As always, Nick and I wanted to present each other with travel bingo cards to make our trip more exciting. We were in too much of a rush at home, so we did things the modern way by logging onto our own Been-Go site at Luton airport, creating tailor made cards for Berlin, then photographing the computer screen. It worked, and our cards were a hit. See the grid below for some of the things we had to find and cross off.

A golden statue	A juggler	Cabaret reference	Men holding hands	Homer Simpson
Cute cop	FREE	Barbed wire	Homoerotic painting	Wooden toy
Pink triangle	Madonna	Skinhead	TV tower in snowglobe	Drink in Potsdamerplatz

The first of 60 Christmas markets in the city, at Potsdamerplatz	And the first of many cute men captured on film.
The second.	A couple of uniformed men.
This chocolate covered ball of pastry scraps wasn't nearly as tasty as it looks.	Queer-Grizzly, by Ingrid Rafael
Riding Bikes, 1998, by Robert Rauchenberg. 1998 is the year we met.	Nick stands outside Christopher Isherwood's old address.
Isherwood's writing was the basis for the musical, Cabaret.	I played Herr Schultz in Cabaret in 2000, singing about a pineapple. My Jewish character lived in Nollendorfplatz, now the "gay village" of Berlin.
This sculpture was on the cover of our excellent gay guidebook, Out Around Berlin.	A modern Santa sculpture.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church	Mosaic ceiling in the half-ruined church
The modern tower of the church, with its blue stained glass.	This cute employee had just reprimanded a woman for eating ice cream in the church.
On Friday, we took the train to nearby Potsdam, where we spent the day at the Brandenburg palace of Sanssouci and the Christmas market.
Nick at one of the train stops en route to Potsdam	A studious man in the Potsdam station.
A magnificent gazebo at the Sanssouci palace	The China House
	I don't know what these guys are up to...
Atop the Dragon House, now a café	Once this guy knew he had our attention, he sprang to life and started chopping wood. The smell of testosterone filled the air.
A traditional puppet show charmed the German children.
	Gingerbread cookies to rival my own.
Scrumptious donut-like snacks.	Scrumptious Potsdam man
We returned to Berlin for nocturnal explorations
A giant version of the Christmas pyramid we bought	The whole premise of this photo is to capture the guy in the back.
Nick purchases a tiger's eye for his lucky pot plant at home.	Outside the Brandenburg Gate
Under den Linden, the famous avenue leading to the Brandenburg Gate
	Inside the Reichstag
This is Berlin's main train station. The glass panels produce much of its energy, exemplifying Germany's excellent resourcefulness.
A model of Rome's Bocca della Verita.	Click HERE or HERE to see us playing with the real thing!
The next day, Saturday, we stared our explorations in former East Germany.
The East Berlin Ampelmann was created in 1961 by traffic psychologist Karl Peglau. He theorised that people would respond better to the traffic signals if they were presented by a friendly character, instead of meaningless coloured lights.	The stretch of still standing Wall known as the East Gallery
You can see West Germany through the crack in the wall	A friendly graffiti sea serpent
More modern graffiti featuring a nostalgic Trabant car	Graffiti artists still cover the Wall, layer upon layer
Ironically, we got trapped behind the Wall and had to crawl out.	German efficiency
Robbie Williams is always a part of our travels.	Berlin's Schwules (Gay) Museum is the only one of its kind in the world.
We saw an exhibition of Luchino Visconti's work, including his film, Death in Venice.	The museum has an excellent collection, tracing the history of homosexuality, including Nazi persecution. It really highlights how far things have come in the last few years. Now about marriage...
The Red Town Hall	Nick noticed the funny licence plate of the car I used to prop my camera on for the previous photo.
I saw this bear displaynear Nikolaskirche last time I visited Berlin.	The Fernsehturm (TV tower) at night

Back home, we had our usual lovely Christmas together.

This year's tree was a bit wonky and fell over on the night we returned, but it's still a delightful reminder of all the places we've been (we buy an ornament at each of our travel destinations).	Great minds: we bought each other Derren Brown's new book as a surprise gift. Click HERE to see the (somewhat naughty) contents of our Christmas stockings
Our Christmas dinner was unusual this year. We watched a TV competition between British chefs and decided to cook Bryn Williams' Welsh Roast goose, caramelised Brussels sprouts and peach and sage sauce.	For dessert, Nick made Richard Corrigan's Christmas pudding souffle with Irish whisky ice cream. We used my homemade pudding.
Endlessly fascinating, we bought this traditional Christmas pyramid in Germany.	On Christmas morning, we went to Boscombe beach.
Our very own German nutcracker