Despite arriving at the airport 10 minutes after the stated gate closing time, we sprinted through everything (Uh yeah, by the way, soo not in shape to sprint...) and made it at the very last moment. An exciting adventure up to the very last moment.
The next day, all we had to do was make it to the airport before noon. We were up by nine, and ready to go soon after. Headed to a nearby cafe to get a coffee and kill some time before the airport. Somewhere along the way, we lost about 20 minutes and found ourselves running late for the airport. Long story short, we had to make a serious run for it off the train.

We were so beat at this point. I got a hand massage.

Last night in the hostel.

After the Bauhaus museum we decided to go to another neighborhood that was recommended to us by Summer. It was very peaceful, and we came across a little outdoor market where we ate crepes. Then, we headed back to our favorite cafe for an afternoon break before heading home.

MUSEUM!

(AH this was so exciting. So many pieces of art and architecture that I love, and finally got to see in the flesh!)

ARCHIV!

BAUHAUS!

Walking home in the snow, full of food and ready to end the day.

Desperately in need of sustenance, we hoped on the metro and headed to Brauhaus Mitte for the most ridiculous meal I have had in a long time. Put simply, lots of carbohydrates (beer and potatoes) and lots of protein (myriad of sausage).




The East Side Gallery is a fairly long portion of the Berlin Wall that is now dedicated to murals. The next few photos are a few of my favorite pieces.

The snow let up, and we continued our walk to the East Side Gallery.

When it started to snow pretty hard, we ducked into a cozy cafe for coffee and soup. We ended up coming back to this place again the next day because we liked it so much.

This little shop is called Cichhörnchen.

I LOVE old things...

After ditching the walking tour, we went to this really RAD neighborhood that was recommended to us my Summer (who completely understood our ditching of the tour, and helped us find fun, warm things to do instead). The street is called Oranienstraße, and is filled with great bookstores, and such.

More police presence at the Brandenburg Tor.

Unfortunately, many of the major sights on the walking tour (in proximity to the Brandenburg Tor) were surrounded by police personnel due to the visit of Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan. This is a picture of some snipers.
As we had wanted to do this on our first day, but were too late, we partook in a walking tour of Berlin. About an hour in, our feet were completely frozen... and we were pretty miserable despite our wonderful tour guide (Summer, the opera-singer stand up comedian from the Mojave desert). Needless to say, we did not make it past the first coffee break. However, once we warmed up sufficiently, we continued our own walking exploration of Berlin. When it was all said and done, we had walked around for nearly 11 consecutive hours.
When we entered the Kuturforum, it was still light outside. Four exhibitions (including and amazing artist book library!) and an hour and a half later, it was pitch black and incredibly cold (I'm guessing this is when it hit -18˚c). This is a picture of the Philharmonic building.
More Tiergarten. This was taken around 4:00 when the sun starts to go down.

Our walk continued through the Tiergarten, a beautiful park in winter.

Sara and I posing at the Reichstag.

After the museum, we got lost walking to the Kulturforum, but saw lots of neat things along the way. This is one of the many bridges crossing the (frozen) River Spree (pictured below).

It was also very cold. I later heard that it was -18˚c on this day. By far, the coldest weather I have ever experienced.

It was a lovely, clear day.

Okay, sorry if this is disturbing, but I just thought it was pretty crazy looking... it's a mutation!

Posing with taxidermy. This is a dik dik.

This is the largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world! (a Brachiosaurus brancai) And... it was found in North America.
Our first full day in Berlin, we visited the Museu Für Naturkunde. What an amazing collection of dead things. I learned stuff.
Upon arriving in Berlin, we spotted a RAD mural. I later found out that this mural was done by a group of artists who live in a squat called the Emma Goldmund Hotel right next to this mural. Upon wandering into their little shop filled with paintings and prints to the ceiling, I met one of the artists, a Spanish guy who grew in Switzerland in exile (his mother was in the anarchist army) during the Franco dictatorship. The space is huge, and full of art done by the 5 residents... appeared to be a pretty amazing project.

And off to Berlin...(25/1/10)