Discover Berlin
After spending two glorious weeks in Germany and Austria my return to reality has been abrupt. As I sit at my desk reminiscing about our fantastic adventures and the memories we made my feelings are bittersweet. Yes, it's nice to be home, but what I wouldn't give to be sipping on a crisp beer along the river Spree. Luckily, where there are adventures there's plenty of good material for a new blog post or two.
If you find yourself on the hunt for fun in Berlin, you're in luck. Below is a list of my favorite experiences from our Berlin adventure.
Original Berlin Walks:
After recovering from a bad case of jet lag we were ready to explore Berlin by foot. During our first full day in the city, we saw an ad for Original Berlin Walks and decided to join in on the fun. Original Berlin Walks offers a variety of themed tours such as Discover Berlin, Hitler's Germany and even a Berlin Food Crawl. For newbies to Berlin, I recommend the Discover Berlin tour which is what we ended up choosing.
The Discover Berlin tour is a whopping five hours long so be sure to wear your comfiest footwear. Although it sounds a bit extreme, don't let the duration of the tour scare you away Discover Berlin takes you to all of the city's main sights including the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island and much, much more. After all that exploring people tend to work up an appetite, luckily the tour takes a break halfway through so you can replenish with some snacks and a beer or two.
If you have the chance go on a walking tour of the city sooner than later. As I mentioned before, we did this on our first full day in Berlin and it really helped us get acclimated to our surroundings. In addition, knowing the history behind the sights really amps up the whole experience.
Tiergarten/Beer Garden
Believe it or not, in the middle of Germany's largest city sits a 500-acre park. Originally a hunting ground for some of Belin's most notable historical figures, the Tiergarten is now the city's most popular inner-city park. Cruise the trails by bike, go for a relaxing stroll or if your brave embrace Europe's nude sunbathing culture. The Tiergarten is beautiful and impressive and it wouldn't be Germany without one thing, beer.
On the far west side of the park past the Siegessaeule is an adorable little beer garden called Cafe am Neuen See. Nestled in its own little corner of the woods along a calm riverbank, Cafe am Neuen See is the perfect place to relax and recharge with some traditional German fare and a tall glass of beer. We loved this place so much that we visited twice during our week in Berlin. Although it's truly beautiful during the day I can only imagine how magical it looks at night lit up by string lights weaved in and out of trees and filled with the sound of good company.
MonsterKabinett and Hackesche Hoefe
Are you looking for something weird? Do you want to leave a place thinking, "WTF did I just see there?" If you answered yes to either of these questions do I have the place for you.
Deep within a courtyard at the ever popular Hackesche Hoefe lies an experience that is truly unique. The name, MonsterKabinett. What is it? A self-proclaimed interactive art exhibit, MonsterKabinett is home to many wacky creations just waiting to meet you.
Museum Island
As the name implies, Museum Island is the Berlin hotspot for, well, museums. A picturesque part of town where nature, architecture, artwork, and artifacts come to life Museum Island is a must see.
We were ever-so-bold and museum-ed hard our third day in Berlin visiting four of the five museums available for tour including the Pergamonmuseum, the Bode-Museum. the Neues Museum and the Altes Museum. Who knew taking-in so much museum goodness could be so exhausting, we were pretty burnt out after the endeavor.
Of the four museums, one stood out to me far beyond than the rest, the Pergamonmuseum. Unfortunately, the famous Pergamon Altar which the museum is named after wasn't on display during our visit due to construction, but that didn't make our experience any less awesome. In addition to the Pergamon Altar, the Pergamonmuseum is also home to the massively stunning Ishtar Gate.
Hanging by the Spree
If there's one thing Berliners know how to do it's relax. After a long day, it seemed as if everyone and their Grandmother was out and about enjoying the great weather with a cold beer and some friends in one of the city's many green spaces. Winding past Museum Island and other popular spots in town, the Spree River is a great hangout due to its convenience to tasty restaurants and epic scenery. We spent a few nights enjoying ourselves by the Spree and taking advantage of the Berlin way of life with no open-container laws.
Rent Bikes
While Berlin is extremely walkable it's also super bike-friendly. Since the layout of the city favors people vs cars it's quite common to see hoards of people on bikes as they race to work in the morning. After days of countless long walks our feet were screaming for mercy. Luckily, we wised up to the bike sharing culture in the city and discovered Ofo. Ofo is a bike sharing app that allows you to instantly unlock bikes around the city for a small fee. Needless to say, Ofo was a lifesaver as we effortlessly zipped around town by bike cutting our travel time in half and allowing our feet the break they so badly deserved.
Food
Not gonna lie, one of the things I was most excited for leading up to this trip was food! I love food and the chance to check out new restaurants had me psyched. That being said, we were trying to live off a frugal budget throughout the duration of our trip so we didn't get too bananas, but we still had many delightful meals along the way and beer which is basically liquid bread...
Although it certainly isn't the most glamorous option, currywurst was a clear favorite, specifically the currywurst from Curry at the Wall near the Topography of Terror. As legend has it currywurst was something of a happy accident when the creator mixed weisswurst, curry powder, black pepper, and tomato paste creating an affordable and delicious meal when funds were low after World War II.
Sight-Seeing
Aside from what I mentioned above, there are endless sights waiting to be explored in Berlin. Here are the sight-seeing stops we made that are definitely worth a visit.
