Long weekend in Berlin.
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Reeta’s clock was still on Portuguese time so it didn’t ring. Luckily my mobile rang three a.m. in the night. My father had misunderstood when he should fetch us so he arrived already 3:20 and he drove us to the airport 3:45 as planned. We had just been driving a couple of hundred meters when we saw a moose 10 meters from the car in the middle of the residential area where I live.
We checked in without problems and Reeta bought 1/2 liter of water and coffee for 2 x 25 SEK.
The AirBerlin flight departed 6.40 a.m. We got something to drink and a muffin onboard the plane.
Everything went very quickly at Tegel airport in Berlin with the exception of a long queue at the lady toilet. They had no passport or security check.
We found an information counter and asked where you could buy welcome cards and where the TXL bus stop was located. The man told us that we had to walk 2 minutes to terminal A. We were in terminal C.
We found a new information counter in terminal A and got the information that you could by welcome cards at the nearby counter. There was however a really long queue so we were informed that we also could go to another counter at number 9 if I remember correct. It was a little way to go but luckily there was no queue. We bought two 5-days tickets for around 60 euro in total.
We were informed that the buses departed to the left at number 15. There were no buses so we asked a woman. She said that we just had to cross right over to the right instead which was not correct. We asked a third person and again didn’t get correct information. Luckily we found the bus station anyway just outside the terminal close to number 15.
We managed to catch the TXL bus which was about to go. You carried your luggage onboard the bus. It is important to stamp your welcome tickets in the machine onboard the bus. You just have to do it once and then the ticket is valid for five days.
The bus passed the first station. I asked if we should go off at the next station, Beusselstrasse. The stations were displayed on an electric display inside the bus. The driver said yes, but luckily I checked the stations on a paper and saw that we should wait until the following station, Turmstrasse/ Beusselstrasse.
We had to walk about 15 minutes to the hostel. Normally the check in starts after 11 o’clock but we had paid 10 euro extra so we could check in as soon as we arrived, around 9:15.
We rang the bell at the entrance to the building so we could get inside. We went up to the fourth floor where a nice Russian girl called Tanja welcomed us. She studied in Poland, close to the border, and worked in Berlin. Paula, the owner of the hostel, also welcomed us.
We got the key to our room on first floor but had to put our luggage outside the room since it wasn’t cleaned yet. We could get the room at 12 but decided to visit the zoo first and come back afterwards.
We walked 15 minutes to the Turmstrasse metro station. You didn’t have to show the tickets for anyone or put it in machines to pass gates. You just had to get on the train. They have instead frequent checks of the tickets which occurred on our first trip. A man dressed in ordinary clothes got onboard and checked our tickets.
We showed our welcome cards at the zoo ticket counter. Normally the entrance cost 12 euro or 18 euro if you want to visit both the zoo and the aquarium. We only had to pay 9 euro each for the zoo since we had welcome cards.
The zoo was really nice and most of the cages were very clean. The big cats ought to have bigger cages however and the parrots didn’t have anything to play with. The most disgusting thing was that there were a lot of mice at the cages for the parrots. The mice were everywhere.
The zoo had a lot of animals and some very exotic such as panda. They had many different kinds of monkeys and apes and cats which were nice to look at. They also had sea lions which are funny.
I recommend the zoo which is big. You need a map so you don’t miss anything. We walked around during five and a half hour and probably missed some animals.
We took the subway back to Turmstrasse. We ate a good, and quite cheap, dinner at a Turkish restaurant not far from the hostel. It cost 12 euro for two persons or 14.40 euro including two cans of Coca Cola. You selected what you wanted to eat and the food was placed on a large plate which then was heated in a microwave oven. You also got a lot of bread and salad. It was so much food so you couldn't it all of it.
We returned to the hostel around 7 p.m. We planned to visit a salsa place but wanted to rest a little first since we were very tired after a long visit at the zoo and we had only slept three hours the previous night. Unfortunately we slept until 11 p.m. and then it was a little late to go out. It was also important for me to take it easy so I didn't catch a cold or something like that since I was planning to run the marathon on Sunday
We visited the Marathon Expo which was huge. It was located at an airport. Three big hangar buildings were crowded with people selling sport equipments. You had to pass all of them to find the counter where you could get your number which you should attach to your t-shirt. The timing chip you got at another place nearby. It cost 6 euro to rent it. You didn’t pay cash, instead they charged your credit card which you had used when you booked the marathon.
I bought a t-shirt for 25 euro and a jacket for 70 euro.
It rained the whole day so we just visited a shop, TK MAX, at the subway station Charlottenburg. Tanja had recommended that shop.
We ate the same dinner at the same restaurant as the day before. It was absolutely not very good food if you planned to run a marathon. You should eat food like pasta but instead we ate a lot of meat and fat. We also ate too much and again couldn't eat everything we had got since it was so much.
We arrived at the hostel quite late and I prepared everything for the marathon the next day. I went to bed around midnight.
I went up 6:30 and ate bread for breakfast before I took the subway to the marathon. On my way I met a guy from Denmark and at the station were a lot more people who were on the way to the marathon. I followed them to the Hauptbahnhof.
