Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world.[8] After World War II and its subsequent occupation by the victorious countries, the city was divided; West Berlin became a de facto West German exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989) and East German territory. East Berlin was declared capital of East Germany, while Bonn became the West German capital. Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all of Germany. All four Allies shared administrative responsibilities for Berlin. However, in 1948, when the Western Allies extended the currency reform in the Western zones of Germany to the three western sectors of Berlin, the Soviet Union imposed a blockade on the access routes to and from West Berlin, which lay entirely inside Soviet-controlled territory. The Berlin airlift, conducted by the three western Allies, overcame this blockade by supplying food and other supplies to the city from June 1948 to May 1949.[50] In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany and eventually included all of the American, British and French zones, excluding those three countries' zones in Berlin, while the Marxist-Leninist German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Germany.