Days: 13 - 17
September 4th (Wed) - 8th (Sun)
Euros
Conversion rate on
our visit:
€1.00 = $1.10
$1.00 = €.909
Berlin
                                 
       
What We Had
Highs: 67°F / 86°F
Lows: 60s°F
Clear and sunny
Averages
Highs: Upper 60s°F
Lows: Mid 50s°F
 Current Conditions
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Page Index

Travel Extras
  •  The Trip Home

What We Saw
  •  City of Dresden
  •  Dresden Frauenkirche
  •  Pergamon Panorama
  •  Berlin Cathedral
  •  German History Museum
  •  Neue Wache (War Memorial)

Where We Ate
  •  Trattoria Rocca
  •  Fish and Chips
  •  Ausspanna Restaurant
  •  Coffee Shop at the Berliner Dom
  •  Galleria at the Alexander Platz

Where We Stayed
  •  Myer’s Hotel Berlin
  •  Intercity Hotel Berlin Airport
​

Day 11 (Wednesday - September 4) Baroque Dresden and Dynamic Berlin 
Our final driving day begins with a stop in the city of Dresden, where a local guide will take us on a walking tour of this delightfully Baroque city, reborn from the ashes of World War II. Its star is the inspiring Frauenkirche, destroyed in the firestorms of 1945 and rebuilt with donations from around the world. Arriving in Berlin this afternoon, we'll get oriented to our neighborhood and the city's public transportation system before free time and dinner on your own.  Moderate walking: 2–8 miles throughout the day with lots of hills, stairs, and uneven terrain. Bus: 4 hours. Sleep in Berlin.

Day 12 (Thursday - September 5) Berlin's Historic Heart 

We'll begin our day with a fascinating walking tour through the historic heart of Berlin, including Unter den Linden, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, and memorials to the earth-shaking events and sacrifices of the past century. This evening, we'll have our last dinner together at the Ausspanna Restaurant, sharing travel memories and toasting new friends. Prost!  Strenuous walking: 2–8 miles throughout the day with lots of hills, stairs, and uneven terrain. No bus. Sleep in Berlin. Note: We passed on the walking tour since we'd already visited all the sites on a previous trip.

Day 13 (Friday - September 6) Tour Over After Breakfast  
Breakfast is provided, but there are no group activities today. It's a breeze to reach Berlin's airport by shuttle, S-Bahn train, bus, or taxi. You'll have easy connections to home, or on to other points in Europe. Auf Wiedersehen!

Day 13 (Friday - September 6) On Our Own
After our Rick Steves tour ended, we had several days left.  Today, we're heading to Museum Island to visit the Berlin Cathedral. After that, we moved on to the German History Museum (alternative) just off the island, since the history museum is closed for remodeling.  We would have visited the Pergamon Museum, but it is closed until 2027.  Luckily, we visited the  Pergamon during our Europe 2010 tour (you can see the pictures there).

Day 13 + 1 (Saturday - September 7) On Our Own
After a leisurely breakfast, we took the tram to Alexander Platz and a subway to the Berlin airport and the Intercity Airport hotel in preparation for our very early departure at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday.  
​  
City of Dresden
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
We've visited Dresden on our 2010 tour. So we didn't think there would be any surprises for us. Boy, were we wrong. Dresden else has changed significantly. In 2010, the Frauenkirche Dresden pretty well sat off on its own.  Having been renovated just a few years before our visit, not much was built around it. Now, the church is amongst many buildings that house all sorts of businesses.  Stores, open-air cafes, apartments, an interior shopping mall, and many more. Wow! What a change. However, as Bryan pointed out, not everyone is happy about the change.  Some even think it's so much make-believe it's almost like an amusement park.  To each their own. We thought it was great.  We even took advantage of one of the open-air cafes for lunch. Good food in a great setting.




 Background from Wikipedia 
Dresden is the capital city of the German state of Saxony. It is the 12th most populous city in Germany and the fourth largest by area. Dresden has a population of around 790,000 with 1.34 million inhabitants in the greater metropolitan area.  Most of the city's population lives in the Elbe Valley.  Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its Baroque and Rococo city centre. The bombing of Dresden towards the end of World War II destroyed the entire city centre. After the war, restoration work helped reconstruct parts of the historic inner city.

   

City of Dresden
01067 Dresden
Tel: +49 351 501 501
         
 
Dresden Frauenkirche
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
We visited Dresden in 2010. There's been a lot of change in the area around the church—much more built up since we were last there. Note the dark stones in the rebuilt church in the last picture. These are the stones they recovered from the rubble of the previous structure. Although there may have been changes to the church's interior, we found it difficult to see any considering the ornate decorations.  There isn't a charge for visiting inside the church.

 

 Background from Wikipedia 
The Frauenkirche is a Lutheran church in Dresden.  The current structure is the third church building to stand at this site. The earliest was founded as a Catholic church before being converted to Protestantism during the Reformation. It was replaced in the 18th century by a larger Baroque Lutheran building. Considered an outstanding example of Protestant sacred architecture, it featured one of the largest domes in Europe. It was originally built as a sign of the will of the citizens of Dresden to remain Protestant after their ruler had converted to Catholicism. After the destruction of the church in 1945, the remaining ruins were left for nearly half a century as a war memorial, following decisions of local East German leaders. Following the reunification of Germany, it was decided to rebuild the church, starting in 1994.

