I had such high hopes and have been wanting to visit Berlin for years. I think I set myself up to fail with my expectations to be honest. Always figured it was such a historical city with a modern arty vibe and edgy fashion scene. It probably is but I don't think I experienced it that way. I think the fact we didn't enjoy Germany as much as could've was probably because of the timing. I think quite a few people do visit the land of bratwurst during winter but most probably during the Christmas period. We arrived at the in-between time where its after Christmas (so all the christmas markets and cute festive vibe was over) but before it was warm enough for people to actually venture outside and enjoy the outdoors (severe lack of beer gardens). Millie visited in the summer and she said it was a completely different scene, a lot more bustling city-esque and not empty and full of construction as it was during our stay.
Munich wasn't too bad! We did a few walking tours that definitely tried your willpower to stand outside in the frosty wind and listen to the same ol' chat about this one artist having this bright idea for a building. Actually, our Munich city tour guide was a fun time. It was informative and enjoyable and he let us in on loads of little facts and hidden historical/"fun fact" spots around the city. We visited this church especially that was breathtaking. It didn't look like much on the outside but the moment you stepped in, you were surrounded by incredibly high ceilings, massive marble columns, impressing paintings lining the walls and the most insanely detailed carvings and sculptures. It was gorgeous. Didn't manage to snag a proper picture because am not actually sure what the rules are with flash photography in consecrated churches but hey ho. Definitely one for the mems. I wanted to visit the famous Disney-inspired castle outside of Munich but couldn't rally the troops nor did I want to venture 2 hours away on my own when I couldn't speak a single word of German. We did the third-reich tour as well which I totally recommend, I forget what a massive part Munich played in Hitler's regime. It was where it all began and we visited little landmarks where Hitler's name and propaganda started taking stand. We went to a few beer halls on a pub crawl type thing as well which was loads of fun.
We then sat in a 6 hour train ride to Berlin (??? I have 8 hours in my head but that was probably what it felt like). It was kinda funny when we were sat down waiting to depart and there was this long delay and announcement after announcement, non of which we understood. We sat down waiting patiently anyways until after this last announcement, people immediately started getting up and rushing out immediately and we were sort of sat down amongst this flurry of people, so confused with what was going on and even panicking slightly because no one was stopping and explaining to us. This nice girl tried but she didn't know much english so all we got was "Men...on train road", didn't quite soothe our panic as you may realise. A kind bilingual American explained that there was service on some tracks so the train was not stopping at certain destinations but he was getting off at Berlin too so he would flag us when we arrived. Pretty helpful. The weather wasn't much to speak off in Berlin either. Freezing and not a hint of sun the whole 4 days we were there.
We pretty much covered the main tourist bits in a day; Berlin wall, Holocaust Museum, Reichstag building & the Brandenburg gate. The museum was a fascinating part of the day and kinda humbling. Crazy what a messy history happened not too long ago. We covered everything else relatively quickly cause it was all within close walking distance of each other. We finally finally ventured on a night out in Berlin (we tried twice in Munich and failed to make it to any clubs - too embarrassed to expand on this part). Berlin night scene is picky I'd say, there were a lot of rules we had to "abide" to get granted entry into the club. Apparently, they prefer locals not tourists so don't speak english, they don't appreciate large groups especially of just boys and everyone was dressed in black. Would definitely fit right in easily because of the last bit. Anyways, we did get in thankfully, after they covered our phone cameras in stickers and patted us down. They had a strict no filming or pictures rule which I appreciate loads. No one had their phones out and everyone was just dancing, enjoying the music and having a good time. No one was even getting off which is what I noticed (completely diff from the British club scene where people are getting off at every crevice in the club). Everyone was entirely there for the music and to appreciate the DJ's work, it was refreshing. Amazing tunes and we were thoroughly hungover the next day. We left the airbnb at 4pm got a delicious pancake brunch/tea/dinner and just wandered around the rest of the city really.
I think I was just disappointed I didn't get to explore much and see more of Berlin. I didn't even get a single chance to try German food, oddly enough I consumed more Asian food in that week than I have in months. I definitely would like to re-visit but maybe in the summer when there's a better atmosphere and I'm not waddling around in 3/4 layers of clothing.
Talk soon xx
Awesome! Looks fun!
ReplyDeleteCarina | https://carinazz.blogspot.com/