[PRCo] Re: Shoulda, Coulda, would

[Fred Schneider]

You're preaching to this choir again, John, with your comments about  
them borrowing money.

Lets talk about vacations.   Maybe we can talk Bob Dietrich into  
taking his lovely bride to Germany this time?

Berlin, in perhaps my singular opinion, is like London.   I've never  
run out of things to do there.  As the former capital of Germany,  
then the capital city of East Germany (DDR, now again what passes for  
the German capital (even though not all function have been moved from  
Bonn), it has always been a center for museums.   It's like  
Washington DC

Museum Island (Museum Insel) is just filled with museums, some filled  
with some very ancient Greek ruins.

http://elmericks.blogspot.com/2007/02/favorite-places-in-berlin- 
museum-insel.html

Here are two more links to some of the fabulous sites in Berlin.

http://www.berlin.world-guides.com/attractions.html

http://wikitravel.org/en/Berlin

And still I have have not found anything that mentions the fabulous  
Charlottenburg Palace.   Here it is ... it alone is probably worth  
half a day...

http://www.aviewoncities.com/berlin/charlottenburg.htm

And here is the Berlin Strassenbahnnetzplan (Berlin streetcar network  
map).   The lines in the west were abandoned in the 1960s.   What  
remains are the lines in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik.  The  
M-17 line is a rather picturesque north-south side-of-the-road  
operation way out in the eastern suburbs.  The two purple lines are  
independent trolley lines that connect with the S-Bahn in the  
suburbs.  Definitions you want?   S-Bahn is an abbreviation for  
Shnellbahn or fast railway and is analogous to commuter railroad  
lines.  When German Federal Railways was privatized, the S-Bahn  
operations became a ward of local commuter authorities ... same thing  
we have here with Metra or SEPTA or Caltrain.

http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/bln/tram/berlin-tram-map.htm

And here is a netzplan for the SBahn and UBahn lines in Berlin.  At  
the risk of being told I am patronizing anyone, U-Bahn =  
Untergrundbahn or underground railway.  During the period of the wall  
in Berlin, there were basically two U-Bahn systems.   In some cases,  
lines from the west went through former eastern stations with doors  
closed.   It was illegal to have a map of the complete subway if you  
were in the east.   And there I was with a friend, leaving the east  
one night, and he had a complete map hidden in his jockey shorts.  I  
went through immigration and I never said a word to him.   I didn't  
even know that fool existed.

By the way, S-Bahn line S-7 runs from Potsdam to Berlin.   Useful  
because next I babble on about Potsdam.

http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/bln/berlin-map.htm

And if you run out of things to do in Berlin, heaven forbid, then go  
next door to the city of Potsdam and spend another two or three days.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Potsdam

Probably the most important place to visit is Sansouci (Without a  
Care) Palace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanssouci

But there is a great old home, now a hotel, where Josef Stalin,  
Clement Atlee and Harry Truman came to divide up the spoils at the  
end of World War II.   You can stay in the Schlosshotel Cecilienhof  
yourself for the paltry sum of $211 a night. It's not really that  
expensive.  The second link, then scroll down to the second picture,  
has a nice picture of Prime Minister Clement Atlee, Harry Truman and  
Stalin at the hotel in Potsdam.

http://catalogue.horse21.co.uk/germany+hotels/potsdam+hotels/relexa 
+schlosshotel+cecilienhof

And here is a trolley bus map and photo gallery for Pottsdam ... the  
kind of stuff that was running when I was first there.

http://www.berliner-verkehrsseiten.de/bus/Obus/OPicture/OBild-5/ 
hauptteil_obild-5.html

And here is a more contemporary netzplan or map of the trolley  
network in Pottsdam.  On the left side of the river, across from the  
train station in Pottsdam, is a rather acceptable Hotel Mercure (the  
middle range chain owned by Accor ... the same people that leave the  
lights on for you at Motel 5-and-7/8ths.  Right behind the Mercure  
was a dock where tour boats cruising the Spree River and the lakes  
around Potsdam and Berlin departed.  I had a fabulous morning cruise  
on a steam-powered lake boat about ten years ago.

http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/pots/potsdam-map.htm

http://www.aeragon.com/01/01-07.htmlOn Jun 12, 2008, at 1:16 PM, John  
Swindler wrote:

>
>
> Just about anything the feds propose should be put in terms of  
> borrowing money from China:  sending foreign aid to countries,  
> paying farmers not to plant, bailing out the greed of banks, home  
> builders and borrowers for subprime mortgages, etc.  And how many  
> million did it cost to notify us of the tax refund?
>
> Getting back to travel:  Somewhere I saw an interesting package for  
> October that included 2 nights Berlin, 2 nights Prague, 2 nights  
> Vienna, rail between cities and air for about $1200-$1400.  Might  
> have to wind up the gum band for the plane's propeller, but other  
> then that.  (:>)
>
> And Prague is like Antwerp - reminded me of red and cream PRC  
> streetcars from years ago.  (just to get back on list theme)
> John
>
>> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Shoulda,  
>> Coulda, would> Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:32:32 -0400> To:  
>> pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > Probably not before the  
>> Phoenix LRT opening. Maybe I can find a way > to tie that in with  
>> Seattle's SLUT line. If I save enough coins to > spend $1000 on  
>> petrol, John.> > It is outrageous spending $1.70 in Europe for  
>> what I can get for > $1.00 here because we feel we have to borrow  
>> from other countries to > give a $600 tax refund that will be  
>> spent in Wal*Mart buying Chinese > merchandise. I'll let my  
>> European friends come here to visit me. > Example: A good friend,  
>> a manager for German rail, is stopping in > early next month on  
>> his way to ride the light rail in Portland, Oregon.> > On Jun 12,  
>> 2008, at 10:13 AM, John Swindler wrote:> > >> >> > That's why I  
>> knew you knew about the 2nd Class Port Authority Act, > > but that  
>> was also a long - long time ago. There were some good > > articles  
>> back then.> >> > The following wil!
>  l stray from list topic, but might be useful for > > travelers. We  
> were recently looking at some cruise prices and saw > > deep  
> discounts for Alaska. And Trafalgar website was advertising > >  
> which tour groups were confirmed to operate, and which to call > >  
> Trafalgar - and this was for June tours.> >> > That $4 gas price  
> you have recently seen might be affecting the > > travel industry -  
> big time, and there might be some real bargains > > over next  
> several months. So even with the exchange rate, I'm > > expecting  
> another European travelogue from Fred before the end of > > year.  
> (:>)> >> > John> >> >>>
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