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So as everyone was aware by my posts on Facebook back in March, I visited Berlin, Germany and it was nothing short of amazing. I’d never been before so it was a brand new city for me to explore (on my Contiki, I was lucky enough to visit Munich as well as a few smaller towns in Germany) and I was looking forward to learning more of the history of not only a city that was the centre of the war but also a city that was once divided.
I flew out of Stansted airport on the 11
th March on an early flight so was at the airport by 7:30am. By the time I went through security and had some breakfast I had less than an hour until my boarding gate was shown so wandered aimlessly around the airport to waste time and ran into my flatmate who was flying home to visit family in Slovenia (which neither of us knew of the other’s travels due to barely seeing each other in the flat the week before otherwise I would have had a buddy to travel to the airport with). Boarding the plane, I had another girl strike up a
conversation whilst we were waiting to get on the plane. She’d been to Berlin quite a few times so was more than happy to give me some tips – first one being, don’t go to the KitKat Club and take off your clothes. Solid advice! Landed at the Berlin Schonefeld airport, which is approx. 40 minutes by train from central Berlin. Going through passport control was pretty intense – not a word was spoken by the officer and he held on to my passport for what seemed like a very long, silent 5 minutes before stamping it and handing it back to me. Once the U-bahns and the S-bahns are worked out, Berlin is quite an easy city to navigate therefore, getting to the hostel was relatively easy as I’d saved the directions and lines I needed to catch to get there. I stayed at Wombat’s hostel, which I stayed at their branch in Vienna (on Contiki) so knew they were a decent hostel, in the Mitte area – and I got a free welcome drink!
By the time I got to the hostel it was late afternoon so I didn’t venture out too far, went and got my
first of many currywurst (cut up bratwurst topped with curry ketchup and curry powder sprinkled on top ) for dinner then headed up to the Wombar for my welcome beer, which is where I stayed for a ‘low-key’ night as I had booked a walking tour the following morning as my introduction to the city of Berlin. What started off as a quiet evening turned out to be not as quiet as I originally planned. It was happy hour with cheap beers, everyone was chatting with everyone which was really cool and I ended up checking out the nightlife with some Americans and another Aussie. And I came across the infamous KitKat bar that I’d been warned about – we didn’t go in but turns out it’s a sex club, hence the advice of keeping the clothes on. No, we did not go in and instead attempted to get into Tresor, a night club in an old power plant however, after standing in the freezing cold queuing up for what seemed like an eternity at 2am, we were denied entry because we were unable to tell them who was playing that night. A lot of the popular, busy clubs are
known for doing this to decide who gets to come in and who stays out in the cold. At this point, that was probably a good indication to head back home but instead we ended up in a little dive bar for a couple more beers before calling it a night. I am getting way too old for these all nighters!
I woke up the next morning after approximately 3 hours sleep feeling sorry for myself and although I would have rather stayed in bed all day to feel human again, I had a walking tour of the city booked in for 11am, which I'd been looking forward to. Again, I was only planning on a low-key night the night before. After a shower and the promise of coffee, I made my way towards the meeting point of the tour – Starbucks near Brandenburg Gate – yay, coffee! I ended up being just under an hour early so sat in Starbucks with my coffee, trying to feel somewhat human again. By the time the start of the tour, I was feeling much better. The tour itself was free and at the end, you tipped the guide whatever you felt
the tour was worth – pretty decent deal considering they spend at least 2-2.5 hours visiting the main sites. Before starting the tour, the guide pointed out Hotel Adlon and its balcony, where Michael Jackson held his baby over the railing, and then we were off. We went past Brandenburg Gate, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Fuhrerbunker (otherwise known as Hitler’s bunker and where it’s said Hitler committed suicide – post war, the bunker was destroyed and the site is now a carpark surrounded by apartment buildings as the government wanted the area to be unmarked and anonymous. It wasn’t until 2006 that a sign was erected marking what the site once was.), and then walked down Wilhelmstrasse, which was and still is where a lot of the government buildings are positioned. After a quick toilet stop, the second half of the tour focused more on the history of the Berlin Wall rather than the war, which not knowing too much about the Berlin Wall, I found rather interesting. My knowledge prior was there was a wall in the city, it came down and David Hasselhoff sang there. After having the double cobblestones (these mark where
Bebelplatz
Site of the Nazi book burnings in 1933the wall once stood) pointed out to us, we headed off to Checkpoint Charlie and our last stop was Humboldt University (Albert Einstein went here), where 20 000 books were taken from it’s library from students who supported the Nazi regime. Known as the Nazi book burnings, there is now a memorial in Bebelplatz in front of the library – a glass panel covering an underground room with empty shelves with an adjacent plaque bearing words by Heinrich Heine, 1820: ‘Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bucher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen’ (which translates to ‘This was but a prelude; where they burn books, they ultimately burn people’). Nowadays, the students of the university daily hold a book sale outside the gates facing Babelplatz.
