Prior to this trip, I did a lot of planning… I mean a LOT of planning. I spent hours combing through travel guides, watching Anthony Bourdain : Parts Unknown, reading on Culture Trip, TripAdvisor, and asking my dad’s friends who still live around the area for tips. I had it planned to a T! How well did that help me? Only a little. What I was not prepared for was how MASSIVE Berlin is.. Berlin is 9 times the size of Paris (I can site this MLA-style if anyone doubts me). What I wish I had done better (and what I thought I had done a good enough job of) was mapping out what was near each other. For example, the Reichstag and Brandenburg gates are virtually right next to each other so we did that in the same night. I didn’t realize the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was also very close. So we spent a lot of time riding to each location and zig-zagging around the city, which was a big waste of time. We still managed to see the major sights and had a great time regardless of my massive uber bill. To be honest, Berlin was not my favorite, and I’m sure that reflects when reading this post. I think Berlin would probably be better in the summer or at Christmas, but late February was a bit boring and slow. Regardless, here is my list of things we saw!

List of things to do in the post:

Hampton by Hilton City Centre Alexanderplatz
Markthalle Neun
Dinner at Kafer
Brandenburg Gates at night
Hofbrau Munchen Berlin
Alexanderplatz
Berliner Dom
Berliner Underwelten
Kaiser Wilhelm Church
East Side Gallery
Memorial to the Murdered Jew of Europe
Cafe am Neuen see
The Lir
Avenue
Matrix

We arrived in Berlin around noon on a Thursday and immediately took a quick nap. I normally never do this since I try to sleep on the flight over, but we had some rowdy kids behind us who really wanted to test out how loud they could scream just for the sport of it. After our nap at our Hampton, we got up and grabbed a late lunch at Markthalle Neun. I LOVE food halls and this one was great. We weren’t terribly hungry, but we got a glass of wine, some cheese bread and a mixed berry scone (my carb intake tends to quadruple in Europe for some unknown reason). They were setting up for Street Food Thursday, which we were so sad to miss, so I highly recommend doing that if you go to Berlin. It’s where local food vendors come on Thursdays from 5-10p and you get to try tons of different foods. This place was pretty great

After Markthalle Neun, we went shopping at the mall by our hotel in Alexanderplatz. and took a short nap and then got ready for dinner. We made reservations at Kafer, which is on the roof of the Reichstag, the German parliament building. We took our uber across the river and to the Reichstag and dang, is it impressive. I had no idea just how massive it is in real life. The dinner was okay. The chardonnay was great, the cheese was great, the menu options were just okay. I would go back for a nice glass of wine and cheese board prior to eating some pizza at a hole in the wall next time. But it was nice to dress up and have a nice kick-off meal to our trip. It also gave us free access into the glass dome which was very neat to see! I’m sure during the day or towards sunset it is breathtaking.

After dinner, we walked along the Tiergarten to the Brandenburg Gates. At this point, it was around 9:30pm and I couldn’t believe it, but the Brandenburg Gates were virtually empty. We maybe had 5 other people there taking photos. Similar to the Reichstag, it is MASSIVE and so imposing. We took some photos here and just stared at it saying “wow” for a moment. I didn’t realize at the time that the Memorial to the Mudered Jews of Europe was right by here, but I’m glad I saw that memorial during the day.

When we got back to the hotel, we realized that one of the more famous beer gardens, Hofbrau Munchen, was just the next street over. So we obviously went and got a massive beer. We sat at a table and ordered an apple strudel and I got one of the large steins of beer. The beer was fine, but the apple strudel was divine. After a few moments, a waiter came over and asked me if I was German, to which I said “no, I’m American.” He then informed me that the table behind me, which had 3 men, were trying to reach into my jacket pockets and that I should move my jacket to the other side of the table. This isn’t my first trip, so I never bring anything of value really with me, and especially don’t leave it in my pockets. I had immediately put my phone, with my cards in it, and my Polaroid camera on the table when I initially sat down, so the only thing those men could’ve stolen was my lipstick lol. However, it still was shitty and made me sad that people are like that. After the waiter left, I moved my jacket to the other side and we left shortly after. This was a great reminder though that shit can happen to anyone. I’m thankful they didn’t actually steal anything, but it made me realize that bad things can happen to the most seasoned of travelers, too.

