the Grand Tour blog

Exploring North-Eastern Germany

The Grand Tour Blog is a record of my occasional ventures from the UK into mainland Europe. Such trips are invariably to do with art or photography or music, and the blog takes its name from a five-week music-themed rail tour I made back in 2008, which is documented in its own website. Subsequent trips, described here, have included return visits to some of my favourite Grand Tour cities in eastern Germany, and my first journey by rail down through Italy, as far as Rome.

Now I'm a few days away from a return to Germany, this time following an almost straight line from Köln to Lübeck, and taking in Wuppertal, Hannover and Hamburg. In the 13th century Lübeck was birthplace of the Hanseatic League, a kind of trade-based forerunner of the EU that finally fell apart when it got too big for its boots. If all goes well I'll take a look at the Baltic from the island of Rügen – the most north-easterly point in Germany – before an overnight stop in Berlin, one of my favourite cities, and a fast train back to Köln.

A Brief Berlin Culture-Fix

It’s good to be back for a few days in Berlin, which is starting to feel a bit like a second home. Apart from the camera at Luton airport parking misreading my number plate – which means I will have some sorting out to do on my return – the journey out was uneventful, and despite the cold the potential bad road conditions didn’t materialise. Yet.

However I did fall foul of the Plastic Bag Scam at Security. My ‘liquids’, such as toothpaste and shower gel, were packed into about eight inches of an A4 resealable plastic bag. But after they went through the scanner I was told that they should actually be in an 8in x 8in resealable plastic bag. I didn’t have one with me, of course, but conveniently there was a machine right there which could sell me two for £1.00. Could I have bought such an unusual size in advance on the High Street? Right.

In Berlin tonight it’s -6C and trying to snow. I travelled a little way to eat at an Italian restaurant I know, only partly because I enjoy riding the U-bahn, and I should have worn my hat for the walk to the station.

From Berlin to Luton

When I returned to the Hauptbahnhof after collecting my luggage from the hotel the departure board said that there is no Airport Express this week because of engineering works. So I will have to travel to the airport the slow way, using the S-bahn: taking the S5 to Ostkreutz then the S9 to Schönefeld. I arrived at about the same time as planned, but it was as well that I'd been at the Hauptbahnhof in good time. 

Fairly quickly through security, etc. then the interminable wait for the gate. We took off on time at 16:55 and touched down at 17:32. I reached the exit by 17:50 and could spend 40 minutes lingering over a coffee in Costa before going outside to wait for my booked National Express coach. Which was 30 minutes late.

To Berlin and Back

Oh dear, I seem to have been to Berlin and returned without blogging once! For what was supposed to be a more relaxed trip it turned out to be quite busy, and maintaining my main diary was hard enough work in itself. So I plan to do some retrospective blogging, on the correct dates, just to keep the record straight. Starting now, 14 June.

I caught the first of my three buses to Luton airport at 09:43. It arrived on time at the first connection, but the #101 at the stop over the road eventually arrives 18 minutes late, just as I thought it might have been cancelled. Much discussion with some local people about how best to get to the airport. But a local man says that he's noticed that our driver changes the number of this bus from 101 to 100 after arriving in Luton town centre, and then goes on to the airport – in other words it will become the bus that I thought I was going to miss.

And so it did. So I arrived at the airport at 11:30, only a few minutes later than planned, and made a beeline to Starbucks for a well-earned cappuccino. Quite quickly through security, where the staff were unchacteristically cheerful and friendly. Then to the departure lounge, where I find the flight is estimated to be 40 minutes late! I sat and ate my sarnies and made a start on the diary.

The gate opened at the scheduled departure time and we formed a long queue. When we finally moved we were marshalled into a holding pattern in an airless four-storey stairwell for 10 minutes. Eventually onto the plane, which pushed back exactly an hour late at 14:40, for the 90 minute flight to Berlin Schönefeld. I passed quickly through passport control. Everything is very quiet and the airport is almost deserted – it felt positively provincial.

Located the Tourist Information desk and bought two Berlin Welcome cards, giving me free and convenient travel on trains, buses and trams, and discounts at certain attractions: 3-days for zones ABC (zone C includes the airport and Potsdam), and 3-days (to follow on) for zones AB plus Museumsinsel (Museum Island). All part of a cunning plan! The station is a five minute walk from the terminal, and I managed to arrive only seconds after an Airport Express had departed for Berlin, so had to wait another 30 minutes. The weather is sunny and feels very hot.

I got off the train at Friedrichstraße and took the S-bahn two stops further north to Nordbahnhof, just a two minute walk from my hotel, the Zarenhof, where I stayed at the end of my Grand Tour in 2008 and which is close to excellent connections to anywhere in the city. Ten long hours of travel today.