After the tour, which I thoroughly enjoyed – if you’re in Berlin and wanting to gain your bearings in the city, I used Sandemans free tour:
www.neweuropetours.eu/berlin - I hopped on the U-bahn and headed to Burgermeister for some lunch. Burgermeister is a crazy busy simple burger bar in a converted toilet house – Anthony Bourdain visited and raved about his burger so naturally I had to go check it out.
Also, perfect cure to my current predicament. From the time I got in the queue to the time I had my burger, just the classic and humble cheeseburger, 45 minutes had passed but in saying that, the line was twice as long as it was when I joined so it could have been worse. Anyone who saw the photo on Facebook I posted – it was as delicious as it looked! After lunch, I realised I was a short walk from the East Side Gallery so went for a stroll across the river to check it out. East side Gallery is the longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall, spanning 1.3km, which consists of 105 paintings on the east side of the wall by artists around the world as an international memorial for freedom. The artwork is pretty cool and I walked from one end to the other, hopping on the train home to head back to the hostel for a quick kip before figuring out what to do for my evening. Well I ended up falling asleep around 4pm and didn’t wake until the next morning at 7:30am – where I awoke feeling much more refreshed than the day
before.
Waking up starving the next day, I got ready and went up to the bar for breakfast – for about 4 euros they had a spread of all you can eat cereals, toast, fruit, meats and cheeses that are pretty standard for a hostel breakfast. After breakfast, I headed back out into the city and this time, walking into the city centre, which took about half an hour to get to Brandenburg Gate (since I was back to feeling on top of the world, I figured I’d rehash the walking tour to get some better photos than the day before). On my walk, I went past Alexanderplatz and the Fernsehturm (otherwise known as the TV Tower which has a restaurant and bar and also an observation deck at the top – I did not go up), the Berlin Cathedral and over to have a look at Museum Island, which is home to 5 museums. Back at Brandenburg Gate, I went by the Reichstag building, which houses the German parliament and also over to a smaller section of what remains of the Berlin Wall that we’d walked past the day before. This was also nearby the Topography of Terror
Berliner Dom
Berlin Cathedral – an outdoor and indoor history museum which is housed on the site of where buildings used during the Nazi Regime once stood before being destroyed. I then made my way back up to Check Point Charlie to check out the open-air exhibit they had set up on the history of the Wall and the people that attempted to escape East Germany. Whilst wandering the city, I obviously had to stop for toilet breaks and as most places in Europe will charge to use their bathrooms anyway, I decided to use on the of the city toilettes on the street, which was the weirdest, most bizarre toilet experience of my life. It was all automated and after I put my 50 cents in, the doors open and I went inside. The doors shut and I was sat on the toilet, freaking out that they’d open if someone tried to put money in, even though it said I had 20mins and then being put off by the music playing. Yes, there was music which can only be described as ‘elevator music’ playing. Thankfully, the doors didn’t open on me and I finished up to go about the rest of my day.
Where the Berlin Wall stood
Standing in both East and West Berlin After lunch, I spent the afternoon aimlessly wandering around Tiergarten before heading back to the hostel to rest my feet before the evening’s activities.
