The sun sets over Berlin
What do you do when you have a few days in between house sits? You go to Berlin, of course!
When my time in Tenerife was up, I had a few days before I had to be in France for my next house sit. Originally, I was going to just spend those nights in Geneva, since I had to fly there anyway. This plan quickly changed once I started looking into cheap lodging in Geneva. Guess what? Apparently, there is nothing cheap in Geneva. EVER.
So, I pulled out the big guns, got on Skyscanner and started looking at where I could get to in Europe on the cheap. They have a beautiful feature where you can leave your destination open and they show you where you can go based on price. It came down to a few cities in Germany, and Brussels. All appealed to me as I had never been to any of these locations.
Everything came together when I talked to a friend of mine who was doing a wee Eurotrip of her own. Hey! She was going to be in Berlin on those dates too. No. Brainer.
What’d we see?
It was something of a last minute decision, so I wasn’t able to do the research I normally would when going to a new city (this seems to be a trend for me these days). Luckily for me, however, my buddy knew a local. This really takes the pressure off. Show me YOUR Berlin. Though of course, I kept oscillating between the desire to coast and have no control and being nervous about the idea of giving up control. Can’t win.
The Berlin Wall
At the end of the day, I didn’t get to do all the tourist tourist stuff (I don’t have a photo of Brandenburg Gate, for example), but we did do a lot of exploring. One day on foot, another day by bike. Sometimes I prefer this, I know I’m missing the sights, but I feel like I’m seeing the city.
Prices
I keep thinking that all European cities are going to be around the same in terms of priciness, with Barcelona being my control city (dangerous, as Barcelona is so affordable… or at least was in 2010). I keep learning time and time again that this is not the case. Berlin was a little pricier than I expected, everything was about 1-2 Euros more than I would have thought.
Did we Party?
The days are super long in summer (4 am-10:30 pm), which probably contributed to what I am affectionately calling my “tourist fatigue.” I had expected there to be more partying in Berlin, as its reputation had preceded it, AND I had pals to play with. After two weeks of near solitude, I was ready for it. However, it didn’t turn up that way. The first night, my buddies were too tired, the second night, I was too tired, and so on. Of course, the one night we DID manage to go hard was the night before I had a 7 am flight the next day.
Way too psyched about my kebab
Guess who accidentally set their alarm for 4:30 pm and did not get on that flight, making Berlin more expensive than Geneva would have been? Just GUESS.
Eating
We had lots of good food during our time in Berlin. Upon arriving, I remembered hearing that Berlin is one of the best places in the world to get a Döner Kebab. I love me a Döner Kebab. I had three in four days. I want one right now. Dammit. Surprisingly, I didn’t have a lot of German food while there. The only wurst I had was curry. It’s such an international city that there are so many awesome cuisines available, and we took advantage of that. I go into detail about what and where we ate further down.
Curry Wurst!
German Playgrounds?!
One thing that stood out to me that I have no pictures of were the playgrounds. The playgrounds were SO AWESOME. I felt jealous of German children, saddened for American children. Every playground looked really conducive to using your imagination. They had some really fun contraptions, obstacle courses, tire swings, pirate ships. They were not nearly as safe or vanilla as playgrounds in the US have become. I have no photos of these because I saw most of them as we were biking by. In lieu of taking photos, I did make sure to yell enthusiastically about each one. My companions were like “Do you want us to stop?” and I was like “…yes…” Everyone loves a woman in her mid-thirties kicking their children off the tire swing, right?
Language
I feel a little impotent being in a country where I don’t speak the language at all (I’m so used to Spanish speaking countries). When I am somewhere different, I like to at least try with the language but since it was such a last minute trip I wasn’t able to study as much as I normally would. It’s easy to get embarrassed when I do so poorly, but pretty much everywhere in Berlin, English was spoken, so it wasn’t a huge problem. It’s easy to feel a little inferior when I struggle in this way, but then I remember that there are SO many places where I don’t speak the language and it’s okay. People make it work every day. It’s all a part of traveling and pushing your boundaries. Just do everything with a smile, be gracious, and try try try. Learning at least a few words in the native tongue will help ingratiate yourself… plus it will help learn a bit about the culture too.
