Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a chance to relax over the holidays. Though I was forced to cancel part of my Christmas vacation to support urgent client requirements, we were able to sneak off for a four-day minibreak in Berlin, leaving Aude’s parents at our place in Paris to look after the cats. (Reports are that Daisy was somewhat horrible to look after, not friendly at all. Some things never change.)

Berlin Television Tower

Berlin Television Tower

Planning for Berlin

Aude was in charge of the planning…

Posing in front of the bus

The bus depot was one of the highlights of the trip to Berlin. Had to take a photo to remember the moment!

Gluhwein

A little gluhwein to warm up in the sub-freezing temperatures…

Church

Inside the church

Francois & Gratiane

Francois & Gratiane

Lost again

Lost again! We seemed to spend a lot of time looking at the map. Not much fun in the cold weather.

Holocaust memorial

Holocaust memorial

Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall

A line indicates where the Berlin Wall wall used to stand. It runs around the entire city.

Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie

Francois & Matthew

Francois & Matthew enjoy a couple of well-earned beers after a day of sight-seeing.

Berlin Wall grafitti

A section of the Berlin Wall, covered in grafitti

Grafitti by Aude and Gratiane

Aude and Gratiane make their mark!!!

So off we went to Berlin to see the sights. We rented an apartment in the Northeast of the city which turned out to be a mixed blessing. The apartment itself was lovely, bigger than our apartment in Paris, but the 10-minute walk to the metro was a nightmare as the temperatures plunged to -10. Next time I go to Berlin, it will be in springtime.

We hit all the major sites – Checkpoint Charlie, the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall – and managed to squeeze in a few museums as well. We walked around a lot of the city, but the layout of Berlin is not conducive to walking – the scale of the streets and buildings means that everything is too far apart to walk between.

Highlights of our trip included a ride all the way around the S-Bahn on the first night (when our plan to go find a nice spot for a drink went wrong!), misunderstanding the bus driver when he ordered us all off the bus and ending up in the bus depot, freezing every time we went outside, and eating a lot of cabbage. I think I ate cabbage at least twice a day for the entire trip. You did not want the seat next to me on the plane home.