Who thought it was a good idea to go to bed on the 30th and set our alarms for 0100 hours on the 31st to travel in the dark to get to the airport hours early??? Not mineBut I guess I did want to get there on time so I have to be grateful that Tim came up with our master plan.
Once Jemma, Tim and I landed in Berlin and worked out the D-Bahn to get us to Friedrichstrasse we managed to find our hostel. After checking in we all hit the hay for a well deserved nap after our grueling overnighter. Our plan was to wake up and walk down to the Brandenburg Gates street party but as we walked down there we were told that the party area was closed because it was too full. So instead we had the most amazing time partying on the actual street "Unter der Linten" to be exact. It was so much fun. Wine for sale everywhere and all the people on the street were there for an amazing new years. The moment midnight struck fireworks started. I'm not talking your 'Sydney Opera House' type display, I'm talking 'every man and his dog letting off hand held explosives in a crowd' kind of display. It was exciting and terrifying and magnificent and so much fun. After managing to wish the entire kitchen staff at Bombays a happy new year as we walked out the door with our take away cocktails our night was over. A very fun night indeed!!
The next day we braved our hangovers with our second visit to maccas in a few hours and headed out for tourist day. I used my new knowledge of the Berlin Wall to be our tour guide. We walked down to Checkpoint Charlie, Tim and I found the traces of the Berlin Wall in the street and decided to stand on either side of it, we walked right along the remnants of the wall to the Sony Centre where Tim sat on a Lego Santa's lap, we strolled and slipped through the Holocaust memorial and then headed out to the East Side Gallery. This is the longest stretch of remaining Berlin Wall and it has been turned into an art gallery. Artists have painted amazing and sometimes sad murals over the wall. We walked along this for a while and then turned back to head back to Friedrichstrasse.
The next morning we got up nice an early to make it all the way to the top of the TV Tower. From way up there Berlin looked pretty grey and miserable but it was a great chance to see where everything was in the city and read some info about it. Once back on ground level we headed out north to go to some Sunday Flea markets. They were so cool!! The main market stalls were either antiques, handmade beanies and scarves, vintage clothing and furs, photography and music. We had a ball and Tim managed to find his one of a kind, genuine army man bag that he even haggled the price of. After heading back to Alexanderplatz we walked all the way to the Berlin Dome and the DDR museum. Berlin Dome is just stunning! We then headed to the Brauhause Mitte to have some traditional German grub. I have Pork Schnitzel and it actually wasn't too bad. To finish off the night we drank most of a bottle of Jager than we picked up for some ridiculously low price and headed out to a bar for some drinks and dancing.
The next morning we went in search of shopping, we didnt really find the shopping areas but we did find a while lot of stencil street art by accident. It was really awesome to see!! After a while we managed to find some shops and keep ourselves occupied for a while. Then we went to a store where you make your own chocolate. It was oh so yum! Mine was the best, better than both Tim and Jemma's. While there we spotted Seth Rogen! He was a little thinner so we were not too sure but after seeing an interview in TV since I know it was definitely him. Star Struck!
Our final day in Berlin was spent finally checking out the Brandenburg Gates, walking up to the Reichstag (We were not allowed in because of some stupid terrorist threat) and down into the park to the Soviet Memorial. We read a lot of information there and I'm afraid it still doesn't make much sense to me who they were?
A great time was had in Berlin and all I can say it... I'll be back :)
