Berlin, Germany

31.10-6.11.2018

Went to Berlin to meet up with my boyfriend. Both of us had been there before so we did not do much sightseeing. We met up with Flo's brother who decided to visit Berlin at the same time as us and his friend who lives there. We also met two of my friends Paula and Ann who both live there.

Treptower park. Walked around with Flo's brother and friend and sat on the grass for a while

After the park we met with Paula in a Zeit für Brot which is the most acknowledged bakery in Berlin

In one of the evenings we went to Flo's friends place and drank beer. After a while we went to one bar and drank some more as it was his birthday the following day. For me, the next day was wasted as I had a huge hungover from the beer and shots. Oh well, not the first time tehee. In the evening we got kebab and that was it for the day.

On the next day we went to Mall of Berlin to shop and eat.

We went to running sushi and made a challenge who can eat the most. I ate 15 plates aka 30 pieces of sushi. In the end we had a draw

They had a huge slide inside as well. Flo was not so into that idea cos we were full af

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe - 2711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The blocks height vary from 0.2 to 4.7 m

Brandenburg Gate, completed in 1791. When we were there, they had some protests going on. Not sure what was that about

Reichstag building

We went to the Fleamarket at Mauerpark to meet Ann. It was so confusing for us because we hadn't been there and Ann told us to go to some place which we did not find. Then we had to find her in the end, being first time there hah. We walked around a bit more but there was not much to see. Mostly really old stuff and the weather wasn't that nice. Then we sat down, me and Ann bought crepes and chatted.

Checkpoint Charlie, the most known Berlin Wall crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War

Walking around Berlin

We walked to the East Side Gallery which is an open-air gallery on the remainings of Berlin wall. The wall was constructed in 1961 and the graffiti paintings were painted after 1990's when the Cold War ended and parts of the wall were demolished. It has 105 paintings on the East side of the Berlin Wall from artists all over the world and it is visited by more than three million people a year.

The most popular painting of the Berlin wall - "My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love" with L. Brezhnev and E. Honecker. Painter Dmitri Vrubel recreated a photo that was captured in 1979 during the 30th anniversary celebration of the foundation of the German Democratic Republic. Also it was hard to get this picture. Every time someone went next to the picture to get her/his picture taken. This was the best I could do without having to spend too much time there

Many people drowned in the Spree river when they were trying to cross the Berlin Wall

Some colourful houses

After the wall we met Flo's brother and friend and went to get some curry wurst which is a very Berlin food to get.

Curry wurst - must-eat in Berlin

Wall painting in the curry wurst shop

Before going to Berlin I researched where to go where I hadn't been and I found the Radisson Blu Hotel which has a huge aquarium inside its lobby. At the entrance it was written only the hotel guests are allowed to enter, but we still went to check the huge aquarium. We wanted to go upstairs as well to get a better view but we needed to have an access for that. So we left because it was a bit weird being there without permission.

AquaDom, standing on a 9 m foundation and the installation itself being 16 m tall. It contains 1 million litres of water and has 1500 fish of 50 species

On the right is the Berlin Cathedral and on the left is the Altes museum which is a history museum

I asked Flo to bring me a jacket because I did not have any warm clothes in Greece, thought I will manage with mine. But Greece got really cold and so did Berlin

Remains of the Berlin wall