I went to Berlin in February :) It was my first overseas holiday with The Boy which was nice, and also my first proper visit to Germany (I went to Hamburg for about ten hours once, repping a football coach, but that's another story...) We spent 4 nights there, which was plenty of time to see lots of the city, and we both loved it. Here, in east to digest bullet points, are my highlights...
St Christopher's Inn and Belushi's Bar
We stayed here, in their en suite apartment room. I'm an old hand at hostels but Dan had never stayed in one before, and was a little dubious. However, having stayed in 2 St Christopher's Inns before, I knew we'd be ok, and I was right (obviously!) The apartment was a lovely big place, with a kitchen area and bathroom as well as a sofa, table and chairs and a big comfy bed. The bar/social area downstairs was great too, with nice, reasonably priced food (and beer!) and breakfast (the usual toast, cereal, bread, meats and cheese fare) was included. It was VERY reasonably priced, and right outside an underground station, so we could get wherever we wanted very easily. Score.
www.st-christopers.co.uk
The U/S-Bahn Systems
I know it's geeky to have the trains a highlight, but they were awesome! We live pretty close to London and so are used to a good underground service, but I can't fault the U-Bahn - a day ticket was around six euro, and we used it to zip all over Berlin with total ease, hardly waiting more than a few minutes for a train and travelling in clean, well lit carriages with not a nutter to be seen (unfortunately. I love a good train nutter). By the time we were leaving, Dan had pretty much memorised the map and proclaimed "I love this train system!" without even a hint of sarcasm (unusual for him). I had to agree.
Cheese-tastic posing at "our" U-Bahn stop
The Brandenburg Gate
It's pretty weird to imagine that not all that long ago this was blocked off by the Berlin Wall. Now, we can walk freely from one side to the other admiring it; but less than 30 years ago it was a maze of barbed wire and machine guns. Just a 2 minute walk from the gate is the Holocaust Memorial, where we met an elderly Polish couple laying flowers for relatives. I've been to Auchwitz in Poland, and the significance of that couple coming to Germany to see the memorial wasn't lost on me.
Yes, I'm holding a guidebook. Such a tourist.
East Side Gallery
The largest remaining part of the Berlin Wall is around a 20 minute train ride out of the main city, to a fairly bleak, industrialised area with nothing much else there except roads, and concrete. It snowed the day we went, which added to the atmosphere. The Wall, now painted with murals by artists from all over the world, stands out like a beacon of colour amongst the grey. I only vaugly remember the fall of the wall as I was 4 when it came down (my dad called me through to watch it on the news, telling me "this is an important moment in history, girl") but it's nice to see that it's been made to look beautiful after being something so ugly, and I really enjoyed the mile or so walk along, looking at the art and thinking about what it had been.
Tiergarten
This is basically a massive park, which we walked through after visiting the Brandenburg Gate for the second time. It was a lovely walk, very green and peacful in a busy city. We spotted Berlin's "Victory Column" along the way, as well as walking past the perimiter of Berlin Zoo, where we saw plenty of animlas without paying an entrance fee - bonus! Llamas, anyone?!
Checkpoint Charlie
Massively touristy, but has to be done. There were some soldiers there when we went, having their photo taken at the checkpoint, and it was pretty eerie as it felt more real with so many uniformed men around. If you have your passport on you, you can get it stamped at the Checkpoint which I thought would've been cool, but I didn't have mine with me unfortunately. Just around the corner is a currywust (YUM) shop, called Checkpoint Curry. Bad taste, or funny? I couldn't decide!
So that's my little run down of Berlin through my eyes. I'd definitley reccommend it as a destinaiton if you're a fan of cities like me. It's got an interesting history, plenty to see and do, and as cities go, doesn't break the bank. Prost! (That means cheers, my housemate is German and he taught me :) )
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