Day 15 - Berlin

Dec 28th - After reviewing what was left on our list of Berlin 'must-sees', we decided today's goal would be Olympiastadium and the Berlin Wall Memorial. So after a breakfast at the hotel, we were off to the Hoptbahnhof to catch an S-Bahn out to Olympiastadium. We picked up some audio guides to help explain what we were seeing & some of the history. The tour took us around the grounds around the staduim - past the cement columns that list all German Olympic medalists through all of the games (the column for that last couple of Olympic games is not yet erected), past the outdoor pool & diving platforms, and around the back to the Maifield that had been used for polo matches.

As we rounded the back of the stadium, we could enter via the marathon gate to see where the Olympic flame had been lit & to see the inside of the stadium. Very impressive indeed. Originally used for the 1936 Olympic Games during Hitler's rule, it was reopened in 2004 with many updates, including a very cool roof. When they made the recent updates, I have to say, they were done very well as the structure & feel of the original stadium is definitley still in tact. Just inside the Marathon Gate are stone slabs, listing all of the gold medal winners of the 1936 Games - very cool to see & think of the amazing performance of Jesse Owens's four gold medal wins here. More recently the stadium is now regularly used for sporting events - 2006 FIFA World Cup was here - and concerts - Bruce Springsteen will be here in May...how excellent would that be? :)

All toured out for the morning, we were off to find lunch at a brew pub called Brauhaus Lemke that Rob had heard about on an NPR aricle...one of NPR's Berlin correspondents had said it was one of his favorite spots in Berlin. It was a great spot...and the first place we have been in on this trip that offered a sampler taster - so we ordered one up to get a small tasting of each of their 4 brews.

Our final stop for the afternoon was to go to the Berlin Wall Memorial which is a memorial to the victims of the Berlin Wall - for the at least 136 people who died at the wall between 1961 and 1989. This site is another one of the few places where a section of the original wall still stands. There is a picture wall memorial with pictures of all of the victims, and around the grounds, some of their stories. One info pilar had an audio reading of the victim's names, ages, datee of death, and how they perished, so many drowned or shot trying to breech the wall - I have a short video/audio clip that I attempted to include here, but can't seem to upload via the connection I have. A very touching spot, especially when taking in the wall of pictures to see how young many of the victims were. A very moving memorial.

We decided to head back to the hotel for a short rest and to warm up before heading out in search of dinner. We found a couple of brew pubs located close to Alexanderplatz, which we had not yet explored, so we decided to head there, walk around a little and then enjoy a couple last beers and dinner in Berlin. There was a lot of construction going on in the Alexanderplatz, but we did manage to see the tall Television Tower and Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall) before stopping in at Marcus Brau for a drink and then Brauhaus Mitte, where we also found a sampler taster of their 4 beers and dinner. Odd spot in that is is located in a mall, but decent beer & great food and service. We decided we should try the Berliner Weisse with the syrup...so I ordered up a red (Himbeer raspberry) and Rob a green (Waldmeister)...and we recieved them in goblets, again with a straw. Rob tried ordering without the syrup, but the waiter told us we needed the syrup (otherwise we should just order another beer). We got a little more background from the waiter who told us that the Berliner Weisse is viewed more as a cocktail than a beer here...and typically only ordered by the ladies or the tourists :) The verdict...enjoyable if thought of as a cocktail...definitely sweet.

And that's a wrap on Berlin!

New Beers for the day - a lot of these were shared tasters :) : Brauhaus Lemke Original, Brauhaus Lemke Pils, Brauhaus Lemke Weizen, Brauhaus Lemke Weihnachts Bock, Maisel's Weisse Dunkelweisse, Maisel's Weisse Helles Hefeweizen, Berliner Marcus Brau Dark, Brahaus Mitte Pils, Brahaus Mitte Dunkel, Brahaus Mitte Hefeweizen, Brauhaus Mitte Christmas Bock, Berliner Weisse Kindl Himbeer (raspberry, with red syrup), Berliner Weisse Kindl Waldmeister (with green syrup)

Day 14 - Berlin

Dec 27th - Two full days in Berlin - a huge city, tons of history...where to start & what to do? We made a long list of the highlights we would like to see, so we started off at the top and will hit as much as we can.

