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Blind booking #4: Berlin! Part 5

Yesterday was our last day in Berlin.  Our flight did not leave until 5:55pm, so we had all day to spend in the city.  The Adina Apartment Hotel Berlin Mitte is very accommodating.  We were able to leave our bags at the hotel while we visited Berlin’s TV Tower.  I have visited Stuttgart’s TV Tower twice so far.  I expected that Berlin’s tower would be similar.  Actually, it was a bit different in that the whole thing is enclosed indoors, whereas Stuttgart’s tower allows visitors to go outside.

Berlin’s TV Tower has a restaurant and a bar and, if you pay extra, you can reserve a table in the Sphere restaurant.  Naturally, it costs more to sit on the outside ring, next to a window.  We were going to do that, but the first available reservation was at 4:15pm and that was too late for us.

We took the tram to the tower, which allowed us to see more of Berlin’s inner city.  As we were passing the neighborhoods, it occurred to me how much we were going to miss on this trip.  Bill and I will have to try to go back and see more sometime, if we stay in Germany.  Berlin is a very impressive city.

A bike messenger stopped near us while we were waiting for the tram.  I liked his vehicle.

The tower was somewhat crowded when we got there, although it’s possible to skip the lines and book tickets online or purchase them from vending machines.  We walked around the sphere, looking at the very spectacular views of Berlin that would have been even nicer had the sun been shining.  After a few looks at the city, Bill, Parker and I stopped by the bar and had a drink.

The many scenes of Berlin.

Part of the bar area.

The whole inside of the tower is like this.  You can’t venture outside.  But the weather was crappy anyway, so it was no big deal.

 

Time for a beer break.  They had local craft beers available, which made Bill happy.

 

After our pit stop at the bar, Parker and I went to the ladies room.  I was not surprised to find a line, as there had been a line when we first arrived.  This time, it was two women, one of whom was pregnant.  As we were waiting, I happened to notice that the first three of the five stalls were open.  I could tell by the white display on the lock.  If the door had been locked, it would have been red.

Just at the time I was about to point out the availability of the stalls to the chattering women, they noticed the first open stall.  They went to the first one, which had a changing table in it that apparently made it unavailable for normal use.  I went to the one next to it, but just as I was about to enter the stall, one of the women said, “Sorry!” and quickly jumped back in front of me, thwarting my attempt to pee.

I swear, I must be turning German, because my reaction was decidedly pissy… it was the kind of response I’ve gotten myself from Germans.  I then pointed out the other normal stall, which the other woman quickly took.

Parker said, “Aggressive!”

My response was, “No, it’s stupid!  Pay attention and fucking go!  Luckily, I don’t have to pee that badly.”

Even I was surprised by the sharp tone of my response, although I think those two women both kind of deserved it.  Both of them lit out of there pretty quickly.  I don’t even think they washed their hands.  Normally, I try not to be bitchy in these situations, but I was feeling exasperated and spoke too soon.  We left the tower and decided to have lunch across the street at the Block House, which is a chain steakhouse.  We’ve eaten there in Stuttgart and knew the food to be decent.

I had a cheeseburger.  This was ground beef sitting on a piece of baguette with some kind of tomato relish and covered with Edam cheese.  It was pretty good, although I really wanted a proper burger.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the stretchy cheese, though.

Bill’s mom had a small steak with a baked potato and bread.

And this was Bill’s lunch.  

Block House has a lot of American appeal.  It reminds me of American chain steakhouses.

A few more shots near the TV tower… and another Christmas market.

 

By the time we were finished with lunch, it was mid afternoon.  We took the tram back to the hotel, picked up our bags, and headed for the airport.  Our cab driver was very helpful and knew exactly where we should be when we told him we were flying Eurowings (which was Air Berlin last night).  We checked into the remarkably primitive looking terminal, breezed through security and hung out until it was time to fly out of Berlin.  While we were waiting, I took notice of the very sexy voice coming from the woman doing the announcements.  Apparently, I am not the only one who’s noticed that.

Seriously… she’s quite the sexpot.  Reminds me of Princess Aura in Flash Gordon.
 
No!  
 

We enjoyed another uneventful flight back to Stuttgart and arrived home at about 8:00pm.  While we were gone, Bill’s custom made kilt finally arrived from Scotland.  Tonight, he will model it for us and I will take pictures.  Stay tuned for that!

