Germany: 30 - 31 Dezember 2009

30 Dezember 2009

Well, we've finally done it. We've made our way through three countries and 11 individual stops. We're on the last couple of days of our trip and winding down. This morning Chad went out to explore Berlin sans me. (I had blogging to do and was too tired to museum hop.) But, I wanted to share his experience with you as well.

As you may or may not know, Berlin throws one hell of a party for New Year's Eve. Thus, we were sharing Berlin with a cool million extra visitors or so. This made getting around and doing things a bit of a pain in the rear at times. (Chad learned this as he tried to visit a museum and was thwarted by long lines.) Nonetheless, he did see Museum Island and the Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom).

Next, we met up at Checkpoint Charlie (Checkpoint "C"). While the actual gateway is long gone, this street scene as well as a full museum stands here to remind all visitors about the history of the Wall. A young American soldier faces east, while a young Soviet solider faces west.
Chad snapped a shot of these fun East Germany cars (Trabants) that are not only nostalgic, but available for a quick trip around town.
Next it was obligatory to see what remained of the Berlin Wall, which to be frank, ain't much folks. Here is one small chunk. The Wall was constructed nearly overnight in 1961 to slow the flow of Eastern Germans. The 13-foot high wall also had a 16-yard ditch between the two sides - also known as the "death strip". We found it interesting to learn that there were just over 5,000 successful escapes and that a whopping 565 of these were East German guards. Go figure.
Here is another larger shot of a remaining chunk of the Wall.
Our next stop was lunch at Leysieffer. We were also lucky enough to see this great art exhibit made entirely of cars.
Next we hit the Gendarmenmarkt Christmas Market. This was a great combination of both indoor and outdoor artisians and some of the finest goods we have seen so far.

Next we stopped at one of the best, albeit unusual, parts about Germany - one of their indoor car malls. These were sprinkled throughout Germany and allowed you to try several cars all indoors with multiple showrooms, cafes and some oldies, but goodies like this VW van.
Here is another shot of the Gate at night. They are still prepping for the NYE celebrations.
This is Berlin's Reichstag - or parliament. We attempted to get inside, but the silly tourists (much like ourselves) made it impossible to do without a two-hour wait. Alas, another trip might be necessary.
We ended up having dinner at another recommended cafe, Marché. This was totally worth the stop - fresh fruits, juices, veggies, etc. Yummy!
31 Dezember 2009

This morning Chad attempted the Pergamon Museum again and was successful. Here are some shots from the Gate of Istar, otherwise known as the Gate of Babalyon. Quite impressive by his account.


Here is a smaller-scale model of what the gate and is related sculptures might have looked like back in 562 BC.
Here's a couple fun pictures from the New Year's Eve (otherwise known as Silvester) celebrations at the Gate. So amazing and beautiful.

And, then the less amazing and highly crowded beer tent. (But, props to the beer tent being warmer!)
And then there was the snow. In fact, this band took a little time to talk about how much they enjoyed the snow playing.

And then there's are fireworks in the background. (And, me, again in the snow. Big damn snowflakes.)
Here's a shot of the beautiful Christmas trees lining Ku'Damm. We hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We certainly did. Much love to you all in 2010.

Germany: 29 Dezember 2009

No visit to Germany would be complete without a visit to Berlin, the country's new unified capital. We arrived in Berlin in the evening. Check out these fun decorations and holiday cheer at the train station.

We made our way to our pension, Pension Bregenz, that is located just a few blocks off Kurfürstendamm (nicknamed "Ku'damm") and is West Berlin's main drag and 2-mile ode to shopping. Here is a shot of our room.

Next we grabbed a quick meal and then headed out to hit the town a bit. We stumbled upon the pre-NYE setup at the Brandenburg Gate and caught this fun shot of the Ferris wheel! (Who in their right mind gets up on a Ferris wheel in freezing weather is unknown to me, but apparently it happens.)
Here's our first glimpse of the Gate at night. Ain't she a beauty? And to think, she sat relatively unceremoniously for 25 years because of some squabble. What a shame. Now she's really a site to behold.
Speaking of unceremonious sitting, we made our way to the Brandenburg Gate ("Brandenburger Tor") S-Bahn stop. This is one of Berlin's former ghost subway stations. During the Cold War, most underground train tunnels were simply blocked at the border, but some lines did happen to transverse through the East. The stations were, of course, strictly off limits. For 28 years Western trains simply passed through (seeing the Eastern guards and frozen stations along the way). Now they are open and look fairly similar to there 1931 construction.
Next we made our way to Unter Der Linen (otherwise referring to "under the linden" - meaning the linden trees that line the streets). This is the heart of former East Berlin. It is truly beautiful and so wonderful at night. We appreciated the thousands of lights they'd put up for us to enjoy.
Here I am appropriately bundled for a night stroll in Berlin in late December. I really do wish that more of you could have been with us to see these beautiful things - you'll just have to imagine them with the help of our photos I suppose. (Or, come and try this trip yourselves!)
With more ground to cover, we make our way to The Department Store of the West - Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) to enjoy their much-hyped cafeteria selection and enjoy the top-floor view. Here's a shot from the first floor where I'm busy checking my e-mail. (Probably reading your comments about another blog or Facebook post!) They had many of these great trees throughout the store. It was a pretty great department store to be quite honest - and it should be with over 2,000 employees to help you paw over their nearly 400,000 items. The cafeteria was also quite yummy now that I think of it!
Next we make our way outside to enjoy one of Berlin's many Christmas markets. I will have to tell you that Berlin's markets were pretty commercialized. Someone had gone around all of Germany to copy the best, quaint and charming parts from the other markets and try to plop them all right down here in Berlin. It doesn't quite have the same "Je ne sais quoi" as the others did, but they did get two things very right: (1) they have the best tables for you to stop and eat and drink and this is a big plus, and (2) they situated the festivities directly in front of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The church has been left as a memorial to the World War II destruction of Berlin and is beautiful. On that note, I think I will rest for now and tell you more tomorrow! Have a great night!