2022.12 German Christmas Markets (Part 6)

2022.12 German Christmas Markets (Part 6) – LEGO Store Berlin and more

After having breakfast on the first day, we weren’t in a rush to run around the city, so while she had a nap I made the short walk to Kurfuerstendamm to check out a few stores.

Lego Store Berlin

The first stop I made was the LEGO Store on Kurfuerstendamm. It’s a multi-level store with several large displays such as this from Harry Potter on the ground floor:

The iconic Brandenburg gate was on display on the upper level.

And then Trabant breaking through a wall:

Another display, was… [after some searching online] built by a local Berlin based Lego building group:

Advent Calendars

After the Lego store, I walked through a few drugstores, and other shops on my return walk to the hotel. Advent calendars are a serious business in Germany. Although chocolate based calendars are the most numerous, but almost anything is available for varied tastes and preferences.

Even Vegan calendars are on offer:

Drugstores predominately are filled with not only chocolate calendars, but also make-up or fashion related advent calendars as well. In some spots the advent calendar section appeared to be more like a book section, unable to display the front of the calendars due to space limitations. The NIVEA advent calendar is on the top left:

In other stores we came across toy related calendars such as Smurfs, and Asterix. In my visit in 2018, the department store my brother took me too had both beer, and whisky advent calendars available for purchase.

KaDeWe

A massive retail landmark in this area of Berlin is KaDeWe. Originally titled “Kaufhaus Des Westerns” (Department store of the West) it has now been shorten to be KaDeWe. When the Berlin wall was around, the department store was one of many examples to the former DDR. The store was filled with a multitude of selection, variety and quality that was just on the other side of the wall. The department store has most high-end brands occupying its main floor, and up near the top is its popular food hall and café. These are items that one must visit! Above is the Raspberry tart she had, and below is the éclair I selected.

The food hall has a thorough mix of grocery, sweets, candy and small sit-down restaurants (during our epic Christmas market day we stopped in here to have Thai food). When we visited late in the afternoon we stopped to have some tea and cake. This was a sample of the selection from one of the counters. Due to how busy the store was, I didn’t take any other pictures of the many displays of fine chocolate that was on display.

And a Concert…

One other thing we did in Berlin, was we went to a concert! This was just our second concert we attended since the pandemic. We both like his music, and after attending a concert I didn’t realize I listened his music a lot when I was younger. Attending a concert of his, feels like a two hour sing-a-long. It’s a wonderful uplifting vibe. By appearances it looked like it was close, if not was a sell-out show.

He doesn’t have a large or fancy stage, nor does he has a large group of dancers, or even any back-up signers. It’s just him and his band. When we planned this trip, this was a late addition, and I was gleeful to get tickets, and they were affordable compared how expensive most live concerts now cost.

It was a great evening out.