HDI Escapes – Berlin

New York is certainly “the City that never sleeps”, but sometimes it is nice to get away. Destination Berlin for New Years Eve. Berlin has lots to offer and the City is ever changing. We decided to focus on museums, go to a concert at the Komische Oper and walk as much as we can.  It snowed, but was so beautiful to wake up and see Berlin coated in a few inches of fresh white powder snow. We enjoyed seeing the East Side Gallery, which is a stretch of roughly a mile of the Berlin Wall in Friedrichshain covered in paintings and graffiti and it is an international memorial for freedom. We made it to the Neue National Galerie, which closed on 1/1/2015 for at least 5 years of renovation and enjoyed the tree installation by David Chipperfield, as well as their Contemporary art installation. The Bauhaus Archive was well worth a visit and fascinating for anybody interested in this progressive school and design movement that existed from 1919-1933 and left it’s mark. Definitely plan a visit to the Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Memorial, reminders of how vibrant Jewish life and culture once were in Berlin and how violently it was destroyed. The Daniel Libeskind designed museum is an architectural masterpiece and the installation will draw you in for hours. Berlin is a very vibrant and cosmopolitan city and the various neighborhoods couldn’t be any more different. What they all share is lots of green space (or white after the snow) for the Berliners to walk, bike or pull their kids on their sleds and the fantastic Cafes and restaurants that you can find everywhere. Berlin will capture you and if you haven’t been yet, go, don’t wait! You will love it! Happy travels and Auf Wiedersehen!