[261211-291211]
GUTEN TAG!
As you probably already know, I went to Germany for a week before my school started in Finland. The one week long trip ended at Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is the first European capital that I have ever stepped foot in, hence I was really looking forward to all the history, culture, shopping and eating all blended into one ;)
One of the best things about this trip was that we stayed in a really strategic hostel thanks to Ivie's friend ;)
Why??
IT'S BECAUSE OF THIS:
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| One of the best Currywurst stands in town ;) Yes, it's always this crowded THROUGHOUT THE DAY. |
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| Just look at the huge lightly grilled and succulent German wurst (sausage) topped with a special curry sauce (made of ketchup, curry powder and random spices/condiments), and accompanied by some pommes frites (fries)! YUMMY!! OMG I SO MISS THEM NOW :( |
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| THE BLISSFUL LOOKS ;) (ok, actually i think it was partly like "omg it's so hot but it's already in my mouth") |
Other than this currywurst stand, there was also a mini mart and a kebab stand right below our hostel!! The best part is, the Kebab stand operates until 2am or something and the queue is never ending!! We were skeptical at first, you know, like Kebabs are from Turkey not Germany, but we gave in to the temptation and decided to queue and try some to please our taste buds. It was really good, one of the best I had, the meat was juicy and the dude was generous with the fillings!! (sorry I think i was too lazy to take a picture)
MYTH BUSTED: Boxing day sales don't exist in Germany :( My guess is that it's only a UK thing. Most shops are closed on Xmas and Boxing day.
BUT BUT BUT we were damn lucky to find a Christmas market that was still opened!!
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| Santa lets me sit on his lap ;) |
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| Cute paper cup and no prizes for guessing what's inside! That's right, Gluhwein! A visit to a Christmas market is never complete without a cup of Gluhwein! |
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| They prefer to be santa's elves! :P |
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| We walked past this auntie frying buckets of these and we couldn't resist!! I <3 MUSHROOMS!! :D:D Ivie didn't like the cream sauce but i thought it was ok. Mushrooms can never go wrong ;) I think i can live with just mushrooms! AHAHHA |
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| OH and guess what, WE FOUND BUBBLE TEA!! The Chinese owner has been living in Germany for more than 10 years and he can speak fluent German. |
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| Ivie feeling really contented after getting her BBT fix ;) |
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| Ivie and her obsession with yellow things HAHA |
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| The foreverhungry yx was digging into his plate of fried liver and onions |
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| Not only do they have Xmas trees, they have FIRED UP ones too. |
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| I have no idea what these are but they have an uncanny resemblance to a PAO |
The very next day we headed out early to explore the historical side of Berlin, starting from the East Side Gallery, a 1.3km slab of the Berlin wall that used to be part of the iron curtain that divided Germany into the East and the West. Some said that it did not just divide Germany, it divided the entire Europe.
On our way there we passed by this interesting building....
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| What a funny signboard, I wonder what's inside |
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| One can actually rent bikes and return them at any collection/deposit points that look like this all over Berlin. |
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| YAY! We were finally at the Iron Curtain that I've heard about endless times during History lessons in secondary school. |
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| It wasn't just a leisure walk for me, I had a mission and that is to find the note kat wrote for me somewhere on this 1.3km long wall! Oh, aren't the graffiti beautiful? Artists can ballot to draw on these walls from time to time. |
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| This wacky souvenir shop sells all the weird stuffs from the soviet era when east germany was under soviet rule |
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| No, this is not a gay advocate poster but a symbol for the reunion of east and west germany, hence the two leaders, when the iron curtain fell in 1989 |
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| I really love this wall! (turns out that kat wrote the note somewhere here but I didn't see it) |
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| This is the inside, people are free to vandalise, i guess? |
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| Unfortunately, I couldn't find her note and I wrote one for her somewhere on the wall! (she went back to Berlin again a month ago and she couldn't find neither her note nor mine!) |
We then headed to the main square to join a sandeman's tour!
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| Brandenburger tor! The symbol behind the Germany euro coins! This is where all the important events are held! I think they were preparing for New year's countdown during the time I was there, hence the construction. |
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| Random photo of me with a random gigantic bear! |
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| yx acting cute with our tour receipts! |
The Third Reich Tour was one of the best tours I ever joined in Europe!! Although it wasn't free, it was worth every single euro cent! We were blessed to have a really knowledgeable and entertaining tour guide which took us through almost 100 years of Germany history in just 4 hours.
