Our Travel Blog

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Berliner Dom organ

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Inside Berliner Dom

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Berliner Dom up close

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Along the Spree River with a view of Berliner Dom in the background

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Nikolaikirche, Berlin's oldest church

Built in 1230
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Outside the hotel...

...a bit industrial. Alexanderplatz used to be on the East side of the wall.
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Another view of lobby

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Hotel lobby

Such great color scheme!
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View from our window

Berlin's tallest structure, the TV tower in Alexanderplatz, is right outside our window.
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Found our hotel

In Alexanderplatz
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An S-Bahn regional train

I guess the U-Bahn hadn't yet been completed at the train station. But these S-Bahns are very nice too!
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Outside of our train to Berlin

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We got to the new Berlin train station expecting to find a U-Bahn
(subway) line in existence here, as it was marked "to open 2007" in
the Lonely Planet. However, I guess construction has fallen behind
schedule since there is no U-Bahn here. We are taking a local train
instead to Alexanderplatz, where our hotel is. Oh well!

--
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Berlin train station

Multiple levels, very new
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Train to Berlin is fast!

Only 1hr 30min - no time to sleep!
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Nice Clean Bathroom

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Train seats

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Train technology

Each seat has the itinerary of the traveler, as long as you make a seat reservation. It also makes it easier for the conductor to collect tickets - which they actually do here. Again, very organized - I like it!
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Inside of train

Modern, clean, fast, quiet. Lots of legroom. Automatic sliding doors. There are even "couchettes" which are more private glass cabins good for families to travel in.
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Our train

Just kidding! This is a freight train.
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Eugene and family on the platform

Sad to leave =(
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Germany's train system is so organized!

This is a diagram to show you which end of the train you should embark and where to stand on the platform.
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Braunschweig train station

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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Weird Gmail Error Message

I'm getting the following error message here in Germany when I go to gmail.com. Anyone know why that is? It's also mentioned here.

We can't provide service under the Gmail name in Germany; we're called Google Mail here instead.

If you're traveling in Germany, you can access your mail at http://mail.google.com.

Oh, and we'd like to link the URL above, but we're not allowed to do that either. Bummer.

For general information about Google, please visit www.google.com or www.google.de.

Update: here is a link that explains it, thanks to Wenjun's Mom.