auld lang syne

such a great new year's celebration in berlin.

First, let me say I absolutely love this city. It has such beauty and grace, not to mention friendly people and cleanliness. It is extremely easy to get around and there are so many things to see. While the nights were incredibly cold, the days weren't so bad temperature-wise.

The hostel I stayed in is huge. I didn't realize that while reading reviews. There were so many people staying here, so the place was packed for the new year. Everyone was extremely friendly, and again, I found English to be the common language.

I arrived on friday night so I put my bag in my room and headed to the hostel's roof top bar. It was so fun up there. Great music and atmosphere, with an outdoor terrace overlooking the city. The following morning, I met my suite mates and after some discussion about the night's plans, I left to see Berlin.

I started with the cathedral. Though the inside doesn't hold a candle to any of the churches in Italy, the outside is breathtaking. Again, I found myself wondering if it was real as I rounded the corner and it stood impressively in front of me.

I wandered down a main street filled with people after I saw the cathedral. I passed several important government buildings I'm sure, and finally hit the Brandenburg Gate. It is so impressive. Everything was set up for the night's party and it was quite crowded, but I got a great look.

I also saw the Holocaust Memorial. Loads of people were jumping around on the cement blocks, and playing hide and seek. I guess I expected a little more reverence but it was still a work of architectural genius. Beautiful.

With my new friends, we headed to the Brandenburg Gate around 7:30p. Took a while to get there and everywhere we walked was pretty crowded. Also, it was freezing! There were about a million people expected there, which sounds about right. There was an awful concert going on the live stage so we wandered around, rode the ferris wheel and counted down with the other million people.

The only hard part of the night was walking back to the train and then getting on the train. After passing through a field of revelers, who were lighting fireworks galore and having roman candle fits, we made it to a station. Closed. So we had to walk to another. Then it was so extremely crowded you had to push and shove your way onto the train. Quite reminiscent of Obama's Inauguration in 2009. Jam packed with peeps on the trains. But we made it home with more fireworks. Sounded like World War II.

Today I wandered some more to other neighborhoods. I was again thankful for the ease and timeliness of the German public transportation. I went to the zoo, had some schnitzel and made it thru the rain. I will post some pictures when i get them uploaded.

But for now, Happy New Year and wishing you a wonderful 2012!