Festival of Lights: Berlin

During our too-quick visa trip to Berlin, we happened to discover that we were there for the Festival of Lights. Don’t you love it when you go somewhere and happen upon an awesome event or festival? Sometimes traveling without research pays off.

So does traveling to Europe in November and December! There are no shortage of festive events wherever you go, and I feel like Germany is particularly on top of the game in this area.

The Festival of Lights is a yearly event in Berlin where images and lights are shown onto buildings all over the city. I figured it would be fun to see, but it was actually more beautiful and more fun than I imagined. Waiting to see the next image was exciting–and so was trying to take pictures of each!

We arrived to Berlin in the dark, but we just had to see the famous Brandenburg Gate right away, especially as it was almost walking distance from our hostel. Seeing the gate during the light festival made the experience even more beautiful and unique! I might even prefer the gate this way?

On our walk back, we saw buildings lit up near pieces of the Berlin Wall as we moved through Potsdamer Platz.

As we wandered through the busy square and I took a thousand pictures attempting to get some good night-shots, John Lennon’s “Let It Be” started playing in the background. That song can make even technicolor light feel meaningful, I learned. It’s hard not to feel like your heart is full when, even in a strange land, everyone is singing “Let It Be” together.

Have you been to Berlin? Or a light festival? 

Linking up with Travel Tuesday.