We stopped in Berlin on the way back from the Russia trip. It was all German efficiency upon arrival as we sped through passport control and grabbed our luggage, almost first off the carousel. A sea of pale yellow Mercedes taxis were lined up outside. We grabbed a cab for the short 20 minute ride to our hotel, arriving at around 8 AM in time for a wonderful breakfast.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt, located near Potsdamer Platz. The hotel is very minimilistic, modern and influenced by Bauhaus design. I utilized my complementary suite upgrade from Hyatt's visa promotion and we were delighted to be ushered to our huge two room corner suite after spending 11 days on the substandard Amakaterina. The club floor was undergoing renovation so our perks included full breakfast in their Vox restaurant, afternoon tea and drinks and "snacks" in a different restaurant from 6 - 8 pm. The first night we decided to check out the snacks... Well, they presented everyone with a menu including hamburgers, Thai coconut soup, Thai salad, plus other items that easily constitute dinner. We ended up eating there two of our five nights.

We spent five days exploring Berlin, immersing ourselves in history, art and culture. Berlin is quite a happening city with enough to do to easily keep you busy for a week. There is construction and renovation going on everywhere. The public transit system is comprehensive, easy to navigate and if you look at all confused anywhere you will be approached by friendly people offering assistance. Virtually everyone speaks English. It was hard to imagine what this bombed out city looked like after WWII given what it looks like today. Totally striking were all the memorials and history museums explaining and acknowledging their past.

On our first morning we took the Berlin Walks four hour highlights tour to get oriented. We got directions to the nearby metro station intending to buy a multiple-day pass. Postdamer Platz is a large station but we couldn't see a ticket counter and initially ended up in the train part of the station, rather than the metro, but since there was hardly anyone waiting on the tracks we figured we must be in the wrong place and got directions to the S station on a different level. After fumbling around with the ticket machine and not figuring out a multi day option, we decided to hop on the train and look for a human later. In Berlin you are on the honor system to buy and validate your ticket and subject to a 40 euro fine if an inspector checks you, which seemed unlikely since we were only going 2 stops. We figured that if we had been able to conquer all types of public transport in Kyoto then Berlin should be a breeze, which it ended up being.