Berlin, day two

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.

Berlin, day one

A couple of weeks back The Boy and I jetted off for a few days in Berlin. A city we'd never visited before but always wanted to.

It was The Boys Christmas present from me, which is becoming somewhat of a tradition. He's notoriously difficult to buy for as he wants for nothing. Gifts for his hobbies of cooking and cocktail making had pretty much been exhausted (no more glasses, thank you, they're all over the kitchen) so I turned again to a weekend away.

I really wanted to go to Kracow but after some digging around I discovered that Berlin was top of his "to visit" list, so a short (4hour long) browse on the internet threw up a trip that had a hotel I'd approve of and was in an area The Boy could explore for days on end. Two months later and we were off!

We took an early flight from Heathrow and were checked in and exploring the city by lunchtime. Our hotel was in Mitte, right by the Television Tower.

We took a stroll near the hotel and messed about on a beautiful fountain along with lots of other tourists. The weather was perfect, not nearly as cold as I'd expected, and for once I'd packed the right set of clothes for both the weather and the activities - yay me! It's only taken thirty years for me to nail this ever so tricky task.

The city is full of graffiti and quirky sculptures and reminded me a lot of Shoreditch and some areas of East London.

We settled down for some beers and food in the afternoon sunshine - cheese sausage for me, pretzel and veal sausages for The Boy, but really we shared it all - and it truly felt like we were on holiday, away from all the stresses and strains of everyday life. As much as I'm enjoying planning the wedding and the house move, I have to say it was nice to have the chance to forget it all for a while.

After our food we continued our afternoon stroll around the local parks and streets, stopping off at a flea market to search for bargains.

We managed to resist making any purchases but I particularly loved this part of the day. I've always been a bit of a bargain hunter and there were so many items that I could have easily taken home with me.

The buildings are fantastic. Old and new architecture sit side by side, it's the type of city I could imagine visiting for a whole week and sketching the entire time.

We even saw this amazing piece of art on the side of an abandoned building.

After wandering around for hours we heading back to the hotel for an hour where we wrapped up warm for a night time stroll to a local traditional German restaurant I'd read about online called Gerichtslaube.

Hungry from all the walking and looking to warm ourselves up we chowed down on a number of delicious dishes. I started with the cheese pear (well, why wouldn't you?!), whilst The Boy went for fish tartare - both of which were amazing.

For mains I settled on Berlin Escalope, while The Boy went for the Berlin Style Grand Feast. Basically every type of meat possible, all on one plate. Everything tasted delicious and was a great introduction to some serious eating, German style.

The setting was beautiful, really small and quaint, the perfect Saturday night for a romantic dinner date.

We headed back to the hotel and went for an evening swim (alas not in the aquarium) and then hit the mini bar before sleeping more soundly than ever before, exhausted from all the food and walking around.

Again, sorry for the lack of posts as late, life's been getting pretty hectic. There's more to come from Berlin and life in London, (hopefully) over the next few days.