18 - 22nd August 2015
This has been our first visit to this great City. Our itinerary went a little like this:
Tuesday 18th August - Flew from Heathrow into Berlin at 15:15pm, met by Chris and Mark. One hour and forty flight. Bus into Berlin, then tube to Neukölln. Went out in the evening to a great Asian fusion restaurant in the gay district. Then enjoyed a few drinks in the gay bars of east Kreuzberg.
Wednesday 19th - Got up late due to a fun late night out. Sunny morning. Had a coffee down the road from apartment. Then off to explore. Walked around the site of the Tempelhof airport and enjoyed the pop-up allotments. Then off to view Bear pit... (no show of bears)... Back on train, got off at the zoo gardens, walked down to contemporary art gallery near Kathe Kollwitz Gallery. Had pizza lunch. Back on train, got off at Hackescher Markt to get pleasure boat, enjoyed the 1 hour cruise in the sun... Poor Mark had no hat! Lovely water based views of the City. Off boat and walked up to Alexanderplatz, and the worlds smallest gay bar (as named by Mark and Chris). Then something to eat near train station. Then off to open air cinema... Did not see film, came home via Checkpoint Charlie. What a day! Went to bed, Mark and Chris up early to fly to Chanel islands, we say goodbye and thank you to our wonderful hosts!
Thursday 20th - Beautiful sunny morning. On train to Jannowitzbrucke, walked to old Nikolaiviertel district, had breakfast near the unmissable Berliner Fernsehturm (Berlin TV Tower), then walked down to Museum island. Walked amongst the many galleries, past the spectacular Berlina Dom, and past site of the Stadtschloss palace de Republic. Then over to the Unter den Linden, the once amazing main shopping Street, then up to the beauifully moving Neue Wache, shard of light memorial by Kathe Kollwitz. Then crossed road to Bebelplatz (site of the book burning and beautiful underground memorial) then over to the Gendarmenmarkt (site of 2 spectacular Churches and Concert Hall) then up to Deutsche Bank KunstHalle where we enjoyed a really interesting Photography show and nice toilets. Then walked upto Brandenburg Gate. Then the Jewish memorial, then Sony centre, then the Daimler contemporary art centre, where we saw some interesting Chinese art. Next up, the Topography of terror... A very moving experience and certainly worth your time. We then walked along canal to the famous Bauhaus archive. We sit still for a moment to enjoy coffee and cake with the wasps, then inside to explore. Then, we think about heading home... we found a keisser super market and got snacks. Came home to apartment, freshened up and then out to explore the edgy north district of Neukölln. Really great vibe and very cool, like Hoxton and Shorditch in London. Then home for wine and snacks. Great day.
Friday 21st - A sunny walk through the 'street art' covered streets of East Kronberg. Then walked to see the very dated art work on the remaining stretch of THE wall at the East side open air gallery. Then a train ride to Karl Marx Allee to view the ugly opulence of the Communist architecture. Next off to visit two very good smaller contemporary art galleries in the Spandauer Vorstadt district, the ME collectors Room and the KW institute for contemporarty art. Then up to Nordstadt to experience the very moving Berlin Wall memorial. Then down to Bundesstadt and the Spectacular Reichstag... THEN... I was stung on my right lower eyelid on train by a wasp... Ouch! Finished day with a couple of beers by the river at the lovely open air bar. Got back to apartment and had a light dinner of finger snacks. Lovely day.
Saturday 22nd - Another sunny day in beautiful Berlin. We do a quick tidy up of the apartment and pack our case. Then off to explore the Neukölln district (again)... We find the lovely Sauvage restaurant and enjoy another meal bothered by wasps. Then back to apartment, pick up luggage and off to airport. We love Berlin and can't wait to return!!
10 out of 10!
