I Write About Books and Things: Berlin, Day 2 - 15/11/19 - Schloss Charlottenburg and Potsdamer Platz

On day two, I decided to venture out a little further. I went to the Schloss Charlottenburg, as I really like looking around stately homes. They make me feel like I've gone back in time. After that, I had less plans, so I ended up taking a bus to the Bundestag, which has many of Berlin's historical sites around, and isn't far from Potsdamer Platz.

The castle looked really nice coming up to it with the autumn leaves!

One of the interesting things is that there is a Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt) outside the palace, but it was just being built as I was here. It was interesting to see something that would be so busy so soon seem completely uninhabited. Despite the slight disappointment of them not being open, I think if I'd gone nearer to Christmas, the city would have been too busy to enjoy it. I already found it heaving in some places as it was.

I had to get a shot of the entrance framed by these two statues.

One of the things I like is seeing nice funishings,
and this light was the first thing to catch my attention.

A long hallway with an interesting perspective

This was on one of the ceilings, and if you look closely, you can see the initials of Sophie Charlotte, who commissioned
the palace.

I loved how these vases looked in the fireplace.

I really don't think I can do this place justice just with description. This room
had blue and white china from floor to ceiling, and the mirrors on the walls made
it look like there was even more.

I loved this picture, it gave a real sense of what it was like to be in the crowd.
"Homage to Friedrich Wilhelm IV in front of the Berlin City Palace" by Franz Krüger

I checked out the store, and I bought the first of several bookmarks, and a postcard. I like to collect postcards, and we don't receive them nearly enough anymore. This one I thought was cleverly done, as it had a small part of the Berlin Wall inside, and the front diagram helped to explain a little more about it.

I wasn't sure what to do after that, so I checked up how to get to the Bundestag from the hotel. It involved a bus change near the Zoo, so I popped into Kamps for a pretzel. They're a chain bakery, and with a pretzel for less than a Euro, they make a nice stop for breakfast.

Also, the first thing I noticed when the bus stopped was a restaurant, so I popped in for lunch. For being in such a tourist area, the restaurant was nice. It was called Popular, and it was a sort of self-service restaurant/café. The pretzel wasn't large and had been all I'd ate, and it was getting on for midday.

I had Currywurst for a very traditional German meal.

This is also the area of Berlin where many of the memorials to the Holocaust are situated. Berlin allows you to have a good time, and encourages you to remember it's history, and it is something that can feel hard to balance. Other memorials, such as Stolpersteine which I mentioned in my last blog, make sure that you will remember German history no matter where you are in Berlin. I went around to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Sinti and Roma memorial and the memorial to LBGT persecuted under Nationalsocialism.

A short walk further down and I found myself in Potsdamerplatz. I didn't realise it was so close to where I'd been the night before. They had an open, if small, Christmas Market. I walked straight through all of it last night, as tired as I was.

A small amount of the Berlin Wall, still standing.

One of my favourite things was here - Gluhwein. It's a hot, spiced wine similar to mulled wine.

Nothing like it on a cold Germany day!

I also tried something called a Schneeballen (snowball) - deep fried pastry that has been rolled into a ball, filled and topped. It was very nice, if a little dry! I took most of it back to the hotel to pick at later.

For dinner, I went back to the Hauptbahnhof, because I'd noticed a branch of Vapiano. Vapiano is a German chain restaurant of Italian cuisine, but what sets it apart is that everything is cooked in front of you, and the pasta is made fresh on site. You can choose your pasta, and your type of sauce. It's one I can recommend wherever you are in Germany.