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The Essbahn is the best place to linger when a flight is delayed. It is outside the terminal, beside the departure point for buses into town. The name is a pun on the German word “essen” which means “to eat” and S-Bahn which is the name of the overground railway. The café operates from a converted railway carriage and serves spiced-up German food. Come here for a curry or salsa sausage before the milder in-flight catering. Templehof airport is always on the verge of closure but somehow survives. It specializes in short-haul flights within Germany and the occasional service further afield. It is the most central of the three and the only one with a U-Bahn station nearby– Platz der Luftbrücke. It is on line 6 which goes to Friedrichstrasse station (15 minutes’ journey). Five bus routes also serve the airport. A taxi to Friedrichstrasse would cost E15. There is no tourist office. Schönefeld airport. When this becomes Berlin-Brandenburg airport in 2007 it should be a very different place from what it is now. The railway will come right into the terminals, and there will be an express service reaching central Berlin in 15 minutes. For now, the links are rather tortuous. A shuttle bus links the terminal with the S-Bahn station Schönefeld which is also on the main line to the east. Trains into town take about 40 minutes. Eight bus routes link the airport with southern and eastern Berlin. The No 171 goes to Rudow, the final station on U-Bahn line 7 which heads for the northwest. There are two night buses and the S-Bahn also runs at night on this route. A taxi to Friedrichstrasse costs E40. There is no tourist office. Train Express trains (ICE) link Berlin with all major German cities. The journey to Frankfurt takes 3½ hours, to Hamburg about 2 hours, and to Hanover 1½ hours. International journeys take rather longer as high-speed trains do not yet operate on these routes. Brussels takes more than 7 hours and Paris nearly 9 hours. Changing trains in Brussels from Eurostar (http://www.eurostar.com) gives a journey time of around 10 hours from London. Most long-distance trains leave from Zoo Station, a few from Ostbahnhof. The previously insignificant Lehrter Bahnhof, between Zoo and Friedrichstrasse, is now being converted into a major station and office complex. By 2006 it will be Berlin's main station for travel in all directions. Fares are higher on the ICE trains than on slower ones but a wide variety of travel passes are available from travel agents accredited to German Railways (Deutsche Bahn, http://www.bahn.de). These are not of much use for travel within Berlin, but can be used in conjunction with onward travel and also for day trips to, say, Dresden or Leipzig. German Railways have an excellent website (see above), which is kept constantly up to date on timetables, fares and travel passes. In Zoo Station there is a special ticket office for English- speakers, EurAide, which is situated between the main hall and the luggage lockers. It is open daily in the summer but not on Saturday afternoon or Sunday during the winter (1 October 1-31 March).
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