So my boyfriend's family decided to take their yearly holiday to Berlin, and they very kindly invited me along. I've been many times before, had free accommodation and speak fluent German so they thought I could be helpful to them. I had a really lovely time, and thought I would share some highlights with you.
The Brandenburg Gate is always amazing to visit, it's so beautiful and always has so many tourists around which I like because it's great for people watching.
Checkpoint Charlie was actually new to me. It's always been just a little too far away from everywhere else I've been in Berlin so it was very interesting to experience. There was also lots of information about the wall and divided Germany which was fascinating.
The museum island! One of my favourite places in Berlin. It's so beautiful and there's so much to do with the many interesting museums you can visit. I can't wait to go back and explore this further!
The Berlin Cathedral, huge, beautiful and imposing. Wonderful.
The Charlottenburg Schloss is really close to my family's flat, and it's one of my favourite spots in the city. It's gorgeous inside and outside, has a really great museum inside and has lovely gardens. There's also a great Christmas market here in December.
Going up the TV tower was really good fun! It gave such a good view (see below) and was another new experience for me. 10/10, would recommend.
Finally, as it was cold we spent a lot of time doing indoor activities. We went to Little Big City, Sea Life Centre, the Aquarium and a few shops. The highlight of this had to be this elevator which went up the middle of the fish tank! So cool.
During my university holiday, my boyfriend and I have decided to travel around Europe. One of our stops was Germany, which we both really enjoyed. We chose to visit Berlin because it was perfect in terms of allowing us to enjoy really lighthearted activities, some history watching as well as visiting places which felt like a new emotional experience.
More generally, Berlin is a lovely city which I would definitely recommend visiting. We stayed in a hotel in Charlottenburg, which was nice and accessible. The city is reasonably clean and it was very accessible and tourist friendly due to there being practically no language barrier. Over our stay I became a fan of the U-Bahn, especially in the evening when it got really empty and quiet. The pretty yellow trains definitely cheered me up on days when it was raining ( it is a win win situation really).
The food in Berlin was absolutely amazing. During the first night of our stay we decided to find kebab in Berlin and it might have been the best kebab I have ever had (at one point I just stopped counting all the different flavours). Whether we would plan our meals and look up the places we went to in advance or go on impromptu dates the food was great. I have been able to even try an amazing avocado milkshake with soya milkshake which was like a drink version of bounty but nicer. On our last day we went to a really sweet pancake place called 'A never ever ending love story' which was incredible. The pancakes were incredibly tasty, the place was full of very friendly staff and the interior definitely reminded me of some of the cute, little cafes in the narrow streets of Soho in London. I would definitely recommend it if you are visiting Berlin.
Besides mentioning all the breathtaking landmarks we saw on our visit ( and taking a lot of photos of them), I would like to mention those landmarks which really felt like an emotional experience. The Holocaust memorial was one of them. At first I was very afraid to walk through it and experience the claustrophobia of it for myself. Eventually, having gathered some courage I did it and by the end of it I felt some kind of relief. It was wonderful to be able to have a conversation with someone about why the memorial was constructed in the way it stands and what possible interpretations can be provided. The Jewish Museum in Berlin had a very similar impact of me. The beauty of the museum lies in its unusual nature; it is full of voids and physical artwork, which really make you experience something. Standing in a dark room, being able to feel the breathe of the air outside and hear the voices tens of metres above you really does leave you feeling small and helpless, unable to project your voice. By the end of all of the said visits I felt a huge sense of relief and was glad I was able to experience art rather then just feel it.
As my mum is German I have quite a lot of family in Germany so I try to visit them as much as possible. This month I took my boyfriend with me and we had a great few days there sightseeing and shopping :)
Day 1, Hannover:
We landed in Hannover and spent the day sightseeing with my Aunt. Hannover has an easy to follow line painted on the walkways which leads tourists around the main sights of the city. The building pictured is the town hall which was particularly impressive to look at!
Day 2, Lüneburg:
Family friends invited us out for brunch in Lüneburg on our second day, and we spent the afternoon wandering around the town. It's a beautiful historic town known for it's salt mines and ice cream shops! It's one of my favourite places in Germany and I was really excited to show it to James. There's so many cobbled streets and pretty old buildings.
Day 3, Hamburg:
Hamburg is an amazing city and James and I explored it thoroughly. We even took a boat ride through the harbour after visiting the Speicherstadt, Chilehaus, Old Elbe Tunnel and Elbphilharmonie. We also briefly looked at the town hall before we grabbed lunch and did some shopping on the Mönckebergstraße. Luckily we managed to avoid the G20 demonstrations and protests.
Day 4, Salzwedel:
Salzwedel is another historic town in my local area of Germany with beautiful coloured houses as pictured above, but the main reason we visited was the famous tree cake baked there (unfortunately eaten too quickly to photograph). It's made by drizzling batter over a spit and creates layers that look like the rings of a tree. Yummy!
Day 5, Uelzen/Bad Bevensen:
Unfortunately I have no photos of our fifth day as we spent our time shopping and swimming which doesn't make for especially interesting pictures, but we still had great fun in both a salt spa pool and a regular one (with a pretty cool slide).
Day 6, Our last day :( :
I never want to leave Germany when the time comes and today was no different, but I still had a lovely day in the sun with my boyfriend and my doggo!
