Warsaw, Poland

So we are sitting at a Burger King in a shopping centre in Warsaw.
We caught the train from Berlin, which was very comfortable. It was also nice to be with people who smiled again. The Germans didn't seem a happy nation. From Quedlinburg we were aware that everyone was generally quiet.

 View from the train

Had lunch in the dining car, which felt very civilized. They even had savignon blanc, although it wasn't that nice. But still, it felt decadent travelling this way.

We arrived in Warsaw,  stored our bags and went exploring the old town and it's square.

Warsaw, Old Town

Town Square with ice rink

Walked back slowly to the main station which has a large shopping centre next door. Embarrassed to say we found a burger king where we got chicken burgers and wi-fi so I could update this blog.  We gave ourselves plenty of time to fetch our bags and wait outside in the cold, no benches, for an hour. But now we are comfortably on the bus, sitting upstairs, one seat back from the front. Hopefully we will manage to get some sleep. A woman near us has annoyingly loud music from her headphones. Sounds like people shouting in Polish or German.
So the music stopped, but I'm dying of heat now. This feels hotter than India! Won't be helping my sore throat or Roys cough. Almost prefer he freezing!  Maybe I can do the next idiot abroad with all this complaining. Actually, besides getting a heat headache, I'm quite comfortable, with my boots off (to help cool down), a bar under the seat in front to put my feet on, and very happy to have wi-fi. Going to see if I can make it to the loo downstairs without waking anyone along the way. Maybe it's a little cooler down there.

Exploring Berlin

Roy struggled with the online site last night, but managed to get an online reservation for the Bundestag at 8 this morning. We were told to arrive at 7.45, only to be left standing outside in the freezing cold until 8, while the staff stood warm inside behind the glass doors. Seemed unreasonably inhospitable.  But once inside, we passed the security checks and were given headsets which spoke in English while we walked up the spiral paths in the glass dome. The views at the top were nice.

Bundestag, seat of parliament

Now sitting in Starbucks

View from Starbucks, near Potsdamer platz shopping centre

Walking the next block to the Potsdamer Platz arcade, we passed a section of the old Berlin Wall kept for remembering.

Berlin Wall

It was around 10, yet all the shops were still closed. We walked to the Technology / transport museum and were greatly impressed.

Technology museum

The displays were so well presented, especially the ships and the museum rambled from section to section.

Dad would have felt like he was in heaven if he'd seen the railway section. Endless real steam trains preserved.

There was a coach which had taken Jews to concentration camps. It was quite moving standing in it.

Roy loves German expressionist art and so even though we were tired he went to see this at the Berlin museum while I walked back to the shopping centre. Sadly they are not currently on display, so he found me in the centre where I was trying to replace my special hair conditioner I'd left in the Paris hotel. I managed to find something which would do. Something I really love about Europe, besides the fact that there are lots of dogs around, is that it seem perfectly normal to take your dog with you into shopping centres and on trains. Of course it's absolutely filthy because of this. There is dog pee and poo everywhere inside and people eating in the restaurants are all dying of some dog spread disease. Not. Wish South Africa would just take a chill pill and see how well dogs can integrate with us. It's been great to see them everywhere like this. Best of all, I wouldn't look like the mad dog lady, like do in South Africa.

Potsdamer Platz arcade

We caught the underground to where the Sunday market was, finding a bottle store on the way which sold beer for less than half what we'd been paying, so we stocked up on a few bottles. As I wrote previously,  it's legal for homeless people to drink in the street, so I cracked open the Berlin pilsner that I like while we walked the rest of the way to the market. It was most like our Milnerton market with lots of old junk for sale. We bought some delicious rooti type cheese and tomatoe rolls and I had a gluhwein.

Homeless person drinking beer

Gluhwein

Tired, we walked back to our hotel which took 45 minutes and then passed out on our beds. Roy has now walked to the station to buy us some supper.
Was hoping to meet Megan at her bar or a market, but we were all wrecked and never made it. :(

Berlin

Berlin.