As for Berlin, I will declare it a successful trip, despite the weather.  The blind booking flights worked out really well and we were very happy with our accommodations.  There’s a lot to see and do there and, when the weather isn’t horrible, you might just find some good food and shopping.  I think I liked Hamburg better because it’s prettier to me, but there’s no denying that Berlin has a fascinating history.  I feel like reading more about it now that I’ve seen it in person.

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Staycationing in Stuttgart #2… the Fernsehturm and lunch at Luftbad Restaurant Der Grieche im Grünen

Wednesday morning, Bill had to go to work.  Because of the shower’s window, which lets the light from the bathroom flood into the bedroom, I was wide awake with him when he rose before the sun.  This is actually a pretty normal thing for us, though.  I used to be a late sleeper, but since I married a soldier, I’ve gotten used to waking up at the asscrack of dawn.

Anyway, neither of us slept well.  It was in part because the room was a little too warm and partly because a certain monthly annoyance kept me getting up to go to the bathroom all night.  Consequently, we were both still somewhat tired when we went to breakfast.  The Wald Hotel’s breakfast is expensive, but it’s quite expansive.  They have everything from breads, cold cuts, and cheeses to hot items like eggs, sausage, and bacon.  They even have sparkling wine for those who want it.  We enjoyed a nice breakfast with some strong coffee, then Bill went to work.  I considered going back to bed, but sleep eluded me.  I did some writing instead.

At about 10:30am, I realized I needed to vacate the room so it could be cleaned.  I got dressed and took a walk to the nearby Fernsehturm (the TV tower).  I went to the top of the tower last July, but we had pretty yucky weather that day.  It was actually very cold up there!  Yesterday’s weather, by contrast, was much nicer.  I decided to go up and get some pictures of Stuttgart while the sun was shining.  It also gave me a chance to break in my new camera a bit more.  The pictures immediately below were taken with my iPhone.

As we were waiting for the elevator to take us up the tower, a lady was telling me about how the TV Tower had recently been closed.  She had been expecting more people there yesterday.  Then she took a look at me without my jacket and admonished me because she figured I was going to get cold.  Surprisingly (even to myself), I wasn’t cold yesterday.  I was when I visited in July.

I loved this little plaque around the whole walking area, showing where the different suburbs of Stuttgart and major cities in Germany and Europe are.  I like that they put these things in places where there’s a big view.  Seems to me they have this at Hohenzollern and the Tree Walk, too.

I took this photo with the zoom lens.  This tower actually pretty far south from the TV Tower.  I just wanted to see how close I could get with a zoom lens.

 

There are several restaurants near the TV Tower and the Wald Hotel.  I decided to go to the Luftbad Restaurant Der Grieche im Grünen, which I went to the last time we stayed at the Wald Hotel.  In retrospect, I should have tried a different place.  But I always feel awkward when I’m dining alone.  This particular restaurant offers Greek and German food.

I took a seat at one of the many empty tables.

Ordered myself a Paulaner hefeweizen…

And I ordered gyros with t’zatziki,  which came with the salad above…  I kind of liked the lack of lettuce.

The gyros were pretty good, although I’ve had better in other restaurants.  I did like the red pepper relish that came with them, although they did double billing with the t’zatzki.  This was 14,50 euros.

After a leisurely lunch outside, I pondered having another beer.  But clouds were coming and it was getting cooler.  I decided to pay the check and head back to the hotel to wait for Bill.  If we stay at the Wald Hotel again, I will make a point of trying a different restaurant for lunch.  There are several to choose from in the area.

Stuttgart is pretty nice when you have a bird’s eye view.

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Staycationing at the Waldhotel in Stuttgart…

Since Bill and I have lived in the Stuttgart area twice, I never thought I’d get the chance to try a hotel in Stuttgart proper.  Then we got the chance to see Van Morrison in concert.  Having attended a couple of concerts in Stuttgart, I realized that if we tried to drive to and from Stuttgart, it could make for a long day.  Since we’re not as broke as we used to be and I had sprung for “business class” seats at last night’s concert, I convinced Bill that we needed a short “staycation”.  Since I like to do things as first class as possible, I booked us a superior room at Stuttgart’s Waldhotel.

The Waldhotel is very well regarded on TripAdvisor and is located in Degerloch, a rather leafy part of the city near the TV tower and a large sports complex.  I also noticed that Waldhotel was very convenient to the U-Bahn, had parking, air conditioning, and located near several restaurants.  It ticked all of the boxes, except for maybe the fact that it lacks a pool and a hot tub.

