FRIDAY 6th JULY 2012

BACK TO GERMANY

Caught up with a few of the group at breakfast this morning and said farewells, then we ordered a large taxi to get us and our gear out to Heathrow!
An old Vauxhall Zafira driven by an Indian bloke about seventy five years old turned up, and we had to help him get the cases into the back, before we set out off!!!
As it turned out he was a bloody good driver and got us through the early morning traffic in no time, obeying all the road rules and doing a great job!
The check in and passport control was easy and despite me having to be frisked at security because my watch set of the alarm we were our departure lounge in record time!
We wandered through the many shops before finding a place for a coffee. As we sat there who should appear (amongst the thousands of other people) but Victor!!! He was flying back to Rome to start another tour, and we chatted for a bit before saying goodbye and going to our departure gate.
The British Airways flight to Berlin was quick and easy - only ninety minutes - and before we knew it we were on the ground at Tegel Airport and getting our bags right at the passport control point! Most unusual! Once we had our bags we found a taxi and headed for our hotel - the Hotel Palace Berlin - which was only a fifteen minute ride away, located on the Kurfurstendam right near the Berlin Zoo.
The Palace was certainly a step or three up on what we have been used to - very nice indeed - and the desk clerk told us we had been upgraded a level, no idea why, but our room was spacious, air conned and most comfortable! Seeing as we were staying for three nights we unpacked our gear and hung up some of our very creased and well worn clothes, then washed some things and arranged very expensive laundry for some jeans and shorts! Washing has been the major headache of the trip - no time to find laundromats, no time for hotel laundry which is ridiculously expensive anyway and limited time to dry things we wash ourselves! Thank goodness we had cheap laundry on the Greek Isles cruise!
After a bit of a spell we went for a walk around the immediate area around the hotel and found shops, cafes, restaurants and many other facilities - seems like an ideal spot to stay! The girls found Kathe Wohlfahrt, a shop dedicated to Christmas decorations, which held their attention for quite a while - Den got a nice movie of the place despite the "no photography" signs!
After a walk about we showered and found the hotel bar where we discovered a daily "happy hour" from five till seven with half priced cocktails! Needless to say we made the most of it on each evening, clocking up a fair tab, but at five euro for a cocktail it was as cheap as the bloody ordinary beer! We downed a variety of "sex on the beach", "tequila sunrises", "cosmopolitans" and "flying kangaroos" and the gorgeous waitress became a "bestie" very quickly!!!!!!
The evening was still pretty warm after a hot day and so we found a sidewalk cafe and had a nice meal but getting fleeced when the waiter said he had no credit card facilities and then charged us extra tax for some reason! To avoid causing a major scene we paid up and left in a very bad grace - the first time we have been done over on the trip!
We went to bed very grateful in the knowledge that for the first time in a month there will be no wake up call tomorrow! Yay!