Berlin, Germany

We arrived in Berlin late on Friday night and headed straight to our hotel, the very cool Art'otel - this one themed around Andy Warhol. Next morning we got up early and braved the very chilly conditions (forecast to reach a top of 2 degrees!) and took the bus from Zoo Station to Alexanderplatz where we got off and made our way back on foot along Unter den Linden. While this area has some of the most amazing architecture and historical monuments in all of Germany, of course the first thing we found was a giant bear foosball. Berlin has something going on with bears and they are all over the city. In fact, we came across so many, I have created the first official spin-off blog called Nick and the Bears of Berlin. Click here to check it out.



After Nick had played giant bear foosball for a while, we kept walking and found a couple of markets, so detoured off to take a look. Lots of military insignia/hats/coats etc. as well as local artists, vintage clothing and antiques. The two markets here were interesting, but we came across another one later in the afternoon where you really could have spent hours looking through all the stuff. Next time...

A statue on a bridge over the Spreekanal.





Above is the Reichstag (Parliament). The last time I was in Berlin was in 1995 and the Reichstag had been wrapped in 100,000 square meters of aluminium coated woven plastic fabric by the artists Christo and Jeanne Claude - as below. Apparently 'the wrapping of the Reichstag raised several political and historical issues, including the failed earlier attempts at a parliamentary system of government by a unified German people.' This site is interesting if you want to know more.



Nick at the Brandenburg Gate.



The famous Siegessaule commemorating various 19th century Prussian military feats. Now apparently the icon for gay Berlin. We walked up what felt like a million steps to get to the top and the view was amazing.



Nick walking between Str. des 17 Juin and the Tiergarten.



On Sunday we were up early again (the forecast for the day was 1 degree, however it must have been less than 0 at 9am) and went to the East Side Gallery, the longest remaining piece of the wall, the majority of which features work by different artists. I took heaps of photos, but just a couple below.







Nick trying to climb the wall. Vaguely disrespectful, we know.



Below is the Spree River, frozen solid on top. We also ate breakfast on the boat in the picture - traditional German fare of boiled eggs, cheese, cold cuts, bread rolls and a bucket of coffee. Very nice.



After the East Side Gallery, we went to the Jewish Museum (a great museum, very modern with lots of interesting and interactive displays in an amazing building), Checkpoint Charlie, and the Topography of Terror (former headquarters of the SS, the Gestapo and the Reich Secruity - all the baddies - however, is being renovated so didn't get to see much). We then went to the Holocaust Memorial (below) which is huge and strange and very difficult to capture in an image (the first is mine, the second is a much better one I took off the web. You can see the people walking around the Memorial).





After this, we went to the Neue Nationalgallerie where there was a fantastic Picasso exhibition, and then to the Filmmuseum Berlin, which covers the history of German film. After some dinner, it was back to London.

Finally, another rocking horse (3rd in the series!) for my dad. This one is from the Flohmarkt am Tiergarten, the market we went to on Saturday afternoon.