Wittenberg -- Escape from Berlin (in progress)

Time: 5:47 PM CEST
Location: Ramada-Treff Magdeburg Hotel

Luther Haus, probably the best museum I’ve seen. Organized and advanced.

Berlin: Day 1

So the plan was to take the “City Circle Tour” bus “scheme” Mom had scheduled. The scheme was a set of buses circle the city stopping at 15 different points of interest. Customers can hop on and hop off at any site, a yellow, double decker City Circle bus stops by each 15 minutes.

Nice system, if it worked. This company doesn’t have any indication of an official stop. Sometimes there are yellow vans selling tickets. Sometimes not. Also the “tour” was a series of recordings through crappy headphones. We sat upstairs so we never saw when the bus had stopped at a Stop or just because of traffic.

Yeah, the traffic. Berlin is choking on tour bus traffic and construction.
When we finally got off the bus we were halfway through the tour. Schloss Charlottenburg. Big house, lots of rooms. It was pouring outside, so good that we took the tour.

Back on the bus.

Potsdamer Platz - couldn’t get to it because of a strike. Apparently doctors are striking because of working ours and today they decide to march through... yeah, Potsdamer Platz. So the driver had to turn around and head to Stop #4, which turned out to be also blocked off because of the march. We wasted so much time in the bus stuck in traffic that we bailed.

The street we bailed onto featured an outdoor museum of the ruins of the headquarters of the National Socialistic Party (nee Nazis). Half of the placards covered the Nuremberg trial.

Walking on we arrived at the street where Checkpoint Charlie was/is (apparently the original was removed and now a replica for the tourists is there. But first lunch. Falafel im Brot. Scrummy.

Berlin: Day 2

Freestyle, no tour buses

Deciphering the Berlin public transit

One ticket for all services came in handy

Potsdamer Platz

Reichstag