Brandenburg Gate

First stop for the day was a quick S-Bahn stop away, to Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). Coming up the steairs from the train stop, the massive monument was in full view. Despite the construction going on in the area, and the tacky-tourist photo ops in front (where you could stand on a podium with a dressed up German & American soldier to get a photo), the monument was impressive. It was built in 1791, and was the only gate to Berlin still standing after World War II. When the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, Brandenburg Gate was within the restricted area, so it was not accessible to the East or the West until the wall came down in 1989...so it is also a major symbol of a reunified Germany. We could not fully walk around all angles as the back of the gate was closed off for construction of the huge stage in preparation for Berlin's big New Year's Eve bash at Brandenburg Gate...now I bet that will be a party! :)

Reichtag

Located directly beside Brandenburg Gate is the Reichtag (German Parliament Building), so we headed over there to take a walk around the grounds ...yet another impressive piece of architecture with a huge glass dome on top. This building has been the seat of Parliament since 1999. The building was constructed in 1894, severly damaged in World War II, but then reconstructed between 1991 and 1998. You can go in to get to the top of the glass dome, but only if you apply in advance for a visit, so we enjoyed the view from the outside.

Markings of the former wall

Next up on the walking tour in this section of the city was to find the Holocaust Memorial. On our way there, we discovered a 2 row path of cobblestones crossing through the street...this path of cobblestone throughout the city, marks the location of where the Berlin Wall had once stood...almost the only reminder of the Wall left in the city. We found the Holocaust Memorial, and walked around the grounds there - it is an area of about 1 city block, and contains 2711 concrete columns (steles), all of the same footprint size (about 5 by 3 feet), but of varying heights (anywhere from 1 to about 10 feet tall), with the shortest around the edges, getting tallest in the center. The paths in between the columns were up & down hilly. The grey color of the columns is in rememberance of the ashes of the Jews who were cremated during the Holocaust and the intended feeling of walking amongst the columns of varying heights & uneven ground is meant to provide visitors with an impression of uneasiness & insecurity - a definite sobering experience.

Holocaust Memorial

I had originally thought I had read that there was nothing much left to see at the sight of Checkpoint Charlie, but we did have the location on the map, so decided that should be next up on our tour. We were glad we did head there, as there definitely is still something to see here. The guard stand is still here along with the sign indicating whether you were entering or leaving the American sector - this famous border crossing was used from 1961 to 1990. The intersetion of streets here is also lined with big panels that give a lot of the history of the border crossing, and what life was like living on either side of the wall. The pictures of families separated by the wall standing on step ladders so that they could wave to each other over the wall particularly struck me.

 After a little further walk through the streets, we found a Lowenbrau Bierrehalle to sit down for a quick lunch before making it onto the next stop on our tour. I was thrilled to find a meal with a salad on on the plate (other than potato salad that is)...these German meals have been very yummy, and the ultimate in hearty comfort food, but I was starting to realize I hadn't seen a veggie in eons :)

On our way to our last stop of the day, we passed by an interesting building at Gendarmarkt square (oh, and it looks like a big christmas Market still going on here!). We went inside the building we thought looked interesting just to see what the inside was like. I think this building is called the Deutscher Dom. We found once we were inside that there was an exhibit of German parliamentary history, so we spent some time doing an audio-tour here. It was dark by the time we left...perfect timing for the market, but I think I can say I was all marketed out, plus this one had a fee to enter...not really worth it for just some browsing.

We figured our original last stop for the day, the Topography of Terror Museum, would likely be closed by now, but when we looked it up found that it was open until 8:00 PM, so we decided to get it in. At the museum location is one of the few still standing porions of the Berlin Wall. It was pretty dark out, so we did not get a really good view of it. We spent a couple of hours reading through the very well laid out displays in the museum which chronicled the history of 'terror' in Germany, from the beginning of the formation of the SS and Gestapo, through the reign of Hitler, the crimes committed by Hitler's regime, to the end of the Third Reich and the war crimes trials. The museum building is located on the site where the former SS and Gestapo headquarters stood.

