"Let's go to Berlin."
"Okay. When?"
"This weekend. We'll leave Friday morning, and get back Sunday afternoon."
"Sounds good."
I read in some travel book somewhere on our shelves that Berlin is a great city for weekend escapes. Business travel keeps the hotels filled during the weekdays, but weekends find hotels with a plethora of empty rooms needing to be filled, and thus travelers have great options on weekend deals. A quick internet browse and I saved 70% off the regular rates. Whoo-hoo! So off we went to Berlin for a grand total of 38 hours, and here's what we did.
Friday
We simply could not resist the temptation to sleep in for just a little bit. Considering we normally get up at 5:00am, the extra two hours of sleep seemed downright decadent. We packed and hit the autobahn by 9:30am, and easily navigated away from Wuerzburg. From Wuerzburg, it's just a matter of taking A7 to the A70 to the A9. Once you hit A9, it is a straight shot to Berlin.
We arrived in the outskirts of Berlin in the early afternoon. Happily, Berlin's city streets are easy to navigate by car. After a few missed turns, we quickly found our hotel, parked, checked in, and set off onto the city streets. Our hotel was located a short walk from the Zoological Garden, in the Kurfürstendamm (Ku'damm) district. We wandered into the heart of the Ku'damm, making our way to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, the remains of the neo-Romanesque church consecrated in 1895. World War II bombs destroyed most of the church, but the massive tower remained partially intact. At the base of the tower is the Gedenkhalle (Memorial Hall). In the hall you can see the history of the church's construction, original mosaics, and other church belongings. Next to the church-monument is the new church, designed by Egon Eiermann in the 1960s.
The Ku'damm district once reigned as the ultrafashionable shopping district for (West) Berliners, though other newer areas have eclipsed its status. Nevertheless, the Ku'damm bustles with life. It is also home to Europe's second largest department store (though the largest on the continent), KaDeWe (Kaufhaus Des Westens). Similar in scope to that other, very famous English department store Harrods, KaDeWe offers the shopper just about everything, including Europe's largest collection of foods. Even I was amazed to find multiple varieties of Washington State wines for sale.
