Berlin, Germany

July 1–4, 2017 | After our trip to Paris, we hopped over to the capital of Germany for another few days.

Neither Jenni nor I had been to Germany before, so we had known all year that we wanted to visit prior to leaving Europe. It also just so happens that one of Jenni’s friends from high school lives in Berlin, so that helped influence what city we chose. We found that three full days in town gave us enough time, but we’d both enjoy going back sometime.

We arrived late morning to our hostel after an early flight from Paris, and then we went out walking for a few hours. Berlin has a great park called Tiergarten, where we happily wandered around. Retiro Park in Madrid feels more manicured, but Tiergarten, on the other hand, seems more like a forest. It has huge trees climbing towards the sky in different directions and small streams that criss cross the paths.

There’s a major road that runs through the center of the park. In the center of a large traffic circle you can see Victory Tower, and then looking towards the east you can see Brandenburg Gate.

In front of Victory Column, which we later climbed

On our walk we also passed through Museum Island (self-explanatory), but the rain didn’t deter us from taking a picture in front of the impressive-looking Berliner Dom.

For dinner we met up with Jenni’s friend, Erika, who took us to a Turkish restaurant in a different neighborhood towards the south. It happened to be close to a rooftop bar/lounge, so obviously we went there after eating to enjoy some classic German beats while blending in with the locals.

During our second day, we climbed Victory Tower to get a view of the city, went to a bustling outdoor market, and continued to eat internationally (Indian for lunch and Thai for dinner). The market was a highlight – Jenni picked up a stylish new necklace, and we witnessed a very Berlin-esque karaoke event that takes place every week at this market.

This amphitheater hosts the weekly karaoke, where anyone can volunteer

With Jenni’s high school friend, Erika, and her boyfriend, Mark

Day 3 was highlighted by the walking tour, which helped us understand much more of Berlin’s history with respect to the post WWII/Cold War era. It’s unbelievable to think that a literal wall divided the city for nearly 30 years. There’s one stretch of the old wall that has been graffiti’d with some interesting artwork.