Legoland Berlin

Okay, so my sister dragged me to Legoland, and despite not being particularly excited about being surrounded by screaming kids ended up as a pretty reasonably outing. Who doesn’t want to be greeted by a taller-than-human Batman constructed out of lego.

The best bit about the whole trip, at least for me, was the impressive recreation of relevant sights around Berlin and the small details built into the whole exhibition. It made for some pretty nice photo opportunities.

For example, here is the intricate reconstruction of the Berliner Dom, not exactly an easy reconstruction of a building.

Just like in real life, they caught how busy the cathedral can be on weekends with people taking pictures, going in and out of the building.

They had a number of working, moving parts of the exhibition including a simulation of the overhead S-Bahn trains that run. Even the train station for this one near the Hackescher Mark, looks exactly like it does in real life.

Not just content with simple replicas. They even built in a mode that transitioned from day to night, where Berlin really comes alive. Here’s the famous Unter den Linden at nighttime.

They even had a little concert celebrating the downfall of the wall.

How could they miss the famous Checkpoint Charlie?

Or the famous Reichstag?

And the magnificently tall Brandenburg Tor at the end of the Unter den Linden streets.

Once again, not missing any of the little detail. Or maybe making it up. After all, I’m not so sure I’ve seen a monkey on top of a piano just yet.

Here’s the strip at night time.

A nice little visit, and we both navigated the chaotic screaming kids for the most part.

Berlin Sightseeing

It’s nice being able to spend some time in berlin. There is literally tons of things for people to do including many museums (plenty of history abounds) and many tours including some fun ones like a Segway tour. One of the ones recommended to me by a work colleague was the Berlin Underground tour, a tour that takes you to a bunker below one of the U-Bhan stops and attempts to ensure the memory and the stories of the people at the time live on. It’s a really great tour, and very popular with apparently up to 200, 000 people doing it every year.

We then headed over to the Märkisches Museum stop, where we found there was a couple of bears out in the open. Even though I’d stayed in the area, I had no idea these bears were there. There’s a bit of controversy about them because the bears don’t seem to have that much space. I’m sure it’s an okay life but not quite the same conditions as being in the open.

The bear just doing some circling around.

We then made our way down to Tempelhof Central Airport, a decommissioned airport that everyone uses for a buzzing amount of outdoor activities. We saw plenty of riding, running, kiting and many out door activities.

Even a bit of wind boarding that looked particularly hard.

Plenty of fun!

Nighttime mini golf in Kreuzburg

Berlin’s got something for everyone. Our latest social outing to this blacklit mini golf course held underground is just a perfect example of it. It took us a while to find the place. It was that underground. For those looking for its location, it’s found in the basement of Cafe Mitz Isa, next to Cafe Edelweiss downstairs.

The course is made of 18 holes, each increasing in difficulty. Some had fun loop the loops, some fairly straight forward ones, and the necessary frustrating holes that take forever. Great value for only €4.50. I think it took our two groups of seven people about two hours each to finish the course.

A great evening out.

See the rest of the pictures here.

Long night of the museums

Every year, Berlin has an evening where all the museums open until the wee hours of the morning. Or at least until 2am. They call it, the Long Night of the Museums. It’s great value, costing only €15 for access to all museums including transport.

We started our evening visiting Berlin’s townhall located near tourist-central, Alexanderplatz. Like many European central cities, Berlin’s townhall is majestic, housing plenty of art work and, on this evening, a number of performances, including a weird dance-performance art troupe that blocked the stairwell to the exit/entrance for sometime.

Admission to the townhall was free, and we ended up diverting for dinner and drinks at a bar making it not really worth our while going out to the rest of the museums with only a couple of hours to spare. I’m still keen to go and visit the awesome looking Computer Game museum (yes I’m a geek), and a handful more but I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to see.

Although I felt a bit disappointed not being able to make the most of the evening, we still had great fun with great company (see above!)

Afternoon at the Reichstag

One of the most impressive buildings around Berlin and one tainted with plenty of history is the German Reichstag, or the home of their parliamentary system. Whilst currently closed to the public, they do have a roof top restaurant you can book ahead and visit. It’s well worth it whilst the rest of the public are not allowed to go up.

We went for a lazy Sunday afternoon tea, where we indulged in cafe and kuchen.

The menu comes in both English and German versions although the best way to choose the cake is to go and take a look at what you’d like from their extensive selection and then try and remember what it was.

Here’s the entire gang that came along for our wonderful experience.

Felix pondering diligently over the coffee selection.

Nigel, hot chocolate fiend, enjoying the bright and airy atmosphere.

Jo pondering the menu.

And Rachel, aficionado of caek (sic).

Cheesecake was ordered by some.

A coffee cream cake by others.

The dense, Viennese classic, Sache Torte.

And finally a different crumble slice filled with a tart fruit.

Afternoon tea is best followed with a spectacular sunset and what a sight Berlin held for us with an astounding view from the Dome.

Both inwards towards the parliamentary seats.

And outside to the bitterly cold winds.

Only to finish off the day with an astoundingly red sunset.

A view to remember for a while.

And a eerily made elevator that makes it look like an infinity space.

TV Tower in Fog

Alex was kind enough to lend me his tripod as he went on holidays to Boston. I didn’t really get a chance to use it, although I tried braving the minus 5 degrees weather to take some pictures of the impressive looking buildings around Alexanderplatz.

My favourite was this one above of the TV tower brightly glowing in the shroud of mist.

Panorama Bar at Berghain

I had a little trouble sleeping on Friday night and being slightly restless decided to have a look at what was going on around Berlin. Looking up Berlin’s famous warehouse club, Berghain, I saw that German House DJ, Ian Pooley was playing at set at their Panorama Bar that morning (3am). I did a bit more reading about Berghain, hearing about the picky doormen, and the potential one hour queueing, something I didn’t really need on a cold winter’s night. Spurred on by the fact that Berlin’s underground operates 24 hours and I wasn’t getting any sleep, I decided to head out.

My trick was to look as least touristy as possible. Shiny shoes are a no go, and I threw on my most casual/alternative clothes. This wasn’t going to be a polished club like some of the ones you might find yourself in London. Fortunately I didn’t have to worry and it wasn’t long before I paid my EUR10 entrance.

Photos of the place inside are not tolerated whatsoever. Although I could use my phone inside (checking the time, etc) I’d read stories about people trying to take photos and then being grabbed and thrown out. On the Friday night, Berghain pretty much only hosts the Panorama Bar with a dance floor and bar on the top floor of the warehouse looking out. The crowd was great – a mix of alternative, hip and people just there to enjoy themselves. There wasn’t any of the pretentious crowds and everyone seemed very friendly. The sound system was perfect – not too loud to deafen you but loud enough to bring everyone into a good mood. I left the place shortly after Ian Pooley finished his set at about 6am and found myself collapsing into bed just before 7. Berlin is definitely starting to grow on me as a place to live and work.