Malta, December 2008 - New Year's Eve

Started by going down to the restaurant for breakfast. I thought we were meeting in the restaurant but Kim and Karen said we agreed to meet in the lobby. We finally met up and decided to go to the place outside of the hotel. Both places were not that good. We will need to find a better place. After breakfast, we met Louise from FCm. She took us to the Libyan Embassy and pushed our visa applications through. She said they would be ready in the afternoon not the normal three days. Afterward, she took us to their office for a meeting with her company. The meeting went very well, I think they can help us out with a lot of issues. We went back to the embassy and picked up our visas. Cool! Louise had free time during the afternoon so she drove us to Mdina. We looked around a bit and found a nice café’ for lunch. The food was good and we had a few bottle of wine. She dropped us off at the Bay Street shopping area near the hotel where I found the Hard Rock Café’. I purchased my HRC items then we grab a booth and talked for several hours. We headed back to the hotel, Kim said that Moktar would arrive around 9PM. I was half-asleep when Moktar knocked on my door and said lets go, so we all gathered around 10PM in the lobby and ended up at a small bar at the bottom of the hill. This is where we celebrated new years. We then ventured over to Bay Street to find some food, ended up having pizza.

Malta, December 2008 - Back in Malta, Intro to FCm

Kim, Karen and I took of for the airport, we had two visa/airport guys going with us to make sure everything went smooth. We got special treatment and was escorted through customs. The plane took off on time and we got to Malta by 1:30PM. There was a driver waiting for us arranged by a travel company, FCm. Two reps from FCm also met us. The driver took us to the hotel, the Corinthia. When I checked in, they said that I had a free upgrade to the executive level so we all went up stairs. I checked in with no problems, but when Kim and Karen checked in there were told to go back to the main check in desk. All's fine now. After about 15 minutes, we all met in the lobby with the FCm reps. Looks like these folks will be able to help us with many issues. They do corporate bookings and bill once a month. They also help with Libyan visa. After our meeting, we were on our own until dinner. Around 7ish we met down stairs then walked down the Henry J Beans restaurant. We ordered Mexican, the food was good.

Germany, December 2008 - Back to Tripoli

Off to the airport, I do not want to go back Libya! This vacation was excessively short. Troy and Tim are great companions, we had a ball the entire time! Checking in at the Berlin airport is a bit different. Like Tripoli, you must wait until the flight is posted on a screen. Our flight was posted 90 minutes before takeoff. The flight was delayed by 30 minutes but the airline held our connecting flight until we arrived, that was unusually. When we got off the plane, a special van was ready and rushed us directly to the boarding gate via the tarmac. Arrived in Tripoli,  Troy and I were held up in customs because of our souvenir Check Point Charlie passport stamps in our passports. After everyone left the customs area, we were released. The good news is was that our luggage made it with us. Sat with Gareth, Phil and Troy at dinner. Phil and I were comparing notes about Egypt. After dinner, I went down to Gareth’s flat and gave him the chocolates and newspapers. We chatted awhile about Berlin and work.

Germany, December 2008 - Potsdam

Had a hard time our getting up this morning, too much to drink at the bar last night. Everyone met up in lobby at 9:30AM. We went to the tour bus pickup point to verify it was operating. Then we went around the corner for a small breakfast, brat and fries. We took off at 10AM to the Potsdam area. The tour was mostly via bus we did get off at the Sanssouci Place for a tour. The most interesting part of Potsdam was the old KGB “secret town” neighborhood. The famous WWII Potsdam Conference was held in this neighborhood at the Cecilienhof Place. When we got back to Berlin Tim just wanted to pick up fast food and take a nap. Troy and I finally took this opportunity to have a late lunch at the Hard Rock Café. It was my first real American style hamburger since I left the States. We went back to the hotel, I took a much needed nap and then rendezvoused with the others at our normal time. We had a few drinks then went to an Italian restaurant. The food was good, I had the pork medallions, the pizzas looked good to. I called it a night and said goodbye to Tim since he will have to stay until Tuesday to get his Visa fixed.

Germany, December 2008 - Solo

Had breakfast by myself again. I walked down to DD for a coffee, when I got back to the lobby Troy was waiting on Tim or me. I said I was heading upstairs to draft up my itinerary for the day and that I would be back down in an hour. I decided yesterday that I was not going to do the third walking tour. I went to leave and Troy was in the lobby waiting on Tim, they were heading out somewhere. I ended up walking all the way to the Sony Center via the park and “Straβe des 17, Juni”, this is the name of the main drive going through the park. I took better pictures of the Victory Column and Reichstag building, also took an aerial shoot of the Holocaust Memorial. I was tired after all of the walking so I went to the Ritz Carlton and relaxed in the lobby for 30 minutes. Then took the S-Baun to the Friedrich Station and switched trains then went to the Alexander Station. I walked along the elevated tracks until I found the Brauhaus Lemke brewery. The food was disappointing because they were serving only a buffet, but the beer was the best I have had in Berlin. I believe it was a bock or an alt. Then I went to the TV Tower and went up to take a few pictures. After all of that I hopped back on the train and went back to the Hotel. I tried to take a nap but decided to head down to Ka De We to check out the groceries on the top level, awesome. I met up with the guys at the hotel bar for our daily 6PM social hour.  The hotel staff was having their xmas party this night. By now we know the entire bar staff and they know us as the crazy Americans who spend over 200€ a night, the bar manager was working tonight so her staff could enjoy the party.  We ended up drinking til 7PM then we went to other steak restaurant the Maredo. I think this was the best steak so far this week. We went back to the hotel bar and drank until late.

