31 May 2010

Today we drove, and drove, and . . . Vienna to Berlin is a good long haul. We left Vienna a little earlier than planned, and decided to take the most direct route back through Austria and up to Berlin. The alternative was a possible route through the Czech Republic, that would have taken even longer. So we headed toward Linz, Austria, and then north into Germany.

The countryside in both Austria and Germany was very pretty, and reminded us of Oregon with the rolling hills and farm land, broken by forests of fir and other trees. It also rained much of the way, just like western Oregon.

We arrived in Berlin about 6:30 (18:30) and found our hotel without much trouble. Parking was another issue. So we double parked in front of the hotel to unload and then parked the car in a public garage for the next couple of days. We will use public transportation.

For dinner we walked to a local institution: Dicke Wirtin. It's been here for a long time and has been a gathering place for students during the past forty years.

Tomorrow we're off to explore Berlin with some guidance from the clerk at our hotel.