Day 32 - Friday 7 July

Today Viking managed to take over 400 passengers from the German port of Warnemunde to Berlin, a distance of about 240 kms. At 5.30 am we walked the short distance from the new port facilities to the railway station where we boarded a privately booked train. The train journey took about two and a half hours, then we all climbed into buses for an hour and a half bus tour of the key sights of Berlin. Other cruise lines use buses for the whole trip which can take 4 to 5 hours depending on the traffic.

There is still a lot of construction work around the city, especially restoring historic buildings that were neglected in east Berlin. Our guide explained the purpose of extensive overhead pipe networks near these sites - Berlin has a high level of ground water so this has to be constantly pumped out of any diggings.

We had a few hours to walk around the city. This picture shows the protestant cathedral with the modern tv tower in the background. When the Berlin wall was erected by those pesky Russians in 1961, a lot of the cultural and other institutions could not be readily accessed by west Berliners. Therefore they built new art galleries, concert halls etc. When the wall came down in 1989 there were two of many of these institutions.

At 2 pm we all got back on the buses for the 20 minute drive to the train station to board our train for the return trip. The ship's crew didn't have a lot to do while so many passengers were off the ship for 12 hours. When the train arrived we could hear pop music coming from the ship. A large contingent of the crew were lined up on the deck dancing and clapping to the music and serving chamagne to the returning passengers.