Berlin III - Final Berlin Entry

Transportation in Berlin, and I’m sure most of Europe, is very different than in the U.S. Many people have cars, and the roads are very busy, but not like it is in large U.S. cities. Its not a habit for the people of Germany to get in their car to run to 7-11 for a large Coke, or even to make a run to the grocery store like we do. They Walk! I think I’m going to repeat that sentence; They Walk!
I will admit that geographically they life is different with respect to distance, but I’m happy to see they haven’t adopted our lifestyle. They can walk to stores because they are close by and easy to get to. Here they have lots of small markets and such, neighborhood stores that you visit for you fresh groceries. In the US we have Super Centers, stores the size of some small towns sitting in a parking lot that is 15 acres in size as well. It feels like if you were to walk from the street, into a grocery store, to the back of the store where the dairy case is, for a gallon of milk, and walked back to the street, that distance would be a mile!!! Germans don’t have stores that size, and parking, if for some reason you need it, is on the street in front of the store.
Berlin has created an amazing system for people that ride bikes. On all major streets, and on many smaller back streets they have marked lanes for bikes. This is not that extra ordinary, except that they treat them as we would a lane in the street. Depending on the size of the street, sometimes the lane is in the street with the cars and other times the lane might be part of the sidewalk, but its there. You learn real fast when you are on a side walk to look for the bike path and make sure you are not walking down the middle of it. They are not rude, but they will ring their bell if you are in their way.
What I found most fascinating about this, is that at certain intersections that we would walk through there were two sets of lights. The large set, over the street was for cars just like we would have in the states, and the second set, was smaller and placed on the support poles. These were used for the bikes. They would give bikes the right of way to cross, turn, etc, just like cars. It was simply amazing! Of course they would also have the walk/don’t walk signals for pedestrians as well.
The other form of transportation they used mostly, at least in the city was the train/bus. The public transportation system for Berlin would put any system in the U.S. to complete shame. They used 4 forms for public transport, the S system, which was the subway; the U, which was the above ground, usually elevated; trams, which were similar to light rail that ran down the middle of streets, and the buses. Purchasing one ticket; one-way, round-trip, or all-day, didn’t matter, included all modes of transport.
In the U.S. most public transportation systems are based on getting people to a downtown area and back into the suburbs, to their homes and cars. Berlin’s system was based more on a wheel and spoke design and there were actually and inner and outer wheel. What would be the difference? If you lived outside the downtown area and you wanted to go somewhere that was also outside the downtown area, in the states you would need to travel downtown, change trains and head back out to your destinations. Berlin; you could get virtually anywhere from anywhere, without the need to go “downtown”. It only took us about one day to figure out how to use the system, and from there the city became our playground. The only taxi we ever took was to and from the airport because they don’t have a train to the current international airport. They are building a new airport, more modern, and the train system is ready to go for that one when it opens in about a year.
One of the main stations in the City of Berlin is right near the government buildings and servers all of not only Berlin, but Germany and Europe as well. It is a recently built structure so very modern and well organized. One of the great things about it, is for its size, it’s not overwhelming like many similar places are. The building has a large square at the center and two tunnel-like extensions on either side. The entire outside structure is made of glass. Coming and going from both ends of the tunnel-like extensions are elevated tracks, on bridges that are very modern in design and made of concrete. Its a very clean, attractive look that doesn’t create a feeling of massive proportions. I think because the glass is in an arch shape and it reflects the sky at different angles it really makes the building look small.
You walk in at ground level, the main area is large and open. Plenty of room for large numbers of people to walk around in, and the glass helps with the open air feeling. The main level and one level up from there is full of shops, ticket agents, restaurants, and lounges. The best way to describe this would to simply think of an enclosed mall. There were clothing stores, a Virgin Records Store, places to get food, and trinkets, restrooms, etc. They also had of course ticket offices and lounges like airports have where if you have a layover you can go there sit, relax, have some coffee, read the paper, and some of them even had food service. You could also go to one of the many restaurants they had as well. During our entire stay in Berlin, we realized that many of the larger train stations were set up this way, almost like malls, but more for basic things such as groceries, dry cleaning. You drop your cleaning off on the way to work at the station, and pick up your veggies on your way home from work! Brilliant!
On the level below the main level was 8 tracks. They had both stairs and escalators heading down between each pair with signs that displayed to perfection the time the next train was arriving and its destination. I noticed at least 4 different types of trains that came into the station on these tracks, one being ICE, Inter-City Express, which is Germany’s “Bullet” train. Out in the country it runs at about 154 mph. On the fourth level of the station is where the four sets of tracks are you could see coming into the station from the bridges. These tracks also served several different types of trains not only for Berlin, but out lying areas.
It was so amazing just to watch the people coming and going. Some trains were full, other trains were not, but it was mid-day and the number of trains was amazing. I would guess that the station sees at least 500 trains per day. This number does include the subways, etc, but still, what an amazing place.
When we made the reservations to go to Berlin, we did it more to see a friend, than because Berlin was on our top ten list of cities to see. After the tickets were purchased we realized that we would be there in December!!!! We leave Chicago to southern India for warmth and sunshine - not snow and cold. I plan to head back to Berlin and spend more time there as a week just wasn’t enough, but if you ever think about going, December is a great month to go. Yes its cold, and I don’t think I would go in January or February, but, Germans LOVE Christmas and so it goes the city was dressed and ready for the holidays.
