I was able to find the metro station from the airport easily enough but couldn't figure out what train I needed to take to get to the hostel. Finally, I asked a woman who pointed me to platform 4 and I was on my way. After about a 40 minute ride I arrived at the Hauptbahnhof Station and wandered around for 30 minutes before I finally found the hostel that was literally right across the street. Kalyn had already checked-in and was in the room so it was nice to see a familiar face when I opened the door. We both unpacked our things then decided to go for a walk to see what was nearby. We grabbed a cheap dinner and relaxed until the place was closing and we had to walk back to the hostel. Between the travelling and the cold, we were both exhausted and called it a night.
Tuesday:
We walked to the Reichstagskuppel and waited in line out in the cold so we could go to the top. It was freezing and by the time we had gone to the top and came back down we couldn't feel our fingers or toes. We hung out at the gift shop to warm up then decided to go back to the hostel to plan the next step.
After hanging out in the lounge and surfing the net for things to do, we decided to set out and find a Christmas market. It was around 4:00 p.m. and already dark so we walked to Unter den Linden and enjoyed all the lights on the trees and the big Christmas tree near the Brandenburg Gate.
The Christmas market was such a fun "German" experience! There were all kinds of booths set up, selling things from Bratwurst to glowing rocks. Everyone was having a good time and it actually felt like Christmas time for once.
Wednesday:
Kalyn is really into running and is planning on doing the Paris marathon this spring so she wanted to go for a run around Berlin. I went along and felt like I was going to die the entire time. I made it around 4 miles then decided that was good enough. She ran another 3 while I went back to the hostel and got ready. We planned to go to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp but by the time we figured out the metro system and how to get there we decided it would be better to go a different day since they close at 4:30 and it takes an hour to get there.
So we went to the East Side Gallery and looked at what remained from the Berlin Wall. It's so crazy to think that it wasn't that long ago that the wall was built and torn down. This country has experienced a lot of tragedies in the last century.
From the wall, we made our way to Check-Point Charlie and explored that area. To our delight, we discovered another Christmas market. So we enjoyed some warm drinks as we walked around and bought way too much chocolate and treats. After we couldn't walk anymore, we went back to the hostel and took a nap. Kalyn looked up popular places that the Berliners go and we headed to one for dinner. Lucky for us, we met some friendly Germans sitting near us at dinner who chatted with us and offered to give us a little tour of the area. So we all walked to the TV Tower which had already closed and unfortunately it was very foggy so we couldn't see too much of it. Afterwards we exchanged information and invited our new friends to visit us in Paris.
Thursday: Christmas Eve
We got up and bought our metro tickets to go to the Concentration Camp and after the 45 minute metro ride and 20 minute walk we arrived to find out it was closed for Christmas Eve. Disappointed, we walked back to the metro and passed a grocery store along the way. We decided everything would be closed for dinner so we wanted to buy something to make ourselves. Grocery shopping is a whole other activity when you don't speak the language. We were looking at things trying to decide what they were and hoping we were buying what we thought we were. We ended up getting the basics: a shrimp ring, curry soup and a green salad. It wasn't half bad and it was funny because we both have the family tradition of eating shrimp on Christmas Eve so we were keeping it alive!
Friday: Joyeux Noël à tout le monde!
We got up and somehow or another Kalyn had me on another 4 mile jog. My body was still sore from the first one so I figured it could only help. Then we were back on the metro headed to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. This time we were able to walk around and explore the area but the museum was closed.
It was a very surreal experience to be at the home of tragedy. All the books I've read and films I've seen couldn't compare to standing on the same soil where thousands of innocent people were murdered. It was such a humbling experience to say the least. When I walked into Station "Z" where the crematory ovens were and read about the routine done with the prisoners who had been chosen for death I couldn't help but cry. I will never be able to comprehend how anyone can feel justified in taking anothers life - let alone thousands of innocent lives! It's really quite terrifying that Hitler was able to persuade so many people into his way of thinking, resulting in the masses and masses or murdered men, women and children. I will be forever grateful for the experience of visiting Sachsenhausen. It made for a Christmas that I will never forget.
Christmas evening, Kalyn's stomach was bothering her. It has been for a couple weeks now and before we left Paris I went to the Doctor with her. She was given medicine that she's been taking three times a day and hasn't felt any better. So around 8:00 p.m. she wanted to go to the hospital to get looked at. We went to the Emergency Room and they took her blood and told her they'd test her gallbladder and kidney. I sat in the waiting room and thankfully my new German friends came and kept me company while I waited. After five hours of waiting, at 1:30 a.m. they released her and told her everything looked fine. They said the medication she was given in France was the wrong medication and told her to stop taking it. They said it was either a cyst or just digestive problems that should go away with the stop of the medication. It was a very long night and not exactly what I had wanted to do for my last night in Berlin. But it was good for Kalyn to find out that it wasn't anything serious.
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