"Ich bin ein Berliner"

After acquiring Natalie from Heathrow Airport, we all flew out of Stansted Airport to Berlin. Arriving in Berlin was great because the line for immigration was really short for people with non EU passports. Then it got tricky as we couldn't figure out how to buy S-Bahn (subway) tickets to our Hostel. After struggling and conferring with other english speakers we finally made it on a train with a valid ticket. As we departed our train the next challenge was to find our hostel. Then, like a beacon on a hill, Mandy looked up and saw in big blue letters "GENERATOR." Our hostel just happened to be about 100m from the S-Bahn stop. After checking in we crammed into a 3 person elevator with our luggage and found our way to our room. We had the room all to ourselves and the major perk was that the beds were heavenly. We slept very well in Berlin.
Our first day was spent as our museum day in Berlin. Their best museums are all in one place called "Museum Island." We first visited the Pergamon museum where we saw the Pergamon Altar from 2nd century Greece. They also have the Istar Gate which is the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon. It was constructed in about 575 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II. It is possible that the Israelites entered through this gate when they were in Exile, and it used to be one of the 7 wonders of the world. It was crazy being there and standing next to it. The next museum we visited was the Altes Museum (Old Museum) where many Greek and Egyptian artifacts are held. The most famous piece there is the head of Nephrititi, which is really really old. According to us, that was enough museums for the day, so we stepped outside and started to explore some of Berlin’s many Christmas markets. The first one we went to was across from Museum Island and was more like a carnival than a Christmas market. They had a Ferris wheel, carnival games, a drop tower and many spinning rides. We decided to skip the fair aspects and we drank some Gluwein and had a couple Brats. A pretty good dinner. The cool thing about Gluwein is that they come in special mugs and each market has its own mug. You pay a deposit for the mug, but they were fun so we decided to keep them as Berlin mementos. We then started to head out to find more Christmas markets, when we stumbled upon the Opera house. Being the Christmas season, Der Nussknacker (The Nutcracker) was showing the following evening. What better place to see The Nutcracker than in Germany where Nutcrackers are from (I think)? So we bought the cheap obstructed view tickets and moved on to more Christmas markets while eating more German foods and treats. The next morning we set out to take a tour of the city. Our hostel offered a free walking tour of Berlin along with the stay so we thought it would be a great opportunity to learn the history behind the city of Berlin. The tour was actually run by NewEurope tours. We had a wonderful tour guide, Annabelle, who told us pretty much the entire history of Berlin (apparently never a dull moment in Berlin’s history) and then took us to all of the major sights of the city, many of them pertaining to WWII. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial, the site of Hitler’s bunker, the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the square where the book burning took place, and where the royal palaces used to be. She told stories and history behind all of the places along the way which made the sights much more meaningful and memorable. At the end she told us the story of how the Berlin wall came down in 1989 (a fluke and accident if you didn’t know). It was a terrific tour and if anyone ever goes to Berlin you should take the time to walk on this free tour. Of course, free means no charge, but the guides work solely on tips, so we tipped her well for a wonderfully informative and fun tour of the city. For dinner we went back to a Christmas market and had some more brats for dinner. Better than any American brat with any American mustard that’s for sure. That evening we went to see The Nussknacker. It was really odd. Take most of what you know about the Nutcracker and forget it. We were confused from the beginning, when a girl was kidnapped by Arabian knights. Then she grew up and danced with different men, but we couldn’t figure out who they were. There was some ice queen/princess in there too who danced around. We didn’t really understand where the Nutcracker fit in either. It didn’t really help either that we couldn’t see a third of the stage because of our obstructed view seats. Then it ended like she was having some kind of dream, and the ice princess floated away into the sky. Very strange. But the music was the same, so in the midst of the craziness we would just close our eyes and listen. So apparently the German story of the Nutcracker is much different than the American story that we know. The next day we took a day trip to Wittenberg (story and pictures in a separate post) and came back to Berlin for one more night of Christmas market hopping. The next morning we left our comfortable hostel beds behind and headed towards Lake Constance where we would spend the next few days with some family friends. Berlin however remained in our minds and has probably been our favourite city to visit in Europe.