Ah, vacation time.

This year I was planning to join my synagogue’s trip to the Ukraine.  But, my son had special plans for most of those dates, so that put the kibosh on that choice.

So, my friend and I considered Barcelona or Marseille.  Instead we hit upon Berlin.  Then, we determined that his daughter wanted to see Athens, which was somewhat intriguing- but the Greek Islands were more my style.  Except…

The airfare – and the travel time- from Berlin to the islands was excessive.  (My visit could not exceed 9 days.)  So, we settled on a trip to Berlin and Athens.   So, our trip- DC to Berlin to Athens.  Hence, DCBA.

Once our destinations were chosen, I did what all good techies do.   I researched the various things to see in both cities and prepared itineraries.  Not by the minute, but a rough idea of what could be seen given the time we had.

And, then… we’re off.

We left from Dulles Airport, taking United Polaris Class to Frankfurt and then Berlin (TXL).   Great flight, thanks United.

Then a taxicab to our AirBNB.  Disappointment 1.  The location was nowhere where they claimed it was.  And, the taxicab tried to steal from us Americans.  There was a direct street route that would have taken about 30 minutes in traffic.  Instead, he took us on a circuitous route that was about 3X the distance.   Oh- and he left us off about 6 houses away from the address we specified.

Disappointment 2.  This one was our fault for not asking.  NO air-conditioning.  (Note to self- if visiting Europe in the summer, don’t use AirBnB.  Because it seems most of the places are not air-conditioned.)

After we drop off our luggage (with the host telling us that we were three hours too early, even though he knew our arrival time in advance), we took the Berlin subway to Hauptbanhof.  The modern subway stop near the Spree River.  So, we can take the river cruise (and the on-and-off bus) to scout out what we want to see more carefully.

The cruise was wonderful.  I was intrigued to scout out the locations.  Dennis liked that there was a breeze and he could sit down.  And, RubyLynn?   She slept.

The pictures below can give you an idea of what we saw from the River Cruise.   And, we never did get to go on the on-and-off bus tour.  (Contact me directly for the reasons why.)