Guten Tag from Berlin!

Everyone we have spoken to has given Berlin a huge wrap so we were pretty excited about finally getting to visit. That and the fact that it feels like ages (perhaps because it has been) since we last left the UK. As an extra bonus it was the last bank holiday of the year (24 - 27 August 2007) so we got to see a bit more of Germany in three days rather than two.

Berlin has some amazing history surrounding it with most of it being fairly recent. Hitler, the WW's and the falling of the Berlin Wall are just a few events in history worth a mention. As we would soon come to appreciate, Berlin is a truly fascinating city.

Here's what we got up to over the weekend!

Friday 24 August 2007:

Ryan Air - the on time airline (as their advertising goes) was fashionably late leaving Stansted Airport (no surprise here) by 3 hours. We made ourselves comfortable getting some practice for the weekend by having a few beers and playing gin with Lou whopping Rob's arse (the score was 50,000,000 to zero). By the time we got to Berlin the trains into the city had stopped so it was a cab ride in. Much to our delight one of the first things we sped past was the East Side Gallery. The gallery is a kilometre of the old Berlin wall dedicated to artists and something we would see again on our weekend. Finally we arrived at the hotel and it was straight to bed.

Saturday 25 August 2007:

Rather than pay the ludicrous amount for breakfast at the hotel we ventured towards town for a traditional German breaky of ham, cheese, bread rolls, boiled egg and coffee. We then joined Original Berlin Walks for their Discover Berlin walking tour of the city. On the tour we got to see many famous sites including the only remaining section of the Berlin Wall within the city (with its ‘death strip’), Hitler’s old bunker site, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Holocaust Memorial, Museum Island, Bebelptatz (Nazi book burning) and much more. It was a great four hour tour with our tour guide sharing her passion and knowledge of German history with us all.

After the tour finished we caught a train back to the East Side Gallery were we walked along the old section of wall and checked out all the paintings and murals.

From there it was back into town to check the line up to Reichstag (Parliament) a no-goer at this stage and a walk through the Tiergarten (Berlin’s huge park) to the Victory Monument. We also checked out the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) which had the most amazing modern architecture we have seen. We then ended back at Hackescher Markt for some Wiener schnitzel and Weiss Beer. One thing the Germans do very well is their beer - very tasty!!!!


Sunday 26 August 2007:

Breakfast was spent in the same cafe as the previous day while we contemplated what we should do. We wanted to go back to revisit the sites we had briefly seen the previous day on our tour and spend some more time at each. Along the way we also checked out a very awesome chocolate shop and tried to read German at the French Church (Franzosicher Dom) which was converted into a museum with no English translations. The lady at the counter did give us a funny look when we said "Sprechen Sie kein Deutsch" (speak no German), we should have just left then!!!


In one of the guide books it mentioned that a good way to past the queue at Reichstag was to make a booking at the restaurant so we planned a late lunch for 2pm. The rooftop terrace overlooking Berlin was a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours while gorging ourselves on great food and some more awesome German beer!

After lunch we checked out the Reichstag Dome, caught a riverboat cruise along the Spree and went inside the Berliner Dom. We then walked back along Unter de Linden for some nice evening views of the Brandenburger Tor, Reichstag (again) and the Spree. Dinner once again at Hackescher Markt where Rob enjoyed the same meal as the evening before and we got to sample some more awesome German beer! Before calling it a night we took the fastest elevator in the world to get to the top of the 368m Fernsehturm (TV tower) for some gorgeous evening views of the city.


Monday 27 August 2007:

Given we had seen most of Berlin we thought we'd get out of the city and visit Potsdam (on Pen and Kris's recommendation). Potsdam is half an hour out of Berlin and has some major historical buildings and a vast amount of green space. Initially we had a few drama's but once they were sorted and we had hired our deadly treadly's for the day we were off!! We ended up riding about 18kms through some gorgeous parks. We stopped for lunch at a small little cafe in town and enjoyed some beers at a stunning beer garden located along the tour next to the river. We didn't venture into any of the buildings however riding around was a great way to spend the day relaxing. From Potsdam it was back on the train to the airport for our flight home to London.



Berlin is a fascinating city and one we would definitely recommend!