I planned to visit a toilet at the marathon area but unfortunately I had forgotten to bring toilet paper with me. It was not really stupid since I had eaten so much the night before. I had also eaten very late in the evening which probably wasn't the best thing to do.
It was raining but you could get plastic rain covers for free marked with Adidas. I had however already a very good Gore-Tex jacket and I was really thankful for that. It had cost quite a lot but at that moment it was worth every penny. It was super thin, made by Haglöfs, and really watertight. 25.000 mm water if I remember correct!
The first people started 9 a.m. I started in the last group, H, around 9:30.
I managed to run all the way and it took 4 hours and 37 minutes. Previously I had at home used Internet to set up my and Reeta’s cell phone numbers so you got two time SMS. The first SMS after half the way and the second when you finished.
I was satisfied with the time since my goal was just to run all the way without walking. Maybe I will try to get a better time in the future. I didn't run much during the summer since I was out dancing a lot. We had our yearly festival in Gothenburg and then I was out every evening and I had no time for running. When I had planned to start prepare myself for the marathon I got sick for two whole weeks. One of them I even had to stay at home since I had fever and couldn't work. After that we went on a holiday to London, Lisbon and Paris. When I returned I finally could prepare myself for the marathon during only two weeks and one day. I managed however to run three times 17 km, two times 22 km and one time 27 km during that time.
It was a very emotional moment when you passed Brandenburgen Tor and you only had a couple of hundred meters left to run. I think I even got some tears in my eyes. It had been raining the first three hours and at the party in the evening they said that it was the worst weather ever during the Berlin marathon's history. In the newspaper the next day you found the following headlines, "War's noch Laufen oder schon Schwimmen?" and "Der Plitsch-Platschathon, Rund 41 000 Teilnehmer quälten sich durch den nasseste Berlin-Marathon seit 20 Jahren". It was in other words the wettest marathon during the last 20 years and the question was if you should swim or run.
Here you have three short video clips which I filmed with my camera when I was running.
Berlin marathon start.
Brandenburger Tor, just a few hundred meters left.
The last 250 meters.
I took the subway home and arrived around 3 p.m. Reeta had been home all the day. My legs hurt and I had to rest five hours before I could go out.
8 p.m. we took the subway to the marathon party. It was also at the airport area where the expo had been. The party was inside a huge terminal building. They had a stage and in front of that they had a disco where they played good old music. Most of the people who ran marathon are quite old, or at least no teenagers.
I ordered a Cuba Libre for 6 euro and Reeta took another drink for 4 euro. We danced for a while at the disco and I was surprised that I actually could dance without problem after a marathon.
They presented the winners on stage. The best woman from Germany was really charming. She spoke a lot in German and also sang a song. After that we took the subway home, around midnight. The subway closes half an hour after midnight except on Fridays and Saturdays when it is open during the whole nights. You can however take busses instead after the subway closes for the night.
Close to the metro station we saw the above posters. Unfortunately we hadn't time for a visit.
We were very hungry and fortunately found a restaurant on Turmstrasse where you could buy grilled chickens. The restaurant was open until one o'clock in the night. We ordered the "Family A" menu and got two chickens, or more exact, four half chickens together with French fries. We took the food with us to the hostel where we ate it before we went to bed.
We had to check out 10 a.m. so we left our luggage outside our room and put the key in a box before we went out for sightseeing. We took the subway to Hauptbahnhof where we visited some of the shops in the big terminal building. Afterwards we went down to Brandenburger Tor and I think we walked to the Museum Island but I am not sure. We some very nice buildings but unfortunately hadn't time to go inside. It was raining. It had been raining three whole days.
Around 4 p.m. we took the subway back to our hostel. We had left our key for the door into the building but luckily a child went out when we came. We rang the bell at the apartment and were lucky again since a guest inside opened for us. You had of course the option to ring the bell at the door into the building and then Paula or Tanja could come down and open the door to the apartment.
We ate what was left of the dinner from yesterday, a whole chicken, before we walked to the subway station where you could take the TXL bus to Tegel airport.
There was a bus standing there when we arrived but it was full. Another bus just passed by. The third bus was also full. We was about to cross the street and take a taxi at the taxi station when Reeta saw on an electronic display that another TXL bus should arrive within a minute. Luckily we managed to squeeze inside so we could take the bus to the airport.
The bus stops at terminal A/B. Terminal C is a couple of hundred meters away. Our flight data had not yet come up on the display so we didn’t know which terminal we should go to. There was however a machine where you could get boarding cards for Air Berlin. First we didn’t know how to use it but after some time we figured out that you had to drag your passport in the same way you do with a credit card. Then you can write your booking number and get boarding cards for both of us. On the boarding card you could see that the flight departed from terminal C.
We walked to our terminal and checked in without problem. There was first a check of the boarding card and then a security check which we passed without problem. I cannot remember if they checked our passport.
There was a good shop where you could buy perfumes, chocolate and alcoholic liquids quite cheap. A liter of Absolute vodka cost 15.70 euro. There weren't different prices depending on if you should travel outside or inside EU which we have in Sweden. We bought some bottles which they sealed in plastic bags.
The flight home took just around an hour. We got something to drink and a Snickers chocolate.
My father fetched us at the airport.