Days 33-36, Germany: Berlin

Nathan, Nathan’s girlfriend Michelle, and I arrived at Berlin on a Easyjet flight. Berlin was COLD in November. Usually in DC I’d only have a sweatshirt on – but here I wore 5 layers. In NOVEMBER. According to Michelle, this was what she pictured Berlin as anyways: bleak, gloomy, cold. I thought about it, and that’s kind of how I pictured it too before.

Berlin’s unique feature is the divide between the East and West. Despite it being almost 20 years after the Berlin Wall had fallen down, It’s pretty obvious when you’re in the East versus the West side. The west has buildings like you see in Paris or Madrid. The east has a few notable buildings like a tower and some cathedrals, but also numerous lifeless buildings without character – the effect of being part of a communist bloc. When we were in the East side, away from their monuments, the building around us were downright sad, which is what you would expect in a communist bloc.

I enjoyed Berlin immensely. I was surprised to see that there were not many beer gardens – apparently it was a Bavarian thing and only popular in Southern Germany. Berlin had a lot of character, there were lots of sights to see and to fill up our 4 days, and the contrasts between the east and west was intriguing.

Ballin’! Random metal hoop beside a church on the East side.

Dom Berlin – I thought it was one of the more interesting Dome-like cathedrals I’d been to.

The most famous remnant of the Berlin Wall – the East Side Gallery – basically 1.5km of art plastered on the wall. Super cool.

Brandenburg gate – wasn’t that crazily special just looking at it, but knowing that it was symbol of tearing down the Berlin Wall made added something to it.

I tried to have beer with every meal. Too little time in Germany.

Church that was bombed, restored partially, and then two ugly “modern” churches were constructed right next to it.

Buddy the bear! Nathan and I saw this thing everywhere – the bear is the symbol of Berlin.

Where you would normally see cuts of beef, pork, and chicken, you see like 20 types of sausages. Germans love their sausages.

And I liked German sausages too. This was called currywurst – basically ketchup and curry powder on sausage.

We went to the Stasi Museum, which was in the headquarters of the secret police in the eastern communist bloc. That’s a camera inside the watering pot. Big brother is watching.

At the end of our Berlin stay, Nathan and I took the overnight train to Warsaw, an 11 hour journey that we stayed in a little couchette with 6 bunk beds. Surprisingly clean and decently comfortable.

Next up? Warsaw and Krakow!