Circling through Poland - with a bit of Germany thrown in.

[OZDUCK]

And to finish off Wroclaw a few more 'dwarves'.

The first one was created in 2001 - Papa Dwarf



Outside a pharmac_



Not hard to guess



For the guitar lovers









Celebrating the Polish Constitution of 1997.



The Lions Clubs



UNICEF Accreditation





Outside a jewellers.



This is just a small selection

 

[OZDUCK]

I thoroughly enjoyed Wroclaw and could happily have spent a few more days there. We now headed off to Berlin via the 'back roads'. The train took a pretty convoluted route through a number of smaller towns on low speed lines before joining the main line just before we crossed over the Oder River into Germany.

The morning of our departure was very foggy. This photo was taken after it had lifted a fair bit.



Some from inside the station. It really has some pretty areas.





A local train





Straw bailing time



Corn field



This very Germanic looking tower caught our eyes in the city of Legnica. This was the former German city of Liegnitz - its population was around 97% ethnic German in 1910. After WW2 the remaining German population was expelled and replaced with Polish settlers mostly from the eastern parts of Poland that had been 'ceded' to the USSR.

"Originally built as the city gas works and ammonium tower - after 1945 converted to be a water tower. Back in the hands of the national gas company the tower is used as a workshop and storage area while the old gas works building as a climbing wall."

 

[OZDUCK]

The city of Lubin . Formerly Luben - it suffered the same fate as Legnica except for suffering from more war damage and experiencing atrocities from both sides of the conflict.





This is a memorial to the arrival of the dispossessed Polish population from the lost eastern provinces.











Another remnant of a lost industrial past.





Another steam loco



Out for some fishing



Crossing the Oder River back into Germany







The sun was at a bad angle but this is the Tesla Gigafactory about 35 km from Berlin

 

[OZDUCK]

We got off the train at Berlin Ostbahnhof and my wife hurt her foot but it could have been a lot worse. As she stepped down from the train, the older Polish ones are pretty high and seem to be a fair way from the edge of the German railway platforms, her foot slipped on the white paint on the platform edge and she slipped into the gap between the train and platform. She luckily only went part way down and was able to get out but she ended up with some nasty bruises on her foot and leg.

We arrived back the day before our flight because of our mistrust of the current state of the rail system in Germany. Rather than go into central Berlin we opted to stay in the leafy suburb of Köpenick. We had spent a few hours there in 2013 and thought it would be a relaxing place to spend our last day in Europe. It is also only a short trip to Berlin Brandenburg Airport

Köpenick - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

We stayed at the Nena Apartments Berlin Adlershof. These had pretty spacious self catering apartments over several floors. We had ground floor ones.

The street our rooms fronted onto.



The main street. We were about 200metres from an S Bahn station.







There was a nice Italian restaurant about 150 metres away and it was very pleasant to have one last meal outside late in the evening.

 

[OZDUCK]

Our flight wasn't until the evening so we left our luggage with the reception and caught a tram to the centre of Köpenick. It was only 4 stops away. There is plenty of water around this area.

it -"is a historic town and locality (Ortsteil) in Berlin, situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree, in the southeast of the German capital."

Schloss Köpenick









The Town Hall. Opened in 1905 and built in the "Brick Gothic" Style. It has a 54 metre high clock tower

Rathaus Köpenick

The Captain of Köpenick made Köpenick’s town hall famous far beyond Berlin. The caper is still commemorated today.

www.visitberlin.de

The inner courtyard



It has a very nice interior especially around the main stairwell

 

[OZDUCK]

However the most famous thing about the Town Hall is the story of the "the Captain of Köpenick" - der Hauptmann von Köpenick . I have told this story in my TR of our 2013 trip but if you haven't come across before it is a great tale. There have been books, movies and plays created about this incident.

" --- was a German con man and impostor. In his most famous exploit, Voigt masqueraded as a military officer of the elite Prussian Guards in 1906, rounding up a number of Imperial German Army soldiers under his "command", "arresting" the Mayor of Köpenick, and "confiscating" 4,002 marks from the city treasury. Voigt then changed back into civilian clothing and disappeared with the money."

