Berlin
What an exhausting trip this was. An Italian, another Canadian and I were in Berlin for two nights and one day, leaving on the Saturday morning. In other words there wasn't going to be much sleep in this trip. That was fine though, there's a lot to see in Berlin.
I would have to say Berlin was the most unique European city I've been too. It has that alternative atmosphere to it. You'll meet people there from all over the world which donates to Berlin's uniqueness. The difference between the East and West side of Berlin is very noticeable which adds another cool twist to Berlin. The West side is the corporate / modern / rich side of Berlin and the East side is the artsy / laid back / poorer side of Berlin. Many tourists prefer the East side just because its the most unique, fun and interesting.
We started off the morning in Berlin in Alexanderplatz. See is one of the most famous areas in Berlin. This is where the Berlin tower, Christmas festival, cathedrals, museums and other famous architecture and statues. So you have this famous platz in the middle of your city with cathedrals and churches and then literally there is a basketball court and a beach volleyball court right beside them. You know you're in Berlin when...
We then checked out Checkpoint Charlie. This is where people had to check-in and out between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. All thats left is the little checkpoint house but a big part of Berlin's history as you can imagine. We then went to checkout the infamous Berlin Wall. They had several pieces of the wall displayed in the downtown. The pieces were about 12ft tall and 3ft wide full of graffiti. It gave you a good idea what it would have looked like if the wall were to span the middle of the city. If you were to look to your left though, you could see an artificial sledding hill in the middle of downtown. They built a giant ramp and put snow on it so people could trek up their to sled down on their sleds. Again, you know you're in Berlin when...
After we decided to head over to the Jewish memorial. This was a big field of concrete blocks sticking out of the ground (You can see in the photos). This field of concrete blocks symbolized the events of teh Halocaust. We then headed over to the Gateway to Freedom. This arch was imported from Rome and you can definately tell. It's very similar to the monuments you would find in Rome and arguably the most beautiful monument in Rome. Right beside the gate is the parliament building which is another magnificent building. These Germans have some architectural skills up their sleeves...
That night we decided to go on a pub crawl to experience Berlin's night life. All the bars had the ir own unique style. There'd be bars with pictures of naked midgets to other ones with open flames bursting from the roof. We ended up in this really cool club that had several rooms with different music in each one. They had cage dancers and the whole deal. Pretty cool place but we couldn't stay that long becasue we had a plane to catch.
We then headed back to hostel to grab our stuff and to grab another one of those unbelievably good Berlin kabobs. Berlin is famous for their kabobs and I have to say I definately took advantage. The best kabobs in the world are from Berlin. If you go to Berlin get a kabob period...
We then headed over to the airport for our tiresome trek back to Maastricht. Overall, a really cool trip to one of Europe's coolest cities. I wish I could've stayed longer but unfortunately that wasn't possible. Oh well, there's always a next time...
Kean
I would have to say Berlin was the most unique European city I've been too. It has that alternative atmosphere to it. You'll meet people there from all over the world which donates to Berlin's uniqueness. The difference between the East and West side of Berlin is very noticeable which adds another cool twist to Berlin. The West side is the corporate / modern / rich side of Berlin and the East side is the artsy / laid back / poorer side of Berlin. Many tourists prefer the East side just because its the most unique, fun and interesting.
We started off the morning in Berlin in Alexanderplatz. See is one of the most famous areas in Berlin. This is where the Berlin tower, Christmas festival, cathedrals, museums and other famous architecture and statues. So you have this famous platz in the middle of your city with cathedrals and churches and then literally there is a basketball court and a beach volleyball court right beside them. You know you're in Berlin when...
We then checked out Checkpoint Charlie. This is where people had to check-in and out between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. All thats left is the little checkpoint house but a big part of Berlin's history as you can imagine. We then went to checkout the infamous Berlin Wall. They had several pieces of the wall displayed in the downtown. The pieces were about 12ft tall and 3ft wide full of graffiti. It gave you a good idea what it would have looked like if the wall were to span the middle of the city. If you were to look to your left though, you could see an artificial sledding hill in the middle of downtown. They built a giant ramp and put snow on it so people could trek up their to sled down on their sleds. Again, you know you're in Berlin when...
After we decided to head over to the Jewish memorial. This was a big field of concrete blocks sticking out of the ground (You can see in the photos). This field of concrete blocks symbolized the events of teh Halocaust. We then headed over to the Gateway to Freedom. This arch was imported from Rome and you can definately tell. It's very similar to the monuments you would find in Rome and arguably the most beautiful monument in Rome. Right beside the gate is the parliament building which is another magnificent building. These Germans have some architectural skills up their sleeves...
That night we decided to go on a pub crawl to experience Berlin's night life. All the bars had the ir own unique style. There'd be bars with pictures of naked midgets to other ones with open flames bursting from the roof. We ended up in this really cool club that had several rooms with different music in each one. They had cage dancers and the whole deal. Pretty cool place but we couldn't stay that long becasue we had a plane to catch.
We then headed back to hostel to grab our stuff and to grab another one of those unbelievably good Berlin kabobs. Berlin is famous for their kabobs and I have to say I definately took advantage. The best kabobs in the world are from Berlin. If you go to Berlin get a kabob period...
We then headed over to the airport for our tiresome trek back to Maastricht. Overall, a really cool trip to one of Europe's coolest cities. I wish I could've stayed longer but unfortunately that wasn't possible. Oh well, there's always a next time...
Kean
posted by Kean @ 4:20 AM
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