Berlin

My second visit to Berlin came a few weeks after the awful incident that occurred at one of the cities biggest Christmas Markets. After such a devastating event it was great to see how the locals had pulled together to keep up the spirits of the city.
Our flight arrived late on New Years day and we headed out to the market as it was the closest to our hotel. The market was full of traditional food & craft stalls. We ate some bratwurst and waffles while taking in the memorial filled with candles and flowers.
After a look around the surrounding area and shops we had dinner before going to bed.

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Day 2 started with a bus ride down to Checkpoint Charlie which was named so because it was the third named checkpoint after Alpha and Bravo. Checkpoint Charlie was the border crossing between east and west Berlin or the Russia and Soviet sectors. When you are walking around this part of Berlin you can almost imagine how it was 80's. The Berlin tourist board (presumably) have done a good job of spreading out bits of the wall throughout the city as good photo opportunities. There is a lot of history in this part of the city although some parts are of course over-done for tourists (i.e the actor dressed up as an American guard charging for photos).
We then walked over to the Topography of terror which is an interesting free exhibition on the history of the SS. There is also a large section of the Berlin Wall outside the building.
A short bus ride took us to Postdamer Platz which is a modern hub of restaurants, bars, cafes & a panorama viewing platform. There is also a large Sony centre, a LEGOLAND visitors centre and a panorama viewing platform. Currywurst and chips were for lunch before heading jumping back on the bus to the Reichstag building. This is a very popular location for photo's along with the Brandenburg gate just around the corner. Tours can be had of the building but they must be booked far in advance and can be quite pricey. A two minute stroll and you can be one of Europe's most famous landmarks. The Brandenburg gate is well known for many events throughout history including a huge gathering of people celebrating when the Berlin wall finally came down. New Year celebrations also take place every year around the gate.
As the sunset ushered in the night-time another bus ride took us to Tauentzienstraße one of the city's main shopping streets which was beautifully decorated in lights due to it being the festive season. This street is home to KaDeWe one of the biggest department shops in Europe. This is a must visit when in Berlin and has often been compared to Harrods's in London. A quick look around the impressive store you can then visit the top floor restaurant, reasonably priced for such a superb location. Drinks, cakes and self-serve freshly made food can be found here. On the other seven floors of the store you can find a variety of luxury branded clothing, make-up, shoes, bags, luggage, home-wear, books, stationary and a whole floor dedicated to food. The food floor is incredible with normal supermarket goods along with freshly baked cakes, breads, a deli counter with meats and cheese, a fish counter and several individual food outlets specialising in different cuisines cooking fresh meals for customers. After leaving KaDeWe we had a quick stroll down Tauentzienstraße dipping into a few shops. This street has a wide choice and stretches into the Ku'Damm including Deichmann, Zara, Nike, United colors of Benetton, Swarovski, Adidas and more. There are also plenty of restaurants which led to our dinner for the night, pizza. A short walk back to the hotel past the Zoo and we called it a night.
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Day 3 was another day soaked in history. Firstly we ventured through Alexanderplatz, home to the Berlin TV tower and many shops on our way to the Berlin Underground tour. This was a fascinating tour that lasted a good few hours. The company offer several tours but we chose the Cold War one. The bunkers have been preserved so well and the guides are very informative and enthusiastic about the tours. I don't want to quote any facts as I will likely get it wrong but the one that really sticks with me is that there wasn't enough bunker space for everyone who lived in the city at the time. It really was a first come first serve and then they would close the doors. The bunkers will build in pre-caution to the cold war and luckily were never used. We were taken through the sleeping areas, the hospital, the kitchen and they explained how in the event of a war they would stop the subway trains and people would sleep in the trains and also the stations. At the end of the tour we came out of a hidden door straight into a working subway station with people waiting to ride the train. Fantastic tour and would happily recommend this to anyone going to the city, especially if you love history.  By this time it was well past lunch-time so we grabbed something in the nearby shopping centre. Sunset was around 4pm so we had a night-time bus tour to enjoy all the lights of the city. The tour took us through the area of the city which has all the embassies, some of which are spectacular pieces of architecture as is the Berlin Hautbanhof. Dinner was at the KaDeWe in one of its Asian food outlets.
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Our last day in Berlin was spent at the Olympic Stadium. Unfortunatly the weather wasn't the greatest for it being mostly an outdoor attraction. Nothing much had changed since our last visit 5 year previous apart from the updated Heartha Berlin football strip in the club shop. The stadium is still interesting to see especially with the history of the controversial 1936 Olympics. All the event individual winners of their respective sports can be found on a plaque in the stadium, one of the most well-known being Jesse Owens. Now the stadium is used by Hertha Berlin as well as for athletics and concerts. Very reasonable to get it and certainly worth a visit. After leaving the stadium we had time for a quick bit of lunch at the Hard Rock Café before catching our flight home.