Why Don't We Have Trains Like This...

 

Sunday, August 27, 2023 -- We wake up early without an alarm to catch our 8:21 am train to Berlin.  It is easy to pack up our things as we only unpacked a bare minimum.  We are ready to walk to the station with time to stop at a Caffe Nero, kitty corner from our hotel, for a café americano.  We have our breakfast for on the train ride.  We take our 10 minute walk to the train station.

We arrive at the train station and find our platform, track, car, and then our seats.  The train leaves the station at 8:22 am.  We have nice seats with plenty of room and electric outlet to charge are devices.  Traveling by train, with reserved seating is a nice way to go.  The train is quiet and smooth.  We are given drinks and snacks on the train. But we also have nice package vegan meals that we picked up at the convenience store on the walk home.  Thom’s is a vegetable pancake and mine is Israeli couscous with falafel, carrots, sweet potatoes, and sugar snap peas.

My breakfast on the train

The 6 hour train ride goes by fast.  It is nice to get up from time to time and although we don't have Wi-fi, I work on my blog offline.  We did not get off out the correct train station, so we had to take a bus to our hostel.  We actually pick the hostel so that it was close to the train station, as we do not want to drag our backpacks around.  The bus stop was a short walk to the hostel and our hostel is nice.  It will be convenient when we leave on Tuesday for Cologne.

Bikes in front of the train station

We get our room, drop our packs and grab what we will need for a long walk.  It is gloomy and cool (although my weather app says its 70 degrees).  It is already after 3 pm and we have eaten lunch.  We planned to walk to the old section of town about 2 k away and have an early dinner at the Vegan Pirate.  

Building near our hostel

My first impression of Berlin is that it is kind of gritty and a little run down.  At first, I thought it was because we were near the train station, but my opinion doesn't change much as we head to the old city center.  The people I met from Poland told us that we would notice that Germany is more modern than Poland, but Warsaw seemed quite modern and has some really beautiful areas.  But I did notice as soon as we entered Germany, the electrical lines were no wood and concrete, but much more sleek and made of metal.  

We are really close to the Spree River and the former Berlin Wall now called the artwall.  The artwork from the wall is still in place although the wall has had to be reconstructed in order to continue to display the artwork.  

It started raining once we made it to the Vegan Pirate.  We had vegan burgers that were really good, but we like the vegan restaurant in Warsaw better.  It had more charm.  

We continued to walk around for a bit and then headed back to the hostel.  We are talking a walking tour in the morning.

I am impressed with the biking lanes in both Berlin and Warsaw.  Biking and electric scooters are used a lot.  Both cities have great sidewalks for walking as well.  I have also notice the use of electric buses, solar panels, and many wind turbines.

I have included a few pictures from our walked today.  I hope to learn more about them tomorrow.