After a grueling 6 hour train ride into Berlin from Amsterdam, and 3 separate train crossings, we made it to Berlin Hbf (Hauptbahnhof), and needless to say we were pretty tired from the incessant train swopping and the need to listen very carefully to what the instructor was saying. During our train-ride we changed seats no less than 5 times, primarily because we had absolutely no understanding of how the train network in Germany works, as well as our seats being taken up by some stubborn Germans. After marveling at the country-side for 6 hours, the scenery becomes very drab and monotonous. We could see we were approaching Berlin because high rise buildings were becoming frequent, and people inside the train were stirring in order to jockey for a better position when required to exit the train. In case you have never done the train or ferry system in Europe, it is pure insanity. People push and pull in order to get on whatever vehicle there is, and there is no age limit for this sort of behavior as I learnt the hard way in Italy after nearly being thrown off the boarding plank by an 80 year old granny carrying a dog.
After quite a busy time in Amsterdam, we unanimously voted in favor of having a chilled time in Berlin and a relatively chilled time in Munich. We arrived at the Hbf and quickly took to searching for a taxi in order to get to our hotel. Our hotel was a few kms from the station and this allowed for us to drive straight through what would seem to be the center of Berlin, although the taxi driver claimed there was no such centre rather hubs of activity, I personally think he got a shipment of the green stuff from Amsterdam prior to us hopping into the taxi.
We drove straight through Berlins main attractions and one that sticks out is the Tiergarten in central Berlin. It is very similar to Hyde Park or Central Park, huge open spaces filled with trees and people taking their dogs for a walk. Another thing I loved about Berlin was that it felt safe, like we could be in any area at anytime of the day or night and we would emerge unscathed.
We arrived at our hotel, Precise Casa Berlin, and I cannot imagine it being in a better location. We were a 50m walk from the main road in Berlin, and in main road I mean the best road for shopping for Alice and eating for me. The road was called Schluterstrasse, and I highly recommend you visit this neighborhood of Berlin should you find yourself in the city. After the 6 hour train ride, we were both pretty tired and hungry so first port of call was getting some food into the Belly, and we found a local cafe just 200m down the road, I asked for the specialty and was served one of the best pastas of my life, it was a fettucine pasta with porcini mushrooms, onion and fillet steak strips. I am still trying to find a restaurant that rivals this dish, so far I am unsuccessful. Whilst in Berlin we visited this huge shopping centre called KaDeWe which is like a Harrods, minus the pretentiousness. KaDeWe was about a 2km walk from our hotel, and along the way there were all kinds of shops, so the 2km walk took about 2 hours. We eventually got there, and had a pretty substantial look around. The main attraction of the place was the foodhall so it was pretty hard peeling myself away from this area.
Seeming we were in Germany, and Alice’s ancestry, we made our way to the holocaust memorials, and what seemed at first to be just hundreds of cement blocks, became meaningful after reading a synopsis of what the memorial represents. The memorial is also just 100m from the Brandenburg gate which is an arc de triomphe type building, which also follows along an incredible avenue to the Berlin Victory Statue.
After the Brandenburg gate, we took a stroll through the tiergarten, where Alice went in search of dogs that would resemble her fluffy companions back at home. She really misses her dogs and cat, Jessie, Cassie and Louis, so she seizes an opportunity she is given. People in Europe are really protective over their animals so over the travels it has resulted in some proud owners acknowledging their pets as well as some protective owners thinking Alice is some sort of animal thief.
My most memorable part of Berlin would be the Bier-bike, which is an 8-man mobile bar, it requires 8 people plus a barman, and whilst you sit at the bar and sip on your beer, you peddle, and the barman steers you around Berlin in this piece of engineering genius. I first heard of it from Rob Draper and Grace Hampshire, and would not relent until I witnessed this marvel for myself.
If you find yourself in Berlin with some mates, be sure to visit www.bierbike.de, and you will go on a drinking tour like no other.
After saying goodbye to Berlin, I reflected on how beautiful the city was, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. It has something for everyone, and I will definitely be returning to the city.
We boarded a plane from Berlin to Munich and after a quick hope to Munich, we arrived in a city famed for the Oktoberfest, and you can feel the spirit as well as drinking culture once you arrive.
We stayed at a Hotel, Kings First Class, and it was perfect for our short stay in the city, if anything it was maybe a little far from the central attractions of Munich.
