Both Rob and I made breakfast and I decided, thanks for info Val, to have myself a hearty breakfast to give me the energy for the trip ahead. After breakfast we decided not to do anything except visit the local supermarket for some provisions, including paracetamol and a box of man size tissues for me.
We took the tram to the Station at about 11.30 and got to the Station at about midday, our train was due to depart at 12:29. The train pulled out right on time and was due to arrive in Berlin at 17:15, but by the time we had reached the Czech - Germany border we were at least 55 minutes behind schedule.
The carriage was packed and very hot, the aircon seemed not to be working and the windows were screwed shut and needed a key to open them. Conditions were intolerable, a Czech gentleman across from me communicated with the guard who did eventually open the windows and conditions improved. At this point Rob took a walk to the next carriage and found an empty apartment where the aircon was working, it had reserved stickers on the door but the sticker said from Berlin to Hamburg, so we decided to move and conditions improved again.
It was gone 18:30 by the time we reached Berlin, so over 1:15 minutes behind schedule. From the station we had planned to take the train to our hotel which involved one change, however Rob had to find an alternative route due to a section of line being closed, this meant a re-route and three changes. From our final station we had about a 10 minute walk to our hotel in the rain, I was so pleased for the umbrellas we had bought back in Kraków.
We got to our room at about 19:30, which gave us 30 minutes to find a bar to watch the start of the grand-prix, or get a takeaway and watch it from our hotel room. We walked in the direction of Checkpoint Charlie, about 5 minutes from our hotel, we didn't find a bar but instead had a kebab which we ate stood under an umbrella in the rain at Checkpoint Charlie. From here we walked backed to our hotel picking up a Starbucks on the way.
By the time we got back to the hotel the race had already started, Rob had emailed a friend of his who lives in Berlin and arranged to meet her for drinks that evening, that left me on my own to watch the grand-prix which was no bad thing as I felt shocking. The only station, on our satellite tv that was showing the grand-prix kept interrupting the race to switch to commercial breaks which was damned annoying.
After the race I fell asleep but I was awoken just before midnight by a text from Rob saying he was on his way back, then a phone call when he arrived, I needed to get up and let him in, as he had to leave the only key for the room with me so as to keep the power on.
This morning I awoke feeling somewhat better ready for the day ahead.
ps. Happy Birthday to myself.
Map showing route from hotel to Checkpoint Charlie.
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