Our sleep had been disturbed by the ringing of my 3am alarm bell that had been set for the previous night for our airport journey. Despite this false start the rest of the day was lovely.
We embarked foggy early morning metro (free) ride to Hackescher Markt and we saw our first batch of bona fide tourists groups as well as the lovely Berliner dome on the way to the Pergamon museum. We didn’t really feel like we were in Berlin, but more ‘Paris/Russia/England in the middle ages’, the presence of accordion players everywhere aided this perception.
This museum had been recommended to us by EVRYONE, and for good reason. This Museum is insane, fitting whole buildings within a building. The inner historian in me swelled with pride at having seen this museum, externally I was just gawping at everything.
<
I usually ignore these audio guides but they really were useful in helping me engage with the museum, instead of my usual tirade, ‘I’ve seen one topless statue, I’ve seen them all’ (I admit it!)
Model of the temple of Babylon. Love the guy in the corner pulling the serious museum face.
Cone mosaics, beautiful and functional as they protected walls from the elements.
I’m a sucker for this type of jewellery; however they obviously served a more functional purpose. In the Ancient Orient, priests wore these while conducting magical rituals and sacrifices.
After the museum, we took a nice through the Lustgarten and towards the Berliner Dome. I never visit churches in England; however, I’m always drawn to them abroad.
There was a classical concert rehearsal going on while we were there which added to the already serene ambiance of the church.
To get this view from outside the church, I had to ask the security guard who was hogging this window but looked like he was really basking in the view and the sunshine.
Next, we went to the Atlas Museum and didn’t make it past the foyer because a)we had to pay and b)...we were maxed out on Antiques and statues.
We then went on a long hunt for the Marx and Engels statues, LSE students through and through.
Next we went to Nikolaivietal, which can be described as a little quaint village within a city. It was full of cute and fairly priced traditional German bars and cafes as well as pastel buildings. I really felt like I was in a Jacques Demy set (or the German equivalent?).
We then headed to the nearby Alexanderplatz- saw the TV tower and Clock- both really gaudy in my opinion but I guess it was a tourist itch that had to be scratched. We bypassed waiting to go to the top of the tower, as we were too tired and hungry and paying $$$$ and waiting an hour and half just did not seem worth it.
So we took a tram back to Hackesher Markt to go to ‘Sixities’- an old school 60s diner. We got a good meal and sensible advice from the waitress- a trip to the KitKatClub was out. She confirmed our dress code fears. The distance from our lodging to the club, coupled with the weather meant that sauntering around in leather or thongs would be an epic bad idea. Also way too much emphasis on sex party than dance party for my liking, sorry guys...
Loaded up on carbs with feet rested we headed to Fredrichstrasse to see Checkpoint Charlie. The museum was a disappointment and seemed to be more focused on selling merchandise than anything else. Checkpoint Charlie itself confirmed my theory that men in costume miltary uniform by Berlin attractions are either goofy/adorable souls, more so than what job requires.
We then went to see the Berlin Highflyer which was purported to be the world’s biggest balloon, and I would nominate it as the most pointless attraction.
We walked around frederichstrasse to find the restaurant we wanted to go to or dinner and discovered that guidebooks can also fail, as Berliners told us that it was closer to Alexanderplatz –which meant more walking; I was limping as when we got . The restaurant in question was Die Zwölf Apostel (The 12 Apostles) - a pizza restaurant based around the Last Supper theme. The pizza is renowned as being the best and the theme wasn’t tacky in practice but really funny. Tables were arranged in twelves, so you could be sitting with strangers. We were sitting next to an awkward first date (we may not speak German fluently but we are masters at body language). Also the pizzas were named after the apostles; my favourite was the ‘Judas pizza’ which was full of slow burning spices! It would have been perfect had our waitress not been an uptight bitch, even the sound of the S-bahn directly above the restaurant didn’t bother us. I really recommend that you go here if you're in Berlin, it seems to be beloved by tourists and locals. Here's hoping you don’t get the waitress with the skank attitude!
Our day was not over yet...
We went to Alexanderplatz to find the Weekend club but were told by super sweet German teenagers that it was touristy and that they only played house and techno.I was indifferent to the music but my friend wanted an RnB /hip hop club- so we were advised to go to go Soda. We also noticed how defensive Berlin teens got when we said we from London...
Went back to halls and got ready. Again took a long s-bahn journey/walk to get to the club; we got lost and got direction from a girl called Nina, who happened to be going there as well. So joined her, got through the back entrance and were giving champagne- so our first dive into Berlin nightlife was pretty amazing. A Berlin commandment – clubs do not get bangin till 2/3am we got there at the early time of 11.30PM; the rooms were empty with epileptic style dancing to hip hop. It was the opposite of London and I loved that; people were free to dance how they want, dress in jeans basic t shirt and not like Beyonce’s poorer sister. By 2.30 we were exhausted, well me more than my unstoppable partner!
