Slovenia, Austria: Part 14 - Day 15 and 16: Walking tour Berlin, train from Berlin to Stockholm

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 15 and 16.

6/8 Day 15: Walking tour Communism and Socialism in Berlin (10am -1pm) with Walkative. Overnight train from Berlin (21:10 hours) to Stockholm (13:20 hours)

7/8 Day 16: Arrived back in Stockholm.

Costs

(1) Locker at Berlin Hbf - EUR6 (shared)

(2) Train ticket for walking tour - EUR3,50
(3) Tips for Walking tour - EUR8

Food

(1) Lunch at Maximilians - Bratwurst EUR18,50, apple strudel EUR8,30, non-alcoholic Almdudler EUR3,90

(2) Dinner at kebab restaurant in Berlin Hbf - EUR7,90 (shared with 2)

(3) Breakfast on Snälltåget - Breakfast set (sandwich, cinnamon bun, apple juice packet drink, apple and coffee) SEK99

The Story

06082024 : We woke up at 7am. We got our breakfast served by the train attendant. Unfortunately, there was no coffee in our breakfast. I took a picture with the pillow because it is a very small pillow. We had our breakfast on the bed. It was a simple breakfast of 2 buns, butter, jam and an orange packet drink.

We put our luggage in the locker in Berlin Hbf. We did the same last year too. We decided to stop at Espresso House to get some coffee while we waited for our guided walking tour at 10am. It was very interesting in the beginning to hear about communism but a lot of the information eventually overlapped with our walking tour 'Welcome to Berlin' that we did last year. During the middle of the tour, I lost the plot on communism and socialism. In the end, it was on World War II and the Berlin Wall which I have heard of before. The tour required us to buy a train ticket as the guide brought us to another area.

Considering the title of the walking tour, we had to be at Marx-Engels park. 

Marx-Engels-Forum is a public park in the central Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is named for Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of The Communist Manifesto of 1848 and regarded as two of the most influential people in the socialist movement. Source from Wikipedia.

We stopped in front of a carvings on a building (Mutter Hoppe Biergarten) where key events of Berlin were carved. The guide explained the key events based on the carvings.

After the tour, we had lunch at Maximilian - the same restaurant that we had last year. I even took a picture with the giant statue holding a beer mug. Last year, I had meatloaf. This year, I had a giant sausage with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. 

After lunch, we went to a park to rest. It was sunny and very hot so it was nice to rest under a shade. For dinner, we had kebab at Berlin Hbf. When we started to cheer our glasses, a stranger that sat opposite us cheered together with us and clinked his glass against ours. He was alone and slightly tipsy. Our train departed as scheduled at 21:10 hours. 

07082024: Our breakfast on Snälltåget the next day at 8.30am. We arrived in Stockholm at 13:20 hours.

That marks the end of our train adventure in Slovenia and Austria. 

At the end of the Austrian trip, I felt that it was not a fulfilling visit. I felt that I did not learn anything and the visits to the European countries felt similar now. History, architecture, nature and food. I did not feel satisfied. Probably I could have done different activities. I looked back into our activities - I took a dip in Lake Bled, rented a boat in Lake Bled, and hiked in Lake Bled and Salzburg to experience nature and see the mountains. Maybe the high expenses and flood of people in Vienna affected my experience and unfortunately, it happened at the end of the trip which made me felt like it was not a fulfilling trip. 

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Here are the list of places I went. You can click on the link and be directed to the posts immediately. 

Day 1 - Overnight train from Stockholm to Berlin

Day 2 - Berlin: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Train to Augsburg

Day 3 - Augsburg: Fuggerei, dip in Eiskanal. Overnight train to Ljubljana, Slovenia 

Day 4 - Slovenia: Guided walking tour, Union Beer Experience

Day 5 - Slovenia: Train to Postojna cave

Day 6 - Bus to Lake Bled. Walked along the lake.

Day 7 - Lake Bled: Hired a boat. Hiked 3 peaks.

Day 8 - Lake Bled: Hiked to Bled Castle and Straza trail. 

Day 9 - Train from Bled to Salzburg, Austria.

Day 10 - Salzburg: Hiked from Salzburg to Zistelalm.

Day 11 - Salzburg: Hiked from Zistelalm to Ebenau

Day 12 - Salzburg: Hiked from Ebenau to Faistenau. Train from Salzburg to Vienna.

Day 13 - Vienna: Guided walking tour, overrated coffee house culture.

Day 14 - Vienna: Dorotheum auction house. Overnight train from Vienna to Berlin

Day 15 - Berlin: Walking tour Communism and Socialism in Berlin. Overnight train from Berlin to Stockholm (this post)

I have mentioned some of my expenses in each post and I did have other expenses which are not illustrated in the respective posts. For total and different category of expenses, I will sum it here.  

I used the exchange rate EUR1 = SEK11,49.

1) Transport - Train tickets in Austria and Slovenia SEK5.543,26 per person. Snälltåget = SEK3197. The balance is EUR204,20 // SEK2.346,26. 
2) Accommodation (Airbnb) - EUR528,10 // SEK6.067,87 per person

3) Food, local bus and train ticket, tips - SEK8.287,16 (my portion). 

4) Entrance fee (Union beer tour, Postojna Cave) - EUR45,40 // SEK521,65 per person

Total Cost for the trip SEK20.419,94 for 15 days. 