We arrived at the hotel at about 6:30pm.  I was a little stressed because I’d been worrying all day about my dog, Zane, who just had a lump aspirated.  I knew we would be getting the results of the needle biopsy on Tuesday.  Fortunately, the lump turned out to be a harmless lipoma.  Aside from being really happy that Zane doesn’t have a cancerous lump (that I know of, anyway), we also battled traffic while hangry and Bill was stressing needlessly about our dinner reservations at Ampulle.  So maybe we were a little edgy when we got to the hotel.  Fortunately, the kind, professional, English speaking receptionist had our room all ready for us.

First impressions.

 

I’m not usually one to spend a lot of money on hotel rooms.  I mean, I’ll spend more if I think the upgrade is worthwhile.  A lot of times, the higher priced room just means more square footage or a better view.  I decided to splurge at the Waldhotel because the superior rooms have either balconies or terraces and are facing the woods.  I don’t remember there being a huge price difference.  And, it could be that the less expensive rooms were booked, but since I booked in June, I don’t remember.

Our room was outfitted with a very comfortable bed complete with little Ritter Sports at the foot.  The linens and duvet were excellent was just right.  I slept a lot during our staycation.  The bathroom was enclosed with frosted glass, which I didn’t like so much because when Bill got up to shower, the light woke me up.  But the bathroom did have a fabulous rainfall shower head and excellent toiletries.

The TV welcomed us.  Our room had a complimentary “minibar”, which really just consisted of water and apple juice.  Bill drank the apple juice and said it was delicious.  The TV offered several news channels in English, at least one French channel, and of course, the usual German programming.  I watched a German show about Polizei yesterday.  It was surprisingly entertaining despite my tenuous grasp on the German language.

 

Breakfast was not included in the rate I booked, but we went ahead and had breakfast both mornings. It was 21 euros a person, which is admittedly expensive.  However, I can’t deny that the buffet offered plenty– there were scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, beans, and mushrooms (yecch).  There were cereals, cold cuts, cheeses, breads, yogurts, and plenty of drinks.  The wait staff was attentive, friendly, and professional.  Yes, it was pricey, but what the hell…  The hotel also has a bar that is open from 5:00pm until 1:00am.  The restaurant, which requires reservations, is very fancy.  We didn’t try it, but maybe we will on a future visit.  I am convinced that booking a hotel for concert nights in Stuttgart is a good idea.

The view from our terrace.  It was outfitted with a table and chairs, as well as an ashtray.  

Waldhotel has bikes for rent, as well as a fitness room and sauna (which I didn’t investigate).

The front of the hotel.  

 

Waldhotel has a couple of outdoor parking areas.  It also has a garage.  It costs 12 euros a day to park in the garage, but we lucked into an outdoor spot.  Bill took the train to work yesterday, which was super easy from the Waldau-GAZi Station.

Normally, when I accompany Bill on trips where he’s working, I’m hard pressed to find things to do.  I didn’t have that problem at the Waldhotel.  Yesterday, I took a walk and ended up at Stuttgart’s TV tower, which is located just down the street from the hotel.  For seven euros, I rode an elevator for 36 seconds to some of the best views in Stuttgart.  It was cloudy yesterday and actually pretty damn cold at the top of the tower.  There was also rain up there that wasn’t on the ground.  I was wearing a short sleeved shirt and got a bit chilly, but I did manage to get some good photos.  The TV tower offers discounts for kids as well as seasonal tickets.  It’s well worth a look if you’re in the neighborhood.

The TV tower has a little cafe in it that serves drinks and snacks during the day and offers cocktails at night.  There’s also a bathroom up there.  I thought about having some coffee, but it was close to lunchtime, so I decided not to.  As for lunch, I ended up at Luftbad Restaurant Der Grieche im Grünen.  I ate dorade with vegetables and potatoes, drank a glass of wine, and had a hefeweizen for dessert.  I did take pictures of my lunch, but accidentally deleted them.  Oops.  I’ll just say that the food and service were fine.  Other dining options in the area include an Italian restaurant, a Swabian restaurant that was having a ruhetag yesterday, but was putting off lovely aromas on Tuesday night, an Imbiss near the TV tower, and the TV tower’s own restaurant, Leonhardts.  I thought about trying Leonhardts, but was scared away by the reviews.

I went back to the hotel after lunch and ended up taking a really long, wonderful nap– probably about two solid hours.   Had I wanted to, I could have enjoyed a hike through the many walking trails around the Waldhotel.  I’m glad I got a chance to catch up on my sleep, though.  I was well prepared for Lizz Wright and Van Morrison.  I will be writing about their performances in my next post.  Stay tuned for that.

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