Berlin, Berlin!

Oh how I have fallen in love with Berlin!

We're now back, safe and sound, after a 3 day stay in the beautiful Capital, enduring snow, rain, some seriously eye watering wind, and some sunshine mixed in there too! But it was amazing. I was a bit worried I would fall for the city, having wanted to go there for quite some time, and imagining it could perhaps be that place I have always wanted to find....Germany's answer to what Brighton means to me.  But inland. And quite a lot bigger. Still...it had the essence, feel and vibe I was wanting to find. I must admit, I was foolish thinking 3 days would be enough. I could have quite easily spent another month there exploring, finding out more...but at the same time I worried I wouldn't be able to leave after that, and would never come home again! 

I am keeping this one short and sweet, as we did go to some amazing places, and I actually want to feature them in their own posts. So it's going to be a busy week here for me :)

But in brief, here are a few snaps from our little trip abroad. We left the camera in the suitcase, stupidly, so no photos from the first day. We spent most of it exploring around Mitte and Alexanderplatz. A heck of a lot of shopping, and not much else. We did venture out north towards an area I'd heard had a lot of Vintage shops. I found a few, and they were beautiful, so organised and neat and tidy, everything is sorted into decades, colour, and clothing item. It was so pleasurable to walk around, but then that is because it appealed to my slight OCD tendancies.... MUST BE IN ORDER!!! (I think this may be something that rubbed off on me and stayed with me from a child. I grew up in Germany from 1-11 and do miss the place very much). However, I didn't really find anything to my liking, the majority was form the 70s and 80s, and I wasn't really in a shopping-y mood either after a 3am start to the day.

We did however explore the famous TV Tower, have a mooch around all the Christmas markets we found along our way through town, and wondered through the Reichstag and Der Grosse Stern at night. Bloody cold at nearly -4C with a bit of rain, but beautiful all lit up at night. Well worth the soggy feet and tights:

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I have a huge soft spot for German architecture and design. The 1920's saw the emergence of the Bauhaus movement (more on that in a further post) and you can see how its influence has rubbed off on the city. The underground is littered with the most beautiful train stations. This was on our way 'home' to the place we were staying at on the east side of Berlin, at Hermannplatz U-Bahn Station. Opened in 1926, you can see how the Bauhaus moto of 'Form follows Function' has influenced its design. No faffing, yet still an amazing sight. The colours were still as vivid as they would have been back then, the tiles made the place look like it was sparkling clean. There is something very pleasing about its design. I love it. Not like our dingy, dirty and stuffy London underground (although its design too, when going to the correct stations, can be just as beautiful).

Unlike London however, the Mister and I found ourselves being continuosly stared at, the whole time. It was as if we were animals in a zoo or something. People actually walked past us, and kept turning their heads to keep staring at us.  found it a little odd...I'm sure we couldn't have looked that strange, but wherever we looked, people stood and stared. 

Now lets all play spot the Emma in the Crowd:

We also spotted some wicked cars around town. Nice to see Berlin has its fair share of fellow classic car lovers. The Mister and I are planning on driving Tilly over to Berlin next year on a trip, and show off some 1970's British Motor design ; )

We also enjoyed some good hearty German food at the local Brauhaus Mitte. You could find a Brauhaus in most towns and most definitely City's, and next time you pop to Germany, make sure you pay one a visit. They are breweries, serving all home-made beer, with proper German food, which from our experience these last few days, is a bloody hard thing to find in Berlin! So many Chinese, Italian and American diners, but nothing proper German! Not like I remember it being in the South of Germany, but then I've never been to Berlin before.

Toasting up by the Christmas Tree trying to decided what to eat:

And on our way back bumped into this Taxi Driver waiting at the nearby taxi rank. Amazing! Still being used today as a taxi, I wanted a ride!!! If only all taxis were like this one:

We stayed at the most amazing hostel on the east side, visited some wicked museums, and eat a bucket load of food my waistline will not be best pleased about, but hey, I don't care, I have now found my new home from home. I love Berlin, and I will most certainly be back again. 

Much Love,

L.J.

xxx