Berlin 2018

Shore excursion:  "Berlin Your Way."  Huh?  Berlin is not a port.  How does this work?

Simple.  The ship docks in Warnemunde, a former East German port.  We board a chartered train at the station that is nearly on the dock.  Get off in Berlin.  Board a bus.  Get an orientation, then stomp around on your own.

Normally, you board the train at 7AM and get back at 7PM.  It's a 2-1/2 to 3 hour ride one way, so you have roughly 6 or 7 hours in Berlin.  They were running the Berlin Marathon on our day, so they set the train back to 10AM, getting back at 10PM.  A long day....

A regional train arriving the station near at the port.

Our train - about a dozen decades old coaches now in charter Regio service.

No air-conditioning, and only good for 87mph, but they got the job done.

Heading for the buses

A model of the city.  They are still doing restoration and renovation trying restore old glory.  Berlin was mostly rubble after WWII, but was a cultural center of Europe before the Nazis.  Lots of work has been done with more to do.

 The wall.

Art and editorial on the front side

The back side

Brezhnev and Honecker

 This is a thing.  Look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_God,_Help_Me_to_Survive_This_Deadly_Love

Another section with some historical explanation

Quite of bit of the historic section of Berlin wound up on the "East" side of the partition after WWII.

Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral).  Another over-the-top church building

A big dome

A nice dead body collection in the basement  - a bunch of Kaisers

If you climb a whole bunch of stairs, there's a catwalk around the dome you can go out on and get a view.

Buildings on Museum Island

Spree River

Lustgarten - one time kitchen garden for the palace

Soviet-style East German TV tower

Altes Museum

War Memorial

Palace

Library

Marathon proceeding up Unter den Linden

Brandenburg Gate

Original Bundestag with new dome

Museum Island splits the Spree

Now for the serious business of being in Berlin

Appetizer - Beer and bratwurst from a street vendor

Dinner - Currywurst...

...and MORE beer

Back in Warnemunde....

...and the ship

Seven hours was not enough time for Berlin.  We'll be back.

As we schlepped slowly off the train, back to the ship, a company of the ship's crew was there to greet us with music and dancing.  Inside, a buffet was ready to give us one last meal before casting off.  On to Copenhagen.