Slovenia, Austria: Part 13 - Day 14: Dorotheum auction house, train from Vienna to Berlin

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 14.

5/8 Day 14: Dorotheum auction house, Stadtpark (city park). Overnight train from Vienna (22:10 hours) to Berlin (arrived 08:15 hours).

Costs

(1) Locker at Wien Hbf - EUR2,50 (shared)

(2) Ticket for overnight ÖBB train to Berlin - EUR109,90

Food

(1) Breakfast at Meidlinger Markt - Breakfast set EUR15,20

(2) Spar grocery store - Waffle Manner Mignon 400g EUR3,99, Manner Mozart Mignon 400g EUR3,99

(3) Fika at Cafe Dorothea - Cappucino EUR4,80, Topfenstrudel (cream cheese strudel) EUR4,40

(4) Sagt restaurant (Biergarten) in the city park - Pink guava drink 500ml EUR4,90 

(5) Dinner - Chicken Kebab EUR4,50

The Story

05082024 : Today, we will take the overnight train from Vienna to Berlin and the following day, we will take the overnight train from Berlin to Stockholm. When we agreed to this plan, we thought it would be great to sleep on the train and we have the whole day to explore the town. But it would have been sufficient to have one night on the train rather than two nights as I would like to change my underclothes. 

First, breakfast! A friend tipped us to visit a market near our accommodation. I planned a market visit but it was further and on the way to the train station. So, we decided to go to the market near us at Meidlinger Markt. We stopped at a random cafe that was opened at 8am and had a huge breakfast set for a cheaper price than we had at the coffee house Cafe Museum yesterday! 

Here is a collage I did for both places, as I was appalled by the price in Cafe Museum and I got only one part of the breakfast that I had in the market.

We checked out from the Airbnb and headed towards the train station to store our luggages in the locker. There is a giant clock on the building and you can see that we arrived at 11.30am. It started to rain shortly. Unfortunately, our lockers were occupied! It was a huge storage room. We went to the information counter and asked where we could store our luggages. They suggested hotels that were outside the train station. We went to Novotel first but their storage was full and they accept only bookings for storage for non-guests. They recommended Bounce app and suggested we go to Ibis Hotel which was next door. We went there and they were full in the storage too, and suggested to check Bounce app. It was raining heavily so we decided to wait in Ibis Hotel.

Slovenia, Austria: Part 12 - Day 13: Guided walking tour, 'overrated' coffee house culture

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 13.

4/8 Day 13: Guided free walking tour (10am - 12pm). Experienced coffee culture at Cafe Demel. Visited St. Stephen Cathedral and Wien Museum.

Costs

(1) Tips for Guided walking tour - EUR3

Food

(1) Breakfast at Cafe Museum - Breakfast set EUR8,30, espresso and cream EUR6,90

(2) Fika at Cafe Demel - Slice of sacher-torte EUR8,50, espresso with whipped cream EUR7,90, tip EUR1,15 (my share)

(3) Lunch at Sausage stall - Sausage and bread EUR5

(4) Dinner at Giersterbräu - Orange juice 250ml EUR3,80, Krautfleckerl (Austrian noodles with caramalised cabbage and onion) EUR16,80

(5) Beer at Hawidere Bier & Burger - Non-alcoholic Almdudler EUR3,60

The Story

04082024 : It was forecasted for a rainy day today. So, we brought our ponchos out with us. Our Airbnb was located about an hour's walk from the meeting point for our guided tour. It was quite far and the legs were tired but we made the conscious decision to walk. Haha! We thought that it would be okay. Along the way, we stopped for breakfast at Cafe Museum. It was a very expensive breakfast. It did not come across my mind that Cafe Museum is part of the 'coffee house culture' cafe. It is hence, the expensive breakfast! The 'coffee house culture' in Vienna is awarded a UNESCO intangible culture heritage. I thought Sweden has a coffee culture with almost everyone drinking coffee. But Vienna has a UNESCO award. Wow. So, the coffee house culture experience in Vienna is something else. It is characterised by coffee house with high ceilings, wooden floors, upholstered sofas, racks with newspapers to borrow, waiters and waitresses dressed in tuxedo and white blouses respectively, coffee served in cups with the mark of the coffee house together with water and coffee spoon sits upside down on top of the glass of water. Of course, no one reads newspapers that often nowadays.

Here is our breakfast set. The coffee spoon did arrive upside down on a glass of water. And our coffee cup bears the mark of the coffee house. So, check! Coffee house culture is as per description. The coffee is espresso and served with cream. 

It is a very small breakfast set, compared to the breakfast we had the next day. The cheapest set on the menu. I was annoyed when my travel companion tipped the waiter. I did not think the waiter did anything exceptional and everything was already expensive! As if we had not paid enough with the breakfast set... Hmph!

It started to rain at the end of our breakfast. We thought the guided tour will be cancelled but we saw other tourists waiting too. I did not enjoy the walking tour as I hoped as I could not hear the guide properly. The tourists in the group were spread out so the guide moved herself around when she spoke and her voice got carried away. Also, there was no connection or relationship in her stories. She explained the history or stories based on where we stopped. The town was filled with a LOT of tourists. SO MANY tour groups. It was very crowded.

Impressive St. Stephen's Cathedral.