Finally, Berlin!
- shellbatross
- Apr 6, 2022
- 26 min read
Wow, it's been a while, huh?!? We have had so many trips cancelled in the last 2 years, Berlin, Dubrovik, Florida, Disneyland Paris. We bought a van in March 2021 and converted it to a camper. I haven't written a blog for that yet but there will probably, maybe, be one coming eventually. We have had a couple short breaks in that and other small trips but nothing longer than a long weekend. Nothing that has felt like a real holiday. We did go on a 3 night Disney cruise staycation back in October which was fantastic but not long enough. I didn't take my notebook so no blog post for that one, but we relaxed, mixed cocktails, drank cocktails, did our own beer tasting etc *chefs kiss*
Carl did go Snowboarding a few weeks ago and I decided not to go since they were going back to Andorra. I regretted it, seeing his photos every day, the (mostly) sun there, the rain here - lesson learned!
Our cancelled trip to Dubrovnik in September 2020 was a bit last minute - 2 weeks before we were due to go the government added it to the red list. I thought we were going to lose all the money for the flight but EasyJet offered us a voucher which we have been sitting on not really sure when to use it, we didn't want to have to deal with another cancellation so waited for everything to start settling down first.
We very quickly knew where we wanted to go first, our first cancelled trip - Berlin! I spent a day in Berlin when I was a teen on a German exchange and can hardly remember it, Carl has never been. It has been on our list for a long time and is a place we always thought we would do as an anniversary city break so I booked it for January 2022. However, when omicron came with new restrictions in December I quickly moved it to spring with fingers crossed everything would have started to ease by the end of March! But we are still treating this as our kind of belated 12th anniversary trip.
I feel like we're a bit out of practice for this trip. We have had our trusty Lonely planet guide for a little while so we had a flick through that a few weeks ago.
Made a note of the top sights. Then we spent an evening on Youtube watching various videos so we have an idea of what we want to do. We came away with a google map with places we want to visit and a few different food, craft brewery and other drink options and that's it. We haven't booked to visit anywhere.
It did feel alien to be going into a trip with nothing booked or planned for the time we're there. Perhaps out of practise, perhaps a little more laid back? I don't know. We have also been organising a van trip for June (more on that in a later post) which is months away but requires a bit more forward planning to plan routes and book campsites etc so Berlin just kept going on the backburner despite being imminent. So I did book something, if you know us you know we LOVE a Hard Rock. If we're travelling and arriving somewhere late afternoon or evening we like to book one for dinner so that first evening we're not wandering around trying to make decisions then ending up not having anything. We will also have a wander and find other places for later in the week but this way we know we're getting a meal we like without having to think too much about it. All that's left was to pack.
I was watching some stories on instagram 2 days before we left and, whilst I knew we had to wear masks in indoor public places, I found out that it specifically had to be FFP2 masks. I was grateful I saw that then as I had time to order some on Amazon Prime to be delivered on the Sunday. I decided to get a pack of 50 so we could change into fresh ones as much as we needed, I'm not sure we even used 10!
Monday 28th March
Travel day is here, I have been waiting a long time to say that! The intention was to leave at 9:30 but we didn't change our usual 6am alarms for work so we were up pretty early and watched the penultimate episode of squid game with a cuppa before getting the cats ready with fresh litter trays, plenty of food and water and ourselves ready showered, all last minute bits packed like charging cables. We were ready to go so out the door by 9 and got fuel and some cappuccinos and sausage and egg mcmuffins from McDonalds for breakfast.
The roads were pretty quiet, once at Bristol airport we breezed through security, I think it was under an hour from leaving Bridgwater to being sat it bar Brunel having a cheeky pre flight pint so not bad going.
We didn't have to wear masks in the main airport. Carl had a Maltsmiths and I had a Birra Moretti. around 11:30 we went to get a bottle of water for the flight, some coffees from Starbucks and Carl had a salted caramel pecan swirl.
Around 12:10 the gate was called so we headed over, once at the gate we did have to wear masks then for the duration of the flight apart from eating and drinking. It wasn't too bad though.
We had speedy boarding so we were onboard quite quickly and the plane took off around 13:10. Carl watched a film on netflix, I decided to watch a behind the attraction documentary on Disney plus (Tower of Terror) I can recommend them if you're into Disney parks at all, they're very interesting! I got through the episode but my eyes were so dry I just listened to music the rest of the flight.
