We started the day in Wien with a run before a huge breakfast at the hotel we stayed in.We arrived in Munich after a 4 hour train trip from Wien. It was a scenic ride with lots of fields, mountain ranges, tunnels and pretty villages. In Munich we stayed a couple streets from the railway station at the ‘Arthotel’ which had art on all the room doors and sculptures in the passageways and reception areas. After checking in we walked first past the railway station. There was screaming sirens and the sudden arrival of multiple police vans with a squad of 50 plus in  tactical uniform.  Seems someone had abandoned their bag ! Part of the station was evacuated and 9 trains delayed . We continued on to the Munich tourist traps . First to Marienplatz where there is the usual but in amongst Bavarian buildings and multiple shops . Further on vistited the Hofgarten and the Englischer Garten including watching the surfers on the standing wave. (One of pics below gives a new definition of ‘the line up’. In the morning Emirates rang to say , as they were overbooked on our flight they   could upgrade us to business class to Dubai on a flight   6 hours later with a shorter transit in Dubai.  This  suited me(Lily)  fine as  I hadn’t really done any shopping. and they were having 40% end of summer sales in lots of shops! We walked around the town for about 5 hours before I did any shopping and stopped in a couple cafes for drinks. Here you can buy beer anywhere in cafe’s and people walk around the city’s streets drinking beer from bottles! It was low 30’s oC so thirsty weather but I stuck with coffee today! We walked past the enormous Oktoberfest grounds that were being built in a very large green area. We went up the Bavaria statue – a mini statue of liberty.  After shopping we reversed our route from the previous day.

We took the train to the airport and they wouldn’t let us in the business lounge cause we only upgraded not paying which we were disappointed with because we had big plans of having luxurious showers etc!

Last day in Berlin ,after Rick had run through the Tiergarten, we first spent walking round the beautiful gardens. When in this are you can always see the Siegessäule,the Victory Column, its gold Eagle atop glistening at all angles. It is situated in the middle of a roundabout with 6 roads coming off. We crossed under the tunnel to it and climbed to the top via the spiral staircase.

In the evening we went to the Menschen Museum which is a whole lot of plastinated anatomical human dissection and refreshed our anatomy.

We had a booking for the revolving restaurant at the Fernsehturm ,or TV tower. The restaurant is at 207 m and rotates a full circle about every 45 minutes. It gives great views of the whole of Berlin .One thing you note from above is the lack of cars,everyone walks cycles or takes public transport. The other is how green it is trees, green roofs, wind power etc. The meal and wine was great but expensive for Berlin where everything hass been a little cheaper rhan back home and a lot cheaper than Norway and Denmark.

Now .. train to Prague.

We walked about 3km in the rain from our air bnb to Copenhagen railway station with our heavier bags now that I’ve bought a couple of things in Bergen. Taking a bus or taxi would probably have been smarter! The train trip took 7 hours and our train was 4 carriges and to get from Copenhagen to Berlin was quite interesting. We went over several bridges and the whole 4 carriages went on a huge ferry that traveled the final 45 minutes from Denmark to Germany. After arriving at Hamburg we changed trains for Berlin. We were in reserved seats in a compartment. One man didn’t have a ticket a very tough  German female conductor forced him off at the next train station! We are staying in Freidrichstrase in Berlin in Eurostar Hotel.After arriving here we caught the metro to Brandenburg Tor and looked at the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag . It being a Saturday night there were a couple of limo’s with ‘Hen’s turns’.
On Sunday it was a nice 20oC so we went on a bike tour for 5 hours around Berlin with people from all over the world. This took us round to all the main monuments and historic site. Lunch was at a Biergarten in the Tiergarten. The Tiergarten was the Royal hunting ground but the trees were cut down for firewood in WW2 and food was grown there . It is now a beautiful 2.5 km2 green space .

Travelled on the train from Copenhagen to Berlin via Hamburg. On the way the train is driven onto a ferry for the trip from one island to another across the Denmark German border. A not for Mr Abbott – windpower on BOTH  shores !

More on the trip later ….