In case you can’t tell from the title of this blog, I went on a weekend trip to a new country: Germany! 🇩🇪 This was my very first weekend trip since staying in Copenhagen, and it was very exhilarating to see what I could do in such a short time — you’d be surprised, but you could do a lot depending on where you’re going! Lily and I spontaneously decided to go to Berlin since we had been in Copenhagen for 3 weekends and there were round trip flights to Berlin for $45 (a steal)!!! We went from February 5, 2022 to February 6, 2022.
Our flight was on Saturday February 5, 2022 at 9:10 AM and it was a 20 ish minute metro ride from the city center to the airport.
Once we got to the airport, we scrambled to figure out the train system. Luckily, we asked a work personnel and we bought a day ticket for 10 € which allowed us to transfer on buses, trains, and metros — highly recommend getting the day ticket bc it helps you get around much more efficiently!
We headed into the city which was a nice 40 minute train ride into the city center and our first stop was Markthalle Neun Market. It’s an indoor farmer’s market with a variety of shops that sold fresh produce, plants, and there were even food stands that sold meals! The meat we got from Big Stuff was delicious and totally worth it. The mac and cheese we got from Hot Planer wasn’t the traditional mac and cheese I was used to and it had different flavors that I was surprised about.
We then made our way to the East Side Gallery since it’s pretty close and it’s a part of the Berlin Wall (the longest part that still exists today). There’s painted murals all over the Wall and it’s 1.3 km long. Another thing we noticed was that there was graffiti and artwork everywhere you looked in Berlin. So it makes sense that the Wall would be covered with art. Berlin’s HUGE on its art scene.
Btw, Lily and I had been taking the bus to these various places and one thing we noticed was that the bus was always on time, which was super neat! Very different from what I’m used to considering that LA buses are always a hit or miss with time accuracy. So if it says it’s coming at 3:11 PM, it’s coming then so be ready.
Next up, we got Alexanderplatz — a famous square on the east side of Berlin. This was probably one of my favorite sights in Berlin and it has the Berlin TV Tower and the World Clock. A way to tell whether you’re in East or West Berlin is to see whether the trains were below or underground. In East Berlin, trains were above ground — people and cars would casually walk next to these trains which was very bizarre to me.
Afterwards, we hopped on the train and went to the Reichstag Building! It’s Germany’s parliament and it’s huge and absolutely stunning. We didn’t get to this but I recommend booking tickets in advance to see the dome from the inside!
The next things we saw nearby were the Soviet War Memorial and Brandenburger Tor. If you can’t tell already, there’s a lot of World War II history in Berlin and personally, it was a very educational and insightful experience to be able to see these historical landmarks in person.
Then we decided to go to the Mall of Berlin because I liked the sign LOL. Lily said that we didn’t come all this way for a sign, so we decided to go inside and explore. The one thing I wanted to get before I left Berlin was a currywurst, which led us to the food court of the mall. And it was legit the best spontaneous decision. Each food stall smelled so delicious and the prices were way cheaper in comparison to the prices in Copenhagen. Full meals cost 5 € which SHOCKED me and got me excited. There were so many options, but we ended up going with chicken masala for 6,5 € and a side of currywurst! So delicious. We kept joking around about coming back here again the next day to eat good before going back to CPH. Based off of the variety of international and authentic food that we got to see and eat, you get the idea that Berlin’s a very diverse place and an international hub!
A HUGE recommendation that I have is to make sure that you bring euros!!! We were luckily able to get by with card, but Berlin is very cashless and we missed out on a couple of things since we didn’t have euros. We were very excited about the 20 € we did obtain!
We ended the night by going to this bar nearby our hostel — Sausalitos. We were also extra selective about our place because we didn’t have euros so we had to make sure that they accepted card.
The next day, we decided to give ourself more time to relax and take in the places we were visiting so we went to a Turkish sit down breakfast place called Simit Evi! Berlin’s known for its authentic Turkish and Greek food so I highly recommend eating those kinds of foods while you’re in Berlin. When we first got here, we had a hard time ordering since we realized that they didn’t speak English and so we did our best to communicate with gestures and google translate. Ultimately, we were able to converse with them and we ordered a traditional Old Style Breakfast plate and another similar plate with more sweeter items called My Sweet. It comes with this pretzel looking bread that is fresh and absolutely delicious. I also got Turkish Tea and Menemen which is Turkey’s version of scrambled eggs. It was interesting to see how different countries eat breakfast and I can see that Turkey presents their meals in a royally manner (as seen with the plates and utensils) and the food is super healthy.
After enjoying brunch for two hours, we headed out to go to Museumsinsel (Museum Island). There’s 6 museums grouped together and on every first sunday of month, entrance to these museums are free! Unfortunately, since we weren’t able to get tickets ahead of time, we were only able to go to the Humboldt Forum. I really loved the museum though, especially the Going Global Exhibit. It was very interactive and it emphasized how Berlin has a wide network and I got to learn about the international significance in Berlin. Throughout the exhibit, we were able to answer prompts and at the end, we received results and saw where we stood in comparison to others who toured the exhibit that day.
We walked around Museum Island and were able to look at the museums from the outside.
Since we had some extra time, we went to Checkpoint Charlie and Potsdamer Platz. I would only suggest going here if you have extra time!
Lastly, before heading to the airport, I had to try Mustafa’s Kebab place which is Turkish food and it’s all over Berlin. Sounded like a very popular place from my research and I can definitely understand the hype. All for 5 €, we got stuffed Doner Kebabs that were delish! And a side of Baklava. Luckily, we hadn’t spent our 20 € yet, and we gladly spent it on this amazing meal (:
And that pretty much sums up my weekend trip to Berlin! Wow there was so much to talk about for just two days. Be on the look out for more travel blogs because there will be a ton of those!!!
You can also watch me talk about all this in a video as well through a vlog I made. See ya!
