European Meander 2023 Day 2 (The Prison Experience!)

Today was technically a travel day, but… as we made our way by train from Frankfurt to Berlin the train came to a stop. In German and in English (sort of) we were told there was a problem on the track. A human being had “fallen” on the tracks. Come to find out from a passenger, who worked with the police, a person was hit by a train on the tracks. We were going to be there for quite a while. Long story short… they sent the train back to Frankfurt to change tracks and head to Berlin by another route. For us arriving 2 hours, or more, late was no issue, but the travel went from a 2 hour to a 5 hour ride. But arrive we did.

I’ve been trying to find a good way to put this but I guess I should just say it. This afternoon we went to prison. We were booked and given a cell in what was once a women’s prison, now a hotel. I’ll explain more below, but it’s one of the best prison… I mean hotel… experiences I’ve ever had.

But first the train trip.

Below is the Wilmina Hotel. I should be giving out the address, in Charlottenburg, because if you come to Berlin you should book a room here. At the moment I have no idea what street I’m on. The prison closed in 1985 and since the building was protected as an historic site it couldn’t be torn down. Some people bought it (not sure when, thinking in the 90’s) and made it into a hotel. They make some interesting statements in their book (a copy of which is in every room)… One is the concept of going from a place where solitude was punishment to a place where solitude is a “reward”… You could live at this hotel, it’s beautiful I’ll drop in some pictures here. Quite an experience.

When we went to the bar, it was dark. We were given a menu with drink descriptions, almost all of them three words like peach, misty, earthy. Each drink had a number assigned. After ordering the waiter would come and tell us what was in the drink. Interesting concept.