Police, and protests and Santa? Oh my

Ok, So not sure if you heard about this, but a couple of weeks ago there was a bit of a terrorism scare in Berlin that put a lot of things on high alert. Mostly people were warned to be carful around all of the touristy places (weinnachtsmarkt and the like). So I did not know this and I went wandering around these places. most looked pretty normal, but Brandenburger Tor was littered with police.

Super long queue of Police vehicles, and yes they are all VW and Mercedes

"No Biggie, just blocking off this very public area you can go that way"

Actually the Police were really friendly despite their intimidating feel. They were just directing people away, letting them know what was up.  The Assault rifles that some of them had were a bit much, but hey, they have them in the airports as well. So yeah. 

As I meandered that day i also saw the periodic person with a sign. One one the subway, one on the street. It seemed like I just missed a protest or something. Although I did catch the tail end of it. Or at least one  of them. These folks are from Die Linke, or "The Left" a political group that is very critical of the current Merkel Government. It seemed pretty messy though, and a lot of trash was left on the ground. I was not pleased with these activists. So I passive aggressively picked up some trash while glaring at them (thats right, I am that hard-core).

Although I also ran into random's with signs and flags, heres one guy just wondering around the park. 

I have no idea what this guy is protesting (or if he actually is protesting), but there he is full of vim and vigor and ready to... walk some more. 

So i made m way to Ptsdamer platz where I saw something I had forgotten. A fake building. I saw this earlier but I did not have my camera and then I forgot about it. So yeah, they put a giant tarp over a building that they are... building, of what it will look like (maybe I think), complete with Ipad ads. 

The reason I came to Potsdamer Platz is for the Weinnachtsmarkt that is there.  This is one of many little Christmas markets that open up around this time of year and it is pretty sweet. They have food, sweets, Gluhwein (it like a warm fruity spiced red wine they drink this time of year). Plus these places just look delightful. I'll have some more pictures later of a bigger one at night with all the lights on, but for now just have a taste of this. 

And because I needed some pants I went into the mall and no mall would be complete this time of year without Santa. 

Oh hi Santa

Except this Santa wasn't inviting children to his lap, but he was cracking jokes and working the crowd. When I started to leave he sang a few songs. HE was really more of a lounge act and less of a Santa, but still awesome