San Francisco Frontiers - Rail journey offers a slower route to a Berlin city break

Taking the train offers time for relaxed chatter, while contrasting interests provide an enriching experience in the city Standing among the stalls of Mauerpark flea market while bickering about my terrible taste in music, it occurred to me that this trip to Berlin with my baby-boomer companion might not have been such a brilliant idea.

Steve, one of my best friends – and with whom I have a 35-year age gap – looked aghast when I showed him that I had parted with €5 for a Wombles LP. After I explained it was a sentimental purchase, we laughed and were back to enjoying our mini-break. When Steve, who I met a decade ago while working in broadcasting – at which time he was a sports journalist and I was a culture reporter – suggested we visit Berlin to celebrate his 70th birthday, I was quick to say yes.

I had never been, but Steve had visited a handful of times, including an extended period when he covered the 2006 World Cup in Germany, so I knew he would make a great guide. Friendships like ours are, perhaps surprisingly, common. over half of Britons reported having a friend with whom they have a 10-year age gap for a recent YouGov survey.

A study in the European Journal of Ageing found older adults with friends who were over 10 years younger than themselves reported feeling younger and being more satisfied with ageing.Meanwhile, research for the charitable organisation Intergenerational England found over three-quarters of respondents believed these relationships improve health and wellbeing, and 81 per cent stated they reduce loneliness. Steve has certainly had a positive impact on my life. I thought it would be fun to travel to Berlin by train from London. While I usually prefer to get to a destination as quickly as possible, Steve loves the experience of rail travel. I was glad to skip the hassle of airports and to have more time to enjoy our wide-ranging chats, from all genres of music to American politics.

We toasted our early departure with a glass of champagne in Eurostar Premier – the first-class option with lounge access, more leg room, and a light meal – en route to Belgium. After a stop in Brussels for – what else? – fries and mayonnaise, we continued with our trip eastwards, booked with Rail Europe. over half of their overnight return trips booked in the past year have been mini-breaks.

Travelling by rail makes the most of a short break, the holiday beginning on the train. but, I had been warned that Deutsche Bahn – which operates most of the rail services in Germany, including our train to Berlin – can often be unreliable. True to form, we faced significant delays and an extra transfer. but, undeterred, we spent that time chatting over coffee and doughnuts bought from a station.

Deutsche Bahn staff proved helpful, printing off schedules and giving us the best options to make the rest of our journey go as smoothly as possible. We arrived in Berlin 13 hours after leaving London – a couple of hours later than planned – looking forward to a good night’s sleep. Our base was a&o Berlin Hauptbahnhof, a 10-minute walk from the train station. The Berlin-founded hostel chain has a stylishly designed communal area and spacious private rooms with ensuite bathrooms. We enjoyed the happy hours and live music, which finished early enough to ensure we got a good night’s sleep.

Despite our age gap, Steve and I have plenty in common, from our love of Leonard Cohen to cocktail bars. We easily put together a mutually pleasing schedule. Steve was happy to revisit the city’s main attractions, such as Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall, where I marvelled at the mural of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker sharing a kiss.

After ticking off the touristy areas, we explored the more up-and-coming neighbourhoods while Steve described what the city was like when he had visited while the wall was still standing. In between sightseeing, we ate as much as we could. “German cuisine really isn’t just sausages and snacks like pretzels, is it?” Steve joked. We feasted on white asparagus and hollandaise at the rustic Café am Neuen See in the Tiergarten and on rösti and raclette at Gugelhof in Prenzlauerberg, where Bill Clinton and then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder ate dinner in 2001.

KaDeWe – Europe’s second largest department store after Harrods – has a glorious food hall with champagne bars and counters piled high with seafood, cheese and pastries. It was buzzy, but not crowded, and full of friends enjoying meals together. I enjoyed a plate of delicious, hot-smoked salmon, although I wasn’t won over by Steve’s choice of pickled herring. We then headed for Tiergarten, the vast central park, which was far quieter than I imagined. We hired bikes (€10) and cycled past joggers, roller-skaters and groups playing football.

On our final day, we visited Holzmarkt, a riverside quarter in the central Friedrichshain neighbourhood, with a cafe, restaurant, boutiques and plenty of street art. We watched the sun set with a glass of Riesling. Not for the first time, I felt a bit out of place in my typically colourful outfit, while the Berliners around us were dressed in black. I mentioned this to a waitress. She replied: “What makes Berlin Berlin is that it’s for everyone – as long as you’re being yourself, everyone is happy”.

As we sat on the train back to London, we agreed her sentiment summed up the city nicely.It won’t be my last time in Berlin – and I’m already looking forward to my next adventure with Steve and seeing a destination from a different perspective to my own. Though next time, I won’t mention The Wombles. How to get there The writer was a guest of Eurostar and Rail Europe. Eurostar tickets from London to Brussels start from £37 one way in standard class. Deutsche Bahn trains from Brussels to Berlin start from €20 (£17), with one transfer, typically in Cologne. Where to stay The writer was hosted by a&o Berlin Hauptbahnhof which has has private rooms from £47 per night. More information visitberlin.de/en

S.Jackson--SFF