Conquering Berlin in 36 Hours

 

This past weekend's trip to Berlin was a real adventure, literally. We took an overnight bus from Copenhagen at 10:30pm to Berlin, arriving at 6am Saturday morning. In most cases, when you arrive in a foreign place early in the morning with 10 sleepy American students, it becomes a real challenge to get places. Our hostel that we stayed at, Wombat City hostel, was roughly 6 miles from the central bus station; and yes, we walked to it. On the way there, we had mapped out a few sights to see, such as the Charlottenborg Palace and Museum Island. 

The long walk to our hostel 

 We started off walking through a large suburban area with lots of greenery everywhere you looked. Our first stop on the way was the Charlottenborg Palace, so when we saw it, we knew that we were headed in the right direction. Our trek to the hostel was definitely taxing on our feet, but it was logical because of the sights along the way.

The next landmark that was crossed was the entrance to Mitte, the middle section of Berlin. Of course we had to stop to take some pictures. I was always glad when we stopped for photo opportunities so that I could give my feet a break. The architecture in Berlin is very modern with that historical feel, very similar to designs in Copenhagen. In Berlin, they actually have real street signs, as opposed to the name of street written on the side of a building.



Our next location to visit was Museum Island, which was very cool to see. But first, a break was needed to rest for a little while. We decided to relax in front of the Berliner Dom, Berlin's main cathedral, located near the city center.

Exhausted travelers

Berliner Dom

After a short break, we headed over the Pergamon Museum.

This museum is the home of special Classical European antiquities. Afterwards, we walked through the Memorial to the Murdered European Jews. Under the memorial, was an actual exhibit to go through as well. Throughout the afternoon, we soaked in a lot of history visiting the different landmarks or sights in the Berlin area. After seeing everything on Saturday, I didn't regret walking the 6 miles to our hostel; it was worth it.

By the time we arrive at the Wombat City Hostel, our group needed a well-deserved nap. Surprisingly, our hostel was a lot nicer than I anticipated, considering it was relatively inexpensive to stay there. A few hours later, after recharging our feet, we headed out to explore/find a place to eat dinner. We ended up at a cafe called Marcus Brau, which had really good food. Many people in our group were determined to find a place that had some sort of schnitzel, which is a boneless meat , thinned with a hammer, coated with flour, beaten egg, bread crumbs, and then fried. It is a popular food made from veal, chicken, beef, turkey or pork. This place had really good schnitzel.

The next morning, our goal was to go see the Berlin Wall. We used the train system rather than walking to save some time. 

We walked along most of the wall, and I really enjoyed it. Before catching our bus back to Copenhagen, we enjoyed a nice late lunch at a restaurant called Alex. Then our group met up back at the central station to head back home after an exhausting weekend.

The cool thing about heading back to Copenhagen was that our bus had to board a ferry for about an hour-long ride to Denmark. We all took this time to grab a bite to eat and reminisce about the weekend. We made it back to Copenhagen around midnight, and then walked back to our building. We all looked forward to sleeping in our own beds again, instead of small bunk beds at the hostel. Tomorrow afternoon, I take my final exam for my class and then I'm hopping on a flight to Paris, and then a train to Amsterdam on Saturday! I'm super excited to hang out with new friends and to see what else Europe has to offer!