Elegant Elbe: Day 16
Day 16: Monday, November 13, 2023 - Berlin, Germany
The day's statistics:
- Weather: upper 40s to upper 50s, rainy and overcast
- Steps: 1,606 Linda; 17,588 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 4,108
Our last full day on this trip. The whole thing (and the second half...).
Breakfast was egg benedict and omelet for us again.
Before heading out this morning, I talked to Tomas about needing assistance for our travel home. He said that he was
already in contact with travel to get us assistance - and it gets applied all the way through to PHL too. Great.
We also think this is one of the advantages of using Viking Air. Had we done our own travel arrangements, WE [probably]
would have had to make those arrangements ourselves, rather than Viking taking care of it for us.
There was also no excursion planned for today, so we were on our own. Again.
We were originally thinking of doing a couple different things like the DDR Museum, Futurium, Berlin Cathedral, or even
the Old Town. But with Linda's mobility issue, and that we were sort of dragging our wagons due to a late night, we decided
to take it a little light today.
So our grand plans were to visit the library we were told was on the block behind the hotel.
We left out the back of the hotel, and traveled around the building next door.
Then we continued down the block, and waited at the corner for a walk light.
Across the street was a square glass-enclosed building with some sculptures around it.
We looked for an entry door, and only found one. And it was locked. And based on the name by the door, we found that is was, in fact,
NOT that library. An inspection of the GPS showed that it was actually back across the street. OK, great, no biggie.
We made our way across, then down the block a little, down an slight decline, through the doors, and into the lobby.
We were instructed to lock our belongings in the locker - drop in a Euro to get the key out and get it back when the key is returned -
just outside the doors. No problem. The receptionist unlocked the doors to let us in. Perhaps THAT should have been the first clue...
We stepped in and looked around a little. It was on the small side, but we passed down an aisle and Linda found a book of interest and
started flipping through it while I continued to look around.
Then we walked around a little more, avoiding the area marked "Staff Only". We made our way back to the back center, and pressed the
elevator call button. That's when the librarian approached and asked if we had an appointment. We said no, and she said we could only
go to the second floor if we had one. That should have been clue number two.
We returned to the aisle and Linda picked-up the same book to continue reading while I did something on the computer.
That's when the librarian approached us again. After a brief conversation, we determined that we were in the Research Library,
not the actual Berlin Public Library. Well that explains a lot.
We thanked her for the assistance, and headed out. We gathered our belongings and spoke to the receptionist. She was a little apprehensive -
and perhaps the wheelchair helped - but she unlocked a special door and told us that the public library was on the other side.
Great. We entered proceeded across the foyer, and found security. We passed through and the guard brought us over to the elevator as there
were no books or anything on the first floor.
We stepped off the elevator and found ourselves on the second floor of a multi-tiered facility. The small problem with this architecture is
that not every area was readily accessible by a wheelchair. That was OK with us, but for others that might NEED to get to certain areas, it
could present a bit of a challenge. We were, afterall, just killing time.
There was a room with artifacts related to Felix Mendelslohn Bartholdy. We didn't know who he was, nor could we read anything, but it was still
nice to see some of the artifacts.
Elsewhere, there was even a sculpture.
I type at probably 80 WPM. But on a standard QWERTY keyboard. This is not a QWERTY keyboard - but its really close as only the Y and Z
are different regarding the alpha characters. Some of the special characters - the shift+number ones - are a little different too.
I checked some e-mail, and a couple other sites that were easier to view on a computer than the phone.
Behind the computer table was a file cabinet that had something in it called "microfiches"...
We spent nearly an hour in the library. Then we left and headed to the Mall in the direction of Potsdamerplatz. We passed a
Legoland® store with a giraffe out front. The poeple were left in this image for perspective (I had one without, but it
is easier to tell how tall Lilli is with the people in it).
Following the sign "Mall 230 stores", we entered an octoganal shaped section with a road up the middle of it. On the sidewalk,
we passed the Canada Embassey. We looked, but didn't readily see the mall. So we stepped into a clothing store and asked a security
guard. He said he was new and didn't know, and pointed us to another employee. We approached her and she told us that she too was
new, and didn't know where it was. We decided to step out and give it another try. We continued on and noticed - on the other side
of this octogal plaza area - was the mall.
We stepped in and started to look around. There were a lot of stores, but we wound up staying on the first floor, and the lower level - we
aren't shoppers, and weren't planning on buying much of anything anyway. We almost immediately went downstairs to start our tour.
In one of the corners was a supermarket like store. We stopped in and picked up something for lunch. While we didn't pick them up to eat,
this market sold colored eggs (and they did not appear to be Easter eggs either - at least six months out, they had better not be).
Also on the lower level were a couple restaurants, a couple stores, and some places to sit.
At the bottom of an escalator was this plaque. It reads "Peoples of the world look at Berlin, where a wall fell, a continent
united and the course of history proved that no challenge is too big for a world that stands together. ~Barrak Obama"
At the base of another esclator was this plaque that reads "On November 9, 1989, we experienced the impossible as possible.
It is a wonderful experience that wall can be torn down. ~Angela Merkel".
We spent almost an hour at the mall, killing time.
We started our trek back to the hotel. In the plaza area was another section of cobblestones indicating the original Berlin wall location.
They were getting ready for Christmas.
We had a late lunch - at 2:00. We shared two different salads (a southwest chicken, and mozzarella and tomato), bread, cheese, and wine.
We kept the second bottle to have later.
We had an early departure. Really early: 4:00 AM early.
After lunch we decided to get a jump on collecting our things and getting our luggage situated. We put everything in our checked
bags, and left just what we needed for the night and next day - plus what didn't fit in the big bag - in our carry-ons.
It went a little faster than expected. Linda iced and put her leg up for a while.
Across the sidewalk construction from the hotel was what looked like might be an arcade of some kind.
It was a little before 6:00, and I decided I wanted to see what was on the other side of the sidewalk construction.
So I headed out. It turns out, it WAS an arcade. They had games for all ages and likes - pinball, video, skill, racing,
and games that earn tickets to earn cheap shtuff.
I was only at the arcade for fifteen minutes as I was there to investigate, not play. Plus, other than maybe than the pinball
machines, there weren't any games there that I would really have liked to play.
After I got back to the room, we shared our strudel from the "Berlin by Night" excurstion two nights prior.
And we had the other bottle of wine.
We were washed up and in bed by 9:00 as we had a 3:00 AM wake-up.