Having lasted this long living in Europe and never gone to Berlin was one place we had to see before finishing up. We ended up going with Kristen and Jeff friends from home but now living in the UK. We decided a long weekend would be best to go and make the most of this history rich city.
Saturday
With modest flights out of the UK from heathrow we did not have to get up at a crazy hour and arriving in the city in daylight is something we have not done in a very long time. The flight is only 1.5 hrs. Landing at the west Berlin airport easily got the bus and metro to the hostel without any problem at all. After checking in and dropping our bags in the room we headed out on to make the most of our time away and check out the sights. First stop was to get some lunch and what better to get when in Berlin than the famous curry wurst. What an interesting taste that was, can’t describe it other than pork sausage with tomato ketchup and curry powder! Interesting side not you could buy beer at these stall and drink them on the street! Now this is my kinda town.
After our lunch of sags the german way we walked into the main part of the town noticing how quiet the city is on the weekend as there was hardly anyone around or out. At first we thought we were in a bad part of the city with no human activity but later found that its just the way the city is on a weekend. Walking around for the afternoon we came across some interesting sights of spray paited houses, some of the wall then walked to check point Charlie, the Brandenburg gate, and then up to the Berlin Cathedral with drum people playing.
On our way back to the hostel we stopped at a German restaurant for our dinner to get the most of our German fill on the first day. Dinner was none other than pork knuckle and snitzel! Making our way home by metro we were soon asleep back in the hostel. The hostel room by the way was massive especially for a 4 single bed dorm. The ceiling was at least 10ft high, the room was the size of a 10bed dorm we have stayed in. I can totally recommend this hostel with the nice rooms. Although there was no kitchen we still survived all right.
Sunday
Having a bit of a lay in, and having breakfast in the hostel we headed out for the day to go on the new Europe tour of Berlin. Travelling the metro to the meeting point Glen first led the group in the complete wrong direction and getting out at the wrong stop, but with time to spare we still made it to the meeting point with more than enough time and even go to see some other sights of the town. We joined the walking tour at a meeting spot, we thought as it starts 30mins before the other tour that they would walk us through the park to join the rest. This was not the case in stead we used the public transport to go to the main group.
The walking tour went from 1-5:30, which is a very long day of walking and listening to the guide (a fellow Aussie). We got in loads of history at this point although one sad note was that we followed almost the same route we took the day before. We did not know this at the time of our walk the pervious day as we did not set out to see anything. This time though we got the history about all the sites we were looking at.
After the walking tour we headed over to the east side and look at the Wall which has been covered in art. This was a great display of art and spans a fair length. Having been recommended to an area with food and drinks which was near the art wall we walked and spent some time at first trying to find the German style pub suggested to us, although with our success we settled on another pub. After our hearty meal we found a nice little pub to drink at which looked like someone’s house with furniture from the 70’s. It was a quirky little place. Having heard or read or told previously that the metro runs 24/7 here we headed back to the station to go the hostel. Arriving we found this not to be true. Waiting a while until a taxi arrive we successfully got back and at a reasonable price of 12 euro which wasn’t too bad at all.
Monday
Have a sleep in from the night before. We headed out to see some more sights although this time we went to some shops so Kieran could get Birkenstocks. Then to get some more history but this time not about Germany or Berlin, it was over to the Pergamon museum. After this museum we walked to a bank which apparently had a whale in it. Only to be dissaponted that it was an art work representation of a whle which looked nothing like a whale at all, you be the judge. Feeling knackered and in need of a pick me up we had some icecream a the hagen das restaurant, ohh man it was good as always. That night we went to dinner next to the hostel at and Italian restaurant which had on 1 waiter taking all the orders and doing the running around. The meal took a while to arrive and as a result we were late for the start of our pub crawl. Being late was not to much of an issue as we really only missed the first pub and got to spend 20mins at the second. The pubcrawl cosited of mostly Aussies and Kiwis as there always are on a pub crawl in Europe. We had a really good night and got to see some interesting bars in Berlin. Traveling all over by public transport and in a group it was gr8 fun. It was such a crazy night we even had shots in a kebab shop, which by the way we got to have rolled kebabs which are always a taste of home. Stoping at an absynth bar we had just 1 shot as we know from previous experience not to have too many. Ending the night in a night club we decided to leave as we were all pretty drunk I mean some of us were super drunk we got a taxi home and we back in bed by 4:30 am but it was a great night out.
Tuesday
With a brief sleep in we checked out and went to find some breakfast with our sore heads from the night befreo. Leaving the bags at the hostel we were free to roam the town. First on the agenda was a walk through the tiergarten (a park) and make our way to the Reichstag (German Parliament building) we waited in the queue for over 1.5 hrs before being let in and security checked. Finally we were in the lift to the roof to walk around the glass dome to see the city. For a free tourist attraction it was well worth the wait you get a free audio guide which tells you what you are looking out at. We got some nice pictures of the city and gr8 view of it.
Leaving the city we headed to the hostel to pick up the bags and head for the airport. It was time to leave Berlin. It was a really good weekend and we can totally recommend for people to go. It was a long weekend filled with good company, good food, and loads of history. What more can you ask from a trip to an international city.
No comments:
Post a Comment