Berlin: A quasi home away from home?

The Reichstag
One of our friends visited Berlin just days before we did and didn't leave with the best impression of it. She had shared with us her borderline dislike of the city, warning us that there was nothing to do or see and that it was, well, boring. I did take these comments into consideration but was, however, really looking forward to this leg of our trip because it was our first destination outside of the UK.


Berlin treated us extremely well on arrival. The sun was out and shining bright, the sky was blue without a cloud in sight and it was the warmest temperature that I had experienced since being in Barcelona three weeks earlier. The gorgeous weather in Berlin was such a nice contrast to the miserable weather that we had been experiencing in the UK, both at Warwick and during the start of our backpacking adventure. 


Spree River
Reichstag
Tiergarten
Brandenburg Gate
I made a new pal!
We managed to cross a lot of the tourist attractions off our list of things to see during our first morning in Berlin. Our day began at the Reichstag, where we lay on the grass outside to soak up the sun after discovering that a booking was required to enter the glass dome terrace at the top of the building. We were really excited to be experiencing such beautiful weather and were making the most that we could out of it. Afterwards, we headed towards Brandenburg Gate, walking through a small section of the Tiergarten to get there. Next, we visited Check Point Charlie and then the Berlin Wall memorial.

I'm not the kind of traveler who likes to run around cities seeing tourist attractions all day because I feel like this isn't a good way of experiencing a city's culture. I also can't stand the overcrowding of tourists congregated in one small area. Yes, I understand that I'm a tourist myself but I like to have breathing room when appreciating a city's sights. I would definitely much rather just wandering around a city, getting 'lost' and in the process, seeing the city for what it really is. As a result, the way we spent our morning wasn't exactly to my taste but I did still have a good time and can at least say that I've seen the 'must-sees' of Berlin. I definitely could have given Check Point Charlie a pass though. It was especially bad when it came to overcrowding of tourists. My highlight of the morning and early afternoon was getting a kebab, something that Berlin is meant to be renowned for.

Checkpoint Charlie
Checkpoint Charlie
Checkpoint Charlie
Kebab (aka kebae) shop

Berlin Wall Memorial
Berlin Wall Memorial
In the afternoon, we went to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp that's just outside of Berlin. The journey there was a little out of the way, taking about an hour each way as the camp is in the small town of Oranienburg. Venturing out of the city was worth it though. It was really nice to be able to see the suburbs outside of Berlin instead of just experiencing the big city. Usually as a tourist, you will only see the main city centre when visiting a particular city and don't often get the opportunity to see the suburbs, where the majority of average, everyday locals live.

The concentration camp itself was such an eye opening experience. I didn't think it would get to me as much as it did but it really put things into perspective. Reading about what happened or learning about the history didn't compare to actually being at the site of one of history's most horrific events and it was such a chilling yet moving experience. I was blown away by the magnitude and size of the camp itself and its mind boggling to even begin to imagine the things that occurred there.

Upon our return to Berlin, we got to see a gorgeous sunset, something that we probably wouldn't have seen if we were in the city centre.


Oranienburg
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp
Oranienburg
Sunset on the train ride to Berlin
Berlin is infamous for its nightlife but our night out wasn't a memorable one at all. I was definitely left disappointed and didn't really have a good time at all. We went to a club recommended by the man working at the front desk of our hostel and even though we got there at a decent time (around 2-3am) the place was quiet and the music sub-par, something called minimalist? We ended up leaving at 4.30am because we were so exhausted from our long day and the minimalist music was putting us to sleep...

The Fernsehturm... Way too tall to photograph in landscape
Neptunbrunnen

Berlin Cathedral
Our second day in Berlin was definitely my favourite. The weather was, again, gorgeous and the plan for the day was to visit the East Side Gallery, a 1.3km section of the Berlin Wall covered in street art. On the way there, we got to see Alexanderplatz which was the one main tourist attraction that we didn't get around to seeing the day before. The tower was so tall that I couldn't photograph it properly! 

The East Side Gallery was pretty spectacular. We spent a good half hour or so just sitting on the grass in front of it soaking in the sun and enjoying our surroundings.


