On the Saturday my parents headed off home. My sister was staying to the following day so we decided to spend the day watching Red Dwarf a quite clearly excellent use of time. Later on in the day my first couch surfer for Berlin Winter Camp arrived (more on that later).
In the evening my friend Michael joined us and the four of us watched the Christmas Special of Doctor Who as both my sister and I are fans of the show and my sister introduced Michael to it a while back.
The next day my Sister went home and I headed to Potsdamer Platz to register at Winter Camp.
Saturday 17 January 2009
Christmas in Berlin: Christmas Day
Christmas Day was spent lounging around, eating chocolate and generally not doing a whole lot, my kind of day.
We also watched two films, the first of which was 'In Bruges' a dark comedy:
I enjoyed the film, although the constant interruptions of "oh, we've been there" etc from my parents who recently went to Bruges became rather tedious.
The next film we watched (one of my Mum's presents) was Mamma Mia, which I can wholeheartedly was awful, a true chick flick. Not even the comedic value of seeing Pierce Brosnan sing makes it worth watching (unless you're a woman of course then I'm sure you'd love it):
We also watched two films, the first of which was 'In Bruges' a dark comedy:
I enjoyed the film, although the constant interruptions of "oh, we've been there" etc from my parents who recently went to Bruges became rather tedious.The next film we watched (one of my Mum's presents) was Mamma Mia, which I can wholeheartedly was awful, a true chick flick. Not even the comedic value of seeing Pierce Brosnan sing makes it worth watching (unless you're a woman of course then I'm sure you'd love it):
Christmas in Berlin: Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve we got up early to go to Ikea in the morning to buy some furniture for my apartment which would be my Christmas presents. After getting the things I wanted, most important of which was a duvet we grabbed a quick lunch in the cafeteria. For anyone who has eaten at Ikea before you'll know how nice the meatballs are, for anyone who has not been I'd recommend going just for that.
After hauling everything back to the apartment we relaxed for a couple of hours. In Germany the tradition is to have a large meal and open your presents on the evening of the 24th, then get drunk and head to a midnight mass. Christmas Day is then spent recovering and doing very little. Well, we did half of that. So around 7ish we opened our presents. I'd had the idea of buying my family gifts related to Berlin, so I bought my Mum a photography book of Berlin and my Dad a couple of history books about the Berlin Wall. I had planned to buy my sister a couple of the films we'd seen at Berlinale but unfortunately none of them are available on DVD, and I have still yet to buy her a present. This I felt especially bad about as the present she'd bought for me was perfect. It's Banky's 'Wall and Piece' a collection of photographs of his work and stories and writings by him:
I was genuinely surprised and happy when I opened it. I'm usually very particular about what I'd like for Christmas so although I appreciate what I get, it's generally not all that much of a surprise, so this made a nice change to that and the book is not sat in pride of place on one of my shelves.
After hauling everything back to the apartment we relaxed for a couple of hours. In Germany the tradition is to have a large meal and open your presents on the evening of the 24th, then get drunk and head to a midnight mass. Christmas Day is then spent recovering and doing very little. Well, we did half of that. So around 7ish we opened our presents. I'd had the idea of buying my family gifts related to Berlin, so I bought my Mum a photography book of Berlin and my Dad a couple of history books about the Berlin Wall. I had planned to buy my sister a couple of the films we'd seen at Berlinale but unfortunately none of them are available on DVD, and I have still yet to buy her a present. This I felt especially bad about as the present she'd bought for me was perfect. It's Banky's 'Wall and Piece' a collection of photographs of his work and stories and writings by him:
I was genuinely surprised and happy when I opened it. I'm usually very particular about what I'd like for Christmas so although I appreciate what I get, it's generally not all that much of a surprise, so this made a nice change to that and the book is not sat in pride of place on one of my shelves.
Christmas in Berlin: Tuesday - The Berlin I Remember
On Tuesday I'd arranged to meet my parents early at Brandenburger Tor for a day of sightseeing. The first place we headed was the Reichstag. Because we arrived there early we beat the queues and were inside within 10minutes. We took a lift up to the roof and then walked up inside the dome getting a full 360 view of the city. The view of the city was amazing and the dome itself, stunning:
Also on the roof, next to the dome was a rather nice, although inevitably expensive cafe where we had a morning cup of tea. It was nice to just sit and chat with my parents, even if a large amount of it was about me getting a job. I also realised that I had the same feeling of awe about the city which I had felt back in February when my sister brought me here for Berlinale. That's not to say I don't find living here a blast, because I do, but I just haven't experienced the same feeling of being blown away by it all.
After the Reichstag the next stop was the Jewish memorial. This is a collection of various sized slabs on stone, which essentially gives it the feel of a graveyard. Below the memorial is a museum about the Holocaust. In one of the rooms it gives the estimated numbers of Jews killed from various countries, some of which are just astonishing.
Next, after walking past the British Embassy (I really need to go there with my passport at some point so I can see the inside) we headed to Checkpoint Charlie and from there towards Potsdamer Platz. On the way to Potsdamer Platz we stumbled across the 'Topography des Terrors' (Topography of Terror). There was a small section of wall but teh main part of the outdoor 'exhibit' was the information about the old SS headquarters that previously stood in the square but had been demolished and nothing had even been built over it.
Also on the roof, next to the dome was a rather nice, although inevitably expensive cafe where we had a morning cup of tea. It was nice to just sit and chat with my parents, even if a large amount of it was about me getting a job. I also realised that I had the same feeling of awe about the city which I had felt back in February when my sister brought me here for Berlinale. That's not to say I don't find living here a blast, because I do, but I just haven't experienced the same feeling of being blown away by it all.
After the Reichstag the next stop was the Jewish memorial. This is a collection of various sized slabs on stone, which essentially gives it the feel of a graveyard. Below the memorial is a museum about the Holocaust. In one of the rooms it gives the estimated numbers of Jews killed from various countries, some of which are just astonishing.
Next, after walking past the British Embassy (I really need to go there with my passport at some point so I can see the inside) we headed to Checkpoint Charlie and from there towards Potsdamer Platz. On the way to Potsdamer Platz we stumbled across the 'Topography des Terrors' (Topography of Terror). There was a small section of wall but teh main part of the outdoor 'exhibit' was the information about the old SS headquarters that previously stood in the square but had been demolished and nothing had even been built over it.
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