After two and a half weeks traveling down Central/Eastern Europe we’re now back in the West, and Berlin to be more exact (well really that depends which side of the city you’re in I suppose…)! I have been sightseeing Berlin one time before during a class excursion in 10th grade. That is already 12 years ago.

When we planned this trip a few months back, we wanted to visit 4 cities in Western Europe. Not that we love cities that much, but these are cities you kinda have to visit at least once. We are chasing landmarks while sightseeing, and these cities are full of them. Neither of us had visited any of them yet either, except me in Berlin twelve years ago. Since we’re on a tight budget and schedule, we only have so much time. But again with a bit of determination, one whole day in most cities (with a few exceptions) is enough time to see the bigger landmarks the place is known for and that was what we went for in Berlin. That is of course, if it’s enough for you to see them from the outside and not lining up waiting hours to get in. We are usually avoiding that since almost every place is too crowded to enjoy it anyway and you are ending up just following the line while slowly suffocating. Yes we had one terrible experience with this and without going into that any further now I can say that it was in Vatican City.

We have had a great day in the German Capital. Our Airbnb was located close to Hermanstraffe, a good walk from the city centre but we didn’t mind. We started in the morning and our first landmark was Checkpoint Charley which is nothing to fancy but a must see while in Berlin! This is where you would leave or enter any of the two sides of the city during the cold war! We also saw small pieces of the wall here outside the Checkpoint Charlie museum onsite.

From there we kinda toured around the inner city and next place we bumped into was Deutscher Dom and Gendarmenmarkt where we also happened to witness a wedding 😀

Brandenburg Gate was busy, but a must see…

Where we also got some “live” music. It was pretty neat!

Also a must see is Reichstagsgebäude or Das Deutsche Bundestag which is the lower house of parliament. Quite a building.

We made our way over the river to Alexanderplatz where you can see the Berliner Fernsehturm or radio tower as I probably would call it. I actually went to the top last time I was in Berlin and it’s quite a view. Recommended if you want to see the city from above. We also went all in with an ice-cream, Sarah was happy!

St. Marienkirche is also located in front of the tower. A church I remembered as very big (and it still is) but now after years with traveling I know there are some big ass churches out there. Still worth a visit though.

Just a few hundred meters, and over the bridge from St. Marienkirche we saw Berliner Dom which also is an magnificent building.

Of course this is only a handful of what there is to see in Berlin, but these were a few of the highlights…. Except of course:

I always loved these little things you’re bumping into while walking around.

This is a city packed with history and you can spend lots of time exploring around. Last time I was here we also saw bigger sections of the wall which we didn’t have time to now. I recommend that too, especially if you’re into history!

Auf wiedersehen

Robin