 

Dresden Frauenkirche
Neumarkt
01067 Dresden, Germany
Tel: +49 351 65606100
      
 
Trattoria Rocca
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Another "Bryan" recommendation.  It's also a good one.   We decided we needed a night away from traditional German-style food.  We had a pizza, which was yummy.  The place is right down the street from our hotel.



Trattoria Rocca
Metzer Str. 21
10405 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 30 84414703
      
 
Pergamon Panorama
Thursday, September 5, 2024
The Pergamon Museum in Berlin was closed.  It will be for a few more YEARS.  Alternatively, the Pergamon Panorama was built, in a separate building, across the street.  While it is not a replacement for the original, it provides a unique way to visit the ancient city of Pergamon.  It is a little difficult to see the full effect of the panorama in the pictures below, so first a description.  The panorama is a view of the ancient city projected onto a 30 meter wall with a viewing platform in the center.  Walking around the platform, you see all sides of the city alternately in daylight and night.  This is not a substitute for the real alter but it gives a perspective of the city with the real display does not.  We assume that this is a permanent display that will eventually augment the museum.  Definitely worth a visit.

Pergamon Panorama
Am Kupfergraben 2
10117 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 30 266424242
      
 
Fish and Chips
Thursday, September 5, 2024
On the way to our hotel, we stopped for a snack (chicken nuggets and chips) at the Alexander Platz station.  Yum.



Fish and Chips
Alexander Platz
Berlin, Germany
 
Ausspanna Restaurant
Thursday, September 5, 2024
This was our last meal together as a group. The food was quite good. Remember, this is a rather small restaurant (we filled up every seat), and they were serving 8 meals. But they pulled it off without any issues.

Of course, we all talked about what we each had done on one of our last days and also reflected on the trip as a whole. I believe everyone agreed it had been a great trip and was sorry to see it end (although it will be very nice to get home).

When we finished eating, Bryan asked for comments from the group about the trip, all the standards, what you liked, what you didn't like, etc. It was universally positive. Many told of the places and/or the things they liked the best. Several amusing stories helped us all remember all the great memories from the past two weeks. We were sort of sad to see the tour end, but we were all grateful for the wonderful time it turned out to be.

We also made it clear to Bryan how much we appreciated his leadership in making the tour so successful and how lucky we were to have someone so knowledgeable about the sites we visited and how they fit into Germany's past (through many history talks), present, and even future. Bryan is obviously proud of Germany. 

 

 

Ausspanna Restaurant
Kastanienallee 65
10119 Berlin, Germnay
Tel: 030 44305199
      
 
Berlin Cathedral
Friday, September 6, 2024
We've seen a number of churches and cathedrals on this trip, and while this is indeed another, it's worth a stop. Like so many other buildings in Berlin, it was destroyed in WWII and has risen from the ashes. By the way, they say they have barrier-free entry...but not really. We rang the bell but gave up when there wasn't an answer. But the steps leading in weren't that bad anyway.
 


 Background from Wikipedia 
Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom) is a monumental German Protestant church and dynastic tomb on the Museum Island in central Berlin. Having its origins as a castle chapel for the Berlin Palace, several structures have served to house the church since the 15th century. The present collegiate church was built from 1894 to 1905. The building is the largest Protestant church in Germany and one of the most important dynastic tombs in Europe. In addition to church services, the cathedral is used for state ceremonies, concerts and other events.

In 1940, the blast waves of Allied bombing blew away part of the windows. On 24 May 1944, a bomb of combustible liquids entered the roof lantern of the dome. The fire could not be extinguished at that unreachable section of the dome. So the lantern burnt and collapsed into the main floor. Between 1949 and 1953, a temporary roof was built to enclose the building. In 1975, reconstruction started, simplifying the building's original design and demolishing the north wing,

 

Berlin Cathedral
Am Lustgarten
10178 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 30 20269136
      
 
Coffee Shop at the Berliner Dom
Friday, September 6, 2024
After we visited the Berliner Dom, we found this little coffee shop on the lower level.  Though nothing fancy, we enjoyed our treats in a serene setting along the Spree River as tour boats silently slipped by. Great way to relax before heading to our next destination.
 
German History Museum
Friday, September 6, 2024
Since the German History Museum is closed for renovation, they have set up an alternative presentation (in an adjoining building) called Roads Not Taken.  They set up galleries on the -1 floor (Yup, -1 is correct).  Each gallery presented what had occurred during 14 key moments in German history (starting with 1989 and going backward to 1848), followed by some suggested possibilities of what could have happened if things had gone in a different direction. We're not sure you can go back and do "what ifs" at key points in time and then accurately predict how the world may have changed. It is, however, interesting to note how close we came to an alternate history. If only...! It's worth seeing...but it is not a substitute for the museum.

