Berlin!

In lieu of not being able to come up with a catchy title, here's my intro:

So 3 Canadians, a French guy and an American walked into a bar. True story. Although we would make a brilliant joke (if somebody can think of one starting like that, more power to ya), this was also the fun jumble of people I went to Berlin with this weekend! Which, ironically, meant that despite being in Germany, I spoke French more often than I might do in Brussels. It was actually great practice for me, plus I finally managed to convince them that I wasn't offended when they corrected me, but that they should in fact do it more. I know I make mistakes, so better to fix them now than after a year of saying something wrong!

I never really planned on going to Germany, and Berlin certainly wasn't on my radar, but when some friends said they were going and did I want to come- why not? Suddenly everyone I met started telling me how cool Berlin was, and I started to get excited about our trip! 

We stayed for a total of three whole days (four nights), and I could have easily spent a week there, most of it just in the museums. Berlin has some incredible, world-class museums, some worthy of a day each! Pergamon had to be my favorite- it contained entire building! Walk in, and you are immediately confronted with the grand Pergamon Alter, transported all the way from Turkey to Berlin in its entirety. All of a sudden I was in ancient Greece, climbing the alter steps and seeing friezes with the battle of the gods and giants. In the next room I traveled to the Roman Empire with this incredible three-story market gate, which in turn lead to Babylon through the lapis lazuli blue Ishtar Gate. There were numerous artifacts and several other structures transported to the museum. It was incredible and I highly recommend going if you're ever in Berlin.

Pergamon Alter! 

Market Gate, Pergamon Museum

Ishtar Gate from Babylon! (also Pergamon Museum)

Next we stopped in another amazing museum that is part of Berlin’s ‘Museum Island,’ quite literally, an island in the middle of the city full of museums. The Neues Museum- also known as the Egyptian Museum for me, because it was full of Egyptian art and artifacts, plus the extremely famous bust of Nefertiti, and an incredible papyrus library. My obsession with hieroglyphics may have come out quite a bit…

Bridges leading to Museum Island

To understand Berlin, know that it is a pretty massive city, divided into multiple districts, each with their own center. While we did an impressive amount of walking, the metro and train system was essential to getting around the city quickly. Fun fact about Berlin: everybody walks around with an open bottle of beer. On the street, on the metro, and at any time of day whether it is 4am or 10am. Seemed like a substitute for water!

Over the course of the three days that we were there, we explored and visited quite a bit, so I’m just going to give you some of the highlights and impressions of the city. Berlin is absolutely full of history, from its creation up until modern day after the Cold War. So I decided to take a free walking tour of the city and learn all of that first hand. The tour was incredible (Sandeman’s newEurope if you’re interested, they’re in other cities too), in the space of some three and a half or four hours, I got a few hundred years of really interesting history that suddenly gave meaning to all the buildings, plazas and monuments around me. Things like the fact that Berlin was (and still is) a swamp, never meant to be a big city, and thus big pink and blue pipes are still all over the city today, carrying out water and natural gas from underground. This is also why Berlin doesn’t smell all that great.

In fact, we learned that most of Berlin is less than 60 years old- over 90% of its buildings were destroyed around WWII. And going along with the after effects of WWII, you naturally come to the Cold War and the Berlin Wall. Let me tell you, the Berlin Wall is actually rather small. It wasn’t the size that mattered as much as the fact that it went up overnight, cutting off access to West Berlin, and also the creation of the ‘death strip’ just around the wall. The Death strip was essentially the expanse between the Berlin wall, and another wall put up by the Soviets, full of guards, lights, sand and wire- all essentially screaming “You can’t get through!” I won’t bore you with all the history details; suffice to say that I saw where Einstein gave lectures, where the famous Nazi book burning took place and the Holocaust memorial plus a great deal more.

Berlin Wall East Side Gallery- a long stretch of the wall that artists from all over have painted

Proof that I was in Berlin- in front of the Wall

The Holocaust memorial, or the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe is a very unique creation. A massive square full of concrete columns raised to various heights that look eerily like coffins. Perhaps the most striking aspect for me was that it had rained earlier that day. Water droplets clung to the sides of the columns, sparking like diamonds or tears. That’s the image that stuck with me- the glistening tears of those murdered in the Holocaust.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Standing inside the memorial

Raindrops or Tears?

Both underneath that memorial, at also at the Jewish Museum in the city, you get an emotionally heavy, but extremely worthwhile experience, making the lives of those swept up in the Holocaust vivid and no longer a nameless number.

Jewish Museum- really cool architecture as well

To move on to a lighter subject, I also saw the only château in Berlin! Charlottenburg Palace, built for King Friedrich Wilhelm I. While we couldn’t actually go inside by the time we arrived, the castle grounds are home to some incredibly beautiful gardens, plus small lake with swans. Definitely worth a walk through if you are there.

Charlottenburg Palace

Palace Gardens- Swans! 

We did try both the famous Berlin currywurst and a pretzel while we were there; both were pretty good, though I’m not a big fan of curry. The food I much preferred was rather this incredible Vietnamese place that we ate at- very limited menu where everything was delicious! I also tried a Spezzi, a mix of orange Fanta and Coke, which is actually a lot better than it sounds.

At night, the city comes to life even more. The weather happened to be beautiful while we were there, making the evening perfect for strolling along outside and people watching from an outdoor terrace. Everything in the city is lit up, and people meander from shops to restaurants and bars. I’m pretty sure the city never sleeps- the metro doesn’t anyway!

There’s Berlin for you, in a manner that doesn’t do the city justice because there is so much more to see and do! A city full of history, people and brilliant museums.

Brandenburger Tor, one of the most distinct landmarks in Berlin in the background- plus a free rose that we all got that day!