day 1
stefan invited me along on his work trip to berlin! after a flight that took just 1h30 i was eating currywurst with him right there under the u-bahn (pic above and just below)... so grateful.
i REALLY liked berlin, it felt so comfortable. such pretty buildings, nice shops and eateries, and easy to bike around.
dinner was had at the beer garden, prater biergarten. i dined with stefan and tulay (a lovely colleague of his) eating schnitzel and drinking beer - well, they did, i had a fish dish and drank shandies (my version doesn't sound german). for a beer garden, the setting was quite nice under the chestnut trees.
day 2
we started our day with a swim in the gorgeous cathedral-like swimming pool at hotel oderberge. it. was. lovely. stefan had an early start at work so i swam a bit longer then breakfasted at the hotel cafe. i could be happy with all my mornings starting like this one.
the hotel is located in the prenzlauer berg neighbourhood. a residential neighbourhood filled with cafes and indie boutiques. the triangular kollwitzplatz park hosts farmers markets and right across the street i found an aveda store... cheaper than buying aveda products in stockholm and i am loving the be curly hair product that came home with me.
actually, there were great shops all around and i picked up what's turned out to be a favourite summer dress. linienstrasse, oderberger strabe, and redzkistrabe are great streets for shopping.
i lunched at anna blume cafe (twice!) while i was exploring on my own, the salad was just too good. but i hear that mein haus am see is great too.
near the hotel is the main sightseeing attraction, the gedenkstätte berliner mauer, a very well done outdoor exhibit/memorial that explains how the berlin wall shaped the city. it integrates the original section of the wall and installations show where the escape tunnels were located. the multimedia stations and panels explain the everyday lives of people on both sides. it was very well done, i would highly recommend it.
we watched soccer games at the kulturbrauerei (cultural centre); a 19th-century red and yellow brick building that has been turned into multiple venues such as concert halls, shops, dance studios, bars, a cinema and history museum too. we hung out at the bar/cafe to watch germany play korea on the outdoor screen. poor germans, they were not happy.
the day ended with a lovely dinner in the courtyard of michelberger's restaurant, one of those places that serves seasonal, organic, right from the farmer kind of places. and guys, they had spinach tempura which was out of this world. the spinach was crispy! so we quizzed the waiter about how they kept the spinach from wilting. the secret, if i remember it correctly, was to cook it at a really high temperature quickly and to use the lightest flour.
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| photo from hotel oderberge's website |
day 3
it was another beautiful day, breakfasting with stefan at cafe krone just up the street from the hotel.
i rode my borrowed bike to the graffiti covered remnants of the berlin wall known as the east side gallery. the wall was painted by various artists interpreting the events on november 9, 1989 when the wall came down. the most known image is that of former russian leader leonid brezhnev giving his east german counterpart erich honecker quite the passionate kiss.
i read about a small shop in the kreuzberg district of berlin that sells the best soft pretzels so i had to visit. it wasn't nearby and after a few wrong turns, i finally made it to brezel bar. sinking into one of their leather armchairs with my pretzel felt like the best thing ever. i really don't have anything to compare to the soft pretzel i ate but i can definitely say it was delicious. i bought two to take away, one for stefan and one to bring home to kai... needless to say, kai never got his ;)
riding back into the centre, i stopped into the store in soho house to gawk at their beautiful things (for a few thousand euros you can take home some great design!).
on our last evening, i met up with stefan to shop and dine. he rode around on a motorized bike! when you first take off, it gives you a push which is a bit startling - i may have yelped - but then you welcome those little pushes. i want one!!!
we visited a great shop called albert met victoria (a his and hers shop next door to each other) and were tempted by so many lovely things. the bavarian tapas dinner at leibhaftig was awesome... bavarian tapas, who knew. the staff was friendly and the environment relaxed. actually, it was like that everywhere i visited in berlin.
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| cafe krone |
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| the badeschiff is a floating public swimming pool in the east harbour of river spree (the river itself is too polluted to swim in) |
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| fernsehturm, the tv tower, was first a symbol to show the strength of the communist party but after the reunification of berlin, it simply became symbolic with berlin, it is easily visible throughout the city centre |
there is so much more to experience in berlin... eating at fes turkish bbq, hanging out at tempelhof airport runway turned park, drink cocktails at ora, watch a german singer sing a tuneless johnny cash cover at the open air amphitheatre in mauerpark on sundays (apparently, he's a beloved local), visiting the pergaman museum, and the list goes on.
thank you stefan (insert heart emoji here)!