We embarked foggy early morning metro (free) ride to Hackescher Markt and we saw our first batch of bona fide tourists groups as well as the lovely Berliner dome on the way to the Pergamon museum. We didn’t really feel like we were in Berlin, but more ‘Paris/Russia/England in the middle ages’, the presence of accordion players everywhere aided this perception.
This museum had been recommended to us by EVRYONE, and for good reason. This Museum is insane, fitting whole buildings within a building. The inner historian in me swelled with pride at having seen this museum, externally I was just gawping at everything.
<
I usually ignore these audio guides but they really were useful in helping me engage with the museum, instead of my usual tirade, ‘I’ve seen one topless statue, I’ve seen them all’ (I admit it!)
Model of the temple of Babylon. Love the guy in the corner pulling the serious museum face.
Cone mosaics, beautiful and functional as they protected walls from the elements.
I’m a sucker for this type of jewellery; however they obviously served a more functional purpose. In the Ancient Orient, priests wore these while conducting magical rituals and sacrifices.
After the museum, we took a nice through the Lustgarten and towards the Berliner Dome. I never visit churches in England; however, I’m always drawn to them abroad.
There was a classical concert rehearsal going on while we were there which added to the already serene ambiance of the church.
To get this view from outside the church, I had to ask the security guard who was hogging this window but looked like he was really basking in the view and the sunshine.
Next, we went to the Atlas Museum and didn’t make it past the foyer because a)we had to pay and b)...we were maxed out on Antiques and statues.
We then went on a long hunt for the Marx and Engels statues, LSE students through and through.
Next we went to Nikolaivietal, which can be described as a little quaint village within a city. It was full of cute and fairly priced traditional German bars and cafes as well as pastel buildings. I really felt like I was in a Jacques Demy set (or the German equivalent?).
We then headed to the nearby Alexanderplatz- saw the TV tower and Clock- both really gaudy in my opinion but I guess it was a tourist itch that had to be scratched. We bypassed waiting to go to the top of the tower, as we were too tired and hungry and paying $$$$ and waiting an hour and half just did not seem worth it.
So we took a tram back to Hackesher Markt to go to ‘Sixities’- an old school 60s diner. We got a good meal and sensible advice from the waitress- a trip to the KitKatClub was out. She confirmed our dress code fears. The distance from our lodging to the club, coupled with the weather meant that sauntering around in leather or thongs would be an epic bad idea. Also way too much emphasis on sex party than dance party for my liking, sorry guys...
Loaded up on carbs with feet rested we headed to Fredrichstrasse to see Checkpoint Charlie. The museum was a disappointment and seemed to be more focused on selling merchandise than anything else. Checkpoint Charlie itself confirmed my theory that men in costume miltary uniform by Berlin attractions are either goofy/adorable souls, more so than what job requires.
We then went to see the Berlin Highflyer which was purported to be the world’s biggest balloon, and I would nominate it as the most pointless attraction.
We walked around frederichstrasse to find the restaurant we wanted to go to or dinner and discovered that guidebooks can also fail, as Berliners told us that it was closer to Alexanderplatz –which meant more walking; I was limping as when we got . The restaurant in question was Die Zwölf Apostel (The 12 Apostles) - a pizza restaurant based around the Last Supper theme. The pizza is renowned as being the best and the theme wasn’t tacky in practice but really funny. Tables were arranged in twelves, so you could be sitting with strangers. We were sitting next to an awkward first date (we may not speak German fluently but we are masters at body language). Also the pizzas were named after the apostles; my favourite was the ‘Judas pizza’ which was full of slow burning spices! It would have been perfect had our waitress not been an uptight bitch, even the sound of the S-bahn directly above the restaurant didn’t bother us. I really recommend that you go here if you're in Berlin, it seems to be beloved by tourists and locals. Here's hoping you don’t get the waitress with the skank attitude!
Our day was not over yet...
We went to Alexanderplatz to find the Weekend club but were told by super sweet German teenagers that it was touristy and that they only played house and techno.I was indifferent to the music but my friend wanted an RnB /hip hop club- so we were advised to go to go Soda. We also noticed how defensive Berlin teens got when we said we from London...
Went back to halls and got ready. Again took a long s-bahn journey/walk to get to the club; we got lost and got direction from a girl called Nina, who happened to be going there as well. So joined her, got through the back entrance and were giving champagne- so our first dive into Berlin nightlife was pretty amazing. A Berlin commandment – clubs do not get bangin till 2/3am we got there at the early time of 11.30PM; the rooms were empty with epileptic style dancing to hip hop. It was the opposite of London and I loved that; people were free to dance how they want, dress in jeans basic t shirt and not like Beyonce’s poorer sister. By 2.30 we were exhausted, well me more than my unstoppable partner!
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