Germany, December 2008 - Hop-on/Hop-off

Today the three of us rode the City-Circle hop-on/hop-off tour bus. Tim took this tour bus yesterday. It was much better than the walking tours from the two previous days. We got off at the Sony Center to show Tim, Hitler’s bunker location and we ended up walking to the Holocaust Memorial, Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag building. We walked back to the Sony Center and grabbed a bratwurst for the first time in Germany. It was great! We also went in to a brew hall for a bowl of soup and a beer. We got back on the bus and took it to Check Point Charlie. Took a few photos and read the history on the walls that were all over the place.  Back on the bus to the Fernsehturn – TV Tower stop. The line for the tower was too long so we bagged that idea and got back on the bus and got off at the starting point. Rested in the room for a bit then we met back up at our rendezvous point at 6PM, the hotel bar. We went to the Block House steak restaurant but there was a line to get in so we back tracked a few blocks and tried an Argentina Steak restaurant, Cayenne. Great choice, the meal was great. Went back to the hotel and had a night cap with Troy.

Germany, December 2008 - The disapearing Tim trick

I had breakfast at 8AM then met Troy in the lobby at 9:45AM. We went to the train station and bought 7-day passes and purchased the Potsdam tickets for Tuesday. Went to the Hard Rock Café for lunch around 11AM but it did not open until noon. Therefore, we ended up at the café around the corner from the hotel. I had a currywurst, the food was so-so. Then we proceeded to the rendezvous point for the Third Reich tour. The tour was very disappointing, only saw a few landmarks and spent most of the tour near the Berlin Wall monument. We got back to the hotel and killed some time before we met at our normal time at 6PM in the hotel bar. Tim had way too much to drink, he was slurring his words before we even left for dinner. We took a cab and got there in no time at all. Had dinner at a brew Pub in the Sony Center. The center is very cool at night, I took a lot of pictures. The down side was that we were watching Tim to make sure he did not get into any trouble but he disappeared. Troy and I spent 30 minutes looking for him but gave up and took a cab back to the hotel.  We tried to call his room but no answer.  We had a nightcap at the bar and called it a night.

Germany, December 2008 - Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

Met Troy in the lobby at 8:30AM, we went looking for a place to get breakfast. We went to the Zoologischer Garten Train Station and found several café’s and another Duncan Donuts across the street from the one we found yesterday. We both got a cheese and meat croissant and I of course bought a DD coffee. After we ate, we went for a walk in the park near the station. Walked down the Landwehrkanal. By the time we got back it was close to the meeting time for the tour. The group took the train to one of the main stations and transferred from the S-Baun to a light rail commuter train (DB-Baun) to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. It was cold! The combination of just a light leather jacket, t-shirt and the fact that I have lost so much weight made for a very cold day for me. We arrived at the information center were our guide met us. We walked down to the main gate and entered into a museum. Then we were taken into the camp. They have reconstructed three wooden bunkers. The rest of the camp just had the concrete foundations. We made our way to the gas chambers, eerie. As soon as I got back in Berlin, I went to a nearby department store and purchased a sweater. We once again rendezvoused at the hotel bar for a few before we headed out. We went to Reinhart’s for dinner. This is a very fancy restaurant, the food was excellent. After we got back Tim wanted to go solo tonight, so Troy and I just went walking around the neighborhood.

Germany, December 2008 - Bose

We were supposed to meet at the breakfast buffet at 9AM but Tim and Troy did not show until after I left. We met in the lobby after they ate. Troy’s luggage showed up first around 11AM, Tim’s luggage showed a little earlier, I did not get mine until the late afternoon. During the day we just walked around a three block radius of the hotel but found all kinds of stuff. We went clothes shopping and found a nearby xmas village area setup on a city block with all kinds of vendors from nick-knacks to food to drinks. We stumbled across and huge electronics store (Saturn), all three of us ended up buying a set of Bose speakers for the computer/TV. We rendezvoused at the hotel bar for a few before we headed out for the evening. (More than just a few).  Tonight we went to a steak restaurant around the corner, it was good but not what I wanted for my first steak dinner. Afterward we went to the bar next door to the hotel that we were in last night.

Germany, December 2008 - Are we going to make it?

Off to Berlin!  We left on time for once out of Libya. We arrived in Vienna with plenty of time to spare. However, the plane to Berlin was canceled so we were rushed all through the airport, first we went to the Lufthansa gate then the Austrian rep said that we had to fly to Frankfurt to catch a flight to Berlin. So we got on board the flight to Frankfurt, no problems. Then we got on the flight to Berlin, this time they put us in business class, Cool! Therefore, we made it to Berlin but our luggage was still in Vienna. Oh well, good thing I brought underwear in my carry on. We finally checked in around 12:30AM, and proceeded to get drunk at the hotel bar.  They closed up at 2AM  then we went out walking in the early morning air. Got to bed around 4AM.