Looking back in Berlin

Saturday morning I woke up and decided to see some of the places I had missed in the daylight the day before. I used the U bahn to go to Bismarck strauss and from there I planned on walking to the Schloss Charlottenberg. I started walking down the street towards where I thought it might be. I found a small Christmas Market spread out through the walkways between two streets. There were pony rides, a magic carpet ride, and a merry go round along with the requisite chestnut sellers and sausage houses. Of course you can't forget the hot wein (german spelling for wine). Gluwein is a mulled wine that isn't that bad but I think might take an acquired taste. I realized I had been walking the wrong way so turned back and found the road I was supposed to be taking. As I got closer to the palace I could see twinkling lights and hear music. Sure enough, spread out over the square in front of the gates was a......Christmas Market! I really had wanted to avoid them and see them closer to Christmas but they are so magical and they just suck you in. I wandered through and bought a pretzel from a man who started doing a little jig. I giggled and he smiled and said "Hey, I am having fun!".....I continued on, next stop, the Victory Column. I walked and walked and it seemed to never get closer. I saw Ernst-Reuter Platz with a huge traffic circle and 5 roads coming out. And as I continued I could see a hint of gold sparkling in the clouds. As I came up to the Siegessaule I realized how huge it was. It sits in the middle of yet another large traffic round about. I quickly ran to the bathroom before I climbed the steps down that led to the tunnel under the road. I found a free stall and opened the door to find a man with his pants down....in the ladies washroom! This is the second time it's happened to me. The other time was in a bus station in Spain. What is with guys using the wrong bathroom, and how about locking the door!?! I wasn't too traumatized and in fact it was quite funny so I started down to the tunnels. Coming up the stairs, the statue on the top is so majestic. It's huge and along the sides you can see bullet holes which is a reminder of a not so distant past. After a walk around I noticed some other things to look at around the road so I walked back over that way. I took some pictures of other statues before heading towards Charlottenberg Gate. It was a nice walk through the Tiergarden which is German for Animal Garden. It's a large park right in the middle of Berlin with statues, fountains, ponds, and of course animals...well I saw some birds and ducks!  About half way there I passed a sign that pointed to the column and said 1.2 km....wowzas.....that meant I'd probably walked about 4 km already today! As I got closer to the Brandenberger Tor I saw the Reichstag dome on the left. Taking a detour I thought it would be a good time to see it. I'd heard it was free but when I arrived there was a huge security checkpoint and a sign that read appointment required. I guess I'll see it another day. I found my way back to the Holocaust Memorial and walked among the stones. The creator purposefully didn't say what his thoughts behind the monument were so people would form their own opinions. Some say it's like a cemetary in Prague where they buried bodies on top of one another because there was no room, creating high graves above ground. Walking through though I felt more that it showed the narrow mindedness of some, it felt crushing at times with the stones towering overtop and the hope as the walkway curved up and the stones were smaller. I highly doubt the artist of this monument would have copied a graveyard as a monument, but hey that's just me! I had a Skype date and decided I would walk back to the hostel and discover things on my way. I found some of the places from my tour the day before like Bebelplatz, home of the book burning memorial. As well as the Sony Tower and a HUGE Christmas Market with a Ferris wheel and everything. I also found kartofelpuffer,or potatoe pancakes. I love these so I bought some and ate them as I continued back to the hostel. It started to snow, the wet rain kind, but I marched on. And the walk was nice even though it was cold and getting dark. I stayed in for the night except to run out and get some dinner and fruit for later. It was nice to have a room to myself the first night but now I have 4 smelly boys sharing my room which reeked from their late night partying, I went to bed early as to catch up on some sleep.

