BERLIN, GERMANY

What a weekend! It was my first time in Berlin, Germany and I must say it was pretty unforgettable. Me, along with 7 other girls from the Verona program, hopped on a train to Milan, Italy to then catch a flight into Berlin. It was quite the travel schedule. After leaving form class at 4pm, we arrived at our hostel at 1:30am, given we had to get from Verona to Milan, Milan train station to the Milan airport, then the Germany airport to the S and the S to the city center and then walk to our hostel. Crazy right? But we made the best of our time left in Germany for the weekend.

My first time in a hostel... was very interesting. But it was definitely the way to go since we were walking about the city for the majority of our stay.  It was in the perfect location, Alexanderplatz in Mitte, so we were in the center of the city.

Entrance to our hostel's dorms

We got up early Saturday morning to catch our bus tour. On our way, we stopped at the Fernsehturm, or the TV tower, the tallest building in Germany and fourth in Europe. Although we did not get a chance to go up and look at the city birds-eye view, it was a fun landmark to start at. 

After hopping on the bus, we were taken to the Berlin Cathedral: the Dom.

Then we headed to the Brandenburg Gate, which was at the border of East and West Berlin. (If you look close enough, Lisa and I are posing)

And of course, I had to snap a pic of Hotel Alden where Michael Jackson stayed in 2002 when he was seen holding Blanket out the window.

We headed over the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This was a very cool memorial. At first glace is seems as if these stones are slightly elevated, but as you walk through the memorial, the ground declines and you are standing in the center with these stones towering you … they were over 7 feet tall. It was a bit erie thinking about the WWII history and the amount of innocent people murdered due to their religion, culture, or race, but it was also very moving to know how far our world has come since that time. 

We also got to see where all the Embassies are located in Berlin. It was cool to think we were nearly walking in ‘America’ while in Germany! We then walked to see part of the Berlin wall and then went into the Topographie des terrors (or Topography of Terror) museum. It is a famous museum that takes you through the planning of Nazi crimes and the euthanasia of Jews, which were all created at this very location.  

Our next stop was at Checkpoint Charlie, where one American solider and usually one Russian solider stand to represent the allies and soviets that were apart of West and East Berlin at this crossing. It was a cool spot to walk around. At this point we grabbed a brat from a stand across the street. It was delicious! I’m not a huge bratwurst fan, but I did enjoy this one mostly because I was in Germany… how could you not?

We then saw another section of the Berlin wall while waiting for our bus to come to take us back to Alexanderplatz. Even though it was pretty cold out, with a brat in hand and seeing a huge part of our world’s history, I was satisfied and somehow perfectly awake given we only slept a few hours the night before. We were really taking advantage of our short weekend in Berlin and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

We jumped off the bus to check out the Hofbrauhaus Munchen restaurant. It was decorated as you would expect of German restaurant to look like. The waitress’s were dressed up and we immediately order a liter beer and some German style pretzels. It turned from a long morning of touring the city, to a relaxing, beer-filled afternoon. I got the Munchner Weisse, which was a sweeter beer, and I thouroughly enjoyed the entire liter. I owe that to my German ancestors.
Accompanying us was a live band playing the accordion, guitar and percussion instruments.

Before it got dark we roamed the city for souvenir shopping and just to take it all in. We passed through an outdoor market and had fun chatting with locals. Then we headed to an authentic German restaurant. It was a bit of a walk but we leisurely stopped in and out of shops along the way.  It was a fun evening stroll. We ate dinner at Schwarzwaldstuben. Don’t ask me how to pronounce that one... and kids: don’t try to at home.

Jokes aside, I give this one two thumbs up! It was a nice intimate setting (us 8, loud, American girls were crashing some dates, I’m sure), the food was incredible and there was good beer and even better live music.

We walked back to the hostel and decided to go to bed at a decent hour since we wanted to wake up early Sunday morning to see the East Berlin Wall before our flight.  That next morning around 7am, we made the hike to the East Berlin Wall and it was awesome! The murals were very moving and exciting to look at. These are a few of my favorites. 

I even spotted my name on the wall! It was right by the American flag too… how coincidental! (they even spelled it like I do J )

Our trip back went very smoothly (I had to get some German chocolate before I left of course!) We had a nice clear view out the plane window flying over Germany too. 

I soon fell asleep after seeing this view… but to be far it had been quite the weekend! I’m so excited to share all these adventures with my blog readers, and there are plenty more European adventures to come. It was also lucky to have a safe and smooth trip, I’m so blessed!