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!
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