The Disney Wish was being made somewhere down there. I did keep an eye out but didn't see her!
Landed 15:50 local time and breezed through passport control and got my first stamp in my new passport! Then we went on the hunt for the train station. The train is the fastest and cheapest route into the city €3.80 each, The FEX is the express airport train with only 3 stops, we waited and were told the next one should have been due 16:34 but was delayed 20 minutes, so we waited. At 16:40 they announced it had been cancelled so we hopped over to another platform and caught the S9, it's longer taking about 15 mins and stops at 17 stops. Had we realised we could also catch that one sooner we would've as there had been 4 or 5 whilst we were waiting! Nevermind, we were on the train and en route to Berlin central train station.
We were staying at Hotel Amano Grand Central - a 2 minute walk from the station. We were checked in, we had to show our proof of vaccination and ID at check in, bags dropped off and back out the door by 18:20 to get to our dinner reservation. We knew we wanted to walk there as we had been sat most of the day, we knew it was going to take an hour and it was booked for 7:30 so we were cutting it fine! It was nice to stretch our legs, get some fresh air and work up an appetite. Google maps took us through the Tiergarten and wanted us to cross a bridge we later discovered was actually in the zoo and not accessible from outside so we were a little off course. As we were tight on time I didn't take any photos assuming we would come back through here at some point but we never did. it is a large park with a lot of statues and mostly bare trees at the moment. Give it a month or so and it will be full of life.
We arrived at 19:25, phew. Took a little while to get seated but we were served quickly and knew exactly what we wanted. First drinks, I had a Berliner pilsner and Carl had a wheat beer. We usually share nachos and that's enough for us but we had clearly worked up enough of an appetite as we ordered the nachos to start mmmmm
Then we ordered mains which was rare, I had a chicken burger and Carl had the Messi burger "Available NOW across our Hard Rock Cafes, the Messi Burger is piled high with this sporting legends’ favorites 🤘🏼
A double stack of the finest beef, seasoned & seared medium-well, topped with Provolone cheese, sliced chorizo, caramelized red onions and our signature smoky sauce. Served on a toasted brioche bun with shredded lettuce and vine-ripened tomato! 🔥 Make it extra Messi by adding a fried egg to your burger – just the way Leo likes it 👌🏻"
Carl had it with the egg and a side of fries, he probably didn't need the fries as we could have shared mine.
Had a second drink each. Thoroughly satisfied we started a slightly more relaxed walk back to the hotel and a slightly longer route around the road rather than through the dark park.
We walked passed the zoo and Aquarium
When we got back we got a little more settled, and sorted everything we wanted for the next day. The step count wasn't bad considering we had only been there an evening!
Tuesday 29th March
Alarms went at 8, snoozed for a little then up and showered and out a little after 9. There was a coffee shop called Coffee Fellows just across the road so we headed there for breakfast and to plan our day.
Both had Cappuccino's, I had a red velvet muffin which I was a little disappointed with as it had regular frosting rather than cream cheese, Carl had a baked cheesecake.
We then went on a walk along the river to our first intended stop.
We were aiming for the Reichstag building where we wanted to go up into the dome. Unfortunately, the building was closed 28th March - 1st April, the length of our trip! Typical.
Nevermind, we saw it from the outside.
From there we walked through the park where we happened upon a memorial to commemorate the up to 500,000 people who were persecuted and murdered as "gypsies" between 1933 and 1945 under the rule of National Socialism in Germany and other European countries. Most of them described themselves according to their membership in various groups, for example as Sinti, Roma, Lalleri, Lowara or Manusch.
There was some soft Violin music being played and it as a peaceful place to be.
This was on our short walk from the Reichstag to Brandenburg gate.
All of the monuments we were visiting this morning were a very short walk from each other.
We walked another short distance before arriving at the Memorial of the of the murdered Jews of Europe.
"The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in the heart of Berlin is the central Holocaust memorial in Germany, a place of remembrance and commemoration of up to six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It was officially opened on May 10, 2005. The memorial consists of the Field of Stelae designed by Peter Eisenman and the Information Center located underground. Admission is free." from their website where you can find more info. We did not go in to the museum underneath the monument but it was awesome to walk through.
