9 Fasanenstraße
In 2008 I found two friends who would join me on a wonderful adventure back to Europe. The plan was to visit Germany again and end the trip in Paris, France. There was no need for a travel agent, I had enough experience to orchestrate this myself.
Once you are in Europe, it is incredibly easy to get around. You can almost get anywhere by train as well, but in those days, there was no Die Bahn app to easily purchase a train ticket. So to avoid the hassle of tickets, timing, and connections, it would be much easier to rent a car.
I got this little Peugeot up to 130mph on the Autobahn.
As I prepared, I needed to print off directions to get us to each of our 6 destinations. There was no GPS or maps app on my flip phone. I also didn’t trust MapQuest for directions in Germany and France knowing it often got it wrong for domestic travel. So, I found a German version of MapQuest and trusted that the directions I printed off had us covered!
Whelp. I was wrong.
Our trip started off with a 24-hour delay due to a canceled flight. When we finally made it to Berlin, my stomach sank as I was hit head-on with the fact that I would be driving a manual. I should have known better, but when I approached the rental car service desk, thinking I could pay to upgrade to an automatic, the response was, “We do not have any automatics in our garage”. Oh boy. I made my way to the tiny Peugeot that would be my first real manual learning experience. Before I embarrassed myself in front of the garage attendants, I did ask “Darf ich in diesem Auto rauchen?” Translated: “Can I smoke in this car?” If I was going to make it in this vehicle, I was going to need a cigarette.
We loaded ourselves in the car, had our printed directions in hand and we were ready to get to the Savoy Hotel, at 9 Fasanenstraße, which was only 15 minutes away.
An hour and a half later, when we arrived at the wrong 9 Fasanenstraße, an abandoned property in some village WAY outside of Berlin, I began to cry.
I had a little mental breakdown and chucked my entire folder of printed directions out the car window. My helpful passenger Hannah recommended we trace our steps back, at least until get could find a gas station to buy a map. And so, stalling at every red light and stop sign, we tracked back.
That was until one of the roads we traced ended up being one-way. I was able to quickly pull into a grocery store parking lot, the only spot available, before encountering one-way traffic head-on. We eventually found a gas station, bought our map, and were able to make our way to the Savoy at 9 Fasanenstraße. I pulled up to the hotel and felt such relief that we had finally made it. A hotel bellman asked if I would like a valet to park my car. I didn’t say anything, I just tossed him the keys.
We did end up having a great day exploring Berlin. By the end of the trip, I got the hang of driving manual, but it all wouldn’t have been possible without Hannah’s navigation skills as we made our way through Germany and France with nothing but a map.
