The one thing we constantly thought when in Berlin was, “Well, this is different than spring break last year.” This time one year ago we were the typical college students off in Panama City Beach, Florida, and this year we are sophisticated college students (hah) traveling Europe, learning history and not caring so much about our tan. It’s hard to describe our trip to Berlin in a short statement. I can’t come out and say, “Yes, Berlin was amazing and so much fun,” because we were doing things like standing on Hitler’s bunker and touring a concentration camp. However, I did love Berlin and think it was one of the most important trips we took this semester. I left Berlin having learned SO much information. I can tell you all about the Berlin history, thanks to Barnaby, our fantastic tour guide. For anyone that’s studied abroad, chances are you’ve done a Sandeman’s tour. They do free tours (NewEurope) in a lot of major cities and then have a bunch of other ones that hit all the things to do in the city. We usually do these tours, but we did ours through Insider Tours in Berlin. We didn’t get to Berlin until late Sunday night/early Monday morning, so we checked into our hostel, grabbed some quick food (which was an adventure in itself because everything was closed) and then headed to bed. We woke up and went on a tour with Barnaby. We saw everything; starting with Museum Island, the center square where the famous book burning happened (plaque on the ground says, “Those who burn books will burn people” way before the Holocaust.)
We saw Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, Hitler’s bunker, the Jewish Memorial, Reichstag and ended with the Bradenburg gate. Checkpoint Charlie was nicknamed
“Disneyworld” by Barnaby because it is just actors dressed up to show the fake representation of Checkpoint Charlie.
picture Barnaby showed us of the actual Checkpoint Charlie:
We went into Fassbender & Rausch, chocolatiers who used to be the royal chocolatiers. The store was amazing. Needless to say we walked away with some sweets. They also had models of the Titanic and Reichstag.
We also learned a funny fact about Berlin; they have a lot of the same tree, and they are all numbers. Around 1, 280 trees I think. “A very German thing to do,” Barnaby told us.
After the tour we grabbed lunch and I had my second favorite meal of Berlin (first was my veggie enchilada from a restaurant named Que Pasa). It was a potato au gratin casserole with veggies and some pita bread for dipping. I just remember being amazed how delicious it was for a few hours after actually eating it. Same goes with my veggie enchilada, except for days. I still think about it. J We went into the Radisson to see the biggest fish tank in the world, and we rode the elevators illegally (needed a room key to swipe and ride up) instead of paying 17 euros to ride up the elevator through the fish tank. That night we got drinks for happy hour in our hostel lobby, then got dinner at Que Pasa. You already know how I feel about that meal. Del-i-cious.
Tuesday we went on a full day (6 hours) tour of Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp just about a hour outside of Berlin. What an eerie day. There was one bunker that was still standing and is now partially a museum. The rest of the camp’s bunkers were destroyed by the Germans before the camp was shut down, but there are memorials to represent where they would have been. The camp was ginormous, and we learned a lot of history/heard a lot of stories. We went through the same tour company as the day before, and our tour guide was Pen, short for Penelope. Also a 5 star guide. She was awesome.
When we got back to Berlin we grabbed a mid-afternoon snack at a really good restaurant near Hackescher Markt, then took off to see the East Side Gallery, a huge section of the Berlin Wall still standing that is entirely decorated with local artwork. Unfortunately, I lost my little camera in Prague just a few days later so I don’t have any of those pictures, but I personally think it was a really cool and neat thing to do. The artists were mostly local citizens, people that actually lived through when the Berlin wall was actually standing and dividing their city. Tuesday night we just grabbed dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant and relaxed before going back to the hostel.
We stayed at a hostel called CityStay and I would highly recommend it to anyone that is visiting Berlin. The hallways are brightly painted, there’s free wifi, the rooms & bathrooms were clean, the lobby has a bar with cheap happy hour drinks, and the staff was friendly and helpful. Not to mention our awesome location which was right next to Hackescher Markt.
Next stop, Prague!
My London Eye 
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