Return to Berlin

At 10 o'clock in the morning, we began our train ride back to Berlin... possibly the longest 10 hours of my life! It was a better trip than the ride to München but I once again couldn't spend the time in peace, reading and sleeping. One of the highlights (in a very silly way!) was that the train went through the Czech Republic and I got a lot of stamps in my passport! Czech Republic is not party to the Schengen Agreement and required passport control from both Austrian and Czech border control officers. It was kind of funny the difference in stamping between the Germans, Austrians and Czechs that I've seen: Germans stamped in the first available space, right side up. Austrians stamped on the first available page, not too concerned with orientation. The Czechs flipped to any random blank page and my entry and exit visas are stamped on different pages--the second to last and fourth to last pages of my passport. Go figure!

At about 19.30 our train finally arrived at Berlin Hauptbahnhof and we were on our own once again to get home. Despite how dreary the weather is and how grumpy the people are here in Berlin, it was so nice to finally get back "home" and to my own space! Great trip but equally great to be done.