... and it was MINUS 18!

After many years of missed opportunities and procrastinating I have finally been to Berlin, and BOY am I glad!! It was where Amy and I were to join forces to start our epic Christmas and New Year adventure and I must admit it didn’t get off to the best start! In true pre Christmas Europe fashion, Europe had been dumped on my about 1.5m of snow and many trains and airports across Europe and the UK had shutdown just days before we were due to depart. I was coming from a part of France that is very used to the snow but Amy was coming from ill-equipped London so we were pretty unsure about what would happen. In the end Amy did have a huge delay but it wasn’t even Snow related, at least she made it!!!

We stayed at the 3 little pigs hostel. Not the best or worst hostel I have ever stayed in but definitely one of the most memorable. Enter Boston Tom, from Boston, clearly in his 30’s this man walked around with a pacifier in his mouth and the most bizarre outfits. One night he came home at about 4am and sat on Amys bed and starting all his crap on her bed, right over her head. Then there was the other American that inspired my (hostel etiquette) blog, the worst snorer I have EVER encountered! Words cannot describe! Oh and la piece de la resistance – me looking my keys in the locker. In almost 6 years of travelling I have never done anything like that! The realisation that I had locked all my stuff away was worsened by the fact that I had to go down to reception in my ‘sexy’ polka dot pyjamas and hope like hell they had a bolt cutter on hand. Thankfully they did, I Imagine most hostels would... Such entertainment!!

Berlin was cold. Not in a ‘yeah, whatever it’s just winter in Europe’ kind of way, more like a ‘I think my skin is going to fall off’ kind of way, -18 to be exact. Not exactly ‘out doorsey’ weather, least of all for two girls who had been bed ridden thanks to a flu/virus up until the day we flew, one of which who is allergic to the cold. The cold also lent to the bizarre dry snow, I’ve never seen it like that before, flaky and NOT slippery which was a god send for the two of us cripples!! Needless to say we threw on extra layers, 3 leggings, 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of gloves, you know the usual.

Berlin is famous for money things, the Berlin wall, Hitler, Communism, Ampelmanchen and Christmas just to name a few. Our first and most frequent stop was the (many) Christmas Markets. It didn’t seem to matter where we were there was always a Christmas market nearby. As far as Christmas markets go they were quite amazing, you could find everything there from hats and legwarmers to mulled wine and German sausages it was more than enough to keep us satisfied. Gorgeous old dumpy German men with their rosy cheeks and bulging bellies singing Christmas carols alongside the adorable little Michelin man styled kiddies being towed around on sleds. There was even a store selling thousands of different sorts of Christmas ornaments, even cheese ones! There was ice-skating and salmon being smoked. We even saw a walking Christmas tree and a flying Santa, and I promise that it’s not the mulled wine talking!! We met up Sarah, a friend of Amys, who is an Aussie/Kiwi living in Berlin. It was really interesting to hear about life in Berlin as an expat – I think she almost convinced Amy to live there!!

In the day light we were pretty keen to take on a free 3 hr walking tour – the guide accepts tips at the end and that’s their only payment so it encourages them to be really energetic and engaging which is brilliant. The weather was slightly warmer that day, at -14, luckily Amy and I had exchanged our Christmas gifts early, thermal socks and a scarf for me and 2 pairs of gloves for Amy so that helped keep us warm, a little.

The tour was fantastic, we started outside the hotel where the late Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window/Brandenburg Gate East Berlin and walked through to the West. We saw the ‘Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe’ holocaust memorial – an incredibly thought evoking memorial, very solemn.

We walked through the building that now sits above the bunker where Hitler shot himself. I liked that it is very non-descript, there is one small sign on the far corner of the block which I think is a great example of Germanys humility and ownership when it comes to its involvement in the World Wars. We passed the Berlin Wall and Check Point Charlie, the point where you could legally pass from East to West Germany. The wall itself is much smaller and less imposing than I had imagined, but as our tour guide pointed out during the communist era the wall actually had another wall built behind it and there was barbed wire, hunting dogs and snipers situated up and down both sides of the walls. There are some amazing images and stories of people trying to get across to the West.

This was one of the things that so amazed me about Berlin, Old versus New, East versus West. This city has so much history, most of it shocking. It has been bombed and stormed, split and demolished, glorified and demonised. It saw the rise and fall of the man that would change the world as we knew it. It is now a new city, a city that is working hard to rebuild and work toward the future while remembering, but not glorifying, the past. A city hosting enormous artistic talent, a hub of culture, a city to where photographers, musicians, artists and pretty much everyone else creative flocks to for inspiration.

Oh and most importantly a city that is home to the Ampelmanchen, mustn’t forget him ;)