East Side Gallery
East Side Gallery
East Side Gallery
My favourite part of the East Side Gallery
We did a lot of walking that morning. Despite being told numerous times by many different people that Berlin isn't a walkable city, we decided to take the challenge anyway and walking around the streets of Berlin ended up being one of my favourite parts of our Berlin trip.

All day as we wandered through the city, I couldn't help but compare it to Melbourne. There are so aspects of Berlin that remind me so much of Melbourne and that's probably what makes me love the city so much. Berlin feels like a larger (way larger), more European version of Melbourne and it really made me miss home. From the street art to the graffiti, the river running through the city to the chic cafes lining the streets, Berlin and Melbourne seem like long lost twins. 

Berlin strangely feels like it could be a temporary home, probably because it is so similar to Melbourne in many ways. Besides the language barrier, I could definitely see myself easily spending months on end there.


Spree River
Spree River, Berlin's version of the Yarra?
These steps scream Yarra River, Southbank and Melbourne
Spree River
Spree River
This could so easily be Southbank and the Yarra River in Melbourne
Oberbaum Bridge
Instead of being typical tourists and hitting more of the tourist attractions around the city, we decided the stray from the norm and hunt down an abandoned theme park that was recommended to one of us. This theme park was on the outskirts of Berlin and we spent a good hour and a half walking there. We picked up some currywurst on the way and as a sucker for almost any kind of street food, I was instantly obsessed.

We didn't do so intentionally but we happened to stumble upon a huge memorial in the middle of the park which blew us away. It ended up being the Soviet War Memorial Treptow and I was quite overwhelmed when we discovered it. It's so crazy to just come across something like by chance and the size of the memorial was overwhelming to take it. It was clear that a lot of planning and time would have gone into building it as all the trees were the exact same size and height and were in perfectly symmetrical rows. The whole memorial was symmetrical on both sides and the main statue was on a perfectly round mound of grass higher than ground level.



Outskirts of Berlin
Currywurst
Soviet War Memorial Treptow
Soviet War Memorial Treptow
Soviet War Memorial Treptow
After spending some time there, we continued on our hunt for the abandoned theme park and were starting to lose hope. We realised that it was within an overgrown forest with really tall trees and the atmosphere was quite eerie. After leaving the park's footpath and wandering deeper into the woods, we managed to find the abandoned amusement park . It was completely deserted and fenced off with signs which made it really creepy and mysterious. It really looked like a scene straight from a horror movie and we decided to book it before the sun set for the day.

Looking back though, I really regret not jumping the fence and exploring the abandoned theme park. To be fair, after the day that we had had, the majority of us weren't in the state to jump that fence. One of us had excruciating back pain and two others were sick to the point of struggling to walk. Not jumping that fence still remains as my biggest regret from this trip though.




"Danger to life and limb"
Spreepark
Sunset on the way back
Sunset on the way back
At night, we had a booking to enter into the dome on top of the Reichstag because we didn't manage to see it during our first day in Berlin. The view from up there was stunning! From the terrace, there were views of the whole city and it was gorgeous to see all of the city lights at night. My favourite park of being in the Reichstag was lying on the cone at the very top of the dome, gazing at the stars through the opening at the top of the dome. We went through a little bit of difficulty to get the booking but it was definitely worth it.

It was the perfect end to the night and a perfect end to our time in Berlin.


Reichstag
Reichstag
Reichstag

The similarities between Berlin and Melbourne are uncanny, with my time in Berlin constantly reminding me of my home back in Melbourne. From the culture to the graffiti, the cafes to the streets, Berlin kept making my mind flash back to home. If only Melbourne's public transport system was as (stereotypically) efficient as Germany's...

Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Berlin. The combination of the gorgeous weather and the city's culture made our visit really great. I feel like this city is one that I could return to time and time again because it is so large and culturally rich. I'm really excited to be heading back there with my pals from home! My short but sweet affair with Berlin won't be soon forgotten and I can't wait to return in July.

0 comments:

Post a Comment