Tired feet & hungry bellies, we decided to hunt out a place we had seen on Friedrichstrasse earlier in the day for dinner. On our way though, we were tempted by another good looking spot, so we went in and sat down. When we got our menus, low and behold, realized this was the place we searched for last night...the name on the outside "Treffpunkt Berlin" apparently isn't the full name, and the name on TripAdvisor "Alt-Berliner Kneipe" wasn't the full name...but the menu stated "Alt-Berliner Kneipe Treffpunkt Berlin"...whew! All was enjoyed :) Here I had my first Berliner Weisse - always found on the menu in Berlin under "low alcohol" beers and with the option "red" or "green", as traditionally a red or green syrup is added to sweeten the sourness. I asked for mine without any syrup, as I wanted to taste the sourness. We had a good laugh when we saw the glass it came in (almost like a bowl), and a straw. The straw was short lived...the Berliner Weisse sans syrup was good, with just a hint of sour. 

New Beers for the day: Lowenbrau Premium, Berliner Pilsner, Schultheiss Pilsner, Schofferhofer Weizen, Berliner Kindl Weisse (without syrup)

Day 13 - Munich to Berlin

Dec 26th - Happy Boxing Day! As is usual for a travel day, we were up at it early to get some breakfast in us & off to the train station for Berlin. It's a 6 hour ride on the high speed train, so it's time to sit back, relax & enjoy the scenery.

We arrived in Berlin & found our hotel within walking distance from the train station (Hoptbahnhof). Wow, this train station is one of the most impressive I have ever seen...almost a work of art...and absolutely massive! Over our 3 night stay in Berlin, we needed to come to the Hoptbahnhof a couple times a day to catch trains & we were in awe every time. The hotel, wasn't necessarily in the middle of it all, but the convenience to the station was a huge bonus, and with our passes being good on the S-Bahn trains all over the city, we took advantage of that!

As soon as we got checked in, we were off in search of a laundromat - yep, the glorious part of travelling :) We were fortunate to have had a washing machine in the apartment in Vienna, but now were at the point of needing to head out to find a place to do laundry - we found one a few train stops & a walk away, and managed to get ourselves a whole load of fresh clean clothes (exciting, I know).

Big tree...can you find me? :)

It was getting late after we finally made it back to the room & we were both beyond starving, so off we headed again in search of a restaurant Rob had read great reviews for on TripAdvisor. Just one S-Bahn stop away to Friedrichstrasse - and then we searched and searched but could not find the place...so we gave up & wandered into a spot that we saw getting off of the train. The main beer they served in here was a Kolsh in itty-bitty 0.2 L glasses, which apparently is a traditional way to serve a Kolsh, even though larger sizes were available on the menu. We did order a larger one, much to the shagrin of our server who gave us the low-down on the traditional small size. It was an excellent Kolsh, crisp, clean and oh so thirst quenching!

That rounded out our exciting travel & laundry day...we didn't have a chance to take a single picture, so I am including a few shots we took of the Hoptbahnhof a couple days later :)

New Beers for the day: Gaffel Kolsch

Day 12 - Munich

Dec 25th - Merry Christmas! This definitely is a different kind of Christmas for us...none of our usual Christmas traditions for today. But we did start out with our first Skype check-in for the day before breakfast with Rob's Mum, brother, sister-in-law, and nephews in Australia.

After breakfast, we were off to explore sights that did not require being open to see :) We realized that one more day in Munich might have been a good idea to get in some of the places we won't be able to see since they are closed...we will have to cover Neuschwanstein Castle and Dachau on another trip.

My next car :)

First stop for the day was north of the city towards Olympiapark, where the 1972 Summer Olympics were held. The BMW museum & BMW Welt (BMW World) are out here as well - not open today, but we could peek inside & oogle a couple of cars that were on display outside...I think I found my next car :) The Olympia Park complex is fairly big (about 1 square mile), and was a good sunny day (though a little chilly) for walking around. So we covered the grounds in a couple of hours - popped into the swimming pool area (we should have brought our Speedos), and hiked up to the top of the big hill there for some good views of the park and city of Munich.

  

Olympiapark with the Olympiaturm tower 



View from top of the hill


After we felt like Olympians, we trekked it back into the city to walk around the Residenz Palace , former home to many Bavarian rulers - a huge building to walk around, and also found Theatine Church around the corner from the Residenz, which is beautiful Baroque style church and very different in style than any other's we've seen on the trip.


Theatine Church



We had a quick, late lunch at Lowenbrau before heading back to the hotel to take a load off for a while, and stumbled upon Scheider Weisse - so stopped in for a taste before heading back. The menu here looked pretty good, so we thought we'd return a little later to have a late Christmas dinner.