I walked back to my hostel, stopping into the Primark I found at Alexanderplatz – I love Primark and will dearly miss it when I come home. Because Primark’s got all of the goods, I ended up buying some Berlin-branded t-shirts and a travel mug as my ridiculously cheap souvenirs, alongside my obligatory magnet from another souvenir shop close by. Taking my loot back to the hostel around the corner (being Primark, it could have been a lot worse but I had to think of the old hip pocket as well as it fitting into my carry-on), I went back to the hostel to chill out for a couple of hours, rest my feet from all the day’s walking before getting ready to go out for dinner. Not far from my hostel was Hofbrauhaus Berlin, a Bavarian beer hall complete with a brass band and the servers all dressed in traditional Dirndl and Lederhosen’s – there’s also one in Munich, which is the original Hofbrauhaus. With my 1L stein of beer and my huge pork
knuckle, I was set for the evening and enjoyed the band with their catchy, upbeat tunes. Full and tired, I waddled back to the hostel and slept quite peacefully.
The next morning, after another hearty breakfast at the hostel, I set off early to the U-bahn to take the train to Orianenburg, approximately 40minutes outside of central Berlin. I was on my way to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial and Museum. Sachsenhausen was primarily used for political prisoners from 1936 until the liberation of the camp in 1945, and following World War II as a Soviet special camp when Orianenburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone. From the train station, there is a bus that goes direct to the museum however, I elected to walk, which took 15-20 minutes and was an eerie experience in itself, as it was the same route that many people had taken many years ago when being taken to the camp from the train station, and not knowing what horrors awaited them. At the museum, they have guided tours or you can elect to hire an audio device for 3 Euro, which also gives you a map to follow so you can walk around
the museum by yourself but still get all the information, which is what I did so that I could take it all in at my own pace. I was there for just under 4 hours as there’s so much information to take in. I won’t go in to too much detail here however, will post some photos with a bit of a description of what it is It’s hard to put into words the feelings and emotions that come over you when being in such a place but I feel it’s an important way to get a better knowledge into the history, no matter how dark, by seeing it first hand as well as being made aware so we as a society can ensure an event such as this never repeats itself.
After leaving Sachsenhausen, I walked back to the train station to take the train back to the city centre. Once getting back to the city centre, I took the U-bahn to Breitsheidplatz to check out the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was built in the 1890’s and damaged in the war. Rather than being rebuilt, it instead now stands as a memorial and reminder of World War
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
Ruins of church destroyed in the war 2. It stands right in the middle of what is now a very busy shopping district so it’s very interesting to see the contrast of a building from pre-war times surrounded by modern-day buildings, especially with a new church being built directly beside it back in the 1960’s. Breitsheidplatz is also where the 2016 attacks on the Christmas markets took place so there is also a memorial to that next to the church ruins. Before heading back to the hostel to get ready for the night’s activities, I had a bit of a wander through the stores, window shopping.
So for my last night in Berlin, I headed out to the Friedrichshain area for dinner and drinks. I went to MacLaren’s Pub, which for all of you familiar with the show is a How I Met Your Mother themed bar. It’s a small place but the walls are lined with memorabilia from the show, which was cool (especially since I’d not too recently binge-watched the entire 7 seasons of the show). The food and drinks were also named after the show’s characters so naturally; I had a Robin Sherbatsky cocktail. It was a wonderful way to finish my time
McClaren's Berlin
How I Met Your Mother themed bar in Berlin – sitting back in a cool themed bar, reflecting on the full-on couple of days I’d had exploring Berlin’s history.
The next day, I checked out of my hostel after breakfast and decided to hang in the Mitte area until I needed to get the train back to the airport since it was near the station I needed and because I also had my bag with me. I had 2 more Anthony Bourdain places to check out before I left and conveniently, they were a mere half hour walk from the hostel. Unfortunately, the beer garden of Prater Garten was closed however, I was still able to go in and have a look at the outdoor area – it’s one of the oldest beer gardens in Berlin. For lunch, I went to my 2
nd Bourdain recommendation – Konnopke’s Imbiss. Konnopke’s is the original currywurst stand and as such, attracts many locals and visitors alike looking for a quick inexpensive feed therefore the lines can get long. Luckily, I got there just before the lunch rush. Afterwards, I made my way back to Alexanderplatz to browse and chill out before having to get the train to the airport.
Konnopke's Imbiss
First to star selling currywurst in East Berlin Where I chilled in the sun and watched a busking group from Australia (quite entertaining!) before having one last bratwurst and making my way back to the airport for my flight back to London.
Berlin was nothing short of amazing – a city so full of history and culture, and definitely one I hope to visit again some day.
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