Our second day in Germany dawned bright and clear so we headed out for another day of exploring.
We were staying at the Radisson Blu hotel which is really centrally located and is directly opposite the cathedral and museum island, which is the perfect spot for a walk on a quiet Sunday.
The city was so quiet. The Boy and I couldn't believe the difference between Berlin and London at the weekend, no people, no queues but still plenty to see and do, it was absolute bliss.
We kept stumbling upon graffiti and art all over the city.
We'd already walked for miles before we decided to grab something to eat so settled on brunch at a place called Thurman's, which seems to be a chain of cafés serving traditional German cakes and snacks. I settled on an open sandwich of chicken, rocket, cherry tomatoes, cheese and mustard, whilst The Boy had a type of cheese-hot-dog-pastry thing, and we finished by sharing a sweet treat. Now, this may not look that appetising but it was like a crushed scone covered in icing and it was
amazing. I'm not normally one for iced buns and the like but this was right up my street.
Next we visited Checkpoint Charlie and the surrounding area, which was really interesting and gave an insight into life in the city before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Segments of the Berlin Wall are available to see around the local area but it was difficult to really imagine what life would have been like when the city was divided. We visited an exhibition on life in Berlin during the time of the Berlin Wall which was amazing and ended up being some of the best money we spent during the entire weekend.
We wandered further into the centre of town sightseeing along the way.
Although the Brandenburg Gate is one of the main tourist attractions the photo above shows just how crowded things got. Pretty hectic as you can see. All jokes aside it was nice to actually visit a city where there was plenty of space to see the landmarks that really make the place what it is, an amazing location to visit.
We stopped off at the Holocaust Memorial, a truly amazing structure which honors and remembers the six million people who were victims of the holocaust.
We made the most of the weather and took a walk in the Tiergarten in the centre of town. Still, not many people. It felt almost as if we had the whole park to ourselves.
Following some more walking and what I'd hoped would be a spot of shopping (alas, all the shops were closed - it would seem they take Sundays seriously in Germany) we stopped for a rather large drink in a German pub. It was great to just be able to sit and watch the world go by.
We strolled back to the hotel as the sun went down passing some amazing architecture on the way, it really built up an appetite for dinner.
We went for dinner at a quaint little place down a side street called Restauration Sophien 11. It was run by a couple (or so it seemed) with the wife cooking and the husband acting as waiter and barman combined. There were only about ten small tables, all of which were full so we grabbed a stool and waited at the bar until one became free, discussing all the amazing things we'd seen and our wedding and house decorating plans for the future.
After a short while we settled into one of the tables and quickly selected our food choices. Now, we were so hungry I forgot to photo the main courses (safe to say they were both delicious) but we finished with the most amazing cheese board I have EVER tasted. Just, look at that cheese. One word, yum. I would pay for the flight back just for that cheese board alone.
We stayed at the restaurant for a good few hours before calling it a night and creeping through the cobbled back streets of the city to the hotel. We stopped off for a cocktail in the hotel bar, before retiring to the room to watch a film (Mama, on the only British tv channel). It was another wonderful day and we still had one more to go.
