July 24 Berlin, Leipzig, Wittenburg

July 24 (Rob) The night on the train from Malmo to Berlin was an interesting event. About 10 minutes after the train left the station the train boarded a large ship. At that point all air movement in the car went dead and the train became miserably hot. Apparently the train travels from southern Sweden to northern Germany via a ferry. We arrived in Berlin at about 6:15 in the morning. The new Berlin train station is magnificent. It is located near the center of the city in a 6-7 story facility. Local trains are on the top floor with long distance trains being in the basement. We quickly found a connection to Leipzig. We earlier booked a hostel in Leipzig. We found the Globetrotter Hostel located very near the train station. We dropped off our things at the hostel and returned to the train station and purchased some of the best sweet breakfast snacks we have had on the whole trip. For about $7 US we had five different kinds of pastry including: poppy seed roll, cherry roll, a cherry Danish type thing, and two other treats I can't currently remember. We quickly boarded the train to Wittenburg, Germany, Martin Luther's home. We arrived there about 11:00. The town has changed quite a bit since we were there in 1999. It has been made much more convenient for travelers with several new roads and sidewalks being added. Luther's home has changed also. A large glass enclosure now welcomes guests at the entrance. Walking up the street, we visited the church Luther nailed his 95 Thesis' to in 1517. On the walk back to the train station we stopped at two different Doner Kabob shops for lunch. We quickly then boarded a train for Berlin. The last time Val and I visited Berlin was 1997. It was filled with large yellow cranes as they attempted to build East Berlin into the city West Berlin already was. Much of this has been completed. The city is beautiful. We began our tour at Potsdam Platz. This was build right were the Berlin wall once stood. An exhibit right outside the station details the amazing events of 1989 with the fall of the wall. We then walked toward the Reichstag building stopping for a few minutes at the new Jewish victims' memorial. It is an impressive concrete structure that looks much like a graveyard in a rolling hilled area. On to the Reichstag building, we stood in line for about an hour to take a tour of its glass dome. See the attached photos. The girls all shopped a bit and stopped for a few cold drinks and another doner kabob then made our way back to Berlin Hoptbonhof for the train ride back to Leipzig. We had a long 3+ hour trip back with two transfers and arrived in Leipzig about 10:15 at our hostel. We washed clothes and set a very early alarm for 4:45 to begin our journey to Venice.

The Wall