Well, we need to get used to longer train journeys, so today was good practice. It should have been seven and a half hours, but astonishingly the second (German) train was late, so it was about 15 minutes longer. We had quite a leisurely start leaving the Gare du Nord on the 11.46 to Essen. We changed at Koln (Cologne) and got a nice view of the cathedral from the platform while we waited for the next train to Berlin.
We arrived at Berlin Hauptbahnhof just before 8.30pm and, while the enthusiasm of the train staff to make up time before the final stop (Berlin Ostbahnhof) was commendable, locking five of our group in and leaving with them was less so. So, most of us got on the bus to the hotel, but they had to get a taxi!
