2013.07.22 – Amsterdam (The Netherlands) – Cologne (Germany)
The night was not very restful due to all of the street traffic noise. We had another great courtesy breakfast at our hotel. Fewer people appeared to be staying at the hotel today. We walked to the train station and waited about 35 minutes for the next train to Cologne. We boarded on the train in our reserved seats in the 1st class carriage. An English speaking older man joined us in our isolated 1st class noiseless section. Although his seat was in another carriage, he came back to sit in our area. After arriving in Cologne, we took a taxi to our hotel – Hotel Royal. The hotel room was nice and large but it faced a noisy street. After settling in, we ventured out to the centre of Cologne. It was easy to orient ourselves here as the Dom twin towers, one of the biggest Gothic church in the world, were easy to be visible from everywhere in town. We boarded an 1h cruise on the Reine river. After the cruise, we stopped for some Wiener Schnitzels at a local bar/restaurant on a nice open plaza. Jenny and I tried out their local beer – Golsh. We walked back to our hotel later in the evening.
2013.07.23 – Cologne (Germany)
We had a good courtesy breakfast at our hotel. We walked to the Chocolate Museum where we spent over two hours visiting the place. It was very informative to see a real Lindt chocolate production line working. We strolled back to the Dom Cathedral area. We had a good rest at one of the museum entrance. We had a brief visit of the Dom. On way back to the hotel, we bought some watermelon. We had a rest a the hotel before heading out to a Greek restaurant in our neighbourhood. In the evening, we enjoyed a walk along a park and then along the Reine river up to the Dom. Back at the hotel, we wished for a more restful and quite night sleep.
2013.07.24 – Cologne – Hamburg (Germany)
We had a much better night as we seemed to have slept through the noisy street traffic. After our courtesy breakfast at the hotel we took the S-Bahn (tram) to the train station. We waited 30 mins for the next train to Hamburg. On board, Jenny quickly secured seats in the 1st class carriage, but we realized the seats were reserved. Throughout the train ride to Hamburg, passengers in the 1st class carriage kept on changing seats from reserved to unreserved seats. The train ride to Hamburg was the longest to date with a 4 hours travel time. From the carriage window, we noticed rain had started to fall. At the Hamburg train station, we managed to quickly walk to our hotel. We visited yet another Italian restaurant for our evening meal. As we sat at open air patio, we were unnecessarily concerned about the potential rain. The rain only started during our walk back to the hotel. Jenny did some additional clothes washing – as she had been doing every other day since the beginning of our trip. Although our hotel room was very new and modern, it was rather compact. It was hard to belief that this was advertised as a family room, as it was barely bigger than our hotel room in Honk Kong. The room faced the street again but it proved a lot less noisy than our room in Cologne.
2013.07.25 – Hamburg (Germany)
We woke up a bit late this morning. We had breakfast at a nearby cafe. The previous day’s clouds had made way for the sun again. We opted to buy a daily group transit pass which allowed us full access to the bus, tram, subway and ferry system. We took the subway to the ferry dock. All our entries to public transit were done without going through any turnstiles. Naturally, this honour-system rested on the fact that passengers needed to show proof of purchase whenever asked by transit agents. We took the ferry #62 which allowed us to experience and view the extent of Hamburg docks. It was truly fascinating to see how much shipping activity were handled there. After boarding another ferry, we embarked on 3.5km walk back to another dock. Back to the main dock, we stopped nearby the Red light district for some good ice cream. We walked around the Red light district which proved to be fairly quiet. Along the way, we encountered some famous statues of the Beatles. Back at the hotel, we took a well deserved rest. In the evening, Victoria insisted that we had a meal of hamburgers in Hamburg hence we stopped a the very popular fast-food place – Jim Block. We later took the subway to Haifen City and walked back through the shopping district.
2013.07.26 – Hamburg – Berlin (Germany)
We woke up early this morning with the hope of catching the 10:46am train to Berlin. We had breakfast at the same nearby cafe as yesterday. We took 10 minutes to walk to the train station which provided plenty of time to catch our train to Berlin. Our commute took only 1h 40 minutes. Upon our arrival at the Berlin Central Station, we felt a bit overwhelmed by this big and modern station occupying five floors. We took a taxi to our hotel. The driver was very friendly and informative. We left our luggage at the hotel desk as we had arrived one hour earlier than the 3:00pm check-in time. We walked to the Topographic of Terror exhibit and had a quick peak at the touristy Checkpoint Charlie mock-up. Back at the hotel, we looked up on TripAdvisor for some German-style restaurant for supper. We had a long walk to Max und Moritz restaurant. We each ordered different meals to sample each other’s plates. We felt a bit overwhelmed by the size and activity of Berlin as such we struggled to come up with a clear itinerary path for our visit.
2013.07.27 – Berlin (Germany)
It was very refreshing to have a very quiet hotel room with a firm mattress. We all had a good night sleep. Given that we planned to make full use of the public transportation, we opted to buy another daily group pass. We took the S-Bahn to the West side of Berlin near the Zoo. We spent 30 minutes walking in the area before we found a pastry/coffee shop for a light breakfast. As the day progressed, the temperature got much warmer We took a bus from the “100” line which allowed us to cross the city center from east to west. The bus was filled to capacity with mostly tourists. It was a great way to get introduced to this big city. At the end of the line, in East Berlin, we visited a remnant of the Berlin Wall transformed into an outdoor art gallery. Back at the AlexanderPlatz area, we took a one hour Spree River cruise which again helped to orient us. We used the S-Bahn and U-Bahn to quickly get back to our hotel for a late afternoon break. We opted for some American food for supper – hence we decided to drop by Tony Roma’s for ribs. We had a bit of trouble finding the place but we succeeded after 15-20 minutes of walking. In the evening, we strolled along the Under int Linden, the new downtown main road of Berlin. Victoria and Jenny were disappointed that the shops were already closed. We took the “200” bus back to west side of Berlin (near the Zoo). We took the S-Bahn back to hotel which was conveniently located close to an S-Bahn stop.
2013.07.28 – Berlin (Germany)
After another good night sleep, we left our hotel around 10:30am for Alexander Platz (eastern Berlin). After breakfast, we agreed to split up in order to pursue different activities. I opted to enjoy some cycling while Victoria and Jenny went for some shopping. Unfortunately they were disappointed to learn that the shopping malls and boutiques were closed on Sunday. We met up again at 1:30pm in front of the bike rental office. Although, it was very warm today the cycling in the Tierangarden and other places was very enjoyable. Later, we visited the Berlin Wall History’s outdoor exhibit under a strong sun. We headed back to the hotel at around 3:30pm for some rest. We dined at Chinese restaurant in the evening. Jenny was pleased to speak Shanghainese with the owner of the Old Shanghai restaurant. Victoria and I took advantage of Jenny’s discussion with the owner to savour even more food. Later in the evening, we took a long tram ride followed by S-Bahn ride back to our hotel – as the night settled in.