Packed our bags the night before so we had them downstairs by 7 when we went for breakfast. We thought it very civilized that the hotel offered champagne with breakfast. By 7.45 we were walking to the station for our 8.30 train back to Magdeburg and then on to Berlin.

Note the double decker train we arrived in

Berlin Hauptbhnhof (main station)

Our hotel, Meininger, is right at the station but checkin was only after 3, so we left our bags in the locker room and went walking. The Bundestag is very close, a beautiful building we hope to visit tomorrow. Past that, walking along the edge of the Spree river, we reached museum island where first we admired the cathedral before choosing to view the Pergamon museum.

Berlin cathedral

From the museum we stumbled onto a Christmas  Market with an awful band playing. It was quite festive and I got to stroke the lovely dogs who do rescue searches and were on display. We needed cash, so walked down Frederick strategy for one. Lastly we went for dinner at the market recommended by our hotel receptionist. It had an entrance fee of 1€ and was really crowded. We had raclett on potatoe, a wors and beer. Walking back to our hotel past the Brandenburg gate, we came across lots of TV cameras outside a hotel. The man just released from prison by Putin (which is all over the news I'm watching right now, including the hotel where I stood) was inside the hotel and they were waiting for his mother to arrive.

Train trip in the snowy mountains.

Had breakfast in the restaurant below our hotel which included a delicious fruit salad, muesli, yoghurts, cheeses and salmon. We then caught a bus from near the station to Wernigerode. The bus trip was covered by our city taxes we paid of €12 we paid when checking in. We passed through two villages on the way and got there about an hour from Quedlinburg. We used the German translator on Roys phone to ask our bus conductor where the station is, and the final stop was right there.  We got tickets (about  €60 for 2 returns) for the steam train that goes up through the forests to the top of the snow covered mountain called Brocken.

Roy and I spent most of the journey standing just behind the engine, enjoying the smell and sound of the engine, the bite of the fresh air, watching as the forest first showed bits of white snow until it got bitterly cold at the top. I'd totally underestimated how cold it would be and had come along in my silly €5 shoes from China. My toes were freezing . There was snow everywhere and all the trees had white frost on them.

Freezing cold at the top

We rushed indoors to get a coffee, inviting the lady from Singapore we'd met during the ride to join us. We'd also chatted to a Dutch man who was was equally silly standing outside with us. But, Roy checked the timetable and if we didn't catch the 12.30 train going back immediately we'd need to wait till 3, so we rushed back to the platform and just got on in time.

Thoroughly enjoyed the trip back again, this time with it getting progressively warmer. We'd just missed the bus back home (they come every hour) so we wondered around the town, finding the main shopping area which was very quaint.

Walked back to our hotel via the town castle.

Town castle wall

We got our regular roast beef and sauerkraut from the market and followed it with apple strudel and coffee. This is definitely the coldest it's been so far. My legs were cold walking around the market with thermal and jeans. Siberia is going to be rough :)

Quedlinburg, Germany

Arrive Germany.

Our conductor checked where we were getting off the train, which is different to where we originally booked and he set an alarm which goes off an hour before arrival.  All terribly organised. Breakfast of rolls, spreads and coffee was delivered to our cabin and we arrived at Hannover about 6.30. There was a juice stand at the station where we got freshly made veggie juice to boost our vitamin intake. We had an hour wait for our next train where we'd booked a first class ticket as the price was almost the same, but there wasn't much difference between the two. First class had individual cabins which seated 6. We had 1 other person with us who had to put up with us making smelly salmon rolls. This train left 10 minutes late, and arrived 15 minutes late from a 1 and a half hour trip. This meant we missed our train to Quedlinburg.  Fortunately there was one an hour later.

Roy snoozing on the last leg to Quedlinburg

The lady conductor on our last train was very friendly and even gave us some chocolate. We walked from the station to our hotel which is smack bang in the middle of the town square where the Christmas Market is. It's lovely.

View from our hotel room

 We bought lunch at the market, including sauerkraut and wors and Roy had a beer. Roy asked one of the ladies we bought food from whether it's legal to drink beer on the streets. We had such a laugh when she said only homeless people had beer in public during the day. But we were ok because we were tourists. Local people would have gluhwein rather, and beer at home.