Oh yeah. One more thing. They also do an audio presentation via your cellphone. It's FREE. You log in to the local Wi-Fi and then go to a website (via a QR code) to hear what's being presented in each gallery. One of the pictures below shows a number on the floor, which is the one you enter into the website for the audio presentation for that particular gallery. Definitely worth the few minutes it took to set up and use in each gallery. 
 

These two pictures are of a signpost you pass on the way out. When you enter the exhibit, you're given a sticker to wear to show you've paid. Clearly, these people saw no value in holding on to theirs.



 Background from Wikipedia 
The German Historical Museum is devoted to German history. It describes itself as a place of "enlightenment and understanding of the shared history of Germans and Europeans". The museum is located in the 17th century Zeughaus[a] (armory) on the Unter den Linden, just across the Spree from Museum Island. The museum was founded on 28 October 1987, on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the founding of Berlin; it was inaugurated in the Reichstag building in former West Berlin.

 

German History Museum
Unter den Linden 2
(Back behind)
10117 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 30 203040
      
 
Neue Wache (War Memorial)
Friday, September 6, 2024
We happened across this memorial after our non-visit to the History Museum.  As you can see from the pictures, this is a very modest memorial. So simple, yet deeply moving. 


 Background from Wikipedia 
The Neue Wache (English: New Watchhouse) was erected from 1816 to 1818 as a guardhouse for the Royal Palace and a memorial to the Liberation Wars. Since 1993, the Neue Wache has been home to the Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Victims of War and Tyranny and houses the Mother with Dead Son (Kathe Kollwitz, 1937).   Neue Wache is famous for its changing of the guard ceremony, which went unchanged throughout the 20th century despite radical changes to the German political system. Neue Wache no longer has a regular honor guard except during special events. 

 

Neue Wache (War Memorial)
Unter den Linden 4
10117 Berlin, Germany
      
 
Galleria at the Alexander Platz
Friday, September 6, 2024
On our way through Alexander Platz we happened upon the Galleria. We don't do a lot of shopping on our trips but thought we'd check out this store. There are two parts to this section. First deals with Legos. Imagine for a moment putting this vehicle together. Wow!



The second part is the Restaurant on the top floor. We decided it was as good a place as any for dinner.  Actually, it was a good choice.  Finally, a meal where we bought just the right amount to eat without having to leave half of it behind. Yup, a good choice.


Galleria at the Alexander Platz
Alexanderpl. 9
10178 Berlin, Germany
 
 
Myer’s Hotel Berlin
Wednesday, September 4, 2024


The Myers Hotel was a great place to stay.  The location is not far from Alexander Platz which is easily reached by the tram just a block from the hotel.  We eat all of our breakfasts there in the dining room on the main floor.  The offerings were very good.  No reason to go anywhere else.  Recommended.


Myer’s Hotel Berlin
Metzer Str. 26
10405 Berlin
Tel: +49 (30) 440 14 - 0
FAX: +49 (30) 440 14 - 104
         
 
 
Intercity Hotel Berlin Airport
Saturday, September 7, 2024
We decided to spend our final night in Berlin at one of the airport hotels. Our flight in the morning was scheduled for 6:00 a.m., so we wanted to be close to it. This turned out to be a great idea. Our walk to the airport terminal the next morning took us less than 5 minutes.   There was one downside, however.  The only place to eat at the airport before checking in (other than the hotel, which is expensive and limited) is a sandwich shop.  All the other food places were beyond airport security.  The sandwiches turned out okay, but not much of a dinner.


Intercity Hotel Berlin Airport
BER Terminal 1+2
Willy-Brandt-Platz 5
12529 Schönefeld Deutschland
   
 
The Trip Home
Sunday, September 8, 2024
I'm sure that many people look at the trip home as a moment of sadness since the trip is over.  But not so...for everyone.  It's good to be heading home! Fortunately, we got 8 hours of sleep by going to bed at 7:00 pm even though we were up the next morning at 3:00 am. We showered, dressed, packed, and chowed down some morning-sweets which we picked up the night before. Out of our room at 4:00 am! We thought we'd be walking to the terminal by ourselves and there wouldn't be any lines at check-in. WRONG & WRONG!  It's clear that many flights leave each morning from Berlin including a bunch from KLM.  None of that would have been an issue if we'd gotten into the correct check-in line. But after waiting more than a half hour in the wrong line we realized that we were eligible to get in the "priority" line which would have taken 5 minutes instead.  Damn...pay attention. But once we were checked in, through security, we walked for 15 minutes to the gate and still had plenty of time to sit and relax before boarding.

Once on board, we settled into the same seats we had on the way over.  Unfortunately, there was a little mistake here.  We should have chosen the shady side of the plane. Not a big deal but we had to use the electronic shade most of the way home. It's a sign of a good trip, however, when something this minor is seen as an issue.

The route home (check the pictures below) is a mirror of the route coming over. It took about an hour longer to go home because the easterly tailwind from LA to Europe now became a headwind going west.  There were several opportunities for pictures.  So the bottom line. The flight was smooth, the food was good, the service was what we expected and the plane arrived in LA as scheduled.  Would we fly KLM in the future?  Yup it's recommended! 

 
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