Sunday I woke up and paid the €5.50 for breakfast as I was heading out and didn't want to worry about being hungry. I filled up and then caught the S bahn to Potsdam, a town not too far from Berlin which has castles. One in particular, Sans Souci, was supposed to be beautiful. It also shared the name with my grandparents farm when my mom was a girl. So I was curious. I later found out it was where my grandpa was born. It was so nice with a small town feel. The homes were grand and beautiful and the electrical boxes were all painted with pretty pictures. I walked along with a tourist map, following road signs as I went. At some point Schloss Sans Souci turned to Sans Souci Park but I figured they'd be close together. Well an hour later after finding no Schloss I walked into the tourist office. I desperately had to use the bathroom and get directions. Turns out both were nearby and it only cost me €0.20 to pee......I walked down a long L shaped driveway and in the distance saw a bright yellow home on top of a hill. Leading all the way up were stairs that sort of looked like a Christmas tree from afar. Getting closer I noticed a large fountain at the bottom and terraces in between each set of stairs. The yellow palace spread out low over the hill and had trellises on either end. Climbing the stairs I was struck by the colour! I loved that it wasn't white! What had looked like red and green decorations on the terraces before were actually sections of plants interspesed with green gates in the walls. Walking around to the front I saw a rounded outdoor terrace in a semi circle in front of the building creating a rounded courtyard. I bought tickets (€3.00 extra for a photography permit, I don't think so) and waited for my 1:20 entrance time. I learned that the summer palace was built by Frederick the Great who loved it so much he spent most of his time there. It was a one story building with excuisite detail in gold. I HAD to take some pictures so I snuck a few in, I mean with a €12 entrance fee pictures should be included! It was a truly magnificent house, and not too big which added to making it special. When I left it was only a couple of hours till night fall so I made my way slowly to the s bahn station to get back to Berlin. I had another stop to make on my way back and that was to an area called Grunewald where my grandpa had lived as a boy; he had said it was a nice area to walk in. When I got off the train at my next sop, the snow was falling sideways. I walked around the area a little, finding beautiful homes and green parks. I read about how the station had been one of the major deportation sites for the prisoners during the war. 50 000 Jewish people had been moved through the station. They had built a memorial and also placed plaques around the neighbourhood where Jewish people had lived and worked. Jumping back on the train my next stop was to find Schinke street in Neukolln. Jo had already found it this summer otherwise I never would have stumbld across it! I got off at the Schonleinstrausse stop and walked in the direction showed on my map. Sure enough there it was. My tour guide on Friday had said that sometimes one of the signs on the street will give a history of the name so I walked the short street but found nothing. I took a couple of pictures and jumped back on the train to get to Mehringdamm stop. Home of the best doner kebab place in Berlin. I had been warned that often there is a line up down the stairs to the underground. Luckily the line up wasn't that long but there were still about 12 people in front of me. It was a delicious doner kebab filled with cooked veggies, fresh salad ingredients and delicious sauces. And it was so cheap! After that I was on my way back to the hostel and it was past dark so not much to see. I organized my things for the next day when I would be applying for my Indian visa.

Monday I woke up, packed my bags and had a large breakfast. I grabbed my backpack and was on my way to find the Indian Visa Application Centre. I found it easily enough but had had some trouble printing my application. I had phoned that morning to ask about it but there was no answer. She gave me some attitude about not having it but then she also had trouble getting it to print. She was finalky able to print it for me after about 10 minutes of trying. In sarcastic tones she mentioned it was a good thing she had time to do this. As soon as it was printed she saw a mistake...I needed a German address for my present address. I had to go to an Internet cafe and redo the whole form again. Another form wasn't in black ink so that one also had to be done again. Finally by 11:30 it was all done and my passport is now safely in the hands of the Cox and Kings third party visa application centre....I hope. I had bought a day ticket for the bahn system so I jumpd on and headed to Kreuzberg which I had heard was a neat area. I walked around the area which would be equivalent to a Whyte Ave or By Ward Market of Berlin, except a whole neighbourhood. I wanted to stop and eat at one of the neat cafes but had to find a travel agency that sold cheap train tickets. I finally found it after wandering Alexanderplatz for more than half an hour....and they can only be bought online with European Credit Cards! Bummer! I priced out regular train tickets before heading to the hostel to book the bus. I left shortly after, the guy at the hostel said I needed 30 min, I gave myself over an hour. And!!! I made it with only 5 minutes to spare! Good thing I like to be early! Just a side note: did you know that the y and the z on a German keyboard are reversed? Very confusing!

Last night I walked to my hostel after dinner and big white fluffy snowflakes fell from the sky! It was beautiful! Off to do a walking tour in Hamburg now!