Impressions
All in all, my impression of Berlin was that it was pretty German. The architecture was clean, basic, functional. Public transport was very easy and efficient. There were a lot of little different neighborhoods that all had their own personality, which I adore. It was easily navigable. I felt safe all the time. Lots of green, as they have a pretty robust park system.
I will say, after a few days of being a tourist, I am looking forward to moving on to France and resuming my laid-back and inexpensive lifestyle. The thoughts of mountains, lakes, and French food don’t hurt either.
Lunch by the water at Freischwimmer
Stand-out Establishments:
Beer by the water at Freischwimmer
Freischwimmer – Our lovely local pal took us here for lunch on our first day. It is a little spot right on the river. Great views. I wasn’t 100% sure what I was ordering (“frankfurter” apparently did not mean sausage), but what arrived was super fresh, super tasty, and unlike anything I had had before.
W-Der-Imbiss – When I first looked at the menu, I was a little disappointed. This restaurant is mainly vegan and vegetarian with some salmon options. However, once my salmon tacos arrived, I was more than pleased. They were VERY tasty and had VERY fresh ingredients. My meal came with four tacos and I had no problem putting them all in my face. This restaurant was also in a lovely part of town, worth a wander. Great shopping nearby as well.
Monster Ronson Ichiban Karaoke – As the friend I was meeting was a karaoke friend, we obviously had to get to singing. Our other friend’s niece (who is rad as fuck) is studying in Berlin, so she took us to Monster Ronson’s, which is an LGBTQ karaoke establishment that was very conveniently located. Monday was Multisexual Box Hopping day, which essentially means that you can hop into any open box (karaoke room, you perverts) and that you have to be cool. Duh. We stuck to the main stage, but it was awesome. Sadly, this night my buddy was ready to jam but I was feeling tourist fatigue. Also, my tummy felt weird from not drinking water all day. As my pal said, “Why would I order water when I could order beer?” It’s weird being in a place that does not offer free water. Weird and detrimental to your health.
Yarok – One of the main reasons I can never give up Facebook (despite how detrimental it can be to mental health) is that it keeps me connected to people I wouldn’t be connected to otherwise. This time around, I was able to connect with an old friend from high school (Middle school? Elementary school? All.) who used to live in Berlin and was going to be there at the same time as me. Bad. Ass. So, he took us to Yarok, which was really tasty Syrian food. Everything was super yummy, they had nice patio seating, and I got to reconnect with a human I hadn’t seen in probably 20 years. A definite win.
Our hostess
The baby queen
Bar Zum Schmutzigen Hobby – We went to this place for their Wednesday night drag show. The location was super cool. It was in this little network of alleys that had various establishments throughout. Awesome scene. Everyone at the bar was super friendly. The drag show was top notch. I ended up in the running to be crowned “Supergay of the Night” due to my knowledge of the first few notes of an En Vogue song, but the prize went to someone who was actually super gay, which I guess is only fair. After the drag show, there was an epic dance party. I had so much fun, I missed my flight. There’s probably a lesson here if only I could see it.
Delicious jerk chicken at YAAM
YAAM (Young African Art Market) – My pal and I just managed to stumble upon this place. The boys were feeling a little sick and a little tired, so Dee and I decided to take a long walk to dinner to see some of the city. As we were walking, I did a double-take. We passed this little opening in some fencing, and upon peeking inside there were all these different food and drink stalls. Of course, we went in to explore. There were various stalls with foods and items from African countries. We happened to find a Jamaican stall (yes, I know that’s not African, but it was there), so even though we were on our way to dinner, we decided to split a plate of jerk chicken. Best decision ever. I feel like we only scratched the surface of this place. Check it out!
The crowd at Pratergarten for the game
Biergartens – We went to a few Biergartens, all were lovely. I’m a little partial to the Biergarten in the Tiergarten (giant city park) as it is in the midst of leafy green trees situated next to a lovely lake. Prater Biergarten, where we watched the game where Germany was eliminated from the World Cup was also a good time. There are a variety of beers and snacks available and I could definitely see myself whiling away some afternoons in this fashion.
The Biergarten in the Tiergarten
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