This memorial is a very short walk, about half a block, from the Fuhrerbunker where Hitler spent his final days and committed suicide (if you don't believe the conspiracy theories). I liked that it was so close to there, he's hopefully turning in his grave, so to speak. There is nothing at the Bunker to see now other than a plaque with info. The buildings were demolished. The bunkers are still there I think but they are under a very dull car park.
We were right next to the Berlin mall at this point. Carl had had a slightly sore foot before we left so he wanted to grab a drink to take some ibuprofen. We walked through the mall and got a Fanta for him and iced tea for me from Aldi. Walked through a little more
Before deciding to find a coffee so up to the food court. There was so much on offer up here! Indian, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Pasta, Pizza, Burgers, KFC, Currywurst, Poutine... the list goes on. But not much in terms of a coffee shop. We went to the McDonalds and I was very thirsty so got a mango smoothie and an iced coffee which had ice cream in (yum) Carl had a caramel iced coffee. I had my smoothie first and he started drinking a coffee. He was 1/4 way through when I took a sip of the other coffee, which was not mine!! I'm not a caramel in coffee fan and it hit me instantly. Ewww. What a cheek!! Went to loo there which was the only time I paid the whole time we were there, unusual for a big city these days. it was 0.50 euros.
From here we walked to Potsdamer Platz
And then up the Panoramapunkt (brown building in that last photo behind the "Historic traffic light"). We chose this over the Berliner Fernsehturm (TV tower) because it was cheaper, I think it was around €17 for both of us. But it also turned out this was the only day for going up so high, it would be cold and grey after this.
You can get a feel for how big the Jewish memorial is from up here. it's in those last 2 photos. You can also see the Brandenburg gate just up the road from it. Unfortunately, our hotel and the train station were behind the building opposite us so we couldn't see them, but we saw a lot.
We then walked to a local former Berlin wall watchtower, the area is under construction so it was not possible to go up.
Onward
To Checkpoint Charlie
From here we walked miles...2.1 according to google maps but it felt longer as we stopped to read any signs en-route mostly telling us about peoples escape attempts from East Berlin.
Walking, whilst very tiring, is a great way to see things you would miss if you catch the train or underground. We tend to try and walk as much as possible in a big city, we even still do it in London, just because we see more.
We were headed to Markthalle Neun for a drink at a place we knew was open - Heidenpeters craft brewery, they brew in the basement of the market, and a snack as we knew there were some food stalls. It was around 3pm now. Here we were asked for proof of vaccination and ID at the bar then given paper bracelets so we didn't have to do it again whilst there. We had walked 17,073 steps/6.3 miles at this point. We rested a while and had 2 beers and a pretzel each. I had a hazy beer and one called the thirsty lady (which I was!) he had Pale ale and IPA. We paid a €2 deposit for each glass with our first beers which we got back when we took them back at the end. Good way to not have to hunt for them in the foodhall and be able to replace them if taken home!
In Berlin they have old school photo booths dotted all over, there was 1 here so we paid the €3 to get some pics
Loos here were free to use.
We already knew where our next destination would be - the Berlin wall east side gallery. We were probably about halfway there when the beer hit me and I needed the loo again. So we went off the path a little to a craft beer bar that was opening at 5 - Hopfenreich. We arrived at 5 and it was closed! waited about 5 mins but no movement so we walked a little way until we found somewhere else. I was quite warm when we got there so we sat outside, huge mistake as it got quite cloudy and cold. I had a Pilsner he had a wheat beer and used the facilities. Phew!
We had to walk back passed Hopfenreich which was now open so we did stop.
I had a Berliner Berg IPA followed by a Gorilla Helles lager. Carl had a different Berliner Berg IPA followed by Arpus which is a Latvian sour beer. It wasn't overly sour but had a lovely mango taste.
We then finally headed out and across the bridge
To the East side gallery
One thing we repeatedly read and were told on Youtube in our research told us to have a kebab in Berlin! So we did. There was one right on the corner near the gallery. We picked up 1 to share thinking we would have another snack later (mistake) it was so tasty! I haven't had many kebabs, but this was by far the tastiest, the meat was so delicious, we wished we bought 1 each.