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| Reichtag! This is where the city hall is and it was where Hitler made his campaign speeches after overthrowing the Tsars and up to during his time as the Fuhrer! |
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| An artistic monument to remember those political rivals that were purged by Hitler |
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| This is a park in memory of those homosexuals that were prosecuted and discriminated |
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| This clip supposedly showed them kissing or something but I didn't manage to capture it |
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| Memorial for the murdered jews during the holocaust |
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| The rectangular stones are of different heights and they get taller as you walk further inside, supposedly to symbolise the fear they had |
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| Today this stands a regular carpark but who would have known that during WWII, underneath this hid Hitler's hideout, his bunker! The Germans did not want to give him so much recognition hence they did not build a fanciful monument but instead, turned this piece of land into a carpark. There was only a small signboard that describes how the bunker used to look like. Hitler committed suicide in his bunker during the last few days of WWII after marrying his fiance and instructed his men to burn his body because he did not want to land in the enemies' hands. However, it was said that some 10 years later, the russians or something took out his body and said that they had found it. |
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| THE PLACE THAT EVERYONE FEARS since WWII! It used to be the headquaters of the secret police of the third reich (SA or SS) and today it is the Ministry of Tax or something LOL |
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| This is the only Jewish building that survived the war and still stands today (actually it might be torn down already because the guide was telling us that some developer bought this piece of land) |
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| I think it used to be some Jewish business building or something but after the Jews were forced to evacuate this building got turned into some gypsies hideout. The whole place is filled with graffiti and reeks of pee :S |
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| The Jewish synagogue! It was said that when Hitler evacuated the Jews, he also wanted to destroy everything that was theirs. This synagogue was ordered to be burnt down but the loyal security guard who isn't even Jewish did everything he could to stop it. Fortunately, he managed to save this landmark by claiming that the Fuhrer did not want it to be burnt down. (I don't reckon how he managed to survive with such bold claims but this was what the tour guide told us) It isn't obvious here but one of the towers is newer than the other because it was rebuilt after being destroyed during the war. |
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| A dude wanted to remember all the Jews that died during the holocaust so he went around Berlin to place such metal plates on the grounds where these Jews used to live. This was a normal Jewish family that were all sent to concentration camps or put to death. The youngest member was just a baby :S |
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| This monument was placed outside the cemetery to remember the people that were sent to work to their deaths in the concentration camps. These sculptures have no figure and hair to symbolise the lack of identity, freedom and human rights that the prisoners had to endure. |
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| After a LOOONG day, we ended up at an american restaurant for dinner, weird lighting huh? |
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| Ivie wanted to find the BBT shop that her friend recommended and we found it! It was too sweet for my liking :S |
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| OMG TERRORIST ALERT!! YX bought a gas mask LOL probably in preparation for any biological war LOL |
The very next day we continued on our historical learning journey......
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| THE DDR or GDR headquaters!! |
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| Checkpoint Charlie - the only way to travel between east and west germany back in those days |
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| This is the famous sign that basically warns you that beyond this point you might never get to return |
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| On the other side of the board |
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| This was a really depressing museum that depicted the lives of the Jews during WWII but it was really informative. Even until today they do not have all the names of those who died during the war. |
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| Cards of destiny. (I didn't take much pictures in the museum, felt that it was kind of a disrespect because many of the things on display were personal) |
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| On a brighter note, I found the Berlin bear!! |
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| Soon it was dinner time! Awwww, aren't these pepper and salt shakers cute? |
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| THIS WAS THE CRAZIEST THING I EVER ORDERED. It was just a massive load of POTATOES. I thought it would only be ONE baked potato but it turned out to be 4 ZOMG I COULDN'T FINISH EVEN WITH THE HELP OF THE OTHER THREE. (but it was pretty good) |
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| Giant meatball with potatoes |
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| Cheesy spinach chicken |
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| oh i saw the first demonstration in my life!! |
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| How can you leave Berlin without buying some of these rittersport @ 1/3 the price of sg!!! I really love the rum and rasin flavour! |
Berlin is one of my favourite capitals in Europe because it has everything, from history and culture to shopping and eating. It was really like history lessons come alive!! (sorry I'm quite a geek when it comes to history and culture) The only regret is that the buildings are rather boring, they are all of similar shades and designs.
Labels: Berlin, Germany
