Berlin
This was the holocaust memorial, pretty amazing. It was like a huge concrete block maze!
This was the cool beach bar in the centre of Berlin. So surreal!
These were these cool footie boots that were part of a sculpture trail across the city. I loved them!
Der Brandenburger Tor!
At 11.50pm on Friday night we woke up…
No, this is not the start of a story involving the Tooth fairy, Santa Claus and intelligent Blondes but in fact of a very busy daytrip from Oxford to Berlin.
After a couple of hours sleep on Friday, a freshen up and jumping on the Megabus to Victoria St, London followed by the Stanstead express, a short wait and we were in the departure lounge on our way to Berlin. A 1.5 hrs later, an efficient 25 min trip on the autobahn and we were at the massive concrete and glass train station of Hauptbahnhoff (not Hasselhoff) near such landmarks as The Reichstag (go early if you want to avoid the massive queues), Potzdamerplatz, The Brandenburg Gate, a gigantic holocaust memorial, plenty of shopping centres, Checkpoint Charlie and a hotair balloon that goes up and down every hour or so for breathtaking views of the city. Very much a new-feeling place- lots of glamour, glitz, exceptionally clean(!) and the people were happy and helpful.
After exploring this multitude of places we decided to have a look around the huge Alexanderplatz TV tower area, with the River flowing through the centre and plenty of markets all down the left hand bank. Pretzels were the go here, along with currywurst mit brötchen (curried sausage and bread), followed by one of the most surreal bars I have ever laid eyes on, a fake sandy beach, with one long bar, deckchairs everywhere, views out over the river playing English lounge music. Truly part of the experience. Apparently a similar one exists in Paris? One thing we found about Berlin, was that money went considerably further than in the UK, chocolate, lollies and drinks were almost laughably priced- decent bottles of wine often fetched less than 2 euros (sometimes as low as 1), and spirits at the airport were enough to turn a complete teetotaller into a hardened drinker or drunkard. Awesome day, awesome place. Massive kudos to Tara, who spoke German like a local (some lessons, learning recommended before going there), and made the day run very smoothly!
No, this is not the start of a story involving the Tooth fairy, Santa Claus and intelligent Blondes but in fact of a very busy daytrip from Oxford to Berlin.
After a couple of hours sleep on Friday, a freshen up and jumping on the Megabus to Victoria St, London followed by the Stanstead express, a short wait and we were in the departure lounge on our way to Berlin. A 1.5 hrs later, an efficient 25 min trip on the autobahn and we were at the massive concrete and glass train station of Hauptbahnhoff (not Hasselhoff) near such landmarks as The Reichstag (go early if you want to avoid the massive queues), Potzdamerplatz, The Brandenburg Gate, a gigantic holocaust memorial, plenty of shopping centres, Checkpoint Charlie and a hotair balloon that goes up and down every hour or so for breathtaking views of the city. Very much a new-feeling place- lots of glamour, glitz, exceptionally clean(!) and the people were happy and helpful.
After exploring this multitude of places we decided to have a look around the huge Alexanderplatz TV tower area, with the River flowing through the centre and plenty of markets all down the left hand bank. Pretzels were the go here, along with currywurst mit brötchen (curried sausage and bread), followed by one of the most surreal bars I have ever laid eyes on, a fake sandy beach, with one long bar, deckchairs everywhere, views out over the river playing English lounge music. Truly part of the experience. Apparently a similar one exists in Paris? One thing we found about Berlin, was that money went considerably further than in the UK, chocolate, lollies and drinks were almost laughably priced- decent bottles of wine often fetched less than 2 euros (sometimes as low as 1), and spirits at the airport were enough to turn a complete teetotaller into a hardened drinker or drunkard. Awesome day, awesome place. Massive kudos to Tara, who spoke German like a local (some lessons, learning recommended before going there), and made the day run very smoothly!
posted by anon at 3:28 PM
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