We have had a busy time in Berlin. After arriving from Hamburg via train we located our apartment which was in the old East German section of the city, now becoming a very trendy area with lots of new development. . Our apartment was huge, & beautifully decorated. We found a lovely vegetarian restaurant for lunch & then went wandering. For dinner we headed to Alexanderplatz to a Christmas market & were delighed to find an ice skating rink, small train for the children & an enormous ferris wheel which John & Estelle opted to ride to gain a birds eye view of the lights. A favourite we voted at this market was baked apple which were absolutely delicious on a cold night.

The next morning we ascended the Berlin TV tower, which is the tallest building in Berlin for a panoramic view of the city. We then decided to purchase a 2 day pass for the hop on hop off bus which visited all the major tourist drawcards including the Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin wall & various memorial sites.

Around 3.30pm each day the city becomes a winter fairyland with the Christmas lights turned on. Along the main shopping areas the lights are spectacular with each building trying to outdo its neighbour but none of the displays are at all tacky. Many large buildings are almost totally covered in lights. While traveling around the city we enjoyed spotting the more than 60 Christmas markets located throughout Berlin. One of the most popular markets includes a stage where choirs perform & various fairytale plays put on. This market was also special because of the huge range of German handcrafts on offer, but the most popular stalls are the food & drink stalls. The food is always traditional German fare, featuring various sausages, fondue, breads, dumplings, strudel & not forgetting the beer, mulled wine, cider & egg nog. The egg nog was very potent, warming right down to our toes. We visited 4 of the markets whilst in Berlin as they are so much fun even though they are generally crowded with revellers, as Germans certainly know how to enjoy themselves.

The following day we headed out of the city centre to Charlotenburg palace. The palace, as 90% of Berlin, was extensively damaged during the war but has been restored minus many of the stunning frescos which adorned each of the ceilings. Fortunately some survived so we could imagine how beautiful the rooms must have been.

We found a lovely little Italian restaurant for lunch & returned to the palace after lunch to view the extensive gardens. Amazingly we found puddles still iced over & frost on table tops. Fortunately our layers of clothes were keeping us all warm. After our tour of the garden we wandered around the Christmas market in the grounds of the palace.

Day 5 we went to the Berlin Wall Memorial Centre which includes 1st hand experiences of life behind the wall. It was touching to watch interviews of East Germans who were brave enough to apply for permits to leave East Berlin & the difficulties they had to endure prior to their application being eventually approved. It typically took over a year with constant interviews & interrogation before a application was granted & typically it was on a Friday afternoon with only hours to fulfill all the checklist of requirements to finally leave. Generally East Germany was in wind down mode on Friday afternoon & officials were hard to locate to perform the numerous signoff of utilities etc. All this to make things even more difficult for the applicant.

While we were visiting the centre we saw it was snowing outside. Such a delightful sight for us, but of course commonplace for Berliners.

After lunch we visited the History of Berlin museum which included a visit to one of the West Berlin nuclear bunkers which were built to pacify the West Berliner if there was a nuclear attack during the Cold War. The bunkers catered for only 1% of the West German population & were only capable of protection for 14 days. It was believed the West Berlin people were less likely to experience nuclear attack due to their location in the Eastern block.

Next stop Nuremberg.