Sauerkraut

Our hotel in the background, the red and black

More food. Wors.

We rested a little at the hotel, then strolled a bit more around the town. Taking a slow evening. Will pop down for some supper from the market and then have an early night.

Last day in Paris.

We woke up in luxury and went to the hotel restaurant for coffee.

Breakfast coffee at Notre Dame hotel

The station we needed for the Chateaux design Versailles was literally right in front of our hotel and we got return tickets. This was my third visit and Roys first but I don't think I'd ever walked in the gardens which we also did this time.

Chapel at Chateaux de Versailles

Mary Antoinette and 2 of her 3 children which all died young

Louis

One of the beautiful ceilings

Hall of mirrors

From the garden

Gardens at Chateaux des Versailles

Pretty building in the gardens

We walked back to the station and Roy got off two stops before me so he could visit the Louvre while I did some grocery shopping,  including some more French red wine for our train trip this evening to Germany, which doesn't have any dining on board. I have now spent the last hour or two back at our hotel updating this blog. It is surprisingly time consuming.

Roy got back from the Louvre and said he was overwhelmed with the art and the amount of it, and could have spent longer there.
We made our way to Gare de Oest where we boarded an overnight train to Hannover. It was great. There were lovely clean sheets and two bottles of water. We had our own little basin with a tap and some sealed cups of water for brushing our teeth. There was a communal toilet and shower. I took the bunk and was in bed by 9.30

Some new observations:

London was a lot more sofisticated than Paris.
Paris Christmas decorations looked like a clumsy last minute attempt, whereas Londons were magnificent.
The grand old buildings in Paris definitely outdo Londons.

Another day in Paris

Today was magical and exhausting. I will write up the full blog and post pictures when it's not 12.30 after a long day. We used the Paris metro for the first time, moved to a magical hotel, bought baguettes and brie at street markets, visited the Notre Dame, went on a Seine cruise,  saw the Arc details Triompe from far up the Champs Elyses, went right to the top of the Eiffel Tower at Sunset, and had a lovely dinner in the Latin Quarter.

Continental breakfast at Perfect hotel

The full story:

After our breakfast at the hotel we made our way to Anvers station and caught the underground, making one change to St Michael,  Notre Dame, which is right outside our hotel. They let us check in and when I get the photo from Roy out our bedroom window I will post it here.

We went looking for a street market and don't think we found the specific one Roy wanted but had a good time where we were and bought baguettes and brie for lunch, as well as a delicious coffee éclair. Walking back to our hotel I took the photo of below the Notre Dame from the bridge where people 'lock' away a secret with a padlock on the bridge and then throw the key into the river.

Notre Dame from the bridge with padlocks

The Notre Dame must be the most beautiful building ever. We admired the outside, then walked around inside but ran out of time to go up to the top.

Notre Dame

 We took the boat from outside out hotel for a Seine cruise. We got off at the Champs Elyses stop and had time to walk to it and look down to the Arc de Triompe, which was bigger than Roy expected.

We got the next boat to the Eiffel Tower. We had pre bought tickets to go up to the top at sunset and it was absolutely magical. I was terrified at first as it's very high and the lift shoots up, but I got used to the height and what a view! The one side was windy and bitingly cold, the Arc de Triompe side was still and magical. It wasn't too busy and we could take as long as we wanted to admire the spectacular views. It was great seeing the last bit of daylight and then Paris at night in Christmas.

At the top of the Eiffel Tower

We caught the boat back to our hotel where I had a lovely warm bath to recover from a long and lovely day.

We ventured back out and while photographing the Notre Dame we met  a lovely lady from Norway who offered to show my parents around the fjords if they visit. She had been an air hostess when she was younger and one of her friends met a South African man when in the UK and ended up living on a sugar plantation in Natal, which this lady had visited. We said goodbye and went looking for dinner. Stumbled on the Latin Quarter just behind our hotel . It was lovely and vibey and we found a great spot with a 3 course dinner for 10 euros.

Got back exhausted. 

View from our hotel room