Berlin - Day One

Two months home alone, looking after one very disobedient dog & two demanding cats, I was definitely in need of a little break, when mère returned home from her cruise.  My favourite travel companion, Miss Charlotte Wall & I, packed our bags & hopped onto the earliest flight, destination; Berlin.

I have previously visited Berlin with another friend, Lady Rawlinson, last January.  However, the -10° weather conditions, rather prevented my full enjoyment of the trip & I felt that we did not fully make the most of our time there.  To prevent this happening again, Charlotte & I made sure to create a full & extensive itinerary, whilst still naturally leaving ourselves with room to maneuver, should an avenue arise, we felt needed exploration.

We started our first day by heading to Huttenpalast, our accommodation for the duration, to drop off our bags.  A stone's throw from Hermanplatz U-Bahn station, along Hobrechtstraße street, this unique hotel experience is definitely something I'd recommend.

Fronted by a vegetarian cafe, Huttenpalast offers guests the indoor camping experience.  Vintage 1950's caravans restored & rejuvenated, along with quaint wooden huts, all in one open indoor space.  All came with seating areas alongside, to create a communal living area, whilst in addition, offering a garden outdoors.

Granted, the frosted glass doors on the communal showers (men's & woman's were separate) did bring blushes to our faint English cheeks, but the facilities were clean & modern & I really couldn't complain.

Breakfast was included in the price of the stay (€65.00 a night for two), which consisted of fresh fruit & croissants, served along with tea & coffee.  It wasn't quite enough to fill our hungry tummies though, so we mostly opted for a sweet treat from Dunkin' Donuts afterwards.

Once we'd set ourselves up on the hotel's free WIFI & familiarised ourselves with, all three of, our maps, we headed back to the U-Bahn station.  If you really want to cover a lot of Berlin in a small period of time, taking the U-Bahn is a really quick & convenient option, which cuts down a lot of walking.

The lines are broken up in zones, much the same as the London underground.  A, B & C.  You'll mostly only use C if you're heading to the airport.  Tickets come in bands AB, BC or ABC.  Charlotte & I opted for an all day AB ticket on days one & two, which cost €6.50 & lasted the entire day & up until 3am!

You need to validate your ticket at one of the machines before you get on the train.  This only needs to be done once.  There are, supposedly, plain-clothed ticket inspectors on the trains, who will fine you if you don't have a ticket, or if your ticket is not validated.  However, we never came across one, which made me regret spending the money.  Better safe than sorry one supposes.

On our way to the Holocaust Memorial, we came across a street market, that ran alongside the river.  Charlotte & I decided to have our first Bockwurst of the trip & spend a few euros on some postcards & magnets.

The Holocaust Memorial & the Brandenburg Gate, were followed by a stroll along the food stalls set up in the Großer Tiergarten opposite, where we indulged in midday fruity cocktails & overpriced sweets.

Full on sugar, Charlotte & I left the bustle of Großer Tiergarten in search of Checkpoint Charlie & managed to get our passports stamped on the way!

 There are a few little posts that will do this for you, some cost more than others.  Considering I rarely travel outside of Europe, it was quite exciting to finally get some stamps in my passport!

As the skies were darkening & a chill was setting in, we decided to make our way to the Jewish Museum, which thankfully is open until 8pm most days & even later on others.  Upon entering, you have to go through security akin to the airport.  Your bag goes through for an x-ray & you have to go through a metal detector.  Seemingly over the top for a museum.

Museum entrance tickets are €7 for adults & €3.50 for students.  I decided to try & put my youthful looks to good use & pretend I was a student.  Attempting to keep a straight face, I told the man at the desk I was nineteen.  When he asked for my student ID, I told him I had left it in the UK.  He then proceeded to tell me off, stating that English students are always forgetting everything.  I tried not to laugh.  Charlotte told the man she too was a student & he gave us both reduced tickets.  I picked up a museum guide & we ran off giggling.

I really enjoyed the museum, but I felt it asked more questions than it answered.  It also seemed quite small, although, we managed to spend a few hours there, soaking everything in.  Once our stomachs began to grumble we decided it was time to leave.

Charlotte brought to Berlin, a very cool map, which listed fun & quirky places to visit on the back.  One place in particular, was Burgermeister.  A burger joint, housed in a former public toilet, situated under the arches of Schlesisches Tor U-Bahn stop, in the ridiculously cool district of Kreuzberg.  Extremely popular & apparently quite hard to find!

Charlotte & I headed in the direction of Burgermeister, passing a worrying amount of police on the way.  Shortly followed by sporadic bursts of people, plastic cups of beer in hand.  I sensed we were missing out on something.

We persevered & continued to walk along, what seemed like, a never ending road, only to come to an abrupt stop, when faced with a wall of people.  Turns out May 1st is Labour Day in Berlin & boy do they celebrate!  This was in no way a street party we'd entered, this was a district party!

We soon became trapped amongst a plethora of drunken revelers, who, it has to be said, were disgustingly cool & made me feel distinctly like an awkward tourist!

It took time, but we escaped through the crowds, taking in a mix of sounds from the many live music acts & growing hungry with the mixed aromas coming from the array of food stalls & got back on with our Burgermeister search.

The skies darkened, our feet grew weary & quite frankly we were clueless.  Feeling deflated, defeated & hungry, we settled for a schnitzel & frites from some cool kid hangout under the arches.  Hopping on the nearest U-Bahn, we headed back to Huttenpalast, to our little cabin in the woods & passed out exhausted & happy.

Day one was complete.

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