Getting back to the hotel gave us some time to do a little research for the upcoming leg of the trip & also time to check in with Rob's brother in Ottawa. I also found Tammy hanging out on Skype, so was happy to have a quick chat with her, Gavin, and Regan in jolly 'ol England :) Ah, technology is great!

Last stop for our time in Munich - we did go back to Schneider Weisse for dinner - nothing to write home about - it was decent, but the atmosphere, the service, and the beers were all fantastic! The Aventinus Weizen Eisbock was delightful, mmm :) We followed dinner by another walk around Marienplatz before calling it a night.



Marienplatz at night

Beers for the day: Lowenbrau Original, Lowenbrau Dunkel, Schneider Weisse Meine Hopfenweisse (menu described as Hoppy fireworks, more like Honey fireworks), Schneider Weisse Aventinus, Schneider Weisse Aventinus Weizen Eisbock, Schneider Weisse Mein Grunes, Schneider Weisse Unser Original

Day 11 - Munich

Dec 24th - Christmas Eve Day! Our accomodation in Munich is a a hotel, but we do have a breakfast included, and wow what a breakfast spread it is! The eggs definitely not up to par with Jan's, but plenty here to fuel us up for a day of walking!


Glockenspiel



First stop off of the S-Bahn was to Marienplatz, for our, ahem... final Christmas Market. I'm sure Rob is thrilled to see these come to an end :) The Marienplatz is yet another pretty square flanked with great architecture including the Altes Rathaus (old town hall) with it's famous Glockenspiel - unfortunately we weren't around at the right time for either of the two daily performances entertaining the crowd below.

After a couple hours of walking, we had our fill - and the market was closing up at 2:00 anyway. We think in Germany, Christmas Eve is the time everyone celebrates wih family, so most things would be closing up early. We also wanted to stop into the Augustiner Bierhalle close to Marienplatz to sample their brews since they were closing up at 3:00 and are alos closed on Christmas Day. So we had a quick stop in there, and were not diappointed - good atmosphere & great beer.


At Augustiner


After another walk-about, we knew we were limited on dinner options...but knew that the Hofbrauhaus (a gigantic, mostly toursit packed beer hall) was open, so we wandered in, found a seat at one of the tables & ordered up some dinner. Being our first time in Munich, we defintely needed to check this place out, and we were happy to have something open, even if it was touristy. We made it an early Christmas Eve night, and headed back to the hotel.

Marienplatz

Marienplatz

Beers for the day: Augustiner Edelstoff Helles, Augustiner Dunkel, Hofbrau Original, Hofbrau Dunkel, Hofbrau Weiss

Day 10 - Prague to Munich

Dec 23rd - It's another travel day, so up early for us - Jan was very accommodating to letting us have our breakfast a half hour earlier than he usually serves it. With a 6 hour train ride ahead, a good breakfast...especially Jan's eggs & bacon are appreciated.

Made our way to the train station & found our platform for the train to Munich (Munchen), and sat back to enjoy the ride. One place Rob had wanted to get to in Czech Republic was Pilsen (Plzen) to visit the Pilsener Urquell Brewery, but was not to be in the schedule, so he settled for a quick picture at the Plzen train station as the train stopped through there on the way to Munich.

We arrived in Munich around 3:00 PM and we wasted no time storing our packs in a locker at the train station & hopped right back on a train headed to Nuremburg (Nurnberg) - it's about an hour ride by high speed strain (we were zipping along at 250 km/hour at some points). From what we had read, Nuremburg is the site of the mother-ship of all Christkindlmarkts :) And given the fact that the Chrismas markets close up at 2:00 PM on the 24th, this is our only chance to check out the Nuremburg Market at night. The market is located around the Hauptmarkt square area , and was a short walk from the train station. This area of the city is defintely very quaint, lots of old buildings and very walkable. The market itself was huge, and occupied the main square, streets going off from it, and then into a couple of more squares. From a size perspective, this defintiely was the biggest, and probably most crowded market (though probably expected since it was the last night and a Friday), and had good quality booths. The Hauptmarket was quite pretty with the church, but we thought the market in Vienna was defintely more impressive from a lights & decoration perspective.