He was caught and sent to prison but ---

"Voigt was sentenced to four years in prison for forgery, impersonating an officer, and false imprisonment. However, much of public opinion was on his side. German Kaiser Wilhelm II pardoned him on 16 August 1908. There are claims that even the Kaiser was amused by the incident,"

Wilhelm Voigt - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

His statue stands in pride of place outside the town hall.





There is a small display inside



The , not very safe, safe.









Even an "Escape Room" adventure

Kiez Game - History Mystery Escape - Der Hauptmann von Köpenick

KIEZ GAME - Werde zum Hauptmann von Köpenick in Berlins erstem History Mystery. Spielend Geschichte erleben mit echten Fakten rund um die bekannteste Persönlichkeit aus Berlin.

kiez-game.de

 

[OZDUCK]

Walking around town and its waterways







There is a large island in the river called Baumgarteninsel.

"The Spree (today the Alte Spree) then flowed around the area to the north of the meadows. To the south, there was only a small ditch, the Katzengraben (Cat Ditch), which a cat could jump over and which had been created to drain the meadows. At the end of the 19th century, as part of a river straightening project on the Müggelspree, the Katzengraben was widened and deepened to a width and depth necessary for navigation, thus turning the area into an island. Later, it was filled in and allotments were created. Since 1922, the Baumgarteninsel allotment garden complex of the Köpenick Gardeners' Association has been located on the island"

Baumgarteninsel – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

The only access to the island is by boat.







A footbridge goes over the river and across the island but it gives no access to the island - unless you jump off it.











The local fire station - for both land and on-water fires

 

[OZDUCK]

Some abandoned warehouses/factory buildings and wharf



There is one large apartment building there







Wandering about we came across the old 'Fisherman's Village' - Fisherkietz.

"an old fishing village (Fisherkietz) which now belongs to the Treptow-Köpenick district in Berlin.The village was inhabited by the first Slavian fishermen in the 14th century and now still has a 17 traditional fishermen's houses"

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View this content on Instagram

 

[OZDUCK]

Being back in the Berlin area it was no surprise to see a Bear.




















The local theatre

 

[OZDUCK]

The only problem with our accommodation was that because the reception is inside the attached café we could only store our bags until it closed at 16:00. We ended up getting to Berlin Airport too early. Helped by the Bolt driver hitting 130 km/h on the 80 km access road. We had to wait about 70 minutes for the Qatar check-in counters to open. We had seats but while we were there a person a few seats down wandered off and left a suitcase unattended. After about 15 minutes, with continuous announcements about reporting unattended bags on the P.A, I tried to report it but couldn't see any security people and the staff member I did approach seemed to deliberately misunderstand what I was saying. Happily the errant case was claimed soon after.

Check in was interesting as they not only wanted to see our onward flight details from Singapore but also wanted to see evidence that we had lodged the Singapore Arrival Declaration This query about the Singapore declaration has never happened to us before. Occasionally we have been reminded that it needs to be done but never a demand to see proof. Then we tried to get through security. The 'Premium' line was extremely crowded and slow moving and it took about 30 minutes for us to get through.

Once we did get into it the lounge, Lounge Tempelhof, was very pleasant. Quiet and comfortable. The food was nothing exciting but ok. It is after security but before passport control. However it has two dedicated Immigration Booths attached to the 'back exit' of the lounge. Only one was open when we left but it took only a minute or so for us to get through.







A last Bretzel





I had refused to be extorted by QR into paying the exorbitant seat selection fees when booking but we both ended up with window seats after seat selection became free.

We had 1A and 1K - bassinet seats. During his pre-departure rounds the Cabin Manager asked both of us, separately, if we wanted to move into the middle seats so we could sit together - the horror. We both quickly refused his offer.

These seats are pretty exposed but have a massive amount of space and I prefer the space as I can't sleep on-board anyway.
.








