christmas in berlin!

It's basically been a week since I returned from Berlin, so it's probably about time that I post about it, right? I'm not going to sit here and write out a step-by-step detailed post about what I saw and did, because that would even bore myself. Instead, I bring you a nice little list of my faves!

- The Christmas markets in Berlin are amazing! The foods! The smells! The sights! The carnival atmosphere! Seriously, amazing!
- The Berlin Zoo and Aquarium are musts! The highlights: Seeing Knut (that polar bear they wanted to kill) and a panda! Also, visiting a zoo in the snow and ice is both a good and bad idea. There was no one, but it was freezing and dangerous.
- The German History Museum was fascinating. France and Germany have a lot of common history as well.
- The Berlin Wall especially the East Side Gallery. It's the longest part of remaining wall, and it has been turned into an art exhibit. So cool.
- The Holocaust Memorial and Museum. The memorial itself is very unique and rather unexplained. It's also a very eery place to visit at dusk. Combine that with the ice and snow, and it's also a suicide mission. Plus, it is possible to get lose in it and to lose someone there.
- Other interesting sites: Brandenburger Tor (old gate between West and East Berlin), the Reichstag (government building), the Sony Center (amazing to look at!), Charlottenburg Palace, Berliner Dom (huge church) and Checkpoint Charlie (entrance to the former American sector of Berlin).
- Meeting and hanging out with some awesome people from all over the world at our hostel.
- The hostel putting on a lovely Christmas dinner.
- Food and drinks being cheaper in Germany than in France. Definitely took advantage of that!
- Seeing Where the Wild Things Are. It's important to note that it was in English with no subtitles, and that there were Germans in the audience. Now, that's saying something.
- Great 24 hour public transportation! Paris, you could learn a thing or two from Berlin.
- Catching a good friend on MSN and having a conversation that basically made my week.

So yes, I definitely liked Berlin. It was a fun time. Anne and I definitely enjoyed ourselves. We did spend a little too long there since we didn't know anyone in the city and don't have endless amounts of money to spend. The night train was also something I could have done without. On the way there, the train stopped for 3 hours, so we arrived very late! And once over the German border, announcements were made only in German, so we had no clue what was going on. It was also so uncomfortable! The ride back to France, while uncomfortable, was at least uneventful.

Pictures!!

One of the many Christmas markets in Berlin


Holocaust Memorial


Knut


Panda!


Brandenburger Tor


Berliner Dom


Berlin Wall - East Side Gallery

Back in Chauny, I've pretty much been spending endless amounts of time at the cafe and wasting time. LOL. Now, that's something I'm good at! For New Year's Eve, I was debating between going to St. Quentin or to Paris. In the end, I decided for my wallet's sake to go to St. Quentin. I met up with a fellow assistant, and we rang in the New Year together and then joined some of his friends. It wasn't too eventful of an evening, and I sent out far too many text messages for my own good.

This week, Andromeda will be joining me in Chauny. She's visiting the Franco-American Museum in Blerancourt for her memoire, so she'll be staying with me. I'm really looking forward to it, and it's been forever since I've shown a visitor around Chauny! There's not much going on at the moment, but it should still be fun. She'll also get to meet some of the crazy characters from this blog.

In other good news, Emily has finally received her paperwork and should be in Chauny within the month! Already planning a celebration for that!

Happy New Year everyone!! Bonne année à tous!!