Berlin Day 8 : The Return of the Keys

Our return flight was at 2.30 pm, and our apartment host advised that we set out by noon to get to the airport in good time. We actually managed to get all the packing and cleaning-up and tidying done by before 11.00, so had time for a final breakfast in More café, a nearby place we'd been to a few times already. A final check, then it was time for the Return of the Keys. The apartment had been really good: a perfect location, convenient to a well-served U-Bahn stop, in a nice part of the city and with plenty of bars and restaurants nearby. The musical part of things, which, after all, was the main reason for the trip, was excellent too (most especially Rosenkavalier on Sunday), and the city itself was a terrific place to spend time in. All in all, well up on the list of Music Group trips.

Our locally-based Group member timed his airport trip as we did, and turned up on the platform at Zoologischer Garten station as we stood on the platform waiting for the Airport 'Express'. There'd been a minor panic yesterday when a news report has suggested that Irish air space might be closed again today, but the all-clear was given at 4.00 am and everything went smoothly and without incident. Actually, the flight was a really pleasant and enjoyable one, and we didn't feel the time passing at all.

Carl and I had one final drink together in grotty Dublin Airport, he got the Aircoach over to the Southside and I got a taxi back home. I was home by 5.30 pm.

It's taken a good while on Friday to work through the Berlin photos and do some back-blipping, but it's all up to date now. Back-blips begin here.