Guten Tag Berlin!!

Posted on October 21, 2019 Updated on October 23, 2019

It doesn’t really matter how many places you visit in your lifetime, who you’re there with is usually a factor, but the number of places you visit will continue to enrich your life. It’s a complete cliche that Travel enriches your life, but cliche or not it is true, just ask any true traveller.

I’ve wanted to visit Berlin for a long, long time and it’s a city I never managed to get to during my years at sea.

Having had a look at flights, and a brief look at accommodation, and decided on September/October as the best time of year to visit. Easyjet as usual came up with the cheapest and direct flights. I wasn’t sure on whether Tegel or Schonefeld so that was just a case of cheapest flights I think if I recall.

So leaving Manchester on a half past six flight on a Thursday evening brought the flight down a decent amount over a stupid o’clock in the morning flight on Friday. I’d booked a half day on Thursday and we used the meet and greet parking at the Airport which always makes life easier.

A bumpy take-off much to the amusement of Lee, one of my friends of over 20 years dating back to our world jamboree exploits in Chile. I think I’ve covered this before – I hate flying and apparently my face caused a little amusement. Otherwise an uneventful flight and a shorter flight than we’d expected. All good too we landed, quickly collected our bags and then found the taxi’s waiting outside the terminal building.

It was only a short ride into the city, around 25 minutes to get to the vicinity of the accommodation (for info I won’t be referencing airbnb as the Berliners are not fond of it :-)).

It was ok, nothing too luxurious but then it wasn’t like we were planning on being in there a great deal. It had a view over towards Checkpoint Charlie which was right around the corner from our building.

We abandoned our luggage and set off out for a couple of beers and bite to eat. I think it was around 9pm when we arrived and took the walk down towards Friedrichstrasse, and stopped by at a bar called Treffpunkt Berlin. A nice spot that served food and drinks, a nod towards the more traditional I would have said but friendly staff and a great atmosphere. Continue down the road and over the bridge keeping on the left hand side. There is a cool bar called the Berliner Republic. Again serves food, but lets be honest we’d come for the brewskies. 

This bar was unique in that it served 20+ beers, but the price went up and down, kind of like a stock exchange for beers.

The next day as we were right around the corner from Checkpoint Charlie we decided to make that our first stop. We figured that with it being early in the day and a Friday it was probably the best time to grab images here. One of my favourite images was actually from inside McDonalds with the Golden Arches in the foreground. I’m not entirely sure how the communist leaders would have taken to the corporation of McD’s being right next to the only remaining crossing, and one of the most infamous.

We then made our way around just exploring a number of sites which we had to do some on the spot research to find out more about what was behind them, the history etc. An incredible city Berlin, even with the obvious events there were lots of not so obvious events too. So we soon came across a long stretch of the wall.

We walked past but didn’t go into the old Gestapo HQ, the Topography of Terror, and passed by the balloon “ride” Die Welt. We wandered without too much aim, constantly changing direction. We’d noticed the bears which no doubt you will too that are everywhere in the city with all kinds of designs and colours. We passed a memorial to the East German Uprising in 1953, something really interesting to read. Say what you will about technology but it enables you to actively research memorials or events which otherwise you’d know nothing about until later if at all.

After a brief snack break, and pit stop (this happened often) we were only around the corner from the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This was oddly one of my favourite places in the city of Berlin, and somewhere I would re-visit were I to return. It’s as haunting as it is poignant and it was incredibly humbling to spend some time here. Yes I took photographs but it’s, especially in this case not the same as actually being there.

The trees on the edge of the Tiergarten (at least thats what I think it’s called, the park which flows from the far side of the Brandenburg Gate) were full of Autumn colour, but it was hard to find an angle which truly captured the parks colour and the memorial. Personally I disliked the angle from the other two sides which captured cranes, and buildings and a number of unsightly distractions within the images. Probably my favourite angles from all of the images I shot, was straight up from the midst of the memorial.

Leaving the memorial behind we made for the Brandenburg Gate. Now of course I knew of the gates existence, but I wasn’t really familiar with the back story. I wasn’t aware it was a restoration of a previous incarnation, and a former city gate.

It was as to be expected by now quite busy, with a a rather bizarre protest going on right in the middle of the square. Selfies being taken a plenty all around.

We made our way through the Brandenburg Gate, and around past the park towards the Reichstag. We spent some time to the rear of the Reichstag, but if I were to return to Berlin then I’d possibly want to tour the dome of the Reichstag which is open to the public. The pillars which form the exterior are pretty impressive though. 

The rain had started to fall by now, so we decided to shelter out from the rain, and we found a spot – Paul Lobe Haus. Incredible architecture so we managed again to get some great shots here, and on the nearby bridge. After a whilst the rain stopped and having spent a fair bit of time here we managed to move on.

We decided to walk as much as was possible alongside the river, and wanting to explore some different areas of the city. We wandered along before crossing one of the bridges adjacent to the Bode Museum. From here there were great views towards the TV tower in Alexanderplatz also.

At this point we’d walked miles already, and we decided that we wanted an easier route back to the apartment. We had seen the scooters everywhere in the city. So we downloaded the Lime Scooter (which I foolishly adopted as Lime Bikes) app, and away we went. A lot of fun but be warned we spent about 60 Euros on them!! They are not cheap, but at the same time a lot more fun than Taxi’s or Tubes to get around.

