How strange that we should be visiting Berlin today, the very day after England lost the Euro 2024 final… in Berlin. We wondered what the aftermath of the competition in Germany’s capital would be like. 🙂
We were up at 7.30pm to get washed and dressed and enjoy a good breakfast, as we had a long day ahead of us. We were due to dock around 8.30am, and our coach would leave at nine. It take about three hours to get from Warnemünde to Berlin, so we hoped there wouldn’t be any hold-ups.
After breakfast, we decided to go up on deck and watch the Balmoral’s approach into the port of Warnemünde. The weather was finally on our side, and it was a bright and sunny morning, with nary a cloud in the sky.
This was our second visit to Warnemünde; the last time we were here was on the Black Watch in 2013, and we remembered there was a lovely beach here.
We went to the observation deck above the bow and watched as the Balmoral glided serenely into port, passing on our way the distinctive red and white Rostock lighthouse. We passed the lovely sandy beach on which we’d spent some time in 2013, as well as a ferris wheel, its silhouette clearly outlined against a flawless blue sky. As it was already after nine o’clock now, it was inevitable that our tour would be late starting, so it seemed likely we wouldn’t get back until after 10 o’clock tonight.
We watched for a while as the Balmoral turned around so she could reverse into port, then decided we had better go and get ready to check in for our tour. We gathered our cruise cards, tour tickets and currency together, then looked at our cagoules hanging on the wall. Bitter experience had taught us that “it’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it”, so we packed the cagoules in the rucksack, despite the blue skies and a forecast temperature of 30°C in Berlin today. 🙂
We then proceeded to the Neptune Lounge and check in, and wait for our bus number to be called. The lounge was packed; it looked as if lots of people had booked on tours today. We had never been to Berlin before, so we were really looking forward to exploring and doing all the touristy things and seeing the famous sights.
Finally, we disembarked the Balmoral at 10 o’clock, and I was able to get a good bow shot of her as we made our way to where the rows of coaches were parked. We boarded our tour bus and took our seats, as the courier who was accompanying us until our official guide for the day joined us introduced herself and advised us that after an hour and a half we would have a comfort stop and be provided with a breakfast snack.
As the coach set off and the driver put his food down on the autobahn, the guide pointed out anything of interest to us. We looked contentedly out of the window at the German countryside (and the fast cars speeding along) and soon it was time to make a stop, and for our guide, Asaf, to join us. We went into the motorway services to use the loos and, as we returned to the bus, our driver was handing out Tetrapaks of water as well as brown paper bags containing a carton of orange juice and a large cookie, which was a bit like shortbread with chocolate swirled into it.
Once everyone was rounded up and were back on the coach, we set off once more and continued on our way, counting down the kilometres to Berlin on the road-signs we passed.
Eventually, just before 1.00pm, our driver Mikael uttered the words “Willkommen in Berlin”, and told us he would take us around the city before parking up, so we could start our walking tour with our guide Asaf.
The coach slowly wended its way through the streets and we came across an interesting, huge art installation consisting of many massive grey slabs of concrete laid out in irregular rows. It was called Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe by the sculptor Peter Eisenman, and covers 19,000 square metres (204,440 square feet) of land between East and West Berlin. The slabs were arranged in such a way that they seemed to undulate with the sloping land.
As we continued through the streets towards the place where we would eventually park and begin our walking tour, evidence of the Euros 2024 was everywhere, and cranes and other dismantling equipment was busy removing all the fanzones and TV towers.
The coach parked up and we all alighted while Asaf told us our first stop would be to the famous Brandenburg Gate, which absolutely has to be one of Germany’s best known landmarks. The weather was very hot (29°C) and my jacket was completely superfluous, so I left it in the coach. Trevor carried our cagoules in his rucksack in case of the sudden shower of rain (it’s happened!) but, looking at the flawless blue sky, we decided it was unlikely.
