Coming back into the Eurozone after Scandinavia, the price of food and lodging seemed super-reasonable. My train out of Copenhagen brought me to Hamburg where I had some time before the next leg of my journey to Berlin; I spent that time at a Christmas market eating Christmas-y snacks (assuming you count deep-fried dough covered in Nutella as a Christmas snack).
Christmas Market in Hamburg
Nativity scene, obviously.
Arriving in Berlin in the middle of the night and too cheap for a cab, I walked from the Hauptbahnhof to the Heart of Gold Hostel. Little did I know, it was too late for check-in and no one would answer the frickin’ door.
The Berlin Hbf
Somehow, I wound up at the surprisingly cheap Meininger Hotel around the corner (I may have used the hostel’s Wi-Fi to look it up). After a shower, I ventured outside in search of nourishment. Being in the capital of Germany, I figured there’d be a bunch of late night places open.
I was wrong, at least with that particular neighborhood.
What Oranienburger Strasse lacked in food, it made up for with prostitutes. I had no idea I was in a sort of red light district for Berlin, nor did I learn that prostitution was legal in Berlin until after I’d left the country. Dodging woman after woman—many of whom were ridiculously good-looking, by the way—I eventually found a restaurant with an American 1960s diner theme. The place was aptly named, Sixties Diner.
Just like America…
…except it’s kind of red-ish for some reason. Maybe because of the prostitutes outside.
The next day, I went on my first Sandeman’s Walking Tour. For those who don’t know (which, I assume are most of the random folks who might read this), Sandeman’s tours exist in a number of different major cities in Europe and they’re free. The guides, however, do ask for well-deserved tips (not being particularly well off, I tipped them 10 Euros). These guides seem to generally be young expats living in the city but are originally from elsewhere; they tend to be charismatic with a decent sense of humor, so the tours are entertaining (though I kind of wonder if all the stories they tell are true).
The Berlin tour started near Brandenburg Gate and brought us to a few places, including: Hotel Adlon (location of the late Michael Jackson’s baby-dangling incident); some government buildings (Deutscher Bundestag); the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe; some spot that was supposedly over the bunker where Hitler killed himself; a former Nazi Airbase, remnants of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. Now, I’ll wrap up with photos of said places—
I was familiar with the Brandenburg Gate beforehand thanks to Civilization V (“playing… AND learning,” Ross Geller would be proud).
Another shot of the gate.
If I were a betting man, I’d wager that Mickey would-be Pluto aren’t officially licensed.
Totally trusting the tour guide who told me this is the Michael Jackson baby-dangling spot. Rest in Peace King of Pop.
Yeah, we didn’t bother getting closer to see the government buildings; I was probably one of the few people who cared (and it was only ’cause I’d just learned about this stuff in my comparative international law classes).
There are 2711 concrete slabs in the Holocaust Memorial.
Gets kind of labyrinth-like in there.
Again, I took my tour guide’s word that Hitler’s bunker was near here.
Supposedly a former airbase during WWII.
Some remnant of the Berlin Wall.
Checkpoint Charlie.
Humboldt University
A statue of a weeping Mother Russia.
Some statue I thought was kind of cool. Now that I look at it, I should have taken the photo from an angle where that dude’s deal isn’t all up in our faces.
Berliner Dom; a cathedral, I think.
Street art.
A.D. Martin 
I had a fun time in Berlin. Christmas time however would have been a special time to visit. The lights, the chill, the different photo opportunities. Nice post.
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I did enjoy the cold and the snow traveling Europe in December/January.
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I like the walking tours in London (must have been to most by London walks) – and recommend them to everybody I know. Walking tours in Germany I usually only go to special themed tours. We had a night guard tour in Wuerzburg some years ago – and that was good as was the same kind of tour here in Hannover. If you conquer a city’s history walking you get quite a different feeling for it.
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I’ve never done a themed tour; kind of rushed through a lot of countries doing the more basic tours.
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Well, I don’t have a far trip to London (about an hour by plane) so I could take my time and do special interest tours (like pub crawls).
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Despite several trips to Europe, I’ve never been to Berlin. I’d love to go. But I know I won’t be walking around alone in the middle of the night!
Great pictures. Even with the ‘dude’s deal’ up in our face. 😉
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There was definitely a lot of walking around in the middle of the night. I wouldn’t suggest most people do the same. It seems I didn’t put up the photo with the peeing kid-fountain from Brussels.
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Can’t wait to visit Berlin
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Do it~
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We traveled to eastern Germany not long after the wall had fallen and found many of the business people were really not accustomed to tourists! They seemed not to know what to do with us – of course, this was in small towns. Great pics of Berlin!
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Is that last photo you? You probably shouldn’t be urinating in public.
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I do what I want.
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I see that.
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Great pics. It brings back memories for me. I love Germany. I was there in Berlin for Christmas time as well a couple years ago. I lived there for a couple of months and loved it, am planning to go back some day over summertime.
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I feel like I need to go back to just about very place I’ve been.
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The Berliner Dom is a Protestant cathedral, or so Wikipedia says. I was looking up a suitable building present in 1930s Berlin for a story I’m writing.
It looks distinctly Eastern.
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Ah, I see. Good to know. I should probably Google the subjects of my photos (but won’t).
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This it’s a stunning post. A snapshot of Berlin’s present and past. Someplace I’ve always wanted to go.
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Thanks~
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Nicely done! Great shots. I lived in Germany in the 70s but never made it to Berlin. Now I have!
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It’s probably better now; it has McDonald’s and Starbucks. Haha..
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