*~*Miss Pammy Tan*~*

Its the vacation you've all been waiting to hear about! Henrik and Pamela's Valentines Day trip to Berlin! Part 1 of 2......

*Recap!: Henrik surprised his sweetheart (me of course =D) with tickets to Berlin for Valentines Day! hehe Its the bestest gift I've ever gotten since forever!*

Day 1

We left Denmark on the 13th of February at like 4am in the morning and arrived at the Berlin Excelsior Hotel around 8+ am! (The flight was only about an hour, the rest of the time was checking in, baggage and taxi!) Since it was too early to get the room (check in time is usually 2-3pm) we got some coffee at Balzac Coffee to wake us up! Everything there looked like Starbucks except wasn't!

muscle man carries the big luggage there!!
(the taxi man asked if we were carrying bricks lol but it was packed for 2 people! jeez!)

on the plane! window seat!

airberlin!
(Henrik figured they'd be the ones who knew how to get there haha)

Berlin Excelsior Hotel!

on our way to get coffee, we walked past this building. I thought it was pretty! I think its a musem!

eyebags cuz I was too excited to sleep! haha

totally looking like tourists-checking out guide books LOL

we liked the wall painting! =D

Then still having an ample amount of time, we decided to make the most of it! A short walkable distance from our hotel, is the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche (nicknamed "lipstick church"). Built a 100 years ago, its an old church that was bombed in the war (breaking the tower into a shape of a lipstick) and later restored. The main building was never restored to its original state, but they added on 2 extra buildings. In my opinion, the outside of the new buildings are pretty unsightly, however the inside was breathtakingly beautiful!

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche

you can still see the damages made in WWII

the new part of the church

the old part of the church! most of the mosaic tiles were replaced!

the ceiling was gorgeous! all shiny gold!

what it looked like before it was attacked

very famous statue of my homeboy Jesus (in movies and postcards)

old and new!

We continued our journey down the shopping street "ku'damm" all the way to The Story of Berlin exhibition. Its a multimedia exhibition with over 20 themed rooms showing the 800 years of Berlin's development. I thought it was really cool because you could feel and compare the different times, then and now!

Tauentzienstraße sculpture. Another famous landmark!

variety of shops on the street

Story of Berlin exhibit!

old looking stairs at the start of the tour

old soldier uniforms

renisance lifestyle

scissoring!! hahahaha

old telephone (--,)

wall of people back then

national socialism era

the divisions of Germany when allies took over

fashion back then!

car show! I think theres only 2 or 3 of these cars in the world!

the ever popular wall!

I remember the coffee wearing off and my hunger growing, so we had our first lunch at a spanish restaurant! hahah we had a 2 person paella, which was actually pretty good! I must say, I did miss Singapore's big jumbo shrimp though! I ordered a water to wash down my paella with and the lady asked with gas? and I thought she said Ice so i said yea ice. Apprently, its common to have gassy or non-gassy water. lol wth. I didn't like the gassy water at all so we had it changed =D

lunch!

Pipe along the city.....apparently they prefered to have it above ground than underground!

Finally at around 2pm we could check into our room and took a bath and nap! The room was quite cosy with a view of the back of the hotel. hahaha

hahaha cuteness!

the room! + my seksy boyfriend! hahaha

We woke up for dinner intending to go to a reccomended jewish restaurant-only to find they were closed on Fridays! *gasp* A friendly police officer (there are always police officers posted outside Synagogs- I don't really know why, but one could guess I think ;)) knew we were lost and reccomended a very German restaurant around the corner! We ended up at a big restaurant called Joe's. The ambience was great! Pretty dim and romantic, nice foilage, friendly waitresses and seemed to be a hangout for the locals! The food was equally as awesome! We had schnitzel (fried pork) with potatoes and coleslaw and a porky platter of sausage, pork knuckle, ham, potatoes, mashed potatoes and saurkraut! The porportions are huge, delicious and satisfying! We had beers to go with (when in Germany...lol) and I had a banana beer! *happies*

*hungries!!*

Schnitzel!

pork platter!

beers!

hahaha

We made one last stop in our day to a pub! This pub called Klo, means toilet in German. Its a very popular place for tourists and locals! As there were only 2 of us, we shared a table with other German tourists. From ceiling to floor, there was a huge clutter of odds, ends and quirky/creepy things around. There were benches and toilet bowls as seats! Plus, the beers were served in urine holders! The Dj was quite a comedian (but he spoke in German, but I figured he was funny cuz everyone was laughing lol) and played rather classic and fun songs. It was such a great place to go! I'd reccomend anyone going to Berlin to check it out! hehehe

all the crazy stuff. When you're physically in there its creepier because its so dark!

the first German group we shared a table with! the table could go up and down!

a whiskey safe so no one seals your booze! LOL

A scandalous dwarf!

the second German family we shared a table with lol

drinking out of urine beakers!