We followed Asaf along the streets which were thronging with people, some of them obviously football fans proudly wearing their team’s shirts. We didn’t see any English fans (who had probably already flown home) but we saw several Spanish supporters. Soon we came to the large TV broadcast centre from where Gary Lineker and the other football pundits had been broadcasting against the wonderful, lit-up sight of the Brandenburg Gate.
As we walked past it, we got our first glimpse of the Gate. Yes – there it was; not quite in all its glory, as beyond the massive pillars we could see the huge speakers and large screens which made up yet another football fanzone. I still managed to get lots of great photos though, and Asaf pointed out to us the plastered-over bullet holes which remained from WW2.
We continued walking through the busy, sunlit streets until we came to another famous building – the Reichstag. Built in 1894, it was initially the meeting place for the Imperial Diet of the German Empire, but since then it has been a silent witness to some major historical moments, for example, rise and fall of the Third Reich. Things looked bad for the Reichstag in 1933 when a fire caused serious damage, and the Nazis took advantage of the chaos to tighten their grip on power. During the Cold War, the Reichstag fell into disrepair and was largely forgotten.
However, in the post-war era, Berlin’s Reichstag turned into a symbol of Germany’s reunification. The decision to restore the Reichstag was made in 1990, and British architect Sir Norman Foster led the project. The renovation was completed in 1999 with the addition of a spectacular glass dome.
There was no doubt it was and is a spectacular building, but once again our efforts to get some fantastic photos of this famous landmark were thwarted by yet another football fanzone which took up all the space in front of the building, only allowing us to photograph it from an angle. We were glad we had arrived here after the football had finished; I dread to think how crowded and noisy the place must have been during the competition!
Soon we came to a memorial for Heinz Sokolowski, a German man who became the 64th known person to die at the Berlin Wall. Sokolowski, who was a former political prisoner, was shot and killed by East German border troops while attempting to cross the Berlin wall near the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building. He was 47. The large white cross was a series of other white crosses containing the photographs of others who had died at the Berlin Wall.
Continuing on our way, we passed an impressive building which our guide Asaf told us was the Altes Museum. It certainly looked huge, but we wouldn’t have time to visit today. In any case, the weather was too nice to be indoors.
Around two o’clock, Asaf said we had some free time now, before we continued our tour. Trevor and I had one thing in mind – a freezing cold German beer, so we decided to find a nice bar with a beer garden so we could sit outside.
After walking around some of the side streets to look for a place (they were likely to be cheaper and less crowded than those catering to tourists) we found a pleasant little place with a leafy beer garden at the front, and Trevor went inside to get the beers while I bagged a table.
The beers were cold, foamy and refreshing, and it allowed us to rest our legs for a while as well as quench our thirst. While we were sitting there, a German bloke on his own asked if he could join our table, as no others were free. He ordered himself an interesting bright green cocktail as well as a bite to eat. We asked what the drink was called; apparently it’s a Waldmeister and is actually beer with a green syrup added to it with a flavour called ‘woodruff’, which is also used as a flavouring for food and sweets.
Apparently the Waldmeister is unique to Berlin, and the guy told us he was not actually from Berlin; he was just visiting for a few days because his daughter lives there, and he always has a Waldmeister whenever he visits.
We enjoyed a pleasant conversation with this German bloke, as we each discussed the various troubles in our respective countries, the football (!!), the war in Ukraine and other topical things. One of the things Trevor and I love on our travels is mixing with the locals wherever we are. We tend to avoid the over-priced, over-crowded touristy places and seek out the places where the locals drink.
In the past we’ve been the only Brits in bars in Brazil, Tobago and Barbados to name but a few. Here in Berlin, our new German pal told us he used to play bass guitar in a rock band among other things.
Anyone who has ever seen that famous episode of the British sitcom Fawlty Towers will know the scene where Basil Fawlty, on realising they had a group of German guests staying in the hotel, very unsubtly goes around telling the staff “don’t mention the war!” However, these days both Germans and Brits openly mention the war and agree that it’s something that should not be forgotten in order that mankind (hopefully) doesn’t make the same mistakes again.
