22 hours in Berlin. It was a rush i can’t deny it but I wanted to make the most of my days off work. On the way back from Stockholm I landed in Berlin to see what the city had to offer.
I stayed in the new space pod hostel.
Pretty cool to be honest check out the tour on my YouTube channel (whilst you’re there hit subscribe) thanks. Once I landed in Berlin I endured the first problem with the countries Deutsch Bahn (the train) being on strike. We rode 2 stops from the airport before they announced “this train terminates here” with hundreds of bodies bundling out onto the dark station. I followed the flow of bodies outside and we all frantically started to download various taxi apps in hope of reaching the city centre. Success! I struck it lucky with my taxi arriving in 9 minutes I could feel people around me noticing that maybe I was about to become their new best friend. 3 people swiftly asked if they could join my ride. Of course I obliged taking my ride from 45€ down to 12€.
The next day I woke up early and walked round the corner to checkpoint charlie. The most famous of the passing points in the Berlin wall. Despite the big KFC and McDonald’s signs it really felt like you had stepped back in time.
There was also nobody around. I grabbed a coffee and a pastry from back-factory, honestly the selection of food was next level!
I then walked to the memorial of the murdered Jews, to me it was a bit of a strange memorial however it has a somber feel to it.
From there I headed to the Brandenburg gate and took a quick look at the outside of the Reichstag Building (where the parliament meets). Before taking a tram to the Berlin wall memorial and onto the east side gallery.
I’m a huge street art fan so merging the history of the Berlin wall and some incredible artwork I walked slowly along the 1.3km length of wall.
After this I took the metro to see the Berlin cathedral. I was really impressed with the size but opted not to go inside and instead take a lay down in the beautiful green area Infront.
I was super lucky with the weather around 25 degrees and clear blue skies. Before heading back towards Charlie’s checkpoint. I was ready for some downtime and went to Charlie’s beach a really cool outside bar area (complete with sand) and had a beer followed by of course a curry wurst.
I was already a bit nervous about getting back to the airport with the ongoing train strike but there were 2 more places I wanted to see. Firstly the Oberbaum Bridge, so I jumped on a metro then I walked down the molecule man statue.
It was a pleasant walk along the city’s river before finally arriving at the treptower park station to take a train to the airport.
I was really impressed by Berlin. I expected the city to feel very built up and maybe dark because of the past. However it felt very spread out and green. I will definitely return and spend more time seeing what the rest of the city has to offer.
To travel is to live… 