Christmas in Berlin

We've just come back from our Berlin holiday. Berlin is a fantastic place. The people were very friendly, the food was delicious, abundant, and inexpensive, and the beer was great. Wish we could afford the accommodation during World Cup time, but looks like we'll have to try and head over at another time.
We spent four wonderful days there, exploring the city and sampling the local cuisine and beers. We visited as many of the many Christmas markets that were still open (including the Chrismukkah markets at the Jewish Museum). We arrived late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve and it was already turning dark there. Not much was open when we arrived and so we walked through the empty Christmas Market near the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche (Memorial Church partially damaged during the Cold War).

Making the most of our time there, we went exploring in West Berlin (where everyone says it's all happening) and managed to stumble upon Checkpoint Charlie (which used to be one of the gates of the Berlin Wall during the Cold War). We then went back to East Berlin and had currywurst at the Curry 195 (recommended by Lonely Planet and for good reason).

This is back at the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche Christmas market (about 5 minutes from our Hotel). It's very Christmas-sy there in Berlin, with lots of Christmas lights and trees and everything. An awesome place to be for Christmas. Hope you had a merry one.

After walking through the market, we caught a bus over to the Reichstag (the German Parliament building), where you join the never-ending queue to catch a lift up to the dome at the top of the building for spectacular views of the city. The best thing is that this is for free. How cool is that?!

This is inside the dome, which is almost as cool as the view outside.


Cool contemporary German architecture near the Reichstag.

The Brandenburger Tor (Gate), used to be the main entrance into the city and part of the Wall dividing East and West Berlin, now a symbol of a unified Berlin.


Enjoying some Gluwein (a hot spiced wine drink made with brandy and cinnamon) at the Gendarmenmarkt Christmas Market. They have huts all over each of the markets selling this stuff. Very nice. Very warming in the -3 to -1 degree climate.

One of the several parts of the Berlin Wall near Potsdamer Platz.

Across the road at Potsdamer Platz they had another Christmas Market and this snow slide. Tam and I watched as people would slide down on rubber tyres. It was so cheap (only 1.50 euros each) to have a go. So we did. Tam went down spinning, and I spent the first half of the fall heading backwards as the guy at the top had some trouble getting me started. Must have been all the currywurst, pork steak and schnitzel we'd eaten.

The snow came, a day late, on Boxing Day. We didn't have our anticipated White Christmas, but we were happy it finally came. We woke up at 9, and looked out the window and it had only just started to snow. It snowed all day and made everything beautiful. And Tam, who's never seen real snow before, was a happy skipping girl.

My Snow Angel.

Tam making a Snow Angel.

Tam and a Christmas tree in the snow. We had plenty of fun in the snow. We also even threw snowballs at each other and made some piss-poor attempts at snowmen. Baby-sized ones, cos we didn't realise until later how you make the big ones.

The Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) with the Fernsehturm (Television Tower) in the background. It's not as tall as Sydney Tower (or whatever we're sposed to call it now), but its still very cool all the same. Not much visibility because of the snow and so we didn't bother going up.

We had an absolute blast in Berlin. Can't wait to go back. I don't think we've eaten so much delicious food in one day ever. Tam even ate half a duck in one sitting.