Berlin by night

Dave and I both were overwhelmingly swapped our last entire week in Berlin. He was playing poker non-stop and I was writing more articles than I ever thought possible for various jobs and finishing up my school semester. With this being said, we got very little time to really sight-see. However, we were able to take a few pictures at night!

Here are just a few pictures of the Postdamer Platz area of Berlin at night:

I honestly have no idea what these lit-up cylinder things are. However, they look pretty cool at night! 

The Sony Center Dome at night! The picture really doesn't do justice. The colors change between blue, purple, and pink! Amazing! There is a huge fountain underneath that basically functions as a gathering place too. 

A replica of the first traffic light ever installed in Berlin! In the original traffic light, an officer would have to go to the top of the tower, sit in the small glass box, and manually change the lights to control traffic! 

Exploring the City

Dave and I had the opportunity to walk around for a bit today. We actually ventured pretty far and didn't get lost! We are getting better at this. Then again, we haven't wandered into Tiergarten yet, which is a popular park that sprawls across 520 acres and has more than 14 miles of pathways. (We will have to save that for another day!) I got lost in it last year...

Anyways, here are a few photos from the day!

The Berlin Science Center - Free Admission too!

The Reichstag Building - It is free to go up into the dome and you can see all of the city of Berlin. Might have to give that a try. 

The building is just so massive! 

This probably isn't a booze cruise :( But we like the name anyways! 

The TV Tower. 365 meters high. We might have to go take a closer look at it. 

Not sure if this hotel looks like anything special but... it IS the hotel that Michael Jackson dangled his son out the window in November of 2002. Being one of the most famous hotels in Europe (before Jackson's time), it was visited by many historical figures including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Franklin Roosevelt, John D. Rockefeller and Albert Einstein. The Felix Club, which is attached to the back side of the hotel, is the location of the PokerStars party that is scheduled for tomorrow night. In true European fashion, the nightclub generally does not open until 11:00PM at night. The Europeans usually party til 6 or 7am! No joke! 

These bike things are so crazy. Like 5 people are peddling...How is that possible?! Note Starbucks in the background...these places are popping up on EVERY corner. 

We also took a stroll down Friedrichstraße, a major shopping street in the city of Berlin. It was pretty busy! It was also funny to see places likes "ShoeCity." At least we could figure out what it was!

After walking around for a few hours, we decided to eat in the first restaurant that wasn't Subway or McDonald's (hey now, before you judge, we haven't had Pizza Hut yet..). It was called Vapiano and was pretty delicious. Unfortunately, it was not German cuisine in any sense of the word, but rather EXTREMELY Americanized Italian. It was good though.

Dave was mad at me for not wanting to try German traditional dishes just yet, but I did a good job of convincing him otherwise when we returned back to the apartment and I Googled a variety of German dishes. Sorry babe, Mettbrötchen (literally raw meat on a bread roll) just doesn't sound appetizing. I promise that I will have Wurst or Currywurst  of some sort before we leave....maybe. haha 

Berlin, Germany...we are back!

Our plane landed on Tuesday afternoon, which just happened to be Dave's 26th birthday! He is seriously getting so old :( After taking a taxi through town, we were dropped off at our studio apartment where we will be staying for the next two weeks. It is in a decent location, and about a 10 minute walk to where Dave will be spending every minute of his life (that is if he is not grinding online...). The apartment, however, does not have a microwave or toaster and only a MINI fridge. Yup, we are definitely roughing it here. haha just kidding. It just takes some getting used to and knowing that I might have to go to the grocery store every 3 days.

We took a walk our first night and tried to get acclimated to the area. We did find the grocery store, which is actually pretty large. Then, after screwing around trying to get the internet to work for about 3 hours, we decided to call it a night...and finally fell asleep around 4:30am. We never adjust well to the time change...ever.

Dave took off the next day (Wednesday) and we spent some time walking around and taking pictures.

This is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

There is 2,711 slabs of concrete. Nope, I did not count them all.

Yes, there were children playing hide and go seek in here!

Bradenburg Gate - this is where Hitler's rise to power was celebrated. CREEPY!

Cute horses Dave bought for me:) He's the best!

DB building and the Sony Center dome.

Sony Center Dome from the inside. It changes colors at night! I'll make sure to get a few pictures.

Legoland giraffe! Dave is so tall!

And I'm short....

The Underground Train Station. There is another one just like it literally across the street! Guess you have 2 chances to get off the train at Postdamer Platz!

We had a great time walking around and an even better day came when the landlord's helper fixed our internet! Thank goodness! I was seriously behind on my articles. Dave and I then visited the Casino last night and hung out for a bit before going to bed at (you guessed it...) 4:30am or so. 

Today (Thursday), I spent the entire day working on articles and researching flights, etc. Dave has been playing at the casino for about 8 hours now. Like a good girlfriend, I made him spaghetti dinner and garlic bread. haha. Now it's back to articles, cleaning, and organizing the apartment until he is done for the evening. I'm hoping to get out a bit tomorrow and maybe see a few more sites!