We munched on this strolling along. We were heading toward a train station, as we were not walking the 4 miles back to our hotel. We were going to go to Brewdog for a drink and some wings or something, but they were shut so we went to Protokoll taproom. Again we showed our vaccination proof and ID (at this point I was keeping my drivers licence in my phone case so I didn't have to look for it) and we just had a drink each. It was more so we could rest our sore feet at this point.
We then got the underground back to Grand central station which was €2 each for a short journey.
We ended up in a different section of the station this time and came up and exited on the same side of the street as our hotel. This area was being used for Ukrainian refugees to rest, get food and supplies and any help they need etc.
We didn't want to use the expensive mini bar for drinks, we both would have loved a cuppa, you also had to pay for the nespresso machine so we didn't bother. Unfortunately we hadn't stopped anywhere to get some soft drinks for the room so we tried the rooftop bar but it was closed. We later found out it is only open May - August so that was a little disappointing as it's 1 of the reasons we chose it!
Oh well. Got ready for tomorrow and had a quick shower.
Late night tonight, asleep sometime around 1am.
Wednesday 30th March
Today had a slightly slower start, we were finally up and showered and out the door around 10:20. Over to the same coffee shop for some breakfast, Carl had a vanilla macchiato and a brownie, I had a latte and a blueberry muffin. Again we used this time to plan our route for the day.
We decided we would walk to and along the Berlin wall memorial. With plenty of plaques to read it was a slow meander around the outdoor free exhibit, reading a lot about life under that stasi, escape attempts, both successful and not.
Top left is a marker of somewhere a Wilfried K. "attempted to escape and was arrested" these markers were all over with different outcomes for the escapees!
Top Right Is where a Stasi tunnel used to stand.
Bottom Left is where an escape tunnel stood, they were pretty close!
Bottom Right is a memorial watch tower.
Current events excluded, it blows my mind all of this was happening in a main central European country in my lifetime.
We then started to walk back toward a slightly more built up area, where we stopped for a bit at a coffee shop where Carl had a Large flat white and I had an iced Mocha.
It felt much further than that! it was a lot of slow stop starting though.
Our next point was not very far from here to what is, very basically put, an alley and indoor stairwell full of all kinds of art and graffiti called Haus Schwarzenburg. No photos allowed in the stairwell.
At this point we decided it was time for a cold beer so headed toward a place that was open according to the internet but it didn't open until 4! We struggled to find somewhere we could sit inside and have a nice lunchtime beer on this trip, which is something we like to do on a holiday. Most places were opening at 4 or 5 o'clockish. You could buy a beer from kiosks dotted around and stand or sit outside but it was too cold for that! I don't know if that may be because it's off season and in the summer we may have had more luck.
So, instead we went for lunch, and a Berlin traditional dish of currywurst mit frites which we did quickly eat outside under the shadow (if the sun had been out) of the TV tower.
It was good, but a little cold. Both of us enjoyed it but didn't love it.
When I went on my 2nd German exchange as a teen I had a meal in the TV tower with my host family, strangely I still remember the really good garlicky broccoli! We contemplated that for this trip but it's quite pricey for what it is and tomorrows meal was MUCH cheaper and so tasty! but I digress...
It was so cold we decided to head back to the hotel to warm up a little, relax a little, get warmer jumpers and dump the bag and camera before going back out.
To get there we walked passed the cathedral and through museum island en-route
When we got back I mentioned a nap so Carl started a film he didn't expect to finish...I slept for 2 hours! When I woke up I felt like I could just stay there for the rest of the day, but that would've been a waste! So we got ready and headed out. Decided I didn't want to carry my backpack with camera stuff so left that at the hotel and just took phones. As we still had to show proof of vaccination and ID I had my driving licence tucked in my phone case.
We got another €2 ea short train trip to Alexanderplatz.
We went to Braufactum for some craft beers, hoped to have snacks too but nothing took our fancy. Then onto Pfefferbrau where we had just another drink. We had strolled around trying to find somewhere to get a bite to eat but there was nothing snacky and we weren't very hungry. Eventually found ourselves where had our last drink of the night at Birra Italian craft beer.
The plan then was to walk the 30mins back to Alexanderplatz where we knew there was a McDonalds. Then we remembered the electric scooters dotted all over for hire, they were on virtually every street corner as well as bikes. Why walk when you can scoot?