That night we had Bundesliga tickets, and I was hoping one of the highlights of my trip for sure. It lived up to it’s expectations in a massive way, and I’d not only recommend it but I’d go back for more, especially at Hertha Berlin’s Olympiastadion. What an atmosphere, what an incredible experience and to top it off Hertha won 3-1 in spite of some dodgy refereeing. Something that was very obvious all around the ground and the city is that the Germans are free to drink whatever, whenever they want, and there was never any sign of trouble – it really was awesome.

Inside the stadium the Ultras sang for well over the 90 minutes, they never stopped. The rest of the stadium was a buzz of excitement and activity. Scarves held in the air, flags being waved and in the end it was the Hertha Fans who went home happiest. 

The following day we decided to grab some breakfast locally, don’t even ask what!! Then had made plans to head out east to the East side gallery, aka the Berlin Wall, and the section that is probably most famous now. We rode the train all the way out to Schlesisches Tor an area which was full of incredible street art, and a few awesome buildings too. We crossed the Watergate bridge and with that you are pretty much at the start of the East Side Gallery.

This was such an amazing spot, and to be fair probably where most of the tourists visiting Berlin will want to visit above most sites. Most of the postcard famous images you’ll see around the city and beyond are found here. We walked pretty much the length, before taking a pit stop at a local bar. We’d been outed by a number of people as photographers, I chatted with a couple on Holiday from Bodrum in Turkey and got chatting about Turkey. A few other people who I chatted with but yeah a great spot for street photography, and a great place to meet other tourists doing similar things.

From the East Side Gallery we decided to venture up towards Alexanderplatz to have a look around. This was where the Tv Tower was, the old Town Hall, and another of other buildings of historic importance. We found a pretty cool pub, aptly named The Pub, which was pretty much pour your own Beer at the table. Decent food too and football on the TV.

We headed back to Alexanderplatz where the alternative Oktoberfest was taking place. We’d made the decision to just visit this one rather than trek all the way back out to Tegel. It was pretty cool, albeit on a Saturday afternoon so there wasn’t a full on atmosphere but it was still pretty good to have been there when it was taking place and of course the brewskie glass is always a decent souvenir.

We’d planned on shooting some night photography that evening so we headed back to unload some of our kit, pick up tripods, and grab some food from the pizza place around the corner. We’d already decided to start around the Brandenburg Gate, more so since there was a huge fair taking place in the park right behind the Gate. We continued around to the Reichstag after spending an hour at Brandenburg and spent some time shooting the front facade of the Parliamentary building. We then move along to a spot which we had scouted already – Paul Lobe Haus, the symmetry, reflections and lines were fantastic.

We decided to head back to the apartment, leave our kit and head back out to Berliner Republic. 

The next day was a Sunday, and pretty much everything was closed but we still had a wander around the Mall of Berlin, cool as, even has a slide which takes you from the top floor to the bottom. We’d found the Lego World also near the Potsdamerplatz, with the huge Dome on top. We opted to take the Lime scooter into Tiergarten and follow the Main Street all the way to the top Siegessaule. It’s a huge monument in the middle of a roundabout, a Victory column commemorating a victory in the Prussian-Danish war. It costs a few euros to get to the top but the views on a good day are fantastic. If you don’t want to go all the way to the top there is a lower viewing gallery. 

As it was the last night we’d picked out a steak restaurant, Asador. It wasn’t far from the apartment and had good reviews. Good food, good beer (then again I don’t think we had bad beer anywhere in Berlin), I’d definitely recommend Asador.

After dinner we decided to head back to Trefftpunkt, the bar where we started on the first night for a beer, which turned into three or four. 

The following day was departure day and the first thing we wanted to do was secure our luggage somewhere for the day. Which we managed to do at the main railway station. Our flight didn’t leave until late evening so we had the entire day to wander without clock watching. We went back to the Mall of Berlin to grab some food and have a look around the masses of shops.

We then spent an hour and a half in the spy museum. If I’m honest it was good, but I’m not convinced I’d want to pay so much for a family of three or four to tour it. I found it interesting and there were some good interactive experiences such as the laser room which were a lot of fun. Some facts about notorious sites such as the bridge of spies, and some stories about a number of infamous spies and double agents.

Leaving the museum behind, we found ourselves on the fringes of one of the sites of the extinction rebellion protests. We decided to have a mingle and grab some shots – however we were limited to phones as we’d left our cameras in the lockers. All in though it was pretty interesting to experience and it was all done in good spirits and peaceful.

And that was that really, with plenty of beer consumed and way way too much junk food eaten we headed off for the airport and our flight back to Blighty.

Overall Berlin is an incredible city, and I get the impression we only scratched the surface. It’s odd in that it’s clearly a huge city, but it doesn’t really feel like it. Looking from a far there is no huge dominating skyline, the TV Tower aside at least. The boroughs sprawl into the distance in every direction. The cities parks run for acres. It’s such a fun city too and somewhere I’d love to come back to one day. Auf Wiedersehn for now Berlin.