* Museum Island
* Brandenburg Gate
* Topography of Terror
* Checkpoint Charlie
* Memorial to the Jews
* East Side Gallery
* Alexander Platz
* Fernsehtrum
If you find yourself on the hunt for fun in Berlin, you're in luck. Below is a list of my favorite experiences from our Berlin adventure.
Original Berlin Walks:
After recovering from a bad case of jet lag we were ready to explore Berlin by foot. During our first full day in the city, we saw an ad for Original Berlin Walks and decided to join in on the fun. Original Berlin Walks offers a variety of themed tours such as Discover Berlin, Hitler's Germany and even a Berlin Food Crawl. For newbies to Berlin, I recommend the Discover Berlin tour which is what we ended up choosing.
The Discover Berlin tour is a whopping five hours long so be sure to wear your comfiest footwear. Although it sounds a bit extreme, don't let the duration of the tour scare you away Discover Berlin takes you to all of the city's main sights including the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island and much, much more. After all that exploring people tend to work up an appetite, luckily the tour takes a break halfway through so you can replenish with some snacks and a beer or two.
If you have the chance go on a walking tour of the city sooner than later. As I mentioned before, we did this on our first full day in Berlin and it really helped us get acclimated to our surroundings. In addition, knowing the history behind the sights really amps up the whole experience.
Believe it or not, in the middle of Germany's largest city sits a 500-acre park. Originally a hunting ground for some of Belin's most notable historical figures, the Tiergarten is now the city's most popular inner-city park. Cruise the trails by bike, go for a relaxing stroll or if your brave embrace Europe's nude sunbathing culture. The Tiergarten is beautiful and impressive and it wouldn't be Germany without one thing, beer.
On the far west side of the park past the Siegessaeule is an adorable little beer garden called Cafe am Neuen See. Nestled in its own little corner of the woods along a calm riverbank, Cafe am Neuen See is the perfect place to relax and recharge with some traditional German fare and a tall glass of beer. We loved this place so much that we visited twice during our week in Berlin. Although it's truly beautiful during the day I can only imagine how magical it looks at night lit up by string lights weaved in and out of trees and filled with the sound of good company.
MonsterKabinett and Hackesche Hoefe
Are you looking for something weird? Do you want to leave a place thinking, "WTF did I just see there?" If you answered yes to either of these questions do I have the place for you.
Deep within a courtyard at the ever popular Hackesche Hoefe lies an experience that is truly unique. The name, MonsterKabinett. What is it? A self-proclaimed interactive art exhibit, MonsterKabinett is home to many wacky creations just waiting to meet you.
Museum Island
As the name implies, Museum Island is the Berlin hotspot for, well, museums. A picturesque part of town where nature, architecture, artwork, and artifacts come to life Museum Island is a must see.
We were ever-so-bold and museum-ed hard our third day in Berlin visiting four of the five museums available for tour including the Pergamonmuseum, the Bode-Museum. the Neues Museum and the Altes Museum. Who knew taking-in so much museum goodness could be so exhausting, we were pretty burnt out after the endeavor.
Of the four museums, one stood out to me far beyond than the rest, the Pergamonmuseum. Unfortunately, the famous Pergamon Altar which the museum is named after wasn't on display during our visit due to construction, but that didn't make our experience any less awesome. In addition to the Pergamon Altar, the Pergamonmuseum is also home to the massively stunning Ishtar Gate.
Hanging by the Spree
If there's one thing Berliners know how to do it's relax. After a long day, it seemed as if everyone and their Grandmother was out and about enjoying the great weather with a cold beer and some friends in one of the city's many green spaces. Winding past Museum Island and other popular spots in town, the Spree River is a great hangout due to its convenience to tasty restaurants and epic scenery. We spent a few nights enjoying ourselves by the Spree and taking advantage of the Berlin way of life with no open-container laws.
Rent Bikes
While Berlin is extremely walkable it's also super bike-friendly. Since the layout of the city favors people vs cars it's quite common to see hoards of people on bikes as they race to work in the morning. After days of countless long walks our feet were screaming for mercy. Luckily, we wised up to the bike sharing culture in the city and discovered Ofo. Ofo is a bike sharing app that allows you to instantly unlock bikes around the city for a small fee. Needless to say, Ofo was a lifesaver as we effortlessly zipped around town by bike cutting our travel time in half and allowing our feet the break they so badly deserved.
Food
Not gonna lie, one of the things I was most excited for leading up to this trip was food! I love food and the chance to check out new restaurants had me psyched. That being said, we were trying to live off a frugal budget throughout the duration of our trip so we didn't get too bananas, but we still had many delightful meals along the way and beer which is basically liquid bread...
Although it certainly isn't the most glamorous option, currywurst was a clear favorite, specifically the currywurst from Curry at the Wall near the Topography of Terror. As legend has it currywurst was something of a happy accident when the creator mixed weisswurst, curry powder, black pepper, and tomato paste creating an affordable and delicious meal when funds were low after World War II.
Sight-Seeing
Aside from what I mentioned above, there are endless sights waiting to be explored in Berlin. Here are the sight-seeing stops we made that are definitely worth a visit.
* Museum Island
* Brandenburg Gate
* Topography of Terror
* Checkpoint Charlie
* Memorial to the Jews
* East Side Gallery
* Alexander Platz
* Fernsehtrum
We easily could have spent more than a week in Berlin, there's so much to see. However, it was time to depart to our next destination, Munich. Berlin was tons of fun and I hope to return someday in the future for even more spectacular adventures.
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