Europe Day 53 of 59, Munich to Berlin

The first day of our last week was, appropriately, entirely devoted to travel. We opted to take the train to Berlin to see the Bavarian countryside and to enjoy the simplicity of rail one last time.

We shall skip right over the room service breakfast. After all, you've seen eggs on a plate 34 out of the last 52 days. No need for a picture of eggs on day 53.

We took a cab to the train station. He seemed to go the long way, which is the sort of thing that really bothers you after you have studied a map of the city for four solid days.

We arrived terribly early to the München Hauptbahnof. We took up residence at this counter and ordered two Cokes. (I panicked and ordered Coke before seeing that they had my beloved Schweppes Lemon Soda.)

Rail Portrait. Waiting.

I took my time on this one, making sure that you could see our destination on the screen as well as our slick looking ICE train.

The Bavarian countryside. Time for me to be a jerk. More than a few people told us that this ride was going to beautiful. Well... it was okay. Not sure I would recommend it as a "must see" countryside. In fact, I think the train ride along the Rhine between Frankfurt and Bonn was prettier. And, look. When you live in California all your life, natural beauty is not a rare occurrence.

Rail Portrait. Working.

Nürnberg was raining. Hard.

Rail Portrait. Leaving.

I managed to get a picture of Leipzig. No, I do not count pulling into and out the train station as having "been to" Leipzig.

Rail Portrait. Sitting.

We reached the suburbs of Berlin. Look close enough and you can see the Ikea sign.

Rail Portrait. Reading.

Pulling into the Berlin Hauptbahnof was an experience. First of all, outside the city center you dive down into a tunnel and your normal passenger train suddenly becomes a subway train. Then you arrive in this sparkling almost Copenhagenishly clean train station.

You realize just how deep you were when you take three long escalators up to street level. And you realize how amazing this station is, with platforms at different levels and bringing trains and subways in and out from different directions. There was no way to get a pic where you could see all four levels, which is a shame.

You know what's next. Don't you.

I took a pic from outside, but the horizontal flip is much, much cooler. This image doesn't exist in the real world without a mirror.

A dreadful pic from the taxi of the Berlin Hauptbahnof. But this taxi ride was... exciting. The sights of the city all came out terrible from the moving taxi. Ironically it was magic hour, but that meant there was not enough light for me to get a stable image. But back to the excitement. Berlin has an electricity that I cannot explain. The mix of old and new architecture is beautifully done, and there is a life to this city that I think you only get with a major metropolis.

Walking through the doors of Hotel De Rome, you are greeted by a lobby that steps in front of you like a swimsuit model and says, "I am not average."

Time for a hotel room tour.

You enter and see your little hallway with its stylishly red closet doors. And soon you see the matching red desk chair.

Talk about a theme.

Hard to see in this light but there's black, grey and red everywhere. I'm tempted now to skip these and take some tomorrow with the sun's assistance, but I have a feeling that tomorrow there will be way too many pics to upload.

How hip is that couch between the two loungy chairs? And dang if that coffee table ain't got red in it.

Nice to be greeted by fruit instead of a bottle of champagne that we (1) will not bother drinking and (2) often stick in the big back that goes over my shoulder and I do not have to tell you how much lighter that bag got after we gave my brother and his wife two bottles of champagne plus a bottle of red.

Barbie had an idea called, "Hit the pool after five hours on a train." Basement pools are always funky and cool.

This pool is great. Just below skin temperature, so you can jump right in but then instead of feeling warm it feels refreshingly cool. It also is deceptively long, for the fanatics who swim laps.

That would be the steam room. I did not take the iPhone with me into the steam room or sauna.

Hotel De Rome used to be a bank headquarters, and here you can see that they chose to leave some of the original floor visible. That is such a banky floor.

Room service...

Salmon with artichoke hearts.

Spaghetti with tomato & basil sauce, with extra parmesan on the side.

My left shoulder and neck in general are kind of dicey from a bad choice of pillows at the Mandarin Oriental, so I am hoping this firm Rocco Forte Collection Hotel bed does for me what it did in Frankfurt. That said, these hotels have one flaw. No wireless in the room. I may have to do all my Berlin blog research in the lobby.

Tomorrow... Berlin!