Berlin Part II

23rd - 26th December 2009

We forced ourselves out of bed in time to grab the free hostel breakfast, then we headed back up to the room, where I napped until mid afternoon. I think Dan filled in the time just playing the DS and lounging about. After we'd forced each other into the shower and getting dressed we decided to take it easy and just check out the market at Schloss Charlottenburg (The one that was closed the first time we visited).

It was almost dark by the time we got there (Around 3.30), so we thought we'd better grab something to eat. Dan wasn't too adventurous and tried another bratwurst, whilst I tried a Polish potato dish that was very cheesy and chilli-ish. Delicious. We spent quite a while looking through the stalls. This was one of the bigger markets that we'd seen, and sold a few different craft type things that the others didn't. These markets had the most beautiful backdrop - the castle was all lit up with pretty coloured lights - and the snow, so it was easy to spend a few hours just wandering.

After our time at the markets we thought we'd go to try to find a Bavarian restaurant that was given a great review in our Lonely Planet we'd borrowed from the Library. It took a couple of metro rides and a short walk (Dan still continued to whinge about his hip), and we eventually found it. Unfortunately it was all booked out so we needed to go find somewhere else. We think that the Lonely Planet was a little out of date because the interior did in no way resemble a Bavarian beer hall, and the menu was a little fancier than Weiner schnitzels and bratwursts.

We walked the area near the aforementioned restaurant, but it was mainly residential, so we decided to jump back on the s-bahn and head back into the vibrant area of Alexanderplatz because we'd seen some nice looking places there to eat in the days before. We found a nice restaurant, which was probably a bit too fancy for what we were wearing, and I enjoyed my first Jager Schnitzel. (Schnitzel covered in a creamy mushroom sauce). It was amazing. And after Dan sampled some Apple Strudel we paid the hefty bill and made it back to the hostel where it was quickly to sleep for us. I forgot that as I get older, I can't handle a hangover as well as I used to!

Christmas Eve in most European cities is when Christmas is celebrated, so most of the shops, museums and attractions were all closed. We decided that it would be the perfect day to do the free walking tour that had been recommended to us by a few different people (Also the same company that we went to the concentration camp with). After breakfast we were met at the hostel by the tour group and taken to the meeting point back at the Brandenburg Gate. We joined our group and set off. We saw all of Berlin's big-ticket items and our tour guide was really good. She explained the basic history of the city and country in a way that even a simpleton like me would understand. Highlights included:

• Hotel Adlion - where Michael Jackson infamously dangled his child over the balcony
• Brandenburg Gate
• The Reichstag
• Fancy 'Memorial to the Murdered European Jews'
• Hitler's bunker, where he hid out at the end and then eventually killing himself (Which is now just a carpark, but some of the locals will bring their dogs down to do their business there!!)
• Many old Soviet buildings - grey, cement, depressing buildings
• The Wall - which in some parts now, ironically, has a fence in front of it to stop people stealing pieces of the wall. (You can pay 6Euros in souvenier ships to by some wall in a container!)
• Checkpoint Charlie
• A chocolate shop which had massive reproductions of some of Berlin's famous landmarks.
• Where the royal buildings would have been (But were flatten in the Soviet times, but are now being rebuilt)
• Museum Island (They were all shut though as it was Christmas Eve)
• Berlin Cathedral.

We paid our small tip to our awesome tour guide then set off back to Alexanderplatz for a late KFC lunch, then it was back to the hostel as my feet were wet and frozen again.

Our hostel kindly provided us with a free Christmas Eve dinner which was nice of them, so Dan and I each had a lovely rack of lamb; Nothing else with it (Apparently the Germans don't believe in any other vegetables other than potatoes and they'd run out when we went to get dinner). We enjoyed happy hour beers (we also went back for a serving of soup with a hotdog in it) and then settled into some couches to enjoy the 'Christmas' movies the hostel were showing - The Holiday followed by Transformers 2. After the movies we made some Christmas Day phone calls home then slept like babies after our big day of walking!

Christmas day most things were still shut, so we slept in a bit then eventually got up for some breakfast at the hostel. Dan surprised me with my presents, nothing, which he claims I asked for, but he didn't really understand what I meant when I said "Nothing"!!! He still has a little bit of learning of deciphering what I really mean when I say something else.

After breakfast we made our way out to the East Side Gallery, which is the longest still standing part of the wall. It's been made into an open air gallery and lots of people have come and painted it all pretty. Because this year was the 20th anniversary since it came down, most of the art had been redone and it was amazing. We walked the 1.5 miles of it and took some photos. When we reached the end we decided that we'd take a decent u-bahn ride out to the other side of the city and cheek out the Zoological gardens and maybe even go to the zoo if it was open. By the time we got out of the train station though we'd spotted a bizarre looking church and yet another Christmas market. We made our way to the market which was set around a bombed out church. There was some serious holes in the steeple and walls of the church, and it appeared that people liked it that way so no attempts had been made to fix it. (We'd seen a chocolate model of it in the amazing chocolate shop). The markets were much of what we'd already seen so we decided to eat some more amazing market food. Dan tried the currywurst (Bratwurst cut and smothered in curry sauce) and I had some potato pancakes (Like big home made hash browns) with garlic sauce. We gave up the Zoo because it was cold and we assumed that it would be closed and decided on the movies instead. The cinemas out this side of town didn't show original version films so we decided to head back to the Sony Centre at Potsdamer Platz to go to the original version cinema we'd seen there.

We ended up paying quite a lot of money to go and see "Where the Wild Things Are". I loved it and even shed a tear or two. It was nice to have a glimpse at the Victorian countryside whilst sitting in a cinema in Berlin!

It was early evening by the time the movie finished so we headed back to the hostel to take advantage of more happy hour drink prices and collect our included Christmas dinner. Dan tried some pretty dry looking goose, while I had a delicious piece of pork. It was served with some claggy tasting potato dumplings and the yummiest beans and gravy, followed by a dessert of a scrumptious baked apple and custard. It was a little like prison food, but it was nice.After dinner we headed back up to our room to pack up our bags ready for our adventure to Hamburg the following day.

Next morning we had a quick breakfast then checked out and headed to the main train station in town. We had pre booked tickets on the high-speed train to Hamburg, which halved the travel time to just under 2. Unfortunately to get cheaper tickets we couldn't leave until 2pm, so we ended up just killing 3 or so hours in the train station. It wasn't overly exciting, but we did manage to find an exhibition of the Berlin Bears, that were scattered all over the city, all within this one big hall in the train station. Turns out that there were 1 bear, for each country of the world. Ken Done, strangely painted the Australia bear, but I really liked the Irish bear, as well as the US, Statue of Liberty Bear. After wasting a hell of a lot of time looking at the bears, we jumped on the train to Hamburg!