Berlin!

Berlin was discovered on the 5th January 2010. Steffen and I packed our bags and food, of course, into our rented silver Ford Focus and set off for a 5hrs northish road trip to the German capital. We couldn't have asked for a better day. It was sunny, clear and the snow in the fields and small towns on the way was "Sehr schön"!

When we arrived in Berlin we went on our own little night tour in the car then walked around. I was so amazed by the Brandenburg Gate. Here was this Gate that I had seen on the History Channel and in books numerous times with and without the Berlin wall and now I'm walking through it and around it. Very impressive. Steffen even constantly drove past the gate to go anywhere in Berlin just because I loved it so much. Like in this video..

With the help of chino's (Marco's dad) Navi we had dinner at an empty but cute Italian restaurant and called it a day after having a walk in the Berlin snow around the highlights ofthe city. The next day was a bit foggy but we had a great time nevertheless and because it was the dead middle of winter there was only a small amount of tourist. We went back to the Gate, to the Bubble tower, Alexander Platz and the German Parliament house where you could walk in this giant dome on top for views of the city. A very sombre part of this day was in the memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe. The above ground part resembles a cemetery almost, just different height blocks in rows covered in snow and the museum underneath was almost just as eerie. It was definitly a memorable experience in there, I had never been to anything like it and everyone was so quiet and whispering which only added to the eeriness. The Berlin Wall was another interesting site. It too was so surreal like the gate, to touch it and see really how high it was. Steffen the whole time was a great tour guide, even though the last time he was there was about 10yrs ago, if i remember rightly, he still knew a lot of the history and was able to tell me many stories.

On the last night we had dinner at an Australian restaurant at the Sony Centre. It was designed around Sydney harbour and aboriginal artwork and the food was really good. On the final half day in Berlin we found a bakery and I had to try a 'Berliner' and Steffen had an 'Americana'. They were okay. We then went a little out of town to the Olympic stadium mainly just for a photo then onto the Wannsee. This was a place where Steffen's dad was like a lifeguard, it was full of beautiful houses and a huge frozen lake. It would be beautiful in summer I can imagine but for now absolutely lifeless.

After this we made the long route for home. As if we hadn't had enough Jewish history we drove a little of the highway to find the Jewish camp Buchenwald. I was strangely excited to go here, as I had read about a person who was here in English so I wanted to see it for myself. Unfortunately it was closed by the time we arrived and it was getting dark and sometimes you just don't want to see a mass burial site with only one other person in the dark, in the snow. It freaks me out now just writing about it. Steffen started getting the heeby jeebies so we sped right out after we both really started getting freaked out, especially when the road your driving on use to be the 'blood road' that the Jews made. Great.

Finally we made it home and had dinner at Marco's house where I started vomiting and did so for a few hours. This was a fantastic end to the trip as you can imagine and then being sick for the next few days was even better. But Berlin was and still is the best place in Germany, so far.