Berlin Diaries – Part 4

The weeks of overtime and the feeling that I live at work, has finally paid off in time for the arrival of my Mum and little sister to Berlin a few weeks ago. I bought Mum a ticket for Christmas in the days of being a travel agent and having access to the cheap deals. The time had finally come to stop working like a slave and take some time to show them around and enjoy Berlin!

As you all have now noticed from my entries on this blog - it’s all about the food! The arrival of Mum and Kayla was no different and they were taken on a food frenzy around Berlin to try and taste all of the local specialties. Mum also took us out for an engagement celebration to a local fancy Italian restaurant where they had only a few fresh choices on the menu and the most amazing antipasto I have had outside of Italy!

The night was so special and it was really nice to actually have family here to help celebrate this amazing, huge experience in our lives. It made us realise that it does suck a bit if you’re on the other side of the world and want to share such special times with family and friends. Anyway, it was great to be able to have some celebrations!

Apart from the Berlin food tour, we also did a great day trip to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Not the nicest place to visit but intriguing and terrifying to see the truth as to how the Nazis rose to power in Germany and why the Nazis persecuted the Jews and other groups, and how Germany is dealing with its past today. So a little history lesson for you … Between 1936 and 1945 more than 200,000 people were interned at the Camp. More than 50,000 people died at Sachsenhausen from starvation, mistreatment, and extermination. The camp was secure and there were few successful escapes. The perimeter consisted of a three-meter high stone-wall on the outside. Within that there was a space which was patrolled by guards and dogs; it was bordered on the inside by a lethal electric fence; inside of which was a gravel ‘death strip’ forbidden to the prisoners. Any prisoner venturing onto the ‘death strip’ would be shot by the guards without warning. Rewards such as extra leave were offered to guards who successfully shot and killed any prisoner who entered onto the death zone.

This place was so morbid and you could almost smell death in the air. It was not a nice feeling but in a way it was interesting to be able to see the truth into a concentration camp.

Some more uplifting fun times we had was a lot of shopping, but fun shopping. We went to and explored as many flea markets as we could and found some great bargains, the best buy I would have to say was our new retro 70’s Kettle for a bargain rate of 3 Euro’s!