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We arrived in Berlin around 11am to find it snowing. Well you can imagine how happy that made us. Better late than never. Caught a bus to our hotel. We were going to leave our bags as we were told our room wasn't ready, but as we sat down to figure out where to head to, a room became available which was handy. We paid a little extra here for some more space and have a lovely room, overlooking the courtyard, although we've never known a heater to put out so much heat. We've had to have the window open to cool things down, even after turning the heater down.
We headed off to a Christmas shop that we have visited before in other towns as mum wanted to buy a few more things, specifically an angel she saw in one of there other stores and was going to have it shipped home. Unfortunately, they didn't have the angel she wanted but we bought enough stuff still to have it all shipped home. Mum spotted a church to look at and when we got inside, we realised it was the remains of a church that was destroyed in WWII. Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche only has the remains of the tower standing and they have kept it as an anti-war memorial. They have built a new church next to it, completely modern, round shaped with this amazing blue wall. Around here, a Christmas market was still in operation so in our element we wandered around. There were also some great Christmas lights around, including a santa on a reindeer and the words BERLIN in the centre strip of the road.
I had my first crepe earlier in the day with banana and nutella (I can't believe I haven't had one all trip because they have been available). For dinner, mum and I tried a couple of new things including a bowl of mushrooms and onion cooked in some sauce, a type of sub with bacon & onion on garlic and to finish a sausage sandwich. We wandered back to the hotel via the S-Train. I must say, I really find it difficult to get my head around Berlin's public transport. I haven't had the problems that I have had here trying to figure out which direction to go and what goes where.
Had a late start this morning and headed to the area where the Brandenburger Tor (Gate) and Halocaust Memorial is. The gate was already closed off as they prepared for NYE celebrations tonight which is where we will be. As I write this, church bells are ringing and fireworks are already going crazy and it is only 5pm (can buy and set off own fireworks here I believe). Wandered around the Holocaust memorial, known as Memorial to the Murdered European Jews. It is a football size of 2711 concrete columns. Unsure of it's significance. There was a huge line to get into the exhibition underneath so we thought we will come back another day and try the Jewish Museum. Well after walking there (1.5km) and getting in line, we were told it would be a 2 hr wait before we got inside. Crazy. Bit of a wasted day. I had wanted to do a wallking tour this morning to get acquainted with the city but mum was concerned about being on her feet all morning and then standing around tonight for NYE.
Walked back to the Underground and came across the Checkpoint Charlie Museum so decided to visit that. Well there was no wait for it, but it was packed. Hard to read all the stuff on the wall and there was a lot of stuff. I picked and chose what I read, mainly about the different ways people escaped or tried to escape across the wall. Half way through, mum needed to leave because there were too many people in there. I kept going and met up with her near the end.
Finally made our way back to the hotel after a delay with the tram, seemed it wasn't running between a couple of stops which meant trying to figure out another way but managed. Anyway, relaxing for a bit before we head out to mingle with the million or so other people at the Gate for midnight celebrations.
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