New Years in Berlin

30 December 2006 - 5 January 2007

Arrived in Berlin on the 30th of December, to catch up with a German mate from Japan and to spend New Years 07 in this funky city. After missing my stop on the minibus I eventually found Arne at Alexanderplatz (which is huge!) and spent the next couple of days relaxing with his family and friends from university in the Netherlands

New Years was an awesome experience, we went to a mates place for dinner and drinks and ended up watching the whole city lit up by fireworks. On the bridge it was almost like a war zone with even kids have little sticks that looked like dynamite but looking out over the city it was really amazing. Not one huge fireworks display put on by the city like back home but instead the night sky was filled with individual fireworks from groups of friends and families welcoming in the new year. With lines to get into most clubs after 12 we ended up dancing in an underground drum and bass bar with a crazy bubble man until 5am - good times!

The next couple of days was spent chilling, catching up on sleep and relaxing with friends. Arne had organised a big get-together with a bunch of his mates and it was awesome to get to know/see some of them again - really amazing people. Lots of hanging out in funky restaurants, cafes and bars, eating, drinking and chatting the first few days of the new year away. Got to have a bit of a wander through the city and even had chocolate fondue at the Haagen-dazs cafe with Konrad and Alex (so much for new years resolutions!!) Checked out Babel - a movie about interwining lives which was great trying to understand it with German subtitles but at least two of the stories were in English and Japanese (even some Japanese sign) - great to be able to relax and just hang out with a great group of mates - made me remember a lot of good times back home.

On the 4th I decided it was really time to get out and explore this amazing city with a history to match and embarked on a free 4-hour walking tour of Berlin. It was a little chilly but the tour was really informative. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag (Parliament Buildings), Holocaust Memorial (collection of concrete blocks at different heights - definitely one of my favourite places in Berlin), Hitler's Bunker, The Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and some more memorials, historically significant builings and Berlin-esque architecture around the city. It was really a great day out ending with the afternoon chilling at Arne's work (a Reggae record label)

On my last day in Berlin I decided to head back to the Reichstag to check it out properly. You can walk right up to the top of the glass dome and look down on Parliament in work (when they are in session its supposed to remind them that they are always working below the people for the people). This offered some really beautiful views out around the city and gave you a new appreciation for the design of a city rebuilt.

I had an amazing time in Berlin and want to say a huge thanks to Arne and all his friends and family (I could list them all here but Id probably spell your names wrong) - you know who you are. Thanks for making my week in Berlin an amazing experience and a great start to 2007