Day 20: Trains are better than planes, part three: faith is restored

Day 20 and it was time to leave Prague :(

We had thoroughly enjoyed it and wished we could spend more time here, but that may be for another trip. We'd had a few late mornings the days before, so we set an alarm for 8 am so we could get up, pack and go have brekkie before heading to the train station. The train to Berlin today was shorter than our past few so we could leave it a little later and have a bit more of a chill day.

There was a Parisian Cafe just down the road from our hotel we had seen the day before which we were keen to try, unfortunately it didn't open till 10. Foiled again! No matter, there was a place called 'The Monk' across the road from our hotel which was our fall back option. It was a pretty hip joint and boasted a decent knowledge of coffee, although Adelaide did have to explain that yes, we really did want three shots in our coffees. Best choice!

We both opted for the pancakes. Pancakes can be a fickle choice as sometimes they are small and dry without adequate sauce; but in this instance it was the opposite. The plate came out with a generous stack and it was drenched in a delectable berry sauce. It left our mouths blue, and when I accidentally spilled some on the table there was a shadow left over (whoops!) Fruit with breakfast was a shock to the system too.

Breakfast done, we checked out of the hotel and started the journey back to central station. It was a lovely clear day but that didn't make dragging our bags over cobbles any easier. Addy and I would zig-zag over the path if it meant a smoother route. The Iron Gate hotel is probably the farthest hotel we were from a station so far, but it was worth it.

Our train to Berlin was delayed by 15 minutes because one of the engines was late. We scored the right spot on the platform; when our train arrived we only had to move a carriage down. We jumped on, found our allocated seats and hoped we'd be left alone in our cubicle. Luckily enough, we were. The seat allocation board on our window said we would be joined by someone else in Dresden, but we could deal with that.

Waiting waiting waiting

The train took off and the journey out of Prague was very scenic. The sun kept trying to blind us so we continually kept moving the curtains around trying to catch views when we could. As we moved further out into the country, we went through some smaller towns which had a much more generous dusting of snow than what we had gotten atop the TV Tower the day before. It was mostly flat until we entered some valleys before we arrived at Dresden.

There were lots of mines along the train line

Train photos are hard

At Dresden, we were joined by two other people in our carriage who promptly got seated. The weather began to turn and the skies went grey. Adelaide watched some stuff on her phone while I read (there's a twist!). The train stopped south of the city, at Berlin Sudkreuz, which seemed to be a major suburban stop, and our accompanying passengers departed, which gave us space to properly get sorted in our cubicle before our stop, which was next.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof (hbf) is an impressive, huge building. The intercity rail lines all arrive down the bottom, and as you go up a few floors there are more stops for regional trains before getting to the local trains at the top. I felt dwarfed by the size of it. We had to go one stop on one of the S trains, from Berlin Hbf to Berlin Friedrichstrasse, so we ascended maybe 4 escalators up to the top and decoded another ticket machine. Again, the tickets were easy to order, the only confusing thing was trying to sus out the zoning.

Arriving at Friedrichstrasse, our hotel is just across the road from the station. It's situated well, with the Brandenburg gate and Checkpoint Charlie to the south, and anything else not too far away by train. We're staying at the NH Collection Hotel. When we checked in they specifically asked if we wanted a view or something away from the road. After being somewhat burned by Munich, we opted to face inwards in the hope to get some peace and quiet. Our room is decently sized, but the best feature is the window that opens and doesn't have any noise!

We dumped our bags then headed back out. Of course, there are some Christmas markets on the block opposite our hotel, so that was our first stop. We did a lap, and I bought a bratwurst. After our very boozy day yesterday, we were good and didn't have any mulled wine. Adelaide had a crepe from the worlds grumpiest crepeitier.

We left the markets, and headed towards the Brandenburg gate. Germans are quite liberal with their horns, as became evident when we were trying to cross the road at a set of lights that were out. There was no indication they were broken though, so it was a bit of a free for all. Being law abiding citizens we waited... and waited.... and waited until we realised they were kaput. The Brandenburg gate was cool. There was a Christmas tree out the front, and as it was now dark there weren't too many tourists. We spent a bit of time reading the information nearby.

Time permitting, we had planned to go for a walk through the Tiergarten, but as it was dark, we shelved that idea and started looking for dinner. Adelaide had seen there were even bigger Christmas markets on at Gendarmenmarkt, so off we went. It was only a few blocks away so the walk didn't take too long.

With all the terrible things that have happened at Christmas markets recently, they decided the best way to handle it at this set of markets was to search everyone before they went in. This meant there was a line of around 60 people waiting in a large group, in one concentrated place, outside the main entrance to the Christmas markets. Addy and I saw that and, rather than wait around, we figured we'd just continue searching elsewhere for dinner (you may have needed to pay as well, but hey, we had free markets just near the hotel!)

We took the scenic route home and stopped off at our local markets for another bite to eat. I was still hungry, so bought a weird fried pizza thing with garlic sauce and cheese which was delicious. I wanted another. We had spied a local restaurant just across the road from our hotel (even closer than the markets), and headed there. It was underneath the trainline and themed as if we were inside a train car.

So good I forgot to take a pic!

We were greeted and seated by a charismatic German waiter, who said Adelaide need not apologise for being English when we asked for an English menu. I opted for the Pork Schnitzel while Adelaide couldn't resist the Argentinian steak. It was apparently a good steak but still not as good as our Aussie Angus. My schnitz (or should I say schnitzes!) were huge, and after my snacking was an uphill battle but I prevailed. We were too full for dessert. When paying for dinner our waiter finally recognised my last name for the first time in Germany.

Addy and I didn't feel like doing much else, so we adjourned and watched some Nailed it and the Martian, keen to get a good nights sleep before we tackle more of Berlin properly tomorrow.

Tchuss!
D+A