Berlin Hotels
Kitkatgo's travel blogs:
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- Our Third Trip to Paris 2008
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- Family trip to Portland, OR, USA. 2005
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- Family trip to the Pacific Northwest. 2001
- Santa Barbara: Family Trip 2000
- Family trip to Portland, OR. 1999
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- Trip to Washington DC with my fiance. 1992
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The Debacle Continues
Entry 3 of 9 | show all | print this entry |
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We arrived in Berlin about an hour late. I had never set foot in Germany, so I was excited. Since I did not have my usual window seat I got a better view of the guy's head that sat next to me than the scenery, but I could see a little of the landscape as we came in. It looked pretty cool.
I have to say I was quite impressed by the airport. We came in, and got in line for the passport check. The line for the non-EU citizens was short, so that was nice. The scary looking guy in the booth didn't ask any questions (no..."how long are you staying," "why are you here--business or pleasure?" or "when are you leaving?" etc). He just stamped the book, said something I didn't understand, and handed me my passport. I was good to go. From there you step right into the room where we SHOULD have been able to pick up our luggage.
Since we didn't have to walk a mile to the luggage carrousel, we had to wait awhile before the bags started to come out, but it was great that it was right there. So the luggage came out and went round and round. People got their luggage and left. Then a sign was on the carrousel that said END BAG. Uh oh. There were quite a few people left, so we didn't panic yet. And sure enough another set of bags came out, went round and round, and then another sign: END BAG. Double uh oh. All that was left standing there were those of us from that LA flight who were screwed out of our seats back in London. Shit.
So we had to go find the Lost & Found Luggage counter and fill out paperwork. We weren't going to get our luggage until the following day. DH was not looking forward to going to his conference in his sweat suit he had just spent the last 24 hrs in on two international flights. Ewwwww. Since he is a Gold Advantage member of American Airlines they gave us little travel bags with a t-shirt to sleep in and toiletries. I noticed they did not hand these out to the other stranded travelers...they should have...were they no less stranded without their luggage?
So from there we went to the currency exchange and then went to find a taxi. DH asked this information guy about getting a taxi, and he was great...told us about getting the bus just outside the door--what stop to get off at and everything. So that's what we did. Since we didn't have our big bags, it was easy to do. We love doing stuff like that. Took the bus to Bus Stop 4.
We then found a great restaurant...Joe's Biergarten. DH had a fantastic cheeseburger and the yummiest french fries. I had meatballs and mashed potatoes. The meatballs were good, made from veal I'd say with a white caper sauce. DH didn't like the meatballs; he thought they were bland. I ate them with the sauce and the pickels that came with them. Very German. A good first meal, I think. Although, I didn't care for the mashed potatoes, they seemed like imitation to me.
From there we walked to our hotel. I took several pictures on the way. We were in the heart of downtown it appeared. I took a few pictures of the bombed out church (Kaiser Wilhelm).
It's amazing to see it. It's beautiful. I'm glad they left it that way. It's as it should be...a reminder in the middle of all the concrete and glass buildings in this city of tomorrow.
This city is so different than London or Paris where ancient history is on every corner, well, every building really. It seems more American here, more new I guess. Just going from the airport to our hotel, which was not that far, we saw 2 Burger Kings, 2 Dunkin Donuts and 1 McDonald's. The cars and streets are bigger here too. So it will be interesting to see this city.
We got checked in at the Intercontinental Berlin at about 11:30 pm. Our room is great, very nice size. A little hallway led to the sitting area and bed, and to the right a room with vanity and closet that leads to the bathroom which had a separate shower and tub. It also had a separate WC which included a bidet. Gross...not going anywhere near that thing. DH and I looked so cute in our matching airline t-shirts. LOL.
I am writing this now at 6:30 in the morning on Mar 29. I woke up this morning at 3 am. So I haven't even started the day yet. We have, so far, received one of our checked bags...the hanging bag with our formal clothes for the gala tonight (although turns out we didn't need formal clothes). I hope we get our other bag.
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