Berlin

Guten Morgen! That as been one of two phrases I've learnt in German. We had a full week in Berlin, which is the longest we'll stay in any one city, and I'm glad we did. Berlin is huge and spread out. If you're walking everywhere like us, it takes you anywhere up to an hour just to get to the different areas. We really enjoyed our week here but are ready to move on.

Berlin is an incredible city. Here's some things to know or things that might interest you:

1. Unlike a lot of other cities/countries, Berlin really acknowledges their history, good and bad. They have numerous memorials for victims of the holocaust, the book burning and countless museums that talk about the negatives. Most other places only show things that state "look at all the good we did" while ignoring their negatives. It really shows that Nazi Germany is NOT a representation of German history.

2. It's very relaxed. We noticed that the city itself is not touristy. They don't have shops with keychains and T-shirts every 10 steps.

3. They claim to be a city that never sleeps, except on Sundays when stupid tourists need to buy groceries and everything's closed so you buy a 1 day old loaf of bread 😡

Day 1: After a 6 hour train ride from Amsterdam we just wanted to get to the apartment we were staying at. Berlin was our first experience using Air BnB. Unfortunately we didn't have time in the morning to screen shot directions to this girl's apartment. After running around the train station looking for WiFi and a bathroom, it was nice to learn her place was only a 10 minute walk from where we were. We got to Maximilla's place and collapsed on the bed (you miss the little things when camping). We cleaned up and headed out to find a supermarket to stock up on groceries now that we had access to a REAL kitchen (FYI some places here will claim that a microwave and a garbage can is a kitchen on their websites, tricky bastards). We found a place called Penny. It was extremely cheap but not a big selection (Europe is really missing out on a great thing called nachos). We headed to the till, pulled out our credit card and were denied. Cash only, which wouldn't have been a problem if we didn't use our last Euros for coffee on the train. So Jordon went on an ATM adventure while I stood in everyone's way not knowing how to say sorry or excuse me in German. About 15 minutes later, Jordon came running back in "flushed with cash." We gave our money to the annoyed cashier and ran out. After making supper, HURRAY for home cooked meals, we tried to figure out our next couple of days in Berlin

Day 2: We wanted to explore the city but have an understanding of what we were looking at. I found a company that offered "free" walking tours. They're not actually free, you pay what you think the tour was worth at the end, little bit more than tip-based tours. The nice thing about these tours are the guides are excellent because they want you to think it's worth a lot. We were put in a group where our guide use to be a history teacher in London and he was fantastic. There were so many incredible things we saw so I'll try to give you the idea without boring you. My favourite part was walking through the Jewish memorial. It was built in 2005 by an architect from New York for all the Jewish victims from the holocaust. It's these big cement blocks at varying heights in rows. I know this doesn't sound like much but I think it's more about the experience of walking through it. You have to go through single file as there is not enough room to walk beside someone giving you the sense of loneliness. People also disappear as you see them in front or beside you, giving the illusion of ghosts. There are no names unlike many other memorials because they were nameless victims. The really interesting part is the architect never said what it represents leaving you to make your own interpretations and to really think about it. Maybe the holocaust is something we can never truly understand so a memorial we can never truly understand is appropriate. There's some deep thoughts for you. Moving on! We were able to stand exactly where Hitler's bunker was, which is now a car park and where his staff tried to burn his body so the Soviets couldn't get a hold of it. There is a children's slide on the exact spot where they cremated Hitler to signify that good wins over evil... though there where no children playing on the slide (it looked pretty... beat up). We saw the last Nazi building that is still in use by the government today, one of the three original standing pieces of the Berlin wall and the exact balcony where Michael Jackson held his baby over for the world to see (end that on a happier note). After the 3 hour tour, we found a little Italian restaurant where we ate delicious cheap pizza. We headed back to the apartment with the intent of planning our next phase of the trip but the internet wasn't working very well, so I fell asleep early.

Day 3: Jordon and I had different schedules this morning. I was up at 6 and he snoozed until 10 meaning when he wanted breakfast I was almost ready for lunch. We decided to head to Alexanderplatz, the square where the big TV tower stands. Other than the TV tower, there wasn't much there except for the cheapest lunch of delicious bratwurst from a vendor. We did a bit of people watching while eating lunch, then made our way to Museum Island. There are so many museums in Berlin but unless you really love history, you probably only want to choose a couple. We went to the Pergamonmuseum where you can see ancient civilisation structures and artifacts. The main room with the Pergamon was closed for renovations but we were still able to see the Ishtar Gate which was pretty incredible. After the museum we headed back to make supper and then our plan was to go out after. Jordon's body had a different plan and he fell asleep early. Maybe tomorrow we'll be ready to not fall asleep at 9:00.