All over the city they put up little Christmas villages. The best was to describe them would be to imagine a street fair or an arts festival. Only about 10 times better. Each merchant has their own little space, like a tent, but most of the villages were made of wood and decorated to look like a small bavarian town. They would hang the green garland all around the little shop and put lights up. They would put up lots of trees with lights in them all over the place and local restaurants would come in and set up temp places to serve the thousands that would come to shop, converse with friends and truly enjoy the holidays (something I think Americans have forgotten how to do).
Some of the villages would charge a Euro to get in, and the one we paid said that all money collected when to a charity, others had small stages for entertainment. The first one we came across had an ice skating pond, and we thought it was luck that we found this little fair here in Berlin, but soon realized they were everywhere!
In the old East Berlin, one of the main streets is called friedrichstrasse, I would call it Fredrick Street for ease of understanding as I have a hard time pronouncing German. This street could very easily be called the Fifth Ave of Berlin. For several blocks on both sides of the street, store after store, several enclosed malls, hotels and banks. All places were decked out and ready for Christmas and of course there were many of the familiar places we know of such as Gap, Victoria’s Secret, etc. Although we had no interest in shopping, it was nice to walk down that street and watch the people coming and going, looking in the windows, hearing the cheer in the air as friends would run into each other while shopping. This I enjoyed, as I don’t feel that Americans have this experience anymore. They are all in the enclosed malls mad at the world because this store was out of that item in this color and the last 12 credit cards they tried were declined! (So glad I’m out of retail!)
Speaking of American, the one thing that I was very surprised to see in Berlin was the number of Starbucks. Yes, I can see all of you rolling your eyes going of course they have Starbucks. I was sure we would see several, as we saw several McDonald’s and the likes, but the number of Starbucks was incredible. Based on the number of locations, you might get confused and think you are in Seattle! I am happy to report however, that I held to my rule that when in a foreign city, I don’t do things I can do at home and I only went to Starbucks once, and I’ll just add that it was Daren’s fault! :)
(We were standing in a long line, outside, and Starbucks was the closest place to get hot coffee!).
One quick thing about Germans and their beer. The beer there is amazing and you can get so many kinds that you can easily confuse yourself. So, all I’m going to say is that by me going the Germany and being able to order in a regular restaurant MANY different kinds of fruit flavored beer, including my two favorites which was Grapefruit and Banana, you can no longer make fun of me and my pumpkin beer as the Germans think that is completely normal!
The last part I would like to share with you about our visit to Berlin was a spa we went to several times. It was very walking distance from the hotel so we didn’t even need to take a train there. It was called the Liquid Dome, their website is aslkdghjoih and they have an English page. It was very modern in appearance. Exposed cement and wood were the main construction materials used for the decor as well. You would think that this kind of look for a spa would be cold and uninviting, but they pulled it off very well.
After check in you went to the locker rooms where you would store your clothes and personal belonging. They rented towels, shoes and robes if you wanted them. You could also bring your own. Once in the spa, there was a salt sauna, which is similar to a sauna except the temp is not as hot, and the humidity is about 60%. There is also a wall of salt bricks that are reported to balance the positive and negative ions in a room. The salt bricks were back lit, and as the only light, made the room feel very comforting. Canyon Ranch in Vegas also has one of these rooms.
They had two other standard saunas. One was very large and could fit probably 20 people. Both times we were there, there were groups using this room. I’m thinking some kind of workshop or something that includes a detox in the sauna. The other sauna was smaller but over looked the outside hot tub. The wall that everyone faced while in the sauna was floor to ceiling glass.
There was the standard steam room which was made of black tile and had an arched ceiling. They had three small rooms for massage therapy which we did take advantage of both times and there was also a very large bar. This was were you could get water, an assortment of drinks, including beer, and simple food dishes.
They had two hot tubs, but not like the ones in the states. There were no bubbles, it was simply nice warm water. You could feel a current, so the water was circulating, but no jets. The one was outside, which we enjoyed because of the cold weather. One night it was raining/snowing and we were out in the hot tub! The other one was indoors and tucked kind of away from everything. The walls went straight up from the water so there was no ledge to speak of. It was like walking into a room, down some steps into the water. It was lit from lights on the floor in the shade of green with blue tiles on the wall and ceiling. They also had a cold plunge, but can say what that was like, and an area with warm baths for your legs and feet.
The last room was their signature item. It was a room, made out of the cement, but in the shape of a dome. In the middle was a heated pool (not quite hot tub hot, more like bathtub hot), round in shape and about 4 feet deep. They had lights aimed just right that when they hit the water they would reflect up onto the ceiling and create wave looking designs. (Those of you at Canyon Ranch, same thing as the wave room but instead of chairs to sit in, you are in the water) They had water noodles for everyone so you could easily float on your back and watch the light show above. The other treat in store was they also had underwater speakers so when you put your head down in the water to look up you could hear music!
This was a great place, we did go twice and I would almost make a trip to Berlin just to visit the spa again. The last thing I want to share is; We are in Germany and when in Germany do as the Germans do...
In the wave pool a swim suit was required, however, in most of the other areas, expect the lounge/bar, clothing was not allowed. Even the locker rooms and showers were co-ed.