Sunday, November 25, 2007
.berlin/gone fat. 211107-241107
look at my triple chin. gosh. all the eating + less exercise + no sun make me a damn unhealthy young man. Suffered a little of travel fatigue syndrome in Berlin. Was feeling exhausted and the gloomy weather didn't help lighten up the mood. Nevertheless, went for the New Berlin Tour on the first morning. Ít's definitely worth it as you get to know Berlin's history a lot better after the tour. It's really amazing how Berlin has grown when it was stilla divided city just two decades ago.
We started off at the famous Bradenburg Gate(the east-west crossing point) followed by Eisenman's Holocaust Memorial for the Jews who were murdered in Europe, the Hitler bunker, the Berlin Wall(seperated the east and west berlin), Checkpoint Charlie(with the renowed sign, You are now leaving the American sector) the Dom, the Humbotit Universaitat and ended at the Museum Island where lies the beautiful the Berliner Dom, the National Galerie and the Pergamon Museum. After the new Berlin Tour, we rushed to the Jewish Museum where it holds the collection of Jewish-German history within. Quite exhausted after that although it did enlighten me on how the Jews used to live in terror during the war. Our last stop of the day before dinner was the Pergamon Museum where we saw the Ishtar Gate from Babylon and the Pergamon Altar. Dinner was Curry Wunst & Ben & Jerry's before we head back to the hostel to sleep.
The next morning was lunching at Marche followed by visiting the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche at Kurgurstendamm(West Berlin Zoo Area). It's saddening how a once very magnificient cathedral had most of its parts been bombed during the war. What remained right now was just the broken west tower which was left in 1943 as an anti-war memorial. Gerrie wanted shopping so we spent 3 hours aimlessly around the shopping area. Bought 1 cardigan from H&M and some delicious exclusive Ferrero Garden from the supermarket. Jay ate Curry Wunst(Sausages) AGAIN!! At night, we had our Berlin dinner treat at the 6th story gourmet area at Kadawe, a high-class shopping centre. I was damn fascinated by the wide variety of food and ended up spending about S$60 for dinner! Ate spare ribs and a very sumptuous fish meal accompanied with wine at the Asian counter. Jay ate fried duck whereas Gerrie chose the chicken. Damn delicious. The Germans really know how to enjoy life man.
The last day of Berlin before we head back to Bath was visiting the Reichstaggebadue(Parliament Building) where we took some amazing photos. We wanted to wake up at 7 but ended up waking up at 9(with a bad hair-day) instead! I prepared some breakfast (save $) before we head for the Parliament House. The concept was just amazing as the glass panels that allow people to see in represents transparency and openess in parliamentary democracy. We queued for approximately an hour to get in but fortunately, in the midst of queueing, there was a entertaining puppet show that cheered the whole frustrated and impatient crowd up.
After the parliament visit, we went to the Bradenburg Gate again for a final photo and along the way to the Berlin War near Checkpoint Charlie, we chanced upon a Christmas funfair and decided to check it out! Nothing much but J and G settled lunch there. Went to a sovenior shop and took their green man, red man magnets. We finally left Berlin taking the 1403 train to the airport, with Jay and Gerrie eating their last sausage in Germany.
floated away at
7:23 AM
