Berlin, Germany
We Berlin
Berlin was fascinating! After approximately 10 hours of flight time (16 hours total of traveling) overnight, we arrived completely exhausted to the Hilton Berlin hotel around 8 am. That was our first misstep, because check-in was approximately 6 hours away and--as exhausted as we were--sitting still was not an option. It was either stop moving or fall asleep indefinitely.
Day 1: Arrive
After we were able to check in, get a very much-needed shower, and take a reinvigorating nap, we started off through the very walkable city and toward Alexanderplatz where our first activity was scheduled: the Berlin Ice Bar, a place that not only serves drinks but serves some chill? After viewing a very Dollywood-esque scene-setting video, attendees are given jackets and gloves before being ushered into a room filled with ice. You're given 3 drinks--you can redeem 2 of them at the bar made of ice and drink them out of mugs that are also made of ice. The gloves and jackets totally came in handy because I was wearing weather-appropriate shorts.
Overall, the drinks were okay. It was the experience and hilarious group of Italians that made it memorable, particularly when Semi-Charmed Kind of Life by Third Eye Blind started playing and they all started dancing like they were having the best time! Sometimes, it's the little moments of capturing/releasing your goofy side that provide the best source of reset as far as the ole nervous system goes.
Day 2: Aimless Wandering
Maybe it should go without saying, but we did the Ice Bar and got dinner nextdoor before dragging ourselves back to the hotel and hibernating until 4 am when sleeping any more became a non-option and the gym called, which brought with it the unexpected mental challenge of having to convert kilograms to pounds and kilometers to miles. But movement was a welcome change of pace after sitting for so long the day(s) before and being mentally exhausted. After the gym, we wandered down to the hotel's breakfast service which was amazing and of course full of all kinds of German foods: hardboiled eggs, rolls, smoked salmon, sausage, fruit, mustard, horseradish, yogurt, and all kinds of toppings for that. To our shock, there was a little display for kids, complete with Frosted Flakes, as well as a mimosa and bloody mary station. Those were, respectively, too sugar-filled and too early of an offer for us to partake in.
Later that day, we had a cultural and beer walking tour scheduled, so we planned to walk around and hopefully see the Mall of Berlin, located a few blocks away in the central Mitte district but we realized Monday was a holiday and the mall was closed. So we wandered around until we found the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It's morbid, but seeing one of the Holocaust memorials has been on my bucket list; seeing the one in Berlin carried with it an extra heaviness that was hard to shake. The outside memorial is eerie because it has almost no signeage or indication of what it is or why it's been designed the way it was. Instead, it is an entire city block of seemingly random pillars of concrete which, if you go into the center of, blocks out the little city noise Berlin emits. And somehow you know what the space is paying memory to. It's watched over by security guards, which stand at the somewhat nondescript entrance to the stairs that lead down below the monument and into the information center, where we went through a second security screening checkpoint and into the building.
Next up was the Brandenburg Gate without context. This area is also home to a huge wave of tourists (in other words: watch your bags) and street performers. It's also home to the hotel made somewhat infamous by Michael Jackson, the Hotel Adlon. Then, we found our way to a little place hidden near the Berliner Kartoffelhaus--I did not have the foresight to take a picture of the name of the place or the location. But rest assured, the food was great and the radlers were enjoyable. Maybe one day someone will come across this page who can ID and credit the restaurant.
Spoiler: we missed our tour because we overestimated our ability to nagivate the Berlin public transportation system. Whether or not the fact we opted to use one of the biggest centers in the city (Berlin Central Station) contributed to this is TBD. But, pro-tip: you need a day pass. There is an app called BVG Tickets that you can download and purchase tickets; if you're planning to stay inside the Berlin city limits, the AB zone pass will suffice, but if you want to go out of the city to somewhere like Potsdam, you'll need the ABC zone pass. Using the app is much easier too, because it's validated automatically. Otherwise, you'll need to get a paper ticket stamped at the station before you depart. Other than that, it boils down to selecting a station, making sure you get on the correctly-oriented vehicle (depends on if you're using the U-Bhan, S-Bahn, tram, or bus) and hoping on. The doors close quickly, so hurry on. And don't forget your pass--there are plainclothes enforcement people who will randomly check tickets if they're on your ride. Luckily, this didn't happen to us!
"So you're pathetic and missed your tour; what did you do instead?"