The next day, we walked to Alexanderplatz to see the world clock and the tv tower. I think everything in Berlin is just massive compared to other European cities. you can see the TV tower basically from anywhere in the city. Then we tried to go to the Berliner Underwelten tour, which is a tour of underground Berlin, mainly of World War II and Cold War bunkers under the city. We weren’t sure when we wanted to go on this tour so we hadn’t booked it in advance, which ended up biting us as it was completely sold out that day, which was our last full day there. After this bummer, we went to the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe.

This memorial is one of the most incredible memorials I’ve ever seen. You start at the side walk with concrete blocks about the height of your shin and before you know it, you are surrounded by concrete blocks that tower over your head. It resembles a cemetery, but what I found most profound was the feeling of being suffocated and how quickly you find yourself immersed in these looming concrete towers. The meaning is up for interpretation; however, I believe it is supposed to resemble how quickly the Holocaust happened and how quickly it was accepted. The hate started out small with words and propaganda, then quickly turned into the Holocaust where nearly 11 million individuals were murdered without ceremony or thought. This was the highlight of my trip to Berlin.

PSA: After going to Auschwitz and now visiting this memorial, I have noticed a disturbing trend of people behaving so inappropriately at these locations. For example, if you feel compelled to take photos, maybe don’t take a photo of yourself or yourself in a non-somber manner. Auschwitz encouraged us to take photographs for which I am glad. But I saw WAY too many people, mainly young people, taking photos of themselves posing on the train tracks or in other inappropriate areas. You can look at the “Auschwitz” tag on Instagram to get an idea. At the Memorial to the Murdered Jews, don’t sit on the blocks. Don’t take photos of you smiling. Be respectful and be mindful.

After the Memorial, we went to Museum Island and visited the Berliner Dom. We paid 7 euro to visit inside and go to the dome and walk around. There are about 350 steps, and they are narrow, so it is quite a workout, but the views are so beautiful. It was right before sunset and there weren’t many people out. I highly recommend paying for this and enjoying the views.

Then we went to the East Side Gallery and walked along the entire length of it. It was very cool to see how Berlin has taken something so oppressive and divisive in nature and has turned it into a living work of art with constantly changing pieces. Along with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, I appreciate how Berlin does not shy away from its past, but fully embraces the atrocities and puts it on display for the world to see and learn from.

That evening we ate dinner at the cutest restaurant in Tiergarten named Cafe am Neuen See. It is a beer garden in the summer, which I’m sure is just so cozy and wonderful. The inside is like a cabin and they had a fire going. It was dimly lit and so comfortable. The food was good, but the atmosphere was where Cafe am Neuen See shone.

Every trip I go on, I always find an Irish pub and get a Guinness. So we found The Lir. It’s pretty small and the food looked good. To be honest, the highlight of this, outside of the Guinness, was a dog with a cast on its leg sitting at the table near us. But typical Berliners ignored us when we asked to pet the dog lol.

Whenever you hear about Berlin, you hear about the clubs. Mainly techno. Mainly Berghain. It was cold when we went and we heard the lines can be upwards of 4 hours, so we didn’t go to Berghain. We went to Avenue first because our uber driver was hyping it up., but when we got there, it felt like a middle school dance. Not a ton of people there, and the few who were there were standing on the sides or hanging out in the bathrooms. We quickly cut our losses and went to another club. We ended our night at Matrix, which I’m sure is the touristy club. However, we had a blast. There are 3 different rooms to choose from: pop, hip-hop/rap, and techno. The hip-hop/rap room was our favorite. They had dancers on the stage who were so talented. I kept catching myself just standing on the dance floor watching them! We danced for hours and had so much fun. My friend who went with me used to always be my dancing/going out partner in college so it felt like old times just dancing together and having no cares.

We left the next day to go to Tallinn, which is my favorite place in the world. I’m sure if I had been to Berlin in a more agreeable climate or on a strict German tour, I’d appreciate it more. I’m glad I went and that I saw the major sights, but I think Berlin and I are just friends.

All of our pictures are of buildings or us drinking basically

2 Days in Berlin

How to avoid overpacking

Europe in winter for 7 days in a carry-on