Berlin
Background:
Currency- Euros.
Weather- a bit chilly and drizzly.
There will be a TON of bear statues everywhere which was fun.
Berlin was more of an “I’m going in a circle, this is a good stopover spot.” Honestly, I’m still a little salty about the whole Holocaust and Nazis thing, so Germany was never on my go to list, but here we are. I started my journey with a short walking distance trip to their capital building, Reichstag, which you NEED to PRE-REGISTER for. Make sure you PRINT your ACCEPTANCE, because my phone email kept pulling up the registration confirmation, but not the actual acceptance confirmation (I left my print outs at the hotel room, I eventually found it, but it was still annoying.) They are real finicky about it, and if you don’t have it, they will make you sign up at a stand with a long line that you will have to return another day to actually visit. I would say it is worth it for the view and architecture. There is a cool glass rooftop dome, with a walkable rooftop area. Inside they skim over their government and the parliament building pre and post hitler. Once you get your selfie fix, there is a war memorial park I believe outside of the government building, but it was rather unimpressive. If you head back to the city center, you will walk under the Brandenburg Gate. A few more feet and to the right, you will arrive at the Holocaust memorial. The memorial is a series of stones similar to plain rectangular tombstones at varying heights. I continued my stroll past Museum Island and the Berlin Cathedral (where I legit almost got kidnapped in a van- true story.) Well, I guess I have time. This is the 2nd time I was almost abducted in a van (the first being in my local city by a guy “looking for his lost puppy,” at 11 pm, seriously, come up with something more original.) I was trying to cross the street after having my picture taken by a random German guy who also wanted to see me again later and find out where I was staying. A van was driving <5 mph inside of this circular drive which I had to cross, and I was yielding to the traffic. The van stopped and the driver asked me how tall I was (??) and I was like what?? He asked me something else, and i tried to wave him off like most tourists do in foreign countries like “not interested, i don’t speak the language.” However, he did not yield. I proceeded to walk forward to cross in front of the van, but each time I stepped forward, he pulled his van forward to block my path. I walk he drives, I stop, he stops. It got a bit ridiculous. I legit don’t remember for sure, but I think I just ran behind him and crossed that way and jogged for a few feet until he drove off. Don't let my experience discourage you from solo female traveling though, it’s just one of many crazy stories to add to my collection. Later that night, I got a beer and currywurst, which was actually pretty good. In fact, all of the food I ate in Germany was delicious, I will give them that.
My next adventure involved walking a good 4 miles or so to the Berlin wall. At the start of my trek, I met a guy from the Ukraine on a group travel trip who decided to join me on my quest and practice his English. He actually learned English (he was VERY fluent) just from watching television and using dictionaries. I was very impressed. We started our day grabbing a warm drink and bite to eat as we walked to Alexanderplatz. We took some pics, and I showed him where I live on the world clock. We continued over to the Berlin Wall/ East Side Gallery. The wall itself is very long, but the further you walk down, the more intricate artwork you will see painted on the walls. Once you reach the end, there is a castle worthy bridge near the river. I can’t tell you much about the history of Germany, but you can piece some things together. We wrapped our walk back toward Volkspark fairy-tail fountain, which by the way was drained and covered (booo 😥), but the walk was still nice. After we burned a thousand calories on our journey, we had schnitzel and beer at our starting point. Despite eating everything on my plate, I still had a late night dinner featuring another German treat (a type of dumpling- which apparently is a local food in several surrounding countries 🤷🏽♀️.) Overall, my time in Berlin was pretty good. I don’t know that I would go back, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it. I did miss out on the skywalk, so I would recommend that.