Lebkuchen

We wandered around about half of the market before stopping into a brewpub for a quick bite to eat (breakfast was a long time ago!), and then finished up the rest of the market. We picked up a few treats to try - one of the traditional gingerbread hearts that we have seen at all of the markets (lebkuchen) & something else that I don't know what it was called, but was like an eggnog flavored marshmallow puff covered in dark chocolate, was very yummy. We finished up the night by having a Gluhwine - my faith in the hot mulled wine is now restored, as this one was much better than the one we tried in Innbruck, not sickening sweet at all.

After making our way back to the Munich train station and fetching our bags, we were off to find the S-Bahn (train system within the city) to our hotel. Our EuRail pass covers our fare on the S-Bahn, so will be a good way to get around Munich.

Unfortunately, not a lot of pictures today - when we made it to Nuremburg we realized that we didn't have the camera with us, but managed to get a couple of shots with the blackberry...so quality is not quite as good.

Beers for the day: Barfusser Blonde, Barfusser Schwarze, Tucher Weizen

Day 9 - Prague

Dec 22nd - The inkeeper had called the Castle this morning & found out that the castle grounds are open, they just have all of the exhibits closed so we cannot get inside the castle, which we are good with. So this morning's trek had us start by turning up the hill from the B&B, for a hike up the hill toward the Castle - a gorgeous, sunny day today. As we reached the top of the hill, we were impressed from the view from up here. As we crested the hill, I realized we were in front of the monastary & I know there was a brewpub very close. It was only 11:30, but I was not going to climb up this hill again later, so we stopped into Klasterni Pivobar Strahov (Strahov Monastary Brewery - brewing Sv. Norbert beers). A great little place - the copper mash kettle & lauter tun on full display when we entered. It was nice to step up to the bar & see something different than Pilsner (though we have fully enjoyed the Pisner, something different was a good change). I sampled the Christmas Dunkel & Rob went for the hoppy IPA...both delicious.

A short walk from here was the castle, and we were arriving just in time to see the changing of the guard out front. Apparenly they ususally have music of some sort accompanying the noon change, but not while the former President is in the castle. There was a very, very long line to enter the castle for viewing. We continued into the castle grounds to have a look around - wow, this place is huge! It was even bigger than the grounds of the castle in Salzburg. Apparently Prague Castle (Prazky hrad) is the largest ancient castle in the world - 570 meters long by 128 meters wide, covers the area larger than 7 football fields. It is has been the official seat of Czech Rulers & official residence of Czech Heads of State (though Vaclav Havel did not live here, he chose to remain in his house when he became President). One of the most amazing features of the castle grounds for us, besides the view provided of the city of Prague from up here, was the massive cathederal - St. Vitis Cathederal, which I would have loved to have seen inside (this is where the funeral will be tomorrow).






Charles Bridge Tower



After we has sufficiently enjoyed the grounds & views, we trekked back down the hill from the Castle in search of some food...we first ended up going past another brewery, the St. Thomas brewery at the Augustine Hotel, which did not open until 3:30, so we settled for trying their dark lager at the hotel bar. For lunch, we ended up back at Malostranska Beseda where we had enjoyed our first meal in Prague - yet again, amazing grub, and most friendly waitress.

Our last stop on the walking tour for the day was to fond the John Lennon wall - back in the 80's Lennon was seen as a hero of sorts to young Czechs & after his death, a graffiti image of him was painted on this secluded wall that is across from the French Embassy. Authorities white-washed the wall, but the graffiti returned. Every time the wall was re-painted, the graffiti (some of which could be considered artwork) of political words, images, and Beatles lyrics would reappear. I'm not sure how long this went on, but eventually the graffiti was left alone, other than addition of more - so over the years what appears on the wall has changed.

With a lot of miles put in the last 2 days, we were ready to head back to the B&B to get organized for leaving in the morning, figure out our plan for Munich, and to rest the feet. We did have to head out one more time to pick up transit passes for the morning, which we were glad we did as we ended up needing to trek to the subway station to get them and we would not have been doing that first thing in the morning. With those in hand, time for one last meal & Pilsner before calling it a night...seriously Malostranska Beseda is so good, we went back there, and had our same friendly waitress from earlier in the day. This place will definitely get a great TripAdvisor review from us.

To sum up Prague - so far has been the highlight of the trip. Phenominal city, from it's beauty, architecture, ease of walking around, friendliness & laid back nature of the people, and unbelievable prices put it high on our list!

Beers for the day: Sv. Norbert Christmas Dunkel, Sv. Norbert IPA, St. Thomas Dark Lager