Soon it was time for us to start making tracks back to the meeting place, and before going inside to use the restrooms, Trevor and I shook the German gentleman’s hand and thanked him for his company.
Then we paid for our beers and returned to meet Asaf and the rest of the group.
In the next part of our tour, we saw the remains of the infamous Berlin wall which came down in 1989. It was strange to think that the city we were standing in, with all its impressive architecture, had this ugly great concrete wall running right through it, separating Germany into East and West. It was an ugly looking thing and, today, is largely covered in graffiti, much of it political in nature. One word stood out in capitals: WHY?
The final part of our Berlin city tour was a brief visit to Checkpoint Charlie, the best known of the crossing points between East and West Berlin. There wasn’t really much of it left; just US Army guard house. These days, it was a massively over-hyped tourist trap, with loads of gaudy bars, shops and restaurants. It’s something else we can say we’ve seen, but it isn’t worth a visit on its own; there really isn’t that much to see.
Back on the bus it was now time for us to make our way back to Warnemünde. Depending on the traffic, we should arrive back at the Balmoral around 9.30pm. We’d been advised that the Palms Café would be staying open tonight to allow all those on various Berlin tours to get something to eat. We could always go in to the late show as well, so we weren’t really going to miss out on anything.
Half-way through our journey back, the coach stopped for the inevitable loo stops, and we were given another carton of water as well as a small snack. We needed to drink the water to ensure we stayed hydrated; it had been very hot today.
We arrived back at the Balmoral just after 9.30pm and made our way along to 6009 to get washed freshened up in record speed. I was just wearing my white cargo pants and a t-short and had my hair scraped back into a ponytail, and wore minimal makeup (just mascara and a touch of powder). As we weren’t going into the restaurant, just the self-service buffet, there was no need to smarten up really.
We didn’t have a lot to eat, just some cold meats and salads washed down with cold water. Afterwards, we hotfooted it along to the Neptune Lounge to bag a front-row seat for the second showtime, which featured a magician/illusionist called Marc Oberon. We hadn’t seen him before.
He was absolutely excellent. He performed with aplomb against a background of atmospheric music, using his amazing sleight of hand to do a series of impressive tricks. At one stage he called his “lovely assistant” onto the stage, who turned out to be none other than Emily Yarrow, the fabulous soprano we had seen the other night. Apparently she and Marc had met on a previous Fred Olsen cruise, and were now a couple. 🙂
Marc now performed a series of “mind-reading” tricks, where he went into the audience and asked people to give him objects, which he then held in his hand and asked a blindfolded Emily on stage to guess what they were. This trick is actually quite easy to guess; certain keywords are associated with certain objects; so if someone handed Marc an unusual object he would say that he was unable to “send” the thought waves through to Emily (when in actual fact there was no keyword associated with the object).
He impressed me though; he called me up onto the stage with him and gave me a pen and piece of paper and asked me to write the name of someone of whom I was fond, as well as my relationship with the person and his/her date of birth. Of course, my three answers were Trevor / Husband / 9th August, but as I had folded up the piece of paper and still held it in my hand I couldn’t see any way he would know that. But he did! Impressive. 🙂
We really enjoyed the show a lot – it was something different. It would be Sod’s Law however that I would be called up onto the stage when I was in the crumpled, scruffy clothes I had been wearing all day, with my hair all over the place!
We decided to end the evening by going up to the Lido Lounge where they were holding a silent disco. We were quite tired after our very full day, so we didn’t want to participate, just watch for a while. In the Lido Lounge, the resident band Impromptu Trio were just doing their final couple of numbers, so Trevor had a beer and I enjoyed an Aperol Spritz before we decided to make our way back to 6009 and settle down for the night.
We had another sea day to look forward to tomorrow, and we slept very well indeed.