Today we started by catching the underground about 40 minutes out of the Berlin city centre, to the BMW Motorrad factory. BMW manufacture all their motorcycles in Berlin for the worldwide market, and I really wanted to do a factory tour. When planning our trip, we could not book tickets, and it appeared the factory was closed for a Christmas break. We just hadn't been able to plan this so it would be possible. That aside, I figured we could go see the factory with our own eyes.
It turns out BMW have a showroom there with most of their motorcycles on display, so you can sit on them, plus many accessories, and a store of riding gear and merchandise. We visited the showroom and sat on a few bikes.
I did ask about factory tours, as it can't hurt to ask, and they confirmed the factory is closed for the holidays.
Helen especially likes the new range of electric scooters.
We found this as a part of their display, somewhat random, and with no items nearby to set further context.
They had a boxer engine (like one of my bikes has) with cutaway to see what's inside.
There are two underground stations, one at each end of the factory, which gives you an idea of how long its street frontage is. We walked from one end to the other. It's a nice brick building,
Apart from the BMW Welt showroom we had just visited, they also had a BMW dealer nearby the factory gates. We didn't go in, but got a photo of the BMW Bear outside. We see bears like this all over Berlin and it's about time we had a photo with one.
And finally here's the factory gate all locked up for Christmas.
Next we trained back into the city and headed towards some pen shops Helen wanted to visit. Between this and BMW, it meant a good part of the day was used either walking or sitting on public transport. By about 3pm we arrived at Alexanderplatz which is meant to be one of the "must see" plazas in Berlin. We didn't see the attraction, it just seemed to be surrounded by big malls. It was cold and wet.
Wondering where to eat, Helen noticed "Five Guys" burgers. I've never heard of them before. We went in, it was crowed as can be. I needed a toilet so while I went and queued and did my business, Helen grabbed us a table. Then I went and ordered. Their menu is very simple. Not many options. Basically do you want fries with your burger, and what drink. Although I was blindsided at the counter as they ask for every ingredient you want. Lettuce, tomato, cheese, sauces, fried onion, raw onion, pickles, etc. I went for the usual ingredients and paid my bill. It was 50 Euros, or $100 NZ money. Damn these better be good burgers!!!!! They were huge, double patties by default, and the regular fries are huge. Imagine 4x McDonalds fries. Freshly cut and cooked on site. All very filling, and tasted fresh, but not $100 worth.
Now full of food, and still wet outside, we decided to hop a bus back to the hotel. We actually needed two buses however had good seats on the first, so decided to ride it to the end of the line and back again. On the way there was something happening with lots of fire and police so the buses were stopped for a while and then taken on a small detour. At the end of the line we all had to get off and then cross the road to get on again. Unfortunately the next bus pulled up next to ours for the drivers to have a chat, and when the bus pulled away he misjudged and hit the other bus. So now both buses were out of commission. We're standing at the bus stop with. a growing crowd of wet and unhappy people. So we decided to take a risk and get on whatever bus comes first. That did work out OK as we stopped at an underground station. It still took us some time to get home though.
So that's our day, it took all day to do not much, I guess that what holidays are all about.
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