Emily, Jon and I were going to be traveling through Germany for a few days before Brian joined back up with us to explore the German Christmas Markets. We debated between Frankfurt and Berlin, and ultimately ended up going to Berlin, which was a great decision! As I've mentioned, I studied a lot of German history and cutlure, particulary the WWII era in school, so this city was one I wanted to visit - it was also the further north I had been in Germany since Brian and I really love the southern Bavaria area. To be honest, I didn't think I would ever call Berlin beautiful. I thought I would go there, check it off my list, and be done. However, I found a beautiful city with lots of culture and great museums and sights that I definitely want to return to with Brian someday.
Berlin was miserably cold, but it actually didn't snow while we were there. We started our first night by visiting the Berlin Wall of course. The wall was started in 1961 and didn't come down until 1990. It was mind-blowing to think this structure separated two different countries. We then headed over to Checkpoint Charlie, which was the former crossing point for the Allied Forces. The city has constructed a replica of the actual checkpoint hut and the sign you would see as you crossed from one area to the other. It was a lot smaller than I had pictured in my mind. That night, we finally headed over to the Reichstag, where the current German Parliament meets, but we couldn't visit it because of recent terror threats. Going in there will definitely be one on my list for my return visit!
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| Checkpoint Charlie - please notice the McDonald's now also situated on the corner! |
The next day, I visited the Deutches Historiches Museum that featured an amazing exhibition on Nazi Germany and the reunificiation of the two sides. I had written a term paper on Nazi propaganda, and it was interesting to see some of this propaganda firsthand.
After the museum, I stumbled upon my first Christmas Market of the season! I can't even explain how special these are. We ended up our night in Berlin at the Alexander Platz Christmas Market, where we enjoyed Gluhwein (hot mulled wine) and potato pancakes.
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| Entrance to one of the main Berlin Christmas Markets |
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| Emily and I at dinner in Berlin |
The next morning, we began the train ride down to Munich, which I think has become my favorite German city. It started snowing really hard along the train ride, and by the time we arrived in Munich, everything was covered! It made the city that much more beautiful. My favorite moment was coming out of the U-Bahn station into Marienplatz (the main square in Munich) and seeing snowfall along the quaint Christmas Market. That night, we ate dinner at the famous Hofbrau Haus. A trip to Munich just wouldn't be complete without a liter of beer and Weiner Schnitzel or Roasted Chicken there! The next day, we did a 3-hour walking tour in the snow to learn more about the city's history. Although I have been to Munich several times now, this was the first time I did a tour and it was very insightful and made me appreciate the city even more.
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| Snowfall on the train tracks as we headed to Munich |
That night, we headed to the Munich Airport to pick up Brian. More on those adventures tomorrow!
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