Besides Christmas it is very rare that bank holidays in the United Kingdom and iconic US holidays collide but two weeks ago memorial day and the May bank day fell on the same day as friends headed south or out East I flew with a roommate from university to Berlin. The photo above that I posted on Insta summarizes our trip quite well with a cute photo at an iconic locale – the Branderburg Gate – with the caption, “We came, we saw, and we biked our hearts out. 🇩🇪 👯♀️🚴🏻♀️”
It is true, two of the three days we rented bikes – first on a bike tour and then for the day from our hotel – and it really is such a great way to see the gorgeous but very spread out city. I had a great time in Berlin but instead of a regular recap post I am going to share with you some of my highlights / favorite pictures and a quick blurb about each:
We stayed very close to Museum island so no matter where we went a walk by these two famous sites – The Berlin Town Hall (Rotes Rathaus) and the Berliner Fernsehturm in the Mitte district near Alexanderplatz – was nearly inevitable.
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was a very moving memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the 2,711 concrete slabs seemed to go on for miles.
On our first day our bike tour guide was an amazing locale and she recommended we hit the Sunday market Fleamarket at Mauerpark and it truly was one of the largest I have ever seen! I picked up a necklace and Samantha picked up a hat and a pair of vintage sunglasses – a great stop!
Posing with the Neptune statue on a very hot day.
Even in a city as big as Berlin I like to make a pit stop at a museum or two and this trip I opted to visit the Pergamon Museum which did not have a ton of art that interested me except for this gorgeous Ishtar Gate. The color was so vibrant on this gate of the inner city of Babylon constructed in 575 BCE by King Nebuchadnezzar II – so much history!
I loved the gorgeous roses next to Neptunbrunnen, the gorgeous Neptune Fountain in Berlin located by St. Mary’s Church
and Alexanderplatz.
The KaDeWe – or Kaufhaus des Westens – department store store really is one of a kind. It reminded me a lot of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York or even Harrod’s in London except for the 7th floor which was a massive gourmet shop with at least 20 different counters selling everything from meat, cheese, and chocolate to a sit down locale with oysters and champagne.
One of the most harrowing sites was our trip to the Gedenkstaette Berlin-Hohenschoenhausen or Stasi prison and it made it quite real to see the prison uniform lying on the bed.
Exploring the abandoned Berlin Tempelhof Airport was certainly not on my list when I arrived at the city but riding bikes down the tarmac of a desserted airport in the middle of a city was a pretty cool experience except for the heat (it was 31ºC or 88ºF).
One of my only regrets from my trip to Berlin was not going inside the German Bundestag. The National Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany is so pretty and I really wish I could walk around the glass dome of this gorgeous building and look down on the parliamentary floor like i I did in Sweden.
While most of the Berlin Wall has been destroyed either when it originally came down or tourists taking part over the last few decades one piece was definitely still staying and we visited this guard tower or Watchtower at Potsdamer Platz.
Thanks to great recommendations from locals we dined on quite a feast at Felix Austria and I’ll be thinking about this meal for ages. Thank goodness we walked 28,000+ steps that day – this schnitzel was incredible!
The Canal to Museum Island
And I captioned this photo on Instagram, Berlin, thanks for showing off all weekend. 💞The weather was gorgeous and after an action packed three days we’re going home with sore legs, full bellies, and lots of memories! #musuemisland #berlin #germany #minibreak
Have you ever been to Berlin?
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Sarah L says
Very interesting city. I’ve been there once and that was before the wall came down.
Jane Davidson | Typically Jane says
What a trip! This is so on my bucket list now!
Emily says
I have never been but it is on my bucket list. I hope that I can do as many great things as you did.
My next trip is to Stockholm after your blog post on it.
Pam says
Thirty two years ago I was there and went through Check Point Charlie when it was communist controlled.
Made one appreciate the freedom we have as Americans.
Let’s hope we never forget.
Elizabeth says
I have been but didn’t do a bike trip. I started doing walking and biking tours now when I visit a city. Wonderful way to get a local feel for a city.