Monthly Archives: August 2016
Ich Liebe Berlin
Our last day – and still so many choices. We will leave Berlin with another week’s worth of things to see and do should we return. The Pergamon Museum was one of my must-sees. We read about 2-hour queues, so we got there (relatively) early, and waited 45 minutes. It is a very inefficient entry […]
Joining the Dots
It was time to join the tourist crowds and visit the main sights of the central city, as well as a few miscellaneous things on our list. First, we returned to the Reichstag and Brandenburg Tor in daylight, both still massively impressive. We couldn’t climb the glass dome of the Reichstag, as you have to […]
Buses and Trains, Ferries and Planes
Originally we planned a visit to Potsdam and Sans Souci, but we’re pretty palaced-out. Instead we took the train to Wannsee, right on the edge of Zone B, where our rail passes finish. Wannsee is situated on a lake, and has its own beach which is very popular on warm days. Today was overcast so […]
Saturday in Berlin
We are staying in Charlottenburg, in the heart of what was West Berlin. Being a warm sunny Saturday, we decided to join the Berliners for a stroll through the local park. Which just so happens to have a Palace in it. Charlottenburg Schloss is one of the two most significant Prussian palaces in Berlin. It […]
Following the Berlin Wall
The first item on most people’s Berlin bucket list is of course the Wall. For the first 30 years of my life, Berlin, Germany and Europe were divided into East and West. I never knew anything different; we just accepted it as an unfortunate fact of life. I vaguely knew that it had something to […]
Ian’s Gluten Free Blog Part 2 – Cruising the Baltic with Princess
We did an 11 day cruise on the Regal Princess which is one of the biggest cruise ships, carrying around 3,700 passengers. It was our first ever cruise. Accordingly, hints and comments herein will be mostly valid for larger cruise ships and the Princess line in particular. The brochures emphasised care-free travel in luxury but, […]
Ian’s Gluten Free Blog Part 1 – Germany (Hamburg and the Northern Coast)
There are two approaches to traveling gluten free (gf) in foreign lands. Either approach will require a degree of flexibility – and sometimes you need to employ a bit of both. Approach 1 I call the “5-star” method. You stay in hotels, travel with organised tours and eat mostly in restaurants. You have to negotiate […]
Last Days At Sea
The final day at sea is for trying out all those new things you haven’t yet got around to. Breakfast – porridge and pancakes. The man sitting next to me ate SIX Danish pastries, then told his wife he was going back to the cabin for a nap. Don’t think we’ll be bumping into him […]
If It’s Tuesday It Must Be Oslo
A 10:30am arrival meant a much needed sleep in and late breakfast, before disembarking at our final port, Oslo. My main mission here was to visit the Vigeland sculpture park in dry weather, as last time it poured rain. We were in luck – the sun was out and I uttered words I never thought […]
Copenhagen, A Cycling Paradise
Copenhagen was the third Scandinavian capital and another repeat visit for me, though we saw a lot more this time around. Our day began with a short bus and train ride. A public transport system tells you a lot about a city. The commuter train had half a carriage set aside for bike parking, as […]
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