Somewhere between moving to London, finding my feet, starting the a new job, making friends, exploring london & some of europe, I found a best friend - Steph(boy). We met on July 1st (my first day @ Bloomberg), and 2 weeks later he took over training me when our other colleague was away. He took pity on me, we got along, and became really good friends.
After my trip to Oktoberfest/Prague/Bamberg/Dusseldorf, I came home to London to hear from Steph that he was interested in me. Long story short, after a bit of confusion, some hesitations, and a LOT of talking.. a first date led to a 2nd, and a 3rd, and nek minnit - we're together.
Before any of the above happened, I'd booked to take Steph to Budapest for his birthday the following February. So with my birthday in November, he stole my idea and booked a trip for us to Berlin. Given the new-found romance, Berlin was definitely going to be a bit of a test...
One of the perks of being a Valentines Day baby (born late Nov) means (in Europe) the start of the Christmas Markets. And aside from a few other countries, Germany's are supposed to be the best. So we jetted off to (FREEZING but not snowing) Berlin for my first EVER cold birthday.
What we didn't realise when booking the hotel was that we'd booked in the Financial District, which meant there wasn't a lot buzzing around us on a weekend. Although we were a close to our first stop - the meeting point for the free walking tour - Brandenberg Gates.
Don't bother asking me what we learned on that 3 hour tour, but trust me it was bloody interesting. I know we went to the Jewish Memorial (weirdly intense), the Book Burning Memorial, the parking lot ontop of the bunker where Hitler shot himself, checkpoint Charlie, some of the remains of the Berlin Wall, and more.
This place was the COLDEST I'd ever been. I remember I couldn't feel my feet (I was wearing boots) after about an hour, and my hands were so cold numb and yellow, that one of the guys on our tour gave me his ski-gloves to wear for the rest of the tour. C-O-L-D. Definitely not the 30something degree birthday that I'm used to.
We bought a bottle of red wine from the supermarket and drank that in our hotel room before dinner. The wine out there is surprisingly good! We picked a random restaurant for my birthday dinner; ate a lot, and drank a lot.
The Xmas markets were amazing. So beautifully decorated, the little pop-up bars are heating with indoor seating, SO MUCH FOOD. I love LOVE a good currywurst. And the melted cheese on baguettes, and all the roasted nuts, and fudge. I was in HEAVEN. It's so easy to spend half the day just wandering through the different markets :)
Rule #6: Find the local markets!
I should preface this this by saying that Steph calls me Chip - mainly because I have chubby cheeks like a Chipmunk, and now also because I chipped my front tooth on the pavement when I fell during a run. Anyway - looking for a breakfast place on our last day and we came across a place called 'Chipps'. SOLD. And my god, a good choice. I dont even remember what we had, but pancakes and a big breakky sounds about right - I can remember being extremely full and satisfied on the way home..
✌
