Winter Vacay Part 2 - Berlin

23^rd December – Berlin Day 1

After the many hours of waiting in Heathrow airport with my brother we eventually made it to our flight to Berlin. Arriving in Berlin we discovered something we hadn’t thought of, foolishly. We don’t know any German. This can make it quite difficult to communicate with locals unless you are good at visual expressions and pointing. We must have managed, because we ended up with rail passes and arrived at our hostel just fine. Our next move was to explore the city.

We didn’t know what to expect of Berlin. Our knowledge of the city stops short with World War Two and the knocking down of the Berlin Wall. First, to Berlin’s Christmas markets. We found three of them just blocks apart from each other. Next, we walked through a park and discovered Berlin’s senate. A tall, wide red building with a construction being done all around it and a security guard standing at the front. The senate has only been there since 1991. We then found what Berlin calls Museum Island. A set of four museum’s all along a section of river. We went to each of them for an hour, walking through them at a nice leisurely place. We practiced our photography and enjoyed the surrounding art.

After the museums we headed back to the hostel and then out to dinner. Burritos. Not your traditional German, but most assuredly vegetarian friendly! We ended our night at the local bowling alley. There we had a few number of games and found out that Berlin isn’t too accepting of foreign credit cards. I ran 400m to the nearest ATM machine in order to get cash and pay them.

24^th and 25^th December – Berlin Day 2 and 3

We took these two days lightly because it was Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The 24^th we mainly stayed in the hostel, working and relaxing. We rented a pool table, a family hobby. The 25^th we went out to see a movie and walk around the Berlin Sony Center. A place of modern technology and cool design. Very modern looking and well lit for Christmas. We also went out for an Indian Mexican dinner as we couldn’t find Chinese. Jews will understand this. Sorry we couldn’t keep with tradition!

26^th December –Berlin Day 4

We started our day by taking one of the Berlin’s trains to the end of its route. There we walked down and fine one end of what’s left of the Berlin wall. What was once a division between two powerful nations and two very separate ideals of life is now a memorial and monument to modern art and world peace. Some of it is also designated to mockery of a border gate.

After the wall we headed to HBF, Berlin’s biggest train station. Its five stories tall and really long. We walked the entirety of it. Then we visited the Reichstag and a nearby plaza. The Reichstag has a huge field in front of it that currently acts as a park. People were playing with their dogs and many people were just strolling along. The plaza has an arch that has a famous picture with the Nazi flag hanging from its top. Now there is both a menorah and a Christmas tree there (A little Chanukah fun!). People dress up as war figures and take pictures with tourists.

Last we went back to the train station for some UK style fish and chips, back to the hostel, and then back to the train station for some gelato. We then waited for our overnight train to Paris.