Funny you asked! We took an Uber to a beer garden. Pro-tip: not recommended in Berlin. They aren't as regulated and are motivated instead to get passengers to their destination as quickly as possible; this can include catching air on speedbumps, running over curbs, risking the lives of the many, many bicyclists, and cutting people off to run lights. Just don't do it. Take a taxi (which are regulated) or public transportation if you can't walk. Anyway...the Prater Gaststätte was such a vibe! V cute. Amazing food. We ordered some sort of beet salad with veal meatballs and mashed potatoes. I'm not a huge food-oriented person when I travel, but I can still taste those dishes when I see a picture of them. :) After this, we walked around and saw the more...real-life version of Berlin. With less tourists and more locals, more dirt and graffiti, and yet so laidback and chill. On top of the culture being outdoorsy, the people of Berlin are very social. Almost all restaurants there will have plenty of outdoor seating right on the sidewalks so, as you walk down the blocks, you'll pass people eating, drinking, and having a good laugh with friends or family. It's as natural as breathing there and had such a different feel than here in the US.
Day 3: Tour Day
By the next day, we had a routine: gym then breakfast, which we stocked up on because the rest of the day would include a lot more movement. On average, we probably got about 20-thousand steps every day and fuel was a must to keep going.
The first tour was a private Berlin Wall Tour which was amazing! The tour we took was near the Mitte district and was so fascinating because I had no idea that the wall was (utlimately) constructred to be 2 separate walls with a death zone in the middle. Nor did I know that there were attempted escapes, which are memorialized with a monument of photos of those who took the risk.
The second tour was a sunset riverboat tour where we saw more of the city, including the Reichstag building and even some houseboats and smaller spaces where (with it being after work hours) people filled green spaces and even used concrete spaces to listen and dance to music.
Day 4: Potsdam
The next day, we took a tour of Potsdam, a city about 40 minutes by train southwest of Berlin. It's famous for being home to Frederick the Great and his Sanssouci Palace. We walked through the Dutch Quarter and saw the (other) Brandenburg Gate. Overall, it was full of interesting history I knew nothing about and offered a quieter, more laidback "escape" from the energy of Berlin. On the train back, we also ran into another tourguide who had the "misfortune" of none of his tourists wanting to come back to Berlin (like we did with our guide, terrified of getting lost). He was memorable because he was from the US, Montana specifically, and had plenty of jokes about being an expat tour guide.
After we arrived back to Berlin, we made our way to the Berlin Mall. I was not prepared for that. It's huge, it was packed, and the entire top floor is essentially all food. And, despite my best efforts, I couldn't find the perfume/collogne that literally everyone in Berlin seems to flaunt effortlessly.
Day 5: Third Reich Tour & Burgers
Our final tour of the trip was the Third Reich tour, which took us through Berlin from a political perspective. We saw the Reichstag with context, a Soviet memorial, the Brandenburg gate (with context), a plaque that marked the location of the famous Reagan speech given at the gate, and the parking lot that was built over the Führerbunker. I will not be elaborating on that. Finally, we walked past the Berlin Mall and made our way to the Tiergarten.
After our tour was done, we wanted to find a place that sold a good burger. That place ended up being Martha's, a small, relaxed space that sold great food and good beer/wine.
Just around the corner from Martha's is St. Boniface Parish. This place has been another lowkey bucketlist item for me; seeing it was very aweinspiring. I wish we had been able to go in or take a tour of it. I love seeing old churches for their history and breathtaking architecture/designs that you just don't (can't?) see in modern buildings anymore.
Day 6: Travel
Pro-tip: while its terminals are open 24/7, the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) doesn't allow flights to take off or land between 12-5 am, and the check-in/security points don't open until around 4 am (depending on how urgent people are to get to their job). I realize that every airport is a little different, but this one was quite confusing until we got oriented. Be careful to read the signs too, when you're directed to scan your passport because they sometimes direct EU-holders and everyone else in not just separate lines but completely different directions.
I slept the entire 2-hour flight from Berlin to London. I (once again) didn't sleep well the night before; I was (correctly) worried about knowing where to go at BER, potentially missing our flight, or somehow getting stuck trying to exit the country. On top of wasting unnecessary energy worrying about my pets who were all safely cared for by the sitter. Anyway...I slept deeply and didn't open my eyes until we were in London's airspace.
LHR is the UK's largest airport; our layover was 5 hours, not truly long enough to leave, find somewhere to explore and risk getting lost, and then dragging ourselves all the way back to the furthest terminal for our flight back to the US. So, for all of these reasons plus being international travelers, we opted to sit and wait. Just like we were about to spend the 8-9 hour flight back to the US. At that point, all I wanted to do was take a supersonic flight back home and get into my own bed in my own home surrounded by all my familiar routines. But, more than anything, I wanted a good night's sleep.
Overall, Berlin was amazing! I will definitely plan to return to see more of Germany and see Berlin again. For the most part, everything went according to plan--we didn't forget outlet converters, had rain jackets on hand, kept plenty of Euros for random places that didn't accept cards (most of them did), and travel-safe bags. One thing I will note to do differently is prepare better for the public transportation system (especially in areas like Europe where it is heavily used) and plan for navigating airports. And while I don't necessarily support use of AI, I will admit that ChatGPT did come in handy for a quick summary of how to use both of those transportation system when we were lowkey panicking in the moment.
