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Eurostar : St Pancras
to Amsterdam Deutsche Bahn : Amsterdam to Berlin
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We were booked on the
06:16 train from St Pancras to Amsterdam. Because it was
such an early departure, we stayed at the The Memoir Club
the night before. It was only a short walk from the hotel
to the station, but it still meant having to get up ridiculously
early in order to be at the station at 04:15 to meet our
tour manager at the pre-arranged rendezvous point.
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The check in staff hadn't
even arrived when we got there, but they soon put in an
appearance. |
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We were surprised to
see that ours wasn't even the first train to depart this
morning and by the time that boarding was announced, the
lounge was very busy! |
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Geoff managed to get
this picture of our train before we boarded. We departed
exactly on time. |
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Our route. Initially
we were supposed to change trains in Brussels and travel
via Cologne, but a couple of weeks before we left, we were
advised that there were operational problems with that route
and we woud instead travel via Amsterdam. Obviously this
was a longer route, but it proved to be comfortable and
problem free, so we weren't complaining. |
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A brief stop in Brussels. |
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On schedule, at 11:20
local time, we disembarked at Amsterdam's Centraal station. |
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We had a 40 minute wait
for our connection to Berlin, but the time passed quickly
and Geoff was delighted to do a bit of train spotting while
we waited. |
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The DB ICE train which
was to take us on the rest of our journey. |
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Once again, we departed
on time and began our journey towards Berlin. |
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We were impressed by
the trouble that had been taken to provide a tray to hold
a bottle securely. |
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We were advised to be
prepared for border checks when we crossed the border between
the Netherlands and Germany, but there weren't and by the
time we arrived at Bad Bentheim, we were already in Germany. |
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Shortly after passing
Wolfsburg, formerly in West Germany, this was the last photo
taken before crossing the now defunct border into East Germany. |
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This sign marks a location
on the former border between West Germany and East Germany.
Translated it says "Here, Germany and Europe were divided
until 6:00 a.m. on 26 November 1989." The date is notable
because although the Fall of the Berlin Wall began on 9th
November 1989, some border crossings elsewhere along the
Inner German Border were opened later. This sign commemorates
the moment when this particular section of the border ceased
to divide East and West. |
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Nearby is a monument,
one of many along the former border. |
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This shows the full
extent of the border which separated East and West Germany
(excluding Berlin) and which formed part of the Iron Curtain. |
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Less than a minute later,
we saw the first buildings on the eastern side at the old
cold war border crossing town of Oebisfelde. |
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By the time we arrived
in Berlin, we were around 10 minutes behind schedule, which
isn't bad considering we had travelled for nearly 6 hours
since we left Amsterdam, not to mention the 4 hours travelled
between London and Amsterdam before that. |
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A coach was awaiting
us at the station and after a short journey, we arrived
at the NH Collection Berlin Mitte hotel, a short distance
from Checkpoint Charlie. |
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Before dinner, we had
a drink at the hotel bar... |
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...before joing the group
for a meal together at the Nolle Restaurant. |
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After dinner we walked
back to the hotel and went straight to bed! |
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