Part 5: Watching out for fireworks in weird Berlin

FROHES NEUES JAHR!

(Happy New Year!)

Now I've almost reached the end of rehashing my epic winter Euro trip, and that brings me to Berlin. I wanted to celebrate the start of 2011 in this country, and fortunately many friends had the same idea. We had a great three days exploring more of Berlin and taking advantage of the largest outdoor NYE celebration in the world.

After a long day of traveling from Paris, we arrived in Berlin Thursday night and met up with other PPPers at a fun bar cranking 80s music. I requested some favorites and crooned along to "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Summer Nights." There are lots of theme places like that all over Berlin, and I'm eagerly anticipating checking out more come February...any chance to sing some Cyndi Lauper and I'm there.

Berlin is a really weird place. So was explained to us on Friday's "Alternative Culture" tour. Our enthusiastic guide took us to see some really cool graffiti, abandoned buildings, a house built around a tree, and a squatting artist's hangout. He was bursting with really interesting facts about Berlin: The city  is built to hold 7.5 million people, but only 3.5 million live in Berlin now, hence all the abandoned buildings. Craziness. Berlin also has a 17% unemployment rate and a very high birth rate. Looks like I'm gonna be watching out for lots of strollers on the metro. But luckily I already have a job lined up.

I am SO, SO EXCITED to move to Berlin, and spending the weekend there confirmed that even more. I just love so much about the city. Especially all the really diverse neighborhoods and the abundance of excellent ethnic food. Our hostel was right next to what is claimed to be the best döner in Berlin, so you know we hit that up. And I have heard good things about a burrito place that I'm hoping will help to curb my Mexican food withdrawal. Now I just have to get that metro map down...

Our NYE festing started with a pre-pre-party at our very full hostel room, followed by pre-party at a fellow PPPers apartment. It was great fun to see so many of my friends from around Germany. Then, around 11, we set off on foot to check out the open air celebration near the Brandenburg Gate. Now we didn't exactly make it to the gate, but from our vantage point we adequately took in the atmosphere and all the renegade fireworks.

Fireworks: Berlin allows fireworks to be set off anywhere in the city for a period of 72 hours, and people really take advantage. I'm from legally loose Louisiana so I know fireworks, but I'm not the biggest fan. Some fools even set off fireworks in a metro station, causing me to jump and scream like a baby. Not my proudest moment. I did like seeing all the street fireworks, though, probably because I did not become a victim like so many do.

Saturday was a pretty quiet resting day, although we did make a nice walking tour around the gate, the Holocaust memorial, and the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall. The Wall has been repainted since the last time I was there, with many old images recreated by their artists. Very cool. On Saturday night I watched the Rose Bowl game starting at 11 PM Berlin time. Unfortunately my beloved Trojans couldn't make it this year, but it was still fun to watch and see what's going down in sunny Los Angeles. We will fight on to another day!

I arrived home on Sunday exhausted but with great memories of my Euro trip 2010/2011. Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post...I wasn't exactly camera happy in Berlin, but when friends put up pictures from New Year's I'll grab some and give it some color. Hopefully for now my words suffice :)

Now I've already caught the travel bug again...should I make a trip to Hungary? I just really want to go to another thermal bath.