Th Qatari chicken jareesh was fine but didn't have the most exciting taste. The spices all seemed pretty muted and a bit bland



The Sour cherry clafoutis was more interesting



I was amazed by how many big cities I seemed to be able to see at night in the 'middle eastern' part of the flight. They don't seem to be half as noticeable during the day. All my photos of them were cunningly taken out of focus.





Doha - taken by my wife



As you can see we won the lottery prize of a bus gate. But luckily the bus trip was only about 5 minutes this time - much quicker than others we have had there.

 

[OZDUCK]

We went to the Al Mourjan Lounge which I prefer to the Garden Lounge we used last time. We only had about 70 minutes to spare so I was happy to get a shower room after about a 10 minute wait. The only trouble was that the shower room was so hot after my shower that I was sweaty by time I was dressed again. Naturally our departure gate was at the far end of the terminal so we had to take the 'train' and then walk another few hundred metres. By this time I was starting to feel a bit unwell. By the time I got onboard I was definitely a bit under the weather. I think that the lack of sleep at the end of a long trip had really caught up with me as I had been awake for about 30 hours by then. I fell asleep for about 20 minutes before departure and then dozed off for another 30 minutes or so shortly after take-off. I still couldn't fall properly asleep and spent most of the trip to Singapore slumped in my seat under the blanket. So I took very few photos on this leg.

My wife likes the QR 'destination' pillows



Reefs just off Doha





When we had a stopover in Doha in 2018 our hotel was in the middle of these buildings



New islands







I was sitting in a backwards facing seat and was convinced that I could see desert dust being sucked into the engines until we climbed a bit



We passed overhead Dubai



This was my wife's fruit plate. This is all I had for breakfast but was able to eat only about half of it. For about the fist 6 hours of the flight I continued to huddle under my blanket and just drank a couple of glasses of water while listening to music. I was uninterested in most of the movies on board as they seemed to mainlyconsist of Marvel of John Wick episodes. But I was really unable to concentrate much anyway.



As usual there was a bit of bouncing of the Bay of Bengal which didn't make me feel any better.



About 90 minutes out from Singapore I started to feel better and ordered some food



Angus Beef - tender and tasty



Gooseberry friand - one of the best deserts I have ever had



The sun was setting as we got closer to Singapore



We came down the west coast of the Malay Peninsula and I got some great views of Singapore at night. My wife was on the other side of the plane and saw very little.





A slightly fuzzy video of the landing in Singapore. Just before I started filming this the plane did a sudden large course correction. It almost felt like it had lined up on the wrong runway.

 

[OZDUCK]

We arrived late in the evening and had a nights sleep at the Village Hotel Changi

The view from our room overlooking the golf course



Cheap but tasty breakfast at a little Indian café across the road



We had time for a bit of a walk in the Changi Beach Park



Pulau Ubin across the water









Aircraft are never far away



We then caught the free hotel shuttle bus to the airport and spent an hour or so in the Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 1 - thanks to my sons AMEX card

I had a nice Chicken rice



Another 'themed' plane

 

[OZDUCK]

Finally it was time for our last flight

One again we were flying ScootPlus - on the "Pikachu Jet"







This theme continued inside. At one stage one of the FA's walked past wearing a Pikachu onesie.













Every time we fly out of Singapore there is more work happening around the nearby islands





After about 10 minutes in the air the widows are darkened on all the Scoot flights I have been on of late





We did get a nice sunset. I could 'undarken' my widow but my wife's one wouldn't change

 

[OZDUCK]

And that is all folks.

Summing up our trip.

- ScootPlus still offers us a good way to beat the Australia tax by getting us overseas in reasonable comfort and price so we can pick up J seats in Singapore.

- We hadn't flown QR since 2019 and I thought that there has been a definite drop in the standard of the cabin crew we experienced. Many, not all, seemed to be just doing their basic job and nothing else. But the plans are still comfortable.

- Berlin is still Berlin and always is a fun place to visit.

- If you have a chance and are interested in nature go to the Spreewald.

- Poland surprised me by how 'modern' much of it felt. I think my mind was still stuck in those grainy news items from the 1980's when it was suffering under martial law. We were mostly in the big cities so the countryside might well be different.