Whilst in Munich we made our way to the Marienplatz which is a huge square with an unbelievable cathedral, and is always home to good restaurants albeit pretty expensive, as well as toursist, lots and lots of tourists. You can always pick up the Americans in a crowd because 9/10 they are the ones making the most noise. After some sight seeing on day 1, we headed off to a local beer garden where I enjoyed my first Munich beer garden, and I quietly took in the occasion as well as the road we have been on in getting here.
First mini-beer garden.
On Day 2 we did some more sightseeing, and Alice even suggested we take a Munich City sightseeing bus, and although there were hundreds of the busses on the streets we couldnt find a bus stop for them. Alas, we made our way to a little market where Alices love for fruit clouded her judgement, and after gathering a punnet of what must have been 200-300 grams of cherries, she approached the counter where she was charged 20 euros for some red balls of fruit. To her astonishment she found herself paying the full price, and when questioned why she said “I felt too bad, and I couldnt say I didnt want them anymore... I got embarrassed”. I think her father needs to give her some tips in the art of bargaining.
After the fruit market, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up for a restaurant that I was referred to by a friend Henning Rehder, a Munich local. The restaurant was called Las Olas, and is a tapas restaurant with a difference. The entire experience is orchestrated by iPad, your order everything from the ipad, and if you cant decide on a wine from the ipad, you take a walk over to the immense wine bar, which is at your disposal. You swipe your key card at the wine of your choice and it shoots out a sample of the wine. If you like the wine, you request a full glass. This restaurant, to me, is headed in the right direction. The waiters were there solely for the purpose of delivering your meal and providing a human presence. The food at this restaurant was unbelievable, I order 5 dished and each one was unbelievable, not to mention the high caliber of wine that was tried.
Ally on the iPad, ordering away at my dismay.
My lasagna.
The iPad/ menu at Las Olas.
This was also a perfect restaurant for Alice, because the iPad provided entertainment as well as a synopsis of each meal, as well as a picture of the meal you can expect. It was a culinary master-stroke by the owners, and I suggest this restaurant to anyone who visits Munich. My lasagna was one of the better ones I have experienced, ever!
Along our journey, we realised that we needed to culture ourselves and once again get perspective on how fortunate we are to be experiencing the world, and at this stage Munich. That being said, we headed to Dachau, which was one of the main concentration camps during World War 2, and the impact that the holocaust had on those affected by it.
We caught the train to Dachau, which is actually a little town about 20 mins out from Munich, and when we arrived the full impact hit us. The town is full of WW2 memorials and memorabilia, and on the bus we could sense we were approaching the grounds of something very ominous. Upon arrival you are greeted by a flurry of tourists, and after wading through the masses we arrived at the info counter where we purchased listening aides that were there in order to guide us through the property.
The Jewish memorial. No disrespect, but I personally felt that they deserved something more substantial. Perhaps there is a meaning I am missing, but considering the history of these camps I thought that the camp would have something more meaningful.
These rectangular objects represent the 10X100m boarding establishments within the camp.
What a haunted ground, it was barren and desolate as it was hot. It makes you realize the harsh circumstances that these humans were put through. We went through the museum and I could see Alice slowly slinking into a darker place. The concentration camp was especially hard for her because she has family as well as knows people who were at this camp or camps very similar to this. We walked the barren pathways in search of shade from the relentless sun, and it make you realize that in mind of everything, we are experiencing a tiny, minuscule fraction of what they experienced and we couldnt even cope.
We went through the sleeping/boarding establishments and the bunks that housed dozens of jewish people were still erect, and served as a stalk reminder of the hardships that they endured even when sleeping. We visited the jewish and christian memorials, and it was harrowing to realize that the jewish memorial was the smallest of the lot. Onwards we pressed into the hardest location of the camp, the first gas chamber as well as the crematorium. This was Alice’s hardest location and one that haunted us even after we had left.
We both felt the need to give the camp a once over, and then leave this place. Not out of lack of respect, but because we were both so emotionally disturbed that we could absorb no more.
Once we got back to Munich, we tried to lift our spirits by visiting the Hofbrauhaus, as I knew this would be the only location that would lift my spirits. It certainly did, I had one or two streins of their finest ale, and after fitting in a meal at a local restaurant, we pressed back to the hotel for an early departure to Italy.
Hofbrauhaus
Looking back on our time in Germany, it was an incredible place. Steeped in history, both good and bad, and we are the better for it. If we had a choice, we wouldve pressed on to Hamburg, but Italy awaits, and so does the experience.