Fine-tuning Berlin Highlights and Travel Details

The 'Highlights List' is now up to four pages of closely typed notes on the places I want to visit in Berlin, with two more pages of restaurants and highlights that I've already visited and probably won't go to again, but might. New attractions keep turning up and have to be fitted in somewhere. There are now 16 museums and galleries on the list, plus many other places including the multiple attractions in Frederick the Great's Park Sanssouci in Potsdam.

I'm pleased to have managed to book a place at an English talk on the Deutcher Bundestag – the German parliament – which takes place once a week in the visitors' gallery of the Reichstag. Much security palaver, as expected, but I now have the confirmation. Afterwards a chance so see the superb Norman Foster dome at the top of the building, which was closed for routine maintenance when I visited last year so that I had to wander round the outside in a rather cold wind.

Before leaving, I seem to have managed to get the 18 mile journey to the airport down to an hour and 40 minutes, by using three buses, so that I shall now have to leave home only four hours before take-off.

Months ago, when booking the flight, I had wondered whether I should choose to be one of the last people to use Schönefeld airport, or one of the first to use Berlin Brandenburg, which will replace Schönefeld and Tegel and was due to open on 3 June. But now it has been announced that the opening has been delayed (again) "indefinitely" – certainly until August this year. I'm rather glad to be going there and (hopefully) back before the inevitable chaos of the non-change sets in. 

Preparing for Berlin

As I come within sight of my ten-day return visit to Berlin, it's time to blow the dust out of the blog and check that everything still works.

I went there first - briefly - in 2008, as the final destination on my Grand Tour. I returned for three days last year, at the end of the shorter tour based on Leipzig, and came away feeling that I really ought to make a proper visit with the time to take in some of the superb art collections at a more leisurely pace. So this is it.

Actually I will have eight days 'on the ground', plus two tedious days of travel. The planning is mostly done, apart from trying to arrange an outline daily itinerary. I don't want to fix too much in advance, especially as this is meant to be a more relaxed trip, and much will depend on the weather. But some galleries and museums are naturally connected, either because they're physically close or can share tickets. Some are closed on Mondays, others not, and some are best avoided at weekends. I have one concert booked, in the wonderful Philharmonie.

I'm sorry to say that I shall be flying to Berlin - one of the last passengers to use the city's Schönefeld airport before it closes on 2 June - rather than my preferred option of travelling by train. Not that I have a problem with the flying itself, but the endless waiting around at a ghastly airport is really rather unpleasant. Added to which it looks as if I shall have to leave home no less than five hours before my flight to travel the 18 miles to the airport, such is the dire state of public transport in rural Hertfordshire.

Crowded and Clouded in Paris

Sunday: The night train arrived in Paris from Berlin on time at 09:23, at Gare de L’Est. It had been a good journey: two of us started from Berlin, two others joined the compartment at Hannover. Two of my German companions spoke excellent English, making up for my lack of German, and we shared beer and coffee and talked until late. I slept pretty well.

At Gare de L’Est we were greeted by many soldiers patrolling the platform with automatic weapons, and my German friend and I agreed it felt decidedly threatening. Under what circumstances would they open fire on passengers? Would they shoot to kill? We said our goodbyes and left the station quickly. I walked the 300m to Gare du Nord to leave my suitcase, ready for my Eurostar at the end of the afternoon.

My original intention had been to catch the 13:04 Eurostar to London, which would have been ideal for the onward journey home, and would have given me a couple of hours of modest sightseeing in Paris – in particular I wanted to visit the church of St Eustache, near Les Halles. But when I came to book (over three months ago) I found the price would be rather over budget at £103.00. Later trains were £103.00, then an incredible £223.00, £223.00 again, then £103.00. Only at 16:43 and 17:13 did the price come down to a more manageable £69.50. These are Seniors’ fares: for normal people that £103.00 becomes £166.50. On the £223.00 trains it’s actually a few pounds cheaper to travel in Premier class; go figure. In the end I’d chosen the 17:13.

Breakfast looked incredibly expensive, even in the station: the €2.00 cappuccino in Berlin is €4.00 in Paris. I walked further north-west for 15 minutes towards Montmartre, stopping at the steps up to the Sacre Coeur. I had hoped to repeat some of the black-and-white photos I'd taken when I was last here 35 years ago, but the place was heaving with people, in particular with the rather dodgy-looking guys hassling people to buy bags and miniature Eiffel Towers, and other dodgy-looking people trying to get you to sign something: your life away, probably. 

So I plotted the straightest course I could to St Eustache and set off on the 2.5km walk, seeing quite a range of Sunday morning Parisian life on the way. The weather was grey and it rained for a while. My interest in the church stems from a CD I bought a few years ago which was recorded here on the 1989 Van den Heuval organ, which combines the characteristics of both Baroque and symphonic instruments, and is particularly suited to modern works. I heard it briefly at the end of Mass. Outside the interesting architecture was difficult to photograph due to massive building works, which I think will hide the distant view of the church; and the miserable weather.