Day 4: We succeeded in getting up at a decent time this morning. As I stated above, Berlin shows all of their history, including Nazi Germany. With free access to the Sachsenhousen concentration camp, we felt it would be good to go see where these terrors happened. It was a very... interesting visit. We got the audio tours which walked you through the entire camp including the bunkers, the prison and the execution pits. We thought we knew what we were walking into, but we definitely left with a haunting feeling. You can't walk through something like that and not feel some sense of loss. It was extremely informative of what actually happened in these places and worth visiting. We needed to do something light hearted and not full of history so we headed to the Ka De We department store. The set up of this place is incredible! The first floor is all stores that make you feel poor, like Burberry and Louis Vuitton, but that's okay because as soon as you reach the next floor, it becomes more affordable tricking you into buying things. The next 3 floors were all clothes and accessories. Hit floor 5 and it was a paradise for children... and us. Trains, toys, stuffed animals and stationary lined the entire floor. We thought it couldn't get any better. We were wrong. The 6th floor was a true paradise. Walls lined with every type of food and drink imaginable. They even had a Canada section which of course only had maple syrup. You could eat on the top floor looking over the city, so we got some very expensive schnitzel for supper and enjoyed the view. Apparently we couldn't get enough of the city view because after supper we headed to a bar called Solar which had an amazing view as well. It was pretty pricey as well so we drank REALLY slowly. We finally stayed up past 9!

Day 5: we usually try to eat out only once a day and we hadn't done brunch yet in Berlin. I found a place about half an hour away so we headed off on a breakfast adventure. It is a really busy place on Sundays and they were booked with reservations. Luckily it wasn't too cold to enjoy our brunch outside. I wanted to see the East Side Gallery (another original piece of the Berlin wall with art on it) and since we had already started walking in that direction, we headed there. Both of us wore our new shoes which was a bad idea for the amount of walking we ended up doing. By the time we were done the East Side Gallery, our feet were killing us. We started the long walk back to the apartment... slowly but surely. We needed groceries as well but nothing was open. We found a little bakery with the saddest loaf of bread, but it was only 1 Euro, so we had bread, our good Gouda and left over pasta for supper. After supper we headed towards another area of the city we hadn't been to yet where there was a major shopping street. Berlin is really odd on a Sunday night because no one is out on the streets. We walked a bunch of major roads and it was extremely quiet. All the shops were closed on the big street but we found a restaurant to grab a cup of tea and free WiFi to book some more of our trip. Unfortunately no one's WiFi seemed to be working, but we did find ice cream for the walk home.

Day 6: Jordon wanted to go to a new area in the North East. We had reservations to go up the Reichstag parliament building at 2 so it was another early morning. I ran to get the groceries we couldn't find on Sunday, made breakfast and off we went. They had an old brewery that had a bunch of shops and restaurants but of course they were all closed (no 9:00 opening times here). We eventually just stopped for a coffee because there wasn't as much to see as we thought there was. We walked back to the city center, found free working WiFi at Starbucks (of course) and made our way to the Reichstag. It has a glass dome at the top where visitors can go up and look around. Part of the idea was that if the government ever forgot who holds the real power, they just had to look up and see who holds it....American tourists. It was a really nice view but we had laundry to do. We went back, threw all our clothes in a bag and went to some fancy laundromat. There wasn't anywhere to sit down and eat while waiting for our clothes but lots of donar places. We grabbed our heart clogging meat meals and went back to the laundromat. With clean clothes in hand, we went back to the apartment, kicked up our feet and had a drink. When you're traveling, you start to miss the simple things like watching a movie. I was able to download Netflix on my phone and we watched some Daredevil on the tiny screen in bed.

Day 7: it is our last day in Berlin and we head for Prague tomorrow. We are going to a place called Potsdam which is suppose to have a beautiful palace and gardens. We have a huge supper to make and packing to do so today won't be too exciting.

Being done Berlin means we are officially half way done our trip. Berlin offered us history, food, amazing architecture and some rest. It truly is an incredible city that let's you stand where some of the most defining historic moments took place.

Catch you in Prague,

-Vanessa xo