Elf's Shrine

My flight had a transit in Angry Bird Land (Helsinki - Vantaa International Airport) and although I had checked on the airport beforehand and confirmed that it offered free wifi.... I simply could not connect. *emo*

The flight from Helsinki to Berlin was 1 hr 45 mins. That's pretty short compared to the 12 hr flight that I had from Singapore to Helsinki (my bum hurt :( ). We were pretty well fed on the way to Helsinki, inflight entertainment had sufficient options for me to sustain the 12 hr flight (not to mention that I somewhat slept fitfully for about 7 or so hours) although definitely not as extensive as the library that you get on SIA. After the meal service, they would come by a further two times to provide drinks, afterwhich you can either help yourself or get them to come by.

The flight from Helsinki on the other hand, had a meal service that was excruciatingly long. I'm not sure whether it has anything to do with the fact that the flight had been transferred over to Flybe (still using Finnir planes and staff in Finnair livery) but I was beginning to wonder if we would ever get our food before we actually landed. We did manage to get food about 15 mins before we started laning approach, but unfortunately there was no option and it was a sandwich with beef, so I had just apple juice and tea.

Because I had already entered Europe in Finland, the exit via Berlin Tegel airport was fast. Hopped off the plane onto the bus, transferred to the baggage claim area and it was outta the airport. Took a little while to get my bearings outside the airport but I managed to get myself the Berlin Welcome Card (I bought the 72 hrs option). Got on the TXL bus which goes all the way to Alexanderplatz and I had to hunt a bit for the U Bahnhof (subway station) but luckily it wasn't that hard to find.

At the U Bahnhof, I had a little trouble getting on the right train. The instructions I got was to take the U 5 headed to Hönow but the U 5 train that arrived did not list Hönow as the terminus station, so I tried to asked someone who immediately gave me a "Nicht versteht." *another emo* Well, she did shake her head when I asked "Hönow?" so I guess she was telling me that the train does not go to Hönow. After checking my directions again, I realised that it did not matter that the train did not go to Hönow.... dum dum. Anyways, I managed to make it to the hotel 2 hours after landing in Berlin, via public transport.

Although along the way, there were times where I wondered if I was lost, I think that is the beauty of independent travelling. It's a bit scary when you think you are lost but then when you realise you were on the right track and found where you wanted to go, it's feels really great!

After checking in, I got so lazy because I was tired from the flight... so I lazed in the hotel for quite a while until I decided to go out for groceries and to the Anne Frank Zentrum.

The Anne Frank Zentrum is in Rosenthaler Straße (no 39) but is a little hard to find. Look for a cinema billboard and walk in, the words "Anne Frank Zentrum" is not displayed anywhere that you can see from the main street. Some of the exhibits were borrowed from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and I shall visit that as well if I ever go to Amsterdam.

It is great that the Berlin and Germany of today acknowledges what has happened. There is no whitewashing that I know of as I view the exhibitions (we all know who whitewashes history don't we?), of course I dare not say that I am familiar with that part of European history well enough to endorse it. Anne has alot of photos taken because her father is an avid photographer and there are two rows of photographs displayed along the ceilings, one of Berlin from 1929 to 1945 and one of Anne from 1929 (birth) to 1945. However, the last photo available of her was when she was 13 years old. That, emphasised the dark and lost years for so many people whom Anne represents.

 I do so love to visit World War II related places, it holds a sort of fascination for me. Perhaps, it means that people can suffer so much and strive to survive... perhaps it is a hope that people will learn and be better.

After Anne Frank Zentrum, I went in search of food as I hadn't eaten for 16 hours! Found a place called Adebar. Nice, cosy and the food was pretty good. By that I guess it probably means it's salty to the majority of Singaporeans (I really don't know when it started but Singaporean food has got so bland.)

Got back to hotel.. and crashed big time lol.