There were a few different companies with scooters for hire we chose Tier as Carl already had the app. We found 1 and tried to ride together with me in control and him on the back, it was fun but I didn't fancy a long distance like that when I was new to it. So I downloaded and set up the app and found one for myself. The cost was €1 to start then €0.19 a minute. Not cheap, but a lot of fun! To the point that we may be opting for one for me to have for van trips instead of an electric Brompton!
Weeeeee!
We went a little off course so didn't get back to Alexanderplatz but we did end up next to a train station we could get back from so that was fine.
We still weren't hungry but we thought we should have something so went to McDonalds in the train station. I just had a Double Cheeseburger and a Homestyle Crispy Chicken burger. The double would have been enough, I couldn't finish the chicken burger! Carl had a McDouble chilli cheese and a grand BBQ cheese (which had 3 1/4 pounders!!!) He couldn't finish his either.
Very full, we went to sleep around 00:30 which surprised us both! When we left earlier this evening we thought we'd only be out for a few hours and definitely back by 10!
Thursday 31st March
We were up and out and at the train station by 10.
We went straight there this morning and got coffees on the go as we wanted to reach some places a bit further out today, and it was much much colder so heavy use of public transport seemed like a good idea. We bought a 24hr pass for zone A & B which were about €8.20 each.
Our first stop was the 1936 Olympic stadium which they now use as the "German Wembley". We could have gone in for about €8 each but decided we didn't need to.
We also contemplated going to a nearby viewpoint but it was very cold and windy so we didn't hang around long. It was like a ghost town when we were there but the size of the station suggests how busy it can get
We caught the train back as far as Charlottenburg station from which we walked to Charlottenburg palace.
We decided to not go in the palace but walked around the garden, which was free to do. I expect in a month or so it will be full of life, although I did enjoy watching the birds.
Our tickets could be used on all public transport so we hopped on a bus to our next stop. Now, we went to the bus stop, waited a little then realised we were on the wrong side of the road!! we quickly dashed across just as the bus pulled in!
Because it was so cold and windy we decided we would head to the zoo for a few hours which was €17.50 each to enter. It was a good call as we were a little more sheltered from the wind here. As we hadn't eaten yet we headed to the restaurant for lunch.
We both wanted some carbonara and some pizza so got 1 of each to share. Carl finally found Berliner Weisse beer which used to be a main drink in Berlin. Both sour beers, but not too sour, the green one is flavoured with woodruff, it smelt like playdough! but had a citrusyness to it. The red flavoured with raspberry. The glasses were too wide for me to pick up onehanded! I think it was a little over €30 but it was inflated zoo prices and it was good.
After lunch we strolled around the exhibits, unfortunately a couple were empty such as wolves and polar bears but we did get to see the Pandas!!!
That Bubble waffle was so good this was mine and it had banana, mango and caramalised walnuts, I don't normally like walnuts but these were good! Carls, we didn't translate beforehand and just took a guess, it had toffee pieces, cinnamon and....RICE PUDDING! weird combo but it worked really well, not very photogenic though. The last photo there is the only 1 I remembered to take of the Kaiser Wilhelm church which was bombed in the second world war and left that way as a reminder of the destruction of war...
We left the zoo just after 4. I hadn't charged my camera up this whole trip and it was on it's last legs and I didn't want to carry it or my bag around tonight so we caught the train back to our hotel then out on the next one toward a huge highlight of our trip!
On a Thursday 5-10 Markthalle Neun has a streetfood market which we found out about through Youtube videos. We showed our ID and Vax status at the door then we were in (still had to wear masks unless eating or drinking). We arrived around 6 and would recommend arriving early as it does get busy! We decided to just sit down and enjoy a drink first so we went back to Heidenpeters.
We also thought we wouldn't find another seat whilst here so wanted to make the most of this one! We were right.
Once we finished these we got another then headed out in search of food. We had seen a lot of people having the Korean steamed buns, which were also recommended in the YouTube videos so we headed there first.
Wow! the options were spicy chicken, honey beef or a flavoured tofu. I chose the honey beef and a little bit of everything for the topping. It was so fresh and delicious I think I could have happily just eaten these all night/all week!!! This was €4.
Next Carl chose a German take on an Italian (American??Mac n cheese feels more American to me) classic
This was a cross between a macaroni cheese and a cheesy risotto with crispy onions on the top. It was very nice and creamy and cheesy! This was €6
We had a little wander
Before settling on our next dish
It is just a taco but it was tasty! €4 again.