*loves*

Day 2

The second day in Berlin was Valentine's Day!! *loves* We woke rather early (when I say early I mean around 10/11 =x) and had a breakfast-to-go from a bakery near by! I had a ham sandwhich and later at the train station ate a pretzel! Good thing my baby is smart, because I was just following blindly on the train! hahaha

bakery!

buying train tickets!

^oinker

When we got out at our stop, we were right at Checkpoint Charlie! The legendary crossing point between the American and Russian sectors during the war. It was a total tourist attraction where there were men dressed as soldiers- one Russian and the other American- and you could take a picture with them for 1 euro!

Checkpoint Charlie!

"You are now leaving the American sector"

Very close by was the line you cold follow where the infamous Berlin wall use to be! They had signboards of the history of the wall. We follwed it all the way to the Topographie of Terrors. Its an open air exhibition of the remins of the building from which Nazis ruled from 1933-1945. Its purpose was to inform people about national socialism, its crimes and to face the reality of its histoy. I found it very interesting and informative Though we didn't have a lot of time to finish reading the entire wall! it was very long! lol

Tracing the Berlin wall

the wall!

more wall

whats left of more wall

Topographie Des Terrors

The bear is the mascot for Germany, thus there were many of these (see above) bear statues all around Berlin!

Just a short distance walk from the Topographie Des Terrors was Portsdamer Platz. This area was a sucessful attempt to revamp the city. there was a huge dome over the Sony center, including shops and cinemas. We had Dunkin' Donuts there for lunch! hehehe we got half a dozen and finished it all!! *rolls around like a glutton*

Potasdamer Platz

modren buildings

Sony Center!

Dunkin' Donuts!

*loves!*

V-Day donut!!!!

haha I think baby is half smiling and half crying I made him eat so many donuts!
hehehe

On the way to the Governmental district, we saw the huge Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe. There was no explanation for the design so you could interpret it in whichever way you feel. It looked like a sea of cement blocks. as you walk in, you notice the memorial is situated on a hill. the blocks get deeper and taller. In my opinion, it represented the hardships they had to endure, how they were treated the same because of their religion no matter of how they looked. Its also a great place to play hide and seek -as a lot of people were doing =x hahaha

Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe

Peek-a-boo!

haha white chocolate!

Right across the street was the one and only Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). One of Europes most famous landmarks, the statue on top was actually once stolen by Napolean as a spoil of war. It was brought back to Germany after Napolean's defeat in 1814!

crossing the street!

Brandenburger Tor (right), Reichstag (left with the dome)

statue at the Brandenburger Tor

tada! the Brandenburger Tor!

the statue that Napolean stole!

I guess its better to visit this place during sunrise lol

the backside

Henrik teaches you how to steal the statue just like how Napolean did!

memorial for a few people who tried to escape by swimming in the river, most were shot/drowned.

Just as the sun was begining to set, we reached the Reichstag with its famous glass dome. The Reichstag is the parliament house of Germany. They allow tourists to climb to the top of the dome where the view is absolutely fabulous. You can see all of Berlin! There was about a 30 minute wait in the freezing cold, but it was totally worth the wait. We got to the top just in time to watch the sunset! no one can ask for a more perfect Valentine's Day moment!

Reichstag! (also the back lol)

a cool limo we saw while crossing the street!

a lampost I liked

a cool architectural school we passed on the way around the Reichstag

tada! can you spot me?

wating in the freezing cold at the 30 min wait spot! =o

the sun starting to set!

climbing the spiral!

sun setting over the city

center of the dome!

we reached the top!

*happies*

you can see the Brandenburger Tor and the Sony center!

getting dark!

where parliament meets!

first bus ride in Berlin!

For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Schwarzwaldstuben. The place was very local, very cosy and our waitress didn't wear shoes! hahaha. We got the best seats in the house and had a very interesting appetizer platter. There was cheese (which was cut in a way I thought made it look like cauliflower lol), dates wrapped with bacon, goat cheese, beef with broccoli dip, smoked ham and some orange dip I think is goulash. For the main course there was German meat dumplings with fried cheese and veggies. Also, sausages with lentils and egg noodles. Everything was great! though I wouldv'e liked more sauce with my dumplings! lol.

baby

me (wearing red for v day!)

we're hungry!

appetizer!

sausage, egg noodles, lentils!

dumplings with fried cheese and veggies!

happies!

normal

sexxxy!

We attempted to go clubbing that night but apparently our guide book was about 2 years old and none of the clubs listed inside were still opperational. We tried 3 different ones and failed! lol So we went off on our own and found this small club/pub that Henrik had been to before a loong time ago. It was such a coincidence because he had no recollection of where it was or what it was called! lol It was such a fun night! *happies!*

no comment

the space ship we found outside! lol

Guess what?! You can buy pieces of the Berlin wall home! they come in small, medium or large pieces! Pamela has bought a small piece for about 6 euros! woo hoo! You know you wish you had a piece!

*check in for Pam and Henrik's Valentines Day in Berlin for part 2!*

<3
Love, your Toxic.