Berlin - the place to be

Not only did I spend this NYE in an amazing city, but also with great friends. While living in Raleigh, NC for a year I met people from all over the world - America, Australia, Sweden, Estonia, Germany, France, South Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Poland - well, I could continue forever. Anyway, one really close friend, her name is Annika, lives in the capital of Germany - Berlin.

Me and Lisa (another friend I met while being in the US) decided to celebrate this NYE with her in Berlin – which turned out to be an awesome decision. We actually were able to meet two other friends we met in NC, since they were celebrating in Berlin as well, and another friend of mine, who lives in Berlin.

Of course we saw the typical landmarks, sights and places of Berlin – “Brandenburger Tor”, “Alexanderplatz”, “Fernsehturm” and so on, but we also went to “Madame Tussauds”, “Sea Life” and, because it was included in a package we bought, we went to “Legoland”. At first we were a little bit skeptical, since we thought it would only be interesting for little kids – but believe me, it was fascinating. We couldn’t believe what people can do with Lego – superheroes, dragons, animals and – which was the most fascinating – they built the city of Berlin. Here are some pictures:

  

We also went to the “Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial”, also known as “Stasi-Museum”, which was super interesting but really shocking as well. The tour guide was great, because he did not only give us facts about the DDR, but also told us about his experiences – he was arrested three times because he had different political beliefs than he was “supposed to have” – in other words, he was arrested for expressing his thoughts. Since he lived through the horror of being imprisoned and told us about it, we could really feel how horrible and unfair “political criminals” were treated back then.

 

Another really cool thing we did was visiting a hotel. Yeah I know, sounds boring and you might think what’s so interesting about a hotel, but let me tell you, it was impressing. I’m pretty sure all of you have heard of the famous Waldorf-Astoria hotel in NYC? Well, since this week you can book rooms (210€ - 12.000€) for the Waldorf-Astoria in Berlin as well. But before the hotel was officially opened, they had an “open weekend”. Annika read about it on the internet, but unfortunately you had to book your ticket (the entrance was free, but otherwise there would have been too many people, so they required you to reserve your spot) in advance, which we didn’t do. Anyway, we thought we’d give it a try – and were lucky – some of the guests who booked a ticket didn’t show up, and we got in. They showed us their lobby, restaurants, spa and one of the rooms – luxury, deluxe and fashionable:

 

We decided that one day, when we are rich and famous (just kidding ;)) we’ll be able to afford the presidential suite – which costs about 12.000€ a night.

Anyway, as you can imagine, we had a great time and I wish y’all a belated Happy New Year J