Another early transit day, another european train
IC from Gdańsk Główny to Berlin Gesundbrunnen
the station was lovely to look at from the outside - sadly it was under heavy renovation so there was plenty of construction mess around and the escalators were non-operative. being there before 0700 didn’t help either so none of the food places were open :(
fairly uneventful, we paid for first class tickets and got the same compartment style we had from prague to krakow, only with seats that were inexplicably less comfortable and there was nowhere to put a laptop :(
breakfast was pretty tasty; for $10 I got eggs and bread and sausages and bacon and some salad and a pepsi. payment was awkward, I thought I’d given the guy 100 PLN but I’d given him Czech Kronor. Super awkward. He didn’t mention that’s why he went to get his manager, and neither did she until I asked why they wouldn’t accept cash and kept asking for a card :P
about three stops in, a random polish guy joined us in the carriage and made it super awkward for most of the rest of the journey.
we arrived at the station and had a peaceful taxi ride to our hotel - the Mercure Hotel & Residenze Checkpoint Charlie. What a mess of a name.
we were a little early for checkin so we went for a wander.
had lunch at q-burger around the corner. “nachos” on the menu meant tortilla chips - the burgers were good.
pottered down the street and ended up at checkpoint charlie. swarming with tourists even on a cold Sunday afternoon. very touristic sadly, just people everywhere and photo opportunities for them. The museum gift shop is huge and we picked up some things - including a piece of the wall for me.
went past the german currywurst museum - the place smelled amazing! didn’t go in, RMB was having none of it. :)
back to the room and it’s rather large. separate bathroom, toilet at the other end of the room would have been great in Riga when I had the runs :) “Free” internet sucks. 1mbit sync limited by the system.
didn’t feel like going out, so ordered dinner from Kantine Deluxe, a local place I found on TripAdvisor.
