It has been snowing non-stop.. apparently today and tomorrow it's going to snow so much that 30cm of fresh snow will fall..
After a bit of a disasterous morning, i finally got into the city and visited the Amplemann Shop. Highly recommend everyone look this up online.. it's an iconic thing here in Berlin that will hopefully last for many years to come. Got myself a mug, pens and something small for catherine (because i am a kind sister.. and i know she collects them).
After visiting the store, i headed onto the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium. The Berlin Zoo is huge! You can get lost for hours in there! It was an experience in itself wandering around a zoo covered in white snow. It was quite odd seeing elephants playing in the snow.. but they were having fun. But i did finally get to see hippos swimming! Haha.. it was classic :-P
The set-up of the Zoo is fascinating.. most animals (if considered big crowd pleasers) have indoor and outdoor enclosures which means that in winter if the keepers decide to keep them indoors, the general public can still view them :-)
These housed the giraffes, hippos, pandas, lions, gorillas, monkeys.. even more!
Being the patriotic aussie that i am, i noticed they had kangaroos on display.. so i hiked the ever so long distance to their enclosure only to discover they're rarely displayed in winter! Now i can totally understand that as australia is pretty much warm most of the time.. but come on, put up a sign at the entrance or something saying they're not being shown! I was shattered! My one connection to home.. gone!
The Aquarium is actually within the Zoo grounds so it was good to get a taste of both worlds. They not only had fish, but frogs, reptiles.. and spiders (i accidently walked into the spider room, realised where i was and walked right back out).
I then jumped on 2 trains over to this Museum/Exhibition called The Story of Berlin. It was very interesting.. actually told the
history of berlin from when it was founded.. not just focusing on the wall and cold war like most people believe berlin history just to be. It told you about Napoleon and his raid on Berlin, how his presence changed the face of the Brandenburg Gate, before the times of Hitler and Starlin and life after the wall. Part of the exhibition was being able to go on a guided tour of one of the last remaining nuclear bunkers in Berlin. It was very interesting :-)
The bunker was one of the last remaining functioning bunkers in Berlin. It was built into a carpark but it was capable of housing up to 3000 people inside it. The tour guide explained when we were down there that they had modified the bunker to allow tours, so not all the beds were installed.. but he showed us the markers of where the beds would have been and trust me.. i would rather have died in a nuclear bomb than have to go down there for 2 weeks. 3000 people, not even 1m gap between beds
(single file movement all the time), reduced O2 for 2 weeks, live off bread for 2 weeks, not have the ability to change clothes, only able to use the bathroom once for 5 mins if you were lucky, have to sleep pretty much 24/7... all theoretical as the bunker was never used.. but still.. no way would i want to go through that! But then again, if the situation did arise.. i would probably be the first one in there haha
Headed back home, grabbed a kebab on the way (again.. I am so bad!), uploaded more photos onto my computer and planned the next day. Oh, and i also organised to go to London again.. and this time i will be able to catch up with my cousin Jay who i haven't seen since my cousin's wedding.. excited to meet up with him :-)
After a bit of a disasterous morning, i finally got into the city and visited the Amplemann Shop. Highly recommend everyone look this up online.. it's an iconic thing here in Berlin that will hopefully last for many years to come. Got myself a mug, pens and something small for catherine (because i am a kind sister.. and i know she collects them).
After visiting the store, i headed onto the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium. The Berlin Zoo is huge! You can get lost for hours in there! It was an experience in itself wandering around a zoo covered in white snow. It was quite odd seeing elephants playing in the snow.. but they were having fun. But i did finally get to see hippos swimming! Haha.. it was classic :-PThe set-up of the Zoo is fascinating.. most animals (if considered big crowd pleasers) have indoor and outdoor enclosures which means that in winter if the keepers decide to keep them indoors, the general public can still view them :-)
These housed the giraffes, hippos, pandas, lions, gorillas, monkeys.. even more!Being the patriotic aussie that i am, i noticed they had kangaroos on display.. so i hiked the ever so long distance to their enclosure only to discover they're rarely displayed in winter! Now i can totally understand that as australia is pretty much warm most of the time.. but come on, put up a sign at the entrance or something saying they're not being shown! I was shattered! My one connection to home.. gone!
The Aquarium is actually within the Zoo grounds so it was good to get a taste of both worlds. They not only had fish, but frogs, reptiles.. and spiders (i accidently walked into the spider room, realised where i was and walked right back out).I then jumped on 2 trains over to this Museum/Exhibition called The Story of Berlin. It was very interesting.. actually told the
history of berlin from when it was founded.. not just focusing on the wall and cold war like most people believe berlin history just to be. It told you about Napoleon and his raid on Berlin, how his presence changed the face of the Brandenburg Gate, before the times of Hitler and Starlin and life after the wall. Part of the exhibition was being able to go on a guided tour of one of the last remaining nuclear bunkers in Berlin. It was very interesting :-)The bunker was one of the last remaining functioning bunkers in Berlin. It was built into a carpark but it was capable of housing up to 3000 people inside it. The tour guide explained when we were down there that they had modified the bunker to allow tours, so not all the beds were installed.. but he showed us the markers of where the beds would have been and trust me.. i would rather have died in a nuclear bomb than have to go down there for 2 weeks. 3000 people, not even 1m gap between beds
(single file movement all the time), reduced O2 for 2 weeks, live off bread for 2 weeks, not have the ability to change clothes, only able to use the bathroom once for 5 mins if you were lucky, have to sleep pretty much 24/7... all theoretical as the bunker was never used.. but still.. no way would i want to go through that! But then again, if the situation did arise.. i would probably be the first one in there hahaHeaded back home, grabbed a kebab on the way (again.. I am so bad!), uploaded more photos onto my computer and planned the next day. Oh, and i also organised to go to London again.. and this time i will be able to catch up with my cousin Jay who i haven't seen since my cousin's wedding.. excited to meet up with him :-)
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