Day two of our whirlwind tour was our crazy busiest…or at least the one we logged the most miles! (If you missed it, click HERE for part 1) The shot from our step counter I posted in the last post, was from this day! We started out innocently enough with breakfast at home…oven baked rolls with cold cuts and my required fuel: breakfast tea with milk.

Taking advantage of a rare sunny day, we hiked across town poking into a few interesting alleyways and shops along the way, down to the river and museum island - such a beautiful part of the city! Gorgeous architecture with an interesting mix of old and new, like so much of this city, reigns here.

We stopped in at Dussman, a spectacular 4 story bookstore for a bit of Christmas shopping and then hopped on the incredible transit system (Boston, well pretty much every US city, should takes notes here…) to the East Side Gallery - a section of the remaining standing piece of the Berlin wall that has been reclaimed as an impressive and provocative graffiti art gallery.

On our way back home we stopped at a Primark in search of earmuffs. Hats are great, but not the “hat hair” if you are going to take them off in public anywhere! And then a romp through the not-yet-crowded-because-it-was-afternoon Christmas Market nearest home for some lunch (goulash) and a snack of sugared almonds!

We had about 20 minutes at home before we headed off to the outer reaches of the city on the ever-efficient transit system to go to the Botanical Gardens for the Christmas light display. We had tickets for the earliest time slot, just after sundown. What a spectacular display! There were all kinds of different themed areas, from the fireworks trees (a motion light display timed to music) to the loch ness monster, a garden of birds and nests, a formal garden classically lit, the cathedral of lights, the glockenspiel path with hanging strings of color-changing lights with bells attached that chime as you pass through them, and many more! There were patterns projected along the pathways - some moving, some with words spelling out holiday greetings. There was a skating rink and, of course, a number of Gluehwein (spiced hot wine) stands! The Gluehwein is always served in real glass or ceramic mugs everywhere you go - so civilized (not to mention eco-friendly)! People of all ages, families with strollers and wagons, alongside elderly couples, all milling along the paths taking in the magical displays and sipping Christmas cheer is the essence of feel-good Holiday spirit!

We made it back to the heart of the city in time to get to the Komische Oper Berlin to buy tickets to the evening production of La Traviata. My daughter has a “classic card” which is an amazing deal available for anyone under 30 to get day of, best available tickets for a ridiculously low price. I, alas, am not under 30 so had to buy a real ticket! We got great seats on the floor and headed off to the complimentary coat check and upstairs to the lounge for pre-show snacks. Various wine and champagne options and canapes, and, of all things, soft pretzels (?!) are available. We settled on champagne and shared a pretzel…an incongruous combination, to be sure! The production was INCREDIBLE! The talent, the creativity of the sets and direction, the costuming…all of it! And the music was, of course, glorious! And the crowning touch? Exiting the theater, are stacks of little individually boxed chocolates for patrons to take on the way out!

It was a full and unforgettable day taking in some of the highlights of the fabulous city of Berlin! We walked over 10 miles today - tomorrow will be a little tamer, but we wanted to take advantage of the sunshine to do as much outside touring as possible today - it might not reappear for quite a while!

for Berlin and Beyond, Part 3 click HERE and part 4 click HERE