Danke Sehr

I've never really had a burning desire to visit Germany - especially in January - but we managed to find a cheap flight to Berlin for the weekend and decided to check it out. So many people have told me Berlin is their favourite city in Europe, so I had very high hopes for this trip. I won't say I haaaated Berlin, but it definitely does not reach the top of my list of favourite cities. I don't think I was prepared for how strongly the city was influenced by Soviet architecture, it's all grey block buildings!! Going on a freezing weekend in the winter probably didn't help either.

We arrived Friday night, and after checking into our hostel, EastSeven Berlin Hostel, headed out to find dinner. The hostel was fine. It was close to a subway station but definitely out of the main hustle and bustle of the city. It's nice to have a quiet place to retreat to, but I think for future quick weekends away we are going to stay closer to the city centre to minimize time travelling around. 

I have no idea where we ended up for dinner (Pat was navigating at this point - I was just happy we found A restaurant.)

It was so nice being able to go out for dinner with appetizers, main courses & wine AND beer for less than $40 again. I've never felt too full and been pleasantly surprised at the bill in London. I have literally no idea what kind of meat I was eating and even if it was a "traditional" German meal but it was gooood.

We woke up Saturday morning to fresh snowfall - our first of the year! Man you appreciate snow so much more when you don't live in Canada. 

Enjoying the snow for once.

We stumbled upon a delicious breakfast at Antipodes, a little hole in the wall cafe near our hostel. They made the best chai lattes I've ever had in my entire life, along with a super fresh and savoury bacon and avocado breakfast sandwich. 

I need to figure out how to recreate these chai lattes!

And these breakfast sandwiches!!!

We spent Saturday afternoon following a typical tourist path around the city.

Berlin from the top of the TV Tower

Cathedral

Lowenbrau Brewery for a beer and a schnitzel

Brandenburg Gate

Saturday evening we bought tickets to see Blue Man Group. Pat hadn't been yet and for some reason decided he needed to see the show. In Berlin. When in Rome?

Sunday we did more of a historical tour of the city: the Berlin Wall Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, the Holocaust Memorial. 

East vs West Berlin at the Memorial

Preserved remnants of the wall

the Reichstag

Angela Merkel's office!

All in all it was a nice weekend. And I promise to give Berlin another chance in the summer!

Guten tag!