I did stay awake until after 11 pm Tuesday, but I kept waking in the night. I eventually got up and went for breakfast at the hotel. Food and a carafe of coffee was barely enough to get me moving in the morning. An email from Railbookers notified me of an impending rail strike which would disrupt my Thursday train travel to Prague. I was still hoping to take public transit to see the State Library and so I asked for a train on Wednesday afternoon, the 6th. Meanwhile, I had a lunch appointment.

The Hop On-Hop Off tour bus was a convenient way to get to the TV tower – the subway would have taken a bit longer. I was early for my reservation and took the time to learn more about the tower (https://tv-turm.de/en/history). The waiter waxed eloquently about The Celtics as he took my order!!!! That said, the veal meatballs and the entire dish was excellent!! I enjoyed the view from the tower; I could even see something in the distance which looked like the Berlin Hauptbahnhof which would be near my hotel.

I left the tower, stopped at a pharmacy to pick up melatonin for my jet-lag and took the tour bus back to my hotel. No new travel documents had appeared in my email while I was at lunch. I was getting nervous about the rail strike and what that would mean for my travels. Waiting at the hotel allowed me to finish some posts before I called Railbookers at 3 pm Berlin time/9 am EST. Someone had dropped the ball on my travel… It took about an hour on the phone before a train ticket and an updated hotel voucher appeared in my mail box. I had a bit over an hour to get to the station and find the train. Railbookers had gotten a 1st class ticket for me to Prague, which meant that the seats were a bit more comfortable and a food cart came through the car selling snacks and drinks. The train was crowded; a number of people traveling to Prague before the strike. Traveling to Prague in the evening meant I missed seeing the countryside, but we did have a group of young Czech men singing and drinking in the car all the way to Prague.