Happy Steps travel blog

European cities top world’s best places to live

We all agree that there’s no place like home, it’s where our heart is, and everytime we go somewhere, there’s always that longing to be home. Even travel bugs and those who are passionate about travel tend to appreciate more the little things about their hometown or neighborhood after coming from a trip someplace.

But what if you are given the option to move to another place or to relocate? Let’s say you visited an Arlington Property Management firm and given some various residential properties to decide upon, which place would you prefer to start over and settle with your family? If you have the whole world to choose from, which country or city would you move to? Continue reading… »

Cheap flights to the UK, Germany and France via KLM Philippines

Dubbed as their “Hot fares for the rainy season,” KLM Philippines is currently offering some tempting flight deals from the Philippines and Guam to the UK, Germany and France in Europe as long as you book your flights during weekdays (Mondays to Thursdays) and travel period should be until September 30 only. The promo air fares already include taxes, surcharges and booking fee. Continue reading… »

Berlin day tour: Checkpoint Charlie

Continued from Berlin day tour: Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag

It was already evening in Berlin, nevertheless we decided to visit Checkpoint Charlie as part of our Berlin day tour itinerary. There were no spectacular views to behold, no imposing buildings or delicately carved monuments, instead we saw a simple guard house with sandbag barrier in the middle of the road and large back-to-back photos of two soldiers (American and Russian).

The visitors and tourists who know the background behind Checkpoint Charlie consider it as one of Berlin’s significant and historical attractions. During the Cold War, it was a crossing point in the Berlin Wall separating East Germany and West Germany. The name of the checkpoint came from the letter C in the NATO phonetic alphabet as designation for Allied checkpoints. For instance, other Allied checkpoints were Checkpoint Alpha at Helmstedt and Checkpoint Bravo at Dreilinden in Berlin.
Continue reading… »

United Buddy Bears in Berlin

I now know the story behind the colorful bear statue we saw in one of the sidewalks of Berlin which I just fondly named as the Berlin Bear. Well, that’s what you get with surfing in the net; you end up with some interesting information. The bear statue we saw is actually one of the United Buddy Bears.

A buddy bear (or friendship bear) is a painted sculpture made of fiberglass about two meters in height.

The buddy bears were displayed in previous art exhibitions in Berlin (2003 and 2006) and Warsaw (2008) with the motto: “We have to get to know each other better; it makes us understand one another better, trust each other more, and live together more peacefully.” The exhibition also went on global tour and was hosted in Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, Warsaw and other cities.

The United Buddy Bears exhibition at Bebelplatz, Berlin-Mitte (Photo credits: Wikipedia)

The United Buddy Bears’ message is about the art of tolerance, to promote international understanding among different nations.

A world of benches: Berlin

This is the third in a series of posts featuring photos of benches I’ve collected during my travels. Previously featured: Rauma (Finland) and Prague

After attending the noontime Sunday Mass at St. Albert the Great Church, off we went with our day tour of Berlin. I will be posting more photos about the city’s many historic landmarks and buildings, but for now here are some of the benches I’ve photographed to add to my collection. Enjoy!

Benches along the souvenir shop street… perfect place for tourists to rest for awhile after their shopping spree.

A series of concrete square benches at the rear of the Reichstag building.

More benches at the city park…

At the Charlottenburg Palace grounds. See that bench where the guy was seated? That’s where we had our lunch. =)

Art market in Berlin

Wanna shop for paintings, décors, jewelry, t-shirts, lanterns, bags, buttons and all sorts of art, handicrafts and books in Berlin? Check out the Art market (Kunstmarkt) at the Museum Island (Museumsinsel) beside the bridge every Saturday (11:00 AM – 3:00 PM) and Sunday (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM) where you can find some Berlin souvenirs to take home with you.

Here are some photos of what’s on sale at the street market where busy tourists crowd around the many items displayed.

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The Berlin bear

On our way to the Brandenburg Gate we passed by the Berlin Store souvenir shop to buy some pasalubongs.

There were just a lot of choices, if only you could bring them all home with you – bags, shirts, refrigerator magnets, pins, baseball caps and so much more. It would usually take us a lot of time when inside souvenir shops but we had to do our shopping real fast since we still had so many places to visit. After walking few meters from the shop, this is what we found…

A yellow Berlin bear with its arms raised up to welcome tourists!

The bear is the symbol of Berlin, and it is even the central figure in the city’s coat of arms.

Tsk, too bad we were not able to buy one of these miniature bears for souvenir when we were still at the shop.

If ever you’ll be dropping by Berlin, please say hi to the colorful Berlin bears for me!

p.s. I found more Berlin bears here. Enjoy!

Finding St. Albert the Great Church in Berlin

“We’ll be there just in time for the Mass,” bro-in-law assured cutie sis and I while tinkering with the settings of his GPS mobile phone. We were still in Prague when he said it, but the device already estimated the number of hours it would take to get there based on the total distance to be traveled and the maximum speed limit for the routes. Our destination? St. Albert the Great Catholic Church (St. Albertus Magnus Kirche) in Berlin.

While it was not the first time for bro-in-law and sis to be in Berlin, it was our first to attend the Sunday Mass in that church. Thankfully, the GPS phone assisted bro-in-law along the way and after about three hours on the road, we were just happy to hear it said, “You have reached your destination.” True enough, we stepped into the church just as the choir sang the entrance hymn.

Here are some photos of the church’s interior:

Quick information about St. Albert the Great Church:
Location: Nestorstr. 10, 14052 Berlin-Charlottenburg
(subway U Adenauerpl. / urban rail S Halensee)
Sunday Mass: 12 noon (English)