But the sun did come out as I approached the Louvre, via the Cour Carrée. The Pyramide hadn't even been thought of last time I was here, and it was good to see it at last. Naturally I appreciated a fellow photographer stepping in front of me just as I'd lined up my shot:

I sat for half an hour in the Tuileries gardens, slightly away from the maelstrom of Parisian crowds, but the sun went and it felt quite cold, and in any case I was suffering a lack-of-food crisis (and an only-got-a-50-euro-note crisis). So after a lot of searching I found a pleasant and affordable snack bar, then travelled by the RER back to Gare du Nord. The Eurostar check-in was unbelievably slow and tedious and chaotic, but eventually I could sit back and relax for two and a half hours. Back in the UK and travelling through Kent, Orange dropped my phone call eight times; and that's without the tunnels. And now, back home.

[If you've been following this trip you will have noticed that blogging has been running a day or two late recently, for which I apologise; sometimes there just isn't time, sometimes my brain has shut down. Now the trip has ended, but I hope to continue blogging about various aspects of it from time to time, so do please check back.]

Been Busy in Berlin

Here I am in Berlin towards the end of a rather hectic schedule, hence the lack of blog posts for a few days. I'm going to have to do a quick summary of the last three days: Wednesday morning I packed everything away after six nights in Leipzig - was it really that long? - said my goodbyes, paid a last quick visit to the Grassi Museum, and caught my pre-booked midday InterCity Express to Berlin.

By 2:30pm I was installed in my hotel north of the centre, close to where I stayed on the Grand Tour, and walked the short distance to the Berlin Wall Memorial, near Nordbahnhof station. Not just a section of the well known wall, it also has the inner wall, the very wide 'Death Strip' between the two, and a representation of the electrified barbed wire fence that ran along the middle. Particularly moving is the memorial, with photos, to the many who died trying to escape to the West; I noted among them two children of five and six.

Then to Hackeschen Höfe, 'restored early 20th century courtyards' says my guide book, actually now mainly expensive boutique fashion shops - and their customers - of the type I have trouble coming to terms with. But especially poignant (when I managed to find it) the museum about Otto Weidt, who saved hundreds of Jews from the Nazis by employing them in his workshop for the blind, in this building, making brushes 'for the war effort', as well as hiding them, giving them false papers, bribing officials, and more.

Finally, after ten days, I have an Internet connection via WiFi rather than over the roaming phone network.

A Long Day at the Bauhaus

Another day out yesterday, to visit the Bauhaus building and the Bauhaus Masters' Houses in Dessau. I caught the 08:00 train from Leipzig for the 45 minute journey, and walked slowly through the apparently deserted city to arrive at the main building at 09:00, an hour ahead of visitors' opening time. I knew in advance that I wanted blue sky, green grass and bright sun; and that's the way it was.

I walked around the outside trying to make some arty pics using the 12-24mm lens on the Nikon D300, and naturally working hard to properly record that iconic end view of the building, with 'BAUHAUS' running down it. The building is not as tall as I'd imagined. Then a 600m stroll to the Masters' Houses for a few photos from the road.

Back at the main building I sat outside in the sun with a cappuccino from the Bauhaus cafe, until going in at opening time to buy my day ticket, and a photo pass, giving me guided tours of the main building and the Masters' Houses, and entry to the temporary exhibition. This is currently a large and well laid out display of the commercial design work, mainly in glass and ceramic, of Wilhelm Wagenfeld, one of the founding Bauhaus designers.

The two tours lasted more than an hour each and were most interesting, even though I couldn't follow very much of the German! Plenty of photos to aid my memory. Spent some time and not too much money in the shop, which must stock every Bauhaus book ever, before a fairly brief visit to the permanent exhibition. I had my eye on the clock as the trains back to Leipzig run only every two hours: I arrived just before 5:00pm, nearly nine hours after leaving.

After some final brief visits in the city – today I move on to Berlin – I sat outside Kandler, the tea specialists, sheltering from the warmth of the late afternoon sun in the shadow of the Thomaskirche, with a pot of properly made tea (Darjeeling, since you ask) with the leaves held in a fabric bag.

Too Long on the Slow Train

Today the day for Lutherstadt-Wittenberg, not to see Martin Luther but his friend, painter and printer Lucas Cranach. I had a choice of two trains: the Regional 08:11, which takes an hour and four minutes, or the later Intercity Express (ICE), taking half the time but at almost twice the price.

I chose the slow train, not just to save €8.00 but also as a dry run for my 08:00 train to Dessau tomorrow. But I thought I would treat myself to the ICE for the return journey.

When I'd finished in Wittenberg I walked the kilometre or so back to the station and was pleased to find that there would be a 14:35 ICE as expected (I knew there was a 15:35). But when I went to buy the ticket I was told that the 14:35 would go now via Halle not Leipzig, so that my only option is another slow train, arriving 45 minutes later than I'd anticipated.

So here I am, chugging along, stopping at every little station in Saxony.