We were lucky that we had found a place to stand with a ledge we could put our drinks and food on, every time we left it we were always able to get a place there when we went back. It was right next to the kitchen for an Italian food stall and it was quite impressive to watch the chef cooking batches and batches of pasta meals!
At this point we decided to divide and conquer - Carl went to get us another drink (we stuck with beer but there was wine, which was popular, cocktails, soft drinks, hot drinks etc. There was something for every taste for both food and drink!!)
I went to get our last dish - we chose Turkish meatballs as it continuously had a long line and seemed very popular.
We went for the beef filled ones but I think we would have enjoyed the spinach and cheese ones just as much, if not more as they were too small to actually know there was meat in there. This was delicious! But it was a big portion and we struggled to finish it. I am glad we had this last otherwise we may not have been able to try so many delicious things. It was all great! I think my order of faves would be
Korean Steamed bun
Turkish dumplings
Taco (it was slightly different from usual)
The Kasspatzle
All of them were great and I would have them all again in a heartbeat.
The cannoli's looked good
So we decided to get 2 to take back with us, 1 hazlenut, 1 pistachio. He also gave us a taste of the tiramisu which was also delicious!
Carl returned the beer glasses to get the deposit back, I was impressed it was all glass here - in England it would all be plastic, and we left a little after 8. It was very busy now so definitely recommend an early arrival!
Got the train back to the hotel and got some coffees from the train station en-route. Carl got his tangled up in his phone charging lead and lost the whole thing to the hotel room floor! Luckily it was a hard floor so easy for him to clean up.
The hazlenut was my fave of the 2 cannoli's, it just edged it ever so slightly on flavour.
.... We started getting packed up and planning Friday. We had 2 options. Have a relaxed morning, a long lie in, leisurely breakfast, check out of the hotel at 12 and slowly make our way to the airport. OR get up early, check out and leave the bags at reception, go to a museum finding somewhere for breakfast en route. Maybe go to the Ritter sport store where you can have a bar made with toppings of your choice and onto Berlin mall for some lunch in the large foodhall...
Early night tonight and in bed by 9:30, I think we needed a little rest at this point having covered nearly 40 miles.
Friday 1st April
The final chapter in our Berlin trip.
The early night aided an early start. We were ready to leave the room at 8:10. Checked out and left our bags at reception except for one with our expensive/important bits in.
When we got to the train station we decided to get 3 sets of train tickets. We could have bought a 24 hour pass to cover zones A, B and C to get back to the airport and that would have been €10 each. However, we knew we wanted 2 short journeys €2each each way and 1 long journey to the airport €3.80 so a total of €15.60 for both of us rather than €20.00 so it's good to think about what you will actually need rather than just buying the ticket that covers it all.
We stopped at Coffee Refinery for coffees and cinnamon rolls
That cinnamon roll was probably my fave breakfast of the week but I do love a cinnamon roll!
Whilst there we checked out the website for the Checkpoint Charlie museum and found they weren't accepting cash - Berlin is a pretty cash heavy city so do make sure you have some, this was the only time it was not possible to pay cash - so I just bought the tickets on the website €14.50ea.
We walked to Ritter sport but it didn't open until 10 which is when the museum opened and we were a little short on time. We arrived a little before 10 so had a coffee before heading over.
If you remember my camera was dead (turns out I didn't bring the EU adapter either!), at this point my feet were sore and I was carrying a fairly heavy bag so didn't feel inclined to take any photos. But also this was a museum with more words than things to see I would say. We did get an audio guide and meandered around. It was interesting and worth a visit if you want to read/hear a little more about the wall, escape attempts, the soviet union, the breaking up of the Soviet union, and things like that. After a couple of hours we left and walked toward the Berlin mall, via a Christmas shop we passed earlier for a tree decoration, I like to have 1 from everywhere we go.
Carl had a chicken Balti but I really did not know what I wanted to walked around until I got to poutine and my decision was made. However, my incredibly sore feet had me distracted by the shoe shop opposite and I thought I would see if I could find some cheap flip flops to wear for the rest of the day and take off my tight shoes. I tried on a few pairs of flip flops and trainers and settled on the most comfortable, which just so happened to have my favourite mouse on! They felt a bargain for €39.99 and were instantly worth it as my feet felt so much more comfortable when I put them on! I then went to pick up my lunch and a couple drinks for us and went to meet Carl.
