Five Days in Berlin
At some point late last spring I decided that I needed to visit a new place completely on my own. I had traveled before, but it was always with a student group or my parents or friends. So I decided to visit somewhere right before I turned twenty-five. I actually booked my tickets to London and then figured I would choose somewhere to go from there. And that is how I ended up spending five days in Berlin.
If I’m honest, I spent the first few hours trying to figure out how their metro system works and getting to my hotel. I highly recommend the Welcome Card because once I got it all figured out, I used it to go everywhere. I had been up for over twenty-four hours at that point so I grabbed some food at my hotel and crashed.
The next day I bought a ticket for one of the two-day hop-on-hop-off tours. It sounds so cheesy tourist-like, but honestly, it’s the best way to get a good idea of where everything is in a new city and see things that aren’t right across from a metro stop.
Berlin is known for being this cultural center, so I hadn’t given much thought to the impact the war and subsequent cold war would have had on the city. It’s definitely scarred. By the wall that you can still see in certain places and the loss of history from the necessary rebuilding of the city center.
I mostly made dinner reservations, since I knew I would have breakfast at my hotel and it was impossible to know where I would end up at lunchtime. My first dinner out was at Katz Orange.
They had decent bread, but nothing to write home about. (Except I guess I kind of am.) The napkin was so starched I thought it might be thick paper. I have this weird thing with seeds, but I love the taste of pomegranate so I got the spinach salad anyway. Luckily with the leaves and Falafel, I barely noticed the crunch of the seeds. I should also mention that this was the best falafel I’ve ever had. I’m pretty 50/50 on my past falafel experiences. Sometimes I really like it and sometimes I’m like “why did I get this?”. This falafel was great. At the restaurant, some dishes you can’t get alone, but I enjoyed the dishes I chose. The spare ribs were practically falling off of the bone. They had slight tanginess with a tiny kick at the end of each bite. I love truffle fries and duck fat fries (or in this case they were goose fat fries) but those tastes can also overwhelm the actual fry sometimes. But these were just right. And dipped in Cafe de Paris they were perfect.
The next day I took another route of the tour. Because it was Monday, apparently a lot of places were closed, but I did get to see the East Side Gallery. My days are going to sound super short because they were. There are two reasons for this. 1) It was cold and I liked seeing the city from a warm bus. 2) The daylight hours were only from about 8 am to 4 pm and I’m a pretty cautious person. Once it got dark I pretty much only went out to get to dinner and back.
In the middle of my bus tour, I got off at one stop for lunch because I had noticed the day before that it was close to Distrikt Coffee. It was actually really close to Katz Orange and the Berlin Wall memorial, which is the longest stretch of intact wall. The chai latte tasted a bit like licorice. Not enough for me to dislike it but enough for it to not be my favorite. The soft boiled egg was perfect for a light late lunch. With a type of Dijon dressing, ham, green beans that snapped perfectly when you bite into them, great warm, crusty bread, I loved it. Topped with fresh dill, it was a filling dish with a good amount of taste payoff.
I finished up my bus tour and went in search of the Hard Rock Cafe to buy a t-shirt. I actually collect them. Then I let my jet-lagged self take a nap before seeking out food again. I ended up around the corner from my hotel at the Thai Elephant. It was pretty standard Thai food, but a chill way to end my day.
The next morning I visited the old and new sections of Charlottenburg Palace. I am a sucker for historical palaces and homes. Or really any historical building. I am drawn to the Rococo style, which I think everyone secretly is. It’s kind of like Impressionist art. You feel basic saying you love it, but it’s basic because everyone loves it.
After visiting the palace I had lunch at Cafe am Neuen See on the Edge of the Tiergarten. It is basically a cozy respite in the winter. The first time I was served pasta in basically just an olive oil, I was six and very unhappy with my dish. This time the penne was a bit bland, but the arugula and cheese made up for it some. Service was about the norm. I couldn’t figure out if I could seat myself, but once that happened service was quick. Probably because I missed the lunch rush or because it was a Tuesday. As long as you aren’t in a rush it’s a great experience. And who goes to a Biergarten in a rush anyway?
About halfway through my trip, I switched hotels, because budgets. Sir Savigny was an upgrade from my Hampton for sure. This hotel is so much cooler than I am. I legit could not figure out how to get in. I pulled and it would not open. I then watched an obviously much cooler girl than I stroll in with confidence. Turns out I was pulling on a push door. Luckily I was warmly greeted with a glass of prosecco. They had also noted that I mentioned I was celebrating my birthday with a trip! My room a was so luxe that I didn’t even mind that I had packed up my stuff just to unpack again.
That night I had reservations at Volver. They bring you aioli to put on your bread there. I don’t know who decided this was a good thing but bless them. It was a tapas restaurant so I, of course, ordered too many things so I could try a variety. The dates wrapped in bacon were so tasty. Anywhere I go those are almost always a hit with me. The fried potatoes were great and came with even more garlic aioli. I loved the green onion with the shrimp. And the house wine was actually a crazy good complement to the aioli.
I woke up the next morning and it was snowing! I had a ticket to Sansouci Palace (which means without worry) in Potsdam about thirty minutes outside of the city. A nice Australian woman I meant made me realize that nothing had been late the entire time I was in Germany. Efficiency is valued so much there.
Potsdam is probably closer to what Berlin would look like if everything hadn’t been destroyed in the war. All of the buildings have such beautiful facades. I loved the palace. It made me wish that modern times allowed for the average person to create spaces purely for entertaining.
After spending the late morning in Potsdam, I grabbed a quick lunch at Coffee Drink Your Monkey near my hotel. The orange ginger tea will warm you right up and is probably pretty effective at curing colds. My ham and cheese sandwich hit the spot and the pickles might have been the best I’ve ever had.
I wanted to be well rested for my flight early the next morning so I packed as much as possible, read a book in the (giant) bathtub, did a face mask, and then ordered room service from The Butcher, which is summoned by a golden doorbell in every guest’s room. I don’t usually go for hefty burgers, but when a restaurant will driver to your room, you have to try it. Like I thought, I wasn’t the biggest fan of how thick the patty was, but the taste was great! Highly recommended if you’re a thick burger girl. The grilled onions on the Butcher burger with cheese were perfect. The burger also comes with Butcher Sauce, which is a variation of a lot of different “special sauces.” It’s probably mayo and tomato sauce based with maybe a little mustard thrown in. The sauce was still great though. I was able to dip my fries in it too, along with a yummy truffle mayo they have. No burger and fries meal is complete without a vanilla milkshake! The glass and sprinkles were so cute and it was really good. The one disappointment was that it was half shake and half whipped cream and I don’t love whipped cream.
I’m sure it seems as though all I really did was eat and that is because it’s true. Overall I will say that Berlin is so chill. I know it’s winter and that I only went to mid-range restaurants but you can dress so casually. Plus men were drinking Heinekens on the metro after work and reminds me of something that would happen in STL.
