October 9 – Berlin

October 9, 2016 – Munich to Berlin
Carol and I met at 6:30am for breakfast. We checked out of the hotel and headed to the S-Bahn at 7:15am arriving 1 minute before a train arrived. We got to Haupbahnhof (Main train station) at 7:25am. We located our track and went upstairs to relax in the DB 1st class lounge. Unfortunately it did not open until 8am. We sat in the regular waiting area until 7:50am when we realized our train was at the station. We found our car and reserved seats easily. Not so easy was getting our large bags up on the luggage rack over our seats. A kind young man came to the rescue and helped both of us.
The train took off at exactly 8:20am heading for Hamburg but we had tickets to get off in Gottingen to transfer to a train to Berlin. The train had a hot spot and free WiFi so I looked at the DB train website and found out that we had exactly 2 minutes to exit before the train took off. Ten minutes before arrival in Gottingen we looked around for the aforementioned young man but he apparently had gotten off at an earlier station. We worked together to get our bags down without injuring ourselves or the people across the aisle. We got ourselves and our bags quickly off the train without incident.
Seven minutes later our second train arrived. Once again we needed to put our bags up and a nice man helped. We got to Berlin 5 minutes late arrival 2:30pm. After getting off we found that the S-Bahn was not a subway system but elevated trains. As we tried to figure out which one to take we noticed a a woman who looked official. Carol asked how to get to our stop and she pointed to the next track. We boarded the correct train and we’re talking about our stop when a woman said “Oh, it a doesn’t stop there on Sunday. Get off here and walk.” We got off the train and I pulled out my Rick Steves Berlin book. On the map it looked like only 4 blocks. (it was more like 10 blocks). We finally got to Pensione Peter which will be our home for 4 days.
After getting into our rooms we set out to take the #100 bus that goes past most of the major sights. It rained on and off and we saw a very brightly colored rainbow. When we got back we had dinner and then back to the hotel.
Tomorrow morning we will be doing a 4 hour walking tour.
If tomorrow is clear I hope to have some more pictures.