- English is widely spoken in the larger cities we visited an we never had any real problems ordering meals etc

- Prices of food etc seemed about on a par with Western Australia and it was much cheaper than Germany

- Cards were widely accepted almost everywhere - far more so than in Germany for example.

- We didn't try Uber but the Bolt cars were mostly fine.

- The Polish trains did the job and were pretty much on time. Some were a bit old fashioned with the 'horse box' compartments. But I noticed a news item yesterday saying that the local rail company PKP has just ordered something like 90 new double decker train sets from the French carriage maker Alston, to be manufactured/assembled in Poland, so this should improve comfort levels. It was also noticeable how much rail track work we passed.

- I was surprised at how popular tattoos are - especially with the younger woman. To me they seemed far more extensive than in Perth.

- Now we are in our early 70's these longer trips are beginning to wear us out by the end of the 4th week or so. Shorter trips may now be the go.

 

[RB]

Thanks again for a comprehensive report. Great photos & enjoyed your wanderings to the less frequented spots

 

[drron]

A very good TR which certainly convinced me to include Poland in September next year. I am no longer in my early 70s and will in fact turn 80 god willing in December 2026. like you the long trips are taking a toll but we then just catch up for a few days. As well my mobility problems slowly getting worse so in the next 15 months I have 4 long trips basically planned which will very likely be the last. Will hopefully just have a few relaxing trips to Asia after those.
I originally did have a Nile cruise booked for next September but it got cancelled by A&K. I now doubt I could physically do it. So your reports on Poland sorted my problem as Gdansk is on my bucket list after I met Lech Walesa in 1988 at his State Reception in Maitland. We have 13 days planned. I had hoped for 14 days but couldn't get an award on the day I wanted so the day after it was.
Plan is 3 nights in each of Gdansk, Krakow and Wroclaw and 4 in Warsaw. So thanks for this very timely TR.

 

[tgh]

Thanks for a great report, this was a wonderful tr, great photography backed up by entertaining and educational commentary.....very well done !

 

[OZDUCK]

A very good TR which certainly convinced me to include Poland in September next year. I am no longer in my early 70s and will in fact turn 80 god willing in December 2026. like you the long trips are taking a toll but we then just catch up for a few days. As well my mobility problems slowly getting worse so in the next 15 months I have 4 long trips basically planned which will very likely be the last. Will hopefully just have a few relaxing trips to Asia after those.
I originally did have a Nile cruise booked for next September but it got cancelled by A&K. I now doubt I could physically do it. So your reports on Poland sorted my problem as Gdansk is on my bucket list after I met Lech Walesa in 1988 at his State Reception in Maitland. We have 13 days planned. I had hoped for 14 days but couldn't get an award on the day I wanted so the day after it was.
Plan is 3 nights in each of Gdansk, Krakow and Wroclaw and 4 in Warsaw. So thanks for this very timely TR.

Gdansk is at least very flat even if there are cobblestones. Actually none of them are particularly hilly except for a spots like the castle in Krakow. Marburg Castle would be pretty much a waste of time for you due to the number of stairs etc. The locals are still pretty friendly even though Gdansk and Krakow are really a tourist hotspots. In Marburg when I was very cautiously navigating an extremely steep and worn staircase one of them offered to help me - luckily I didn't need him I just had to do it slowly. Luckily we still managed to average around 16 -18,000 steps on non long travel days. The free public transport for oldies helped as well. The newer trams have low entrances but the older ones are a bit of a climb.

There is a big Solidarity Museum in Gdansk that looks like it could have been interesting. Same with a WW2 museum. Travelling with someone, not my wife, who doesn't share your interests can be a problem on occasions.

Homepage – Europejskie Centrum Solidarności

ecs.gda.pl

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks again for a comprehensive report. Great photos & enjoyed your wanderings to the less frequented spots

Thanks for the kind words - at least half the photos came from my wife. We do like to get off the 'main road' on our trips. Poland was probably one of the countries where we managed that the least - partly because we had someone else with us.

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks for a great report, this was a wonderful tr, great photography backed up by entertaining and educational commentary.....very well done !

Thanks for your comments.