KaDeWe and Oktoberfest (kind of..)

My weekend was definitely a good one and I am once again, sad for it to be Monday. After getting some of my homework out of the way on Thursday and Friday, I hung out with some friends on Friday and decided to go to KaDeWe on Saturday. KaDeWe stands for Kaufhaus Des Westens (Department store of the West) and I thought of it as South Coast Plaza on crack. I believe it was 6 stories and it had everything! All high end fashion designers, jewelers, electronics, chocolatiers, along with restaurants, cafes, butchers, bakeries and grocers. And it was so fancy! I definitely want to go back and wander around more, especially on the food/candy level, where there was a good sized section of Jelly Bellys! We happened to stumble upon an "American" foods section in the grocer and I was so ready to stock up on my favorites!

Mmm oatmeal, I wanted it so bad! Oh wait, its nearly 13 Euros.

American cookies..I miss baking!

Yup, pure maple syrup is 24 Euros

For 18 oz of peanut butter, its ONLY 8 Euros. Only.

Naturally, I made no such purchases there. There was also Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (that has only 3 cups) for 3 euros. And Pop Tarts for 6 Euros. I'm still in shock over the 13 euro oatmeal.

Oktoberfest in Berlin

Heaven! Lebkuchen and roasted/candied nuts.

Due to unfortunate circumstances and not having a money tree...I wasn't able to go to Oktoberfest in Munich. Which was totally fine because I was actually able to attend an Oktoberfest festival in Berlin that was so much fun! Fun fact: Oktoberfest actually starts in the middle of September and does occur during October, but only the first week or so. I know the name is misleading, but most of the Oktoberfest festivities happens in September. We decided to trek it out to Tegel Airport and check it out. It seemed a little bit like a mini county fair with food, rides, games. And then there was a huge beer hall. When we got inside, it was already super crowded. After getting our Paulaner beers (which I liked!) we were trying to find a spot to sit when a few people invited us to their part of the table. As it turned out, the tables weren't really for sitting as much as they were for dancing on top of. Patrick and I had such a great time dancing and singing to traditional beer drinking songs and a couple of American hits. Apparently to the Germans the Rolling Stones song (I cant get no) Satisfaction, contains no other words besides "I cant get no satisfaction...And I try", repeated over and over again. It was such a cool atmosphere and I even got a Lebkuchen! Hopefully I can go to it again this weekend.

Inside the beer tent

I have the "little" beer

With my Lebkuchen...this was after the beer

I'm still debating whether I should post some of the videos I took from inside the tent!

Gedaechtnis Kirche

This church is right in the middle of one of the most touristy-shopping areas in Berlin in the neighborhood of Charlottenburg. It was actually bombed to ruins in 1945. Berlin rebuilt the church next to the ruins and is so stunningly beautiful inside. It is all stained glass and the walls were built so thick, that you cannot hear a sound from outside. The real ruins of the church is now preserved with a memorial hall, but it looks like they might be restoring the towers of the church. 

Inside the rebuilt church

A view from outside

Inside the memorial section of the old church