bratwurst and beer - BERLIN

Since arriving in the UK, one of the places I was really interested in traveling to was Berlin.  The city has so much history and is full of culture and I knew it was a place I definitely wanted to go to sight see.  Luckily, Meagan is an IR major and history nut and was more than happy to join me on this trip.  Jenna also joined in to satiate her interest in the culture of Berlin.

We flew in on Saturday morning in order to not cause conflict with our internships.  We arrived and headed to our hostel, which was more like a hotel.  Our room wasn't ready so we dropped our bags and the receptionist pointed us in the direction of the East Side Gallery.  The East Side Gallery is a still standing portion the Berlin Wall that has been decorated by artists in graffiti-style artwork.  It only spans about 243 feet but we ended up spending about 2 hours enjoying and analyzing the artwork.  You can see below that it is absolutely incredible and has made something that stood for such negative things really become beautiful.

standing on both sides of the berlin wall hehehe

After we passed through the entire gallery, we headed to a neighborhood the receptionist had suggested for lunch.  He said that this area was very hip and would give us a true feel for the townie feel of Berlin.  We enjoyed a nice lunch, that really wasn't German food per say, and then walked back to our hotel to take a nap... since we had been up since the crack of dawn.  On our way back we decided to pick up pastrys at a cart on the street.

That night, we headed out to explore the Berlin night life.  We headed to a club called Soda and had a great time dancing the night away.  The best part was that when we left the club, BRATWURST WERE GRILLING!  I quickly darted towards the first grill I saw, paid 2 euro, and devoured a delicious bratwurst.  I couldn't have been happier.

The next day we woke up and headed to the Brandenburg Gate to jump on the New Europe's Free Walking Tour of Berlin.  We had been told about how great this tour was and so we decided to try out the 3.5 hour walking tour for ourselves.  If you ever are traveling in any of the cities that New Europe offers the free walking tour, you should definitely do it.  It was by far the best tour I have been on since being abroad.  The tour guides work for tips so they do a really good job throughout the entire tour.  We saw so many places...

Brandenburg Gate

Hotel where Michael Jackson held his baby out over the railing

Holocaust Memorial

Holocaust Memorial

what now stands over Hitler's Bunker

Where they burned Hitler's body

Berlin Wall

Last remains of Nazi architecture.. Makes you feel inferior and small

Berlin Wall

Checkpoint Charlie

Opera House

By coincidence, the Harvard Rugby team was in Berlin playing some games the same weekend we were there.  My friend Valentina, who has a few friends on the team, hooked us up with them to go out for our final night in Berlin.  After grabbing a 3 euro dinner, we met them at their hostel for some drinks and then headed out with the entire team to a club.  We had a great time out with them and maybe we will even see them once we get back to Boston in the fall.

Berlin was an incredible city.  It is definitely extremely underrated and has been plagued by the negative connotation brought upon it by the Nazis.  I would definitely suggest it to people as a place to travel as on vacation or while studying abroad.



This week kicks off the week of visitors in London.  Meredith is here this week and Emma and Ana get here next week!


Until next time!
Katie