My Travels: July 2018

Berlin 2018: 11 July to 17 July 2018

Cousin's getting married and the whole family is heading out to Berlin to attend the wedding

Day 1 : Late Arrival in Berlin: 11 July 2018

Had a really nice flight to Berlin. Didn't travel the usual route (SIN-FRA-TXL), but decided to try SIN-DOH-TXL. Qatar Airways had a great price on tickets AND the flight was broken up exactly by half (7hrs-2hrs-7hrs). I quite like that format, which means that I don't have to sit on a plane for 14hrs at a stretch.

The timing of the flight was pretty good too. Leave Singapore early in the morning, and arrive in Berlin in the evening. That means I don't have to pop a sleeping pill when I land, nor force myself to stay awake. Coming back is almost the same, leave Berlin in the evening, and because of the time difference, arrive back in Singapore next day evening. Bascially, I could go to work the next day.

Parents and Sis had already been in Berlin a few days ahead, and they had a big apartment, so we crashed the first night at their apartment rather than booking a hotel. It was a nice apartment. HUGE. I'd guess that it was bigger than my parent's HDB flat. Proper kitchen, 3 bedrooms and a giant living room. No airconditioning though. One had to open the windows to let the cool air in. Luckily, the nights were a cool sub 20deg. Strange that they didn't even have a standing or ceiling fan to circulate air during the warm summer months.

It rained pretty much all of the morning, so I strolled down to the neighbourhood grocery store to pick up some sausages, eggs and bread and cooked breakfast for the folks. Lunch was instant noodles that Sis bought. Essentially, I cleared the fridge for check-out.

View from the airbnb

Day 2: Heading out to Gerswalde: 12 July 2018

After helping the folks check out from their apartment and putting them into the transport to Gut Sukow, we drove to our lodging in Schloss Herrenstein.

I rented the car from Enterprise since I'm used to renting their cars in the US and they are pretty good. They even gave me a free upgrade. I had originally rented a standard golf (I preferred to drive a small car especially in the busy streets of Berlin) but they gave me a fully kitted out Seat Ateca (which is actually a VW Tiguan) instead. That was a blessing in disguise as the 4WD and the 2L engine really made a difference on the hour+ drive on the autobahn from Berlin to Gerswalde.

The 4WD made the biggest difference when I was pulling into little side lanes and hunter trails trying to get better photographs of the amazing scenery.

Everything was so green, so empty, so open, so beautiful.

I forgot to mention, the sun rises at 4.30am and sets at 9.30pm...

Seat Ataca. Essentially a VW Tiguan. Really nice car though.

Wildlflowers

Having a car helped, I could stop anywhere and photograph anything

Sunset...at 10pm

Day 3: Gerswalde: 13 July 2018

Cousin put us at Schloss Herrenstein, about 10mins by car away from the actual wedding location. I would have preferred staying at the actual location (so that I can drink), but the place was prioritized for the senior folk and families with kids.

Turns out, that 10min drive usually took 30mins or more because I would stop and take photographs along the way. The landscape was truly beautiful. Huge swaths of wheat fields with nary a house in sight. (I later found out that this was because this was actually a poor part of Germany and the land was not very fertile for farming)

Road leading to the Schloss. This was at 5am

Schloss Herrenstein

There's a heated indoor swimming pool in that building

Oh look, a pony

Oh look, Sheep.

Oh look, Horses

Oh Look, a Heron

This was taken at 9.30pm

Day 4 : Templin: 14 July 2018

We had the morning to ourselves before the afternoon festivities, so I planned a quick drive down to Templin. One of the last complete, fortified towns in Germany. Fortified meaning the walls surrounding the town are still up.
Parents tagged along for a bit of sightseeing, and also to get away from the hotel for a bit.
The town itself was quite beautiful, but not as 'ancient' as I expected.
We stopped by this amazing little restaurant Gaststätte Shanty, recommended by locals, for lunch. They had amazing food. Best Schnitzel I've had so far.

Wedding ceremony was scheduled to start at 2pm, so we headed back to the Schloss.

Rest of the photos are from the wedding ceremony, and I'll publish that in a different post.

One of the gates into the town

Yup. Real walls. Real fortifications

View of the wedding ceremony

This was taken at 9.30pm

Day 5 : Walking around Berlin: 15 July 2018

Sunday, and the folks were heading back to the airport for their flight.
I had planned an extra day in Berlin, just to see the sights. Booked a nice hotel at the Hilton, overlooking the Gendarmenmarkt.
The location was perfect, with almost all the sights within walking distance. Berlin is a beautiful city, and the light was perfect.
With the long summer days, and the late setting sun, it was a fantastic experience walking and photographing the buildings.