I have fancied trying poutine for sometime, I always assumed it would be in Canada. It's not really the real thing as that's usually chips with gravy and cheese curds I believe. This was chips with gravy and mozzarella, sounds weird but it was delicious, both meals were, and just what we needed.
We then walked back to the Brandenburg gate to catch the train back to our hotel, picked the bags up then train back to the airport to end our trip. Security took a lot longer to get through, a lot of people ahead of us not prepared with liquids and laptops etc easy to access in their bags or having got them out in the line despite all the signs!
Flight was delayed about 20 mins.
We landed back in Bristol about 17:45 then a long walk through the airport. Stopped at Asda to pick up some bits and pieces and home about 7:30. 15,355 steps / 6 miles today so 115,108steps on this trip / 43.7miles in total not bad!
A few final thoughts
Our hotel - we stayed at hotel Amano Grand central which we booked through booking.com, we chose it because it looked good, had good reviews and the rooftop bar swung in it's favour over some others. It was under £400 for the 4 nights so not bad at all. It was a 2 minute walk from train station. It was clean, modern. The bed was comfortable and room a good size. I did take a video which I will include before, this was taken on the last day so excuse the mess. We had opted to not have our room cleaned whilst we were there as we weren't there very much so it hardly got dirty and we'll happily reuse towels for a few days. I was trying to do it quickly as we were heading out the door so not as steady as I may have liked! I have become a fan of the single duvets, we have different body temps and whilst Carl is a human radiator he still likes to have the duvet on, if I'm hot I like to have it off and actually a couple of nights I rolled it up at the bottom to raise my legs a little. The aircon wasn't great, we like a cool room and we set it on it's lowest setting but it never got particularly cold. That may be because ours was faulty, we just left the window open but may be something to think about if staying there in summer. It was slightly disappointing the roof top bar was closed as it would have been nice to sit up there and just have a nice chilled drink at the end of the day. There was a Bar on the ground floor which we never used as it was always a bit early or a bit busy when we walked through.
We were on the 1st floor opposite the door to the stairwell so we always took the steps rather than wait for an elevator.
I would absolutely recommend staying here.
Covid restrictions - You can only currently travel to Germany if you are fully vaccinated, have recently recovered from covid and have the proof or are a resident. We're both fully vaxed, boosted and also had just recently covered from covid!
At Bristol airport we did not have to wear masks until we were at the gate, then we were in them throughout the flight. You do have to wear them indoors in Germany so we basically wore them from getting to the gate until we got out of the train station near the hotel. We then had to put them back on to go in the hotel, obviously not in our room. In Germany these must be the FFP2 masks. It wasn't too much of a drag and actually we spent a lot of time outside so we didn't need them so much.
At the hotel and every restaurant and bar we had to show our proof of vaccination and some ID but that only took a few seconds really as we had it all to hand on our phones and were ready to show both when asked. This was not a requirement at the coffee shops though.
Transport - The trains were easy to work out and there is an English option on the machines. One thing to note - There is a lot of trust in Berlin. You buy them from a machine in the train station, often on the platform. You then validate them yourselves in a little machine nearby. We did not need them to enter or exit the station as you might in other major cities and we never had to show them to a conductor once. We actually could've gotten away with not buying a ticket for the whole trip, but we're honest people. If you are caught on a train without a ticket you should expect a hefty fine though so you might as well just pay!
Overall - Berlin was great. We enjoyed everything we did and we think we did all that we wanted to. If we had a little longer we may have gone to another museum or something but that's it. The timeframe we were there was perfect to fit everything in. We don't think we need to go again but that does not mean we didn't have a great time as we did, we just feel like we've done all we wanted. If you go I would recommend after 2nd ish of April when the beer gardens start to open or a little later when its a little warmer and all the trees etc have sprung back to life. But most importantly, if you go make sure you're at the street food market on Thursday night. It's clearly a very diverse city and inclusive. Don't come here expecting to see old world buildings etc, it is a city of regeneration.
That's all folks! We will be back with new blogs a couple times later this year as we finally get back into post pandemic travelling properly.
Until then thank you for reading and Auf Wiedersehen!
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