I'm sure I must've mentioned this before, but I am obsessed with Halloween. It is my holiday, and I am it's bitch.
That's why it's so terribly strange that I always seem to plan a holiday that leaves on 31st October. I mean, sure, my husband is usually the one who books the holiday dates and times and such, but it's not like he does it on purpose to avoid the adorable couples costume I would no doubt hand make for us, if given the chance.
Anyway.
This year, we ran off to Berlin.
I have always wanted to visit Berlin, being the history geek that I am, but it seemed to float further and further down the list when we were booking crazy places, like Japan and Iceland! And Co. Fermanagh!
It seemed sensible to keep working our way around the European capitals (city breaks are better than beach holidays, fact), and Berlin has 147 museums. Sold.
We stayed at a super swish and very modern hotel about 15 minutes walk from the centre of town (and pretty much right next door to the Natural History Museum!).
I don't know if Germany really understands Halloween, as evidenced by this carved...butternut squash?
We arrived late, and spent our first night drinking very large glasses of beer (naturally) and eating pizza, to fuel us for the super long crazy hike that would be our full first day.
Given Berlin is more of a very large, outdoor museum than a city (no, really), I thought it would be fun to do all the big sights in one big walk in one day.
This was a mistake. It was so very cold and raining and large. I can honestly say I was a dress size smaller by the next morning - neato.
First stop; the Reichstag! As approached from the back, which was confusing, because we weren't sure if it was actually it. Tourists, eh?
This is the front. Much more government-y looking.
In what would prove to be a theme of the holiday, we stumbled across something pretty interesting that we hadn't specifically planned to see. That's why I like city breaks so much, I love finding things. I am an adventurer.
The picture below is of a memorial to the travelling population who were rounded up and killed by the Nazis during World War Two.
The sheer quantity of victims and the utter cruelty with which they were treated was astounding.
Having visited Auschwitz and Hiroshima in the last few years, I sort of thought I would wander around Berlin feeling informed and prepared, but there were so many groups affected by these atrocities that it really dents your faith in humanity.
That all got a bit deep and gloomy. Here is a picture of a horse wearing a little rain hat.
Also! The Brandenburg Gate. Very impressive and large and touristy.
Directly opposite this, the Hotel Adlon. Michael Jackson dangled his baby out of one of those windows once. Was that long enough ago to be considered history yet?
Another memorial next (I did warn you that I was here to soak up all that history) - the Holocaust Memorial. It was beautiful and quiet and interesting.
There were kids climbing all over it though, because people have no respect and refuse to tell their children off for some reason.
Small side adventure; Hitler's bunker was here. It is now a car park.
The next memorial was one I really wanted to visit; it's a monument to the members of the LGBT community who were violently discriminated against by the Nazis.
It looks sort of blocky and unemotional, but through that little window was a video of different gay couples embracing and smiling and laughing. It was really, really beautifully done.
So, from the Reichstag, to the Brandenburg Gate, to the Holocaust Memorial took us most of the morning, but before lunch we headed to the Topography Of Terror.
If you only want to visit one museum in Berlin (uh, why would you only want to visit one museum?), this is the one. It tracks the rise of the Nazi party and goes a long way to explaining how Hitler got away with having the power that he had. It also pinpoints specific members of the Nazi party and outlines their crimes, as well as where they ended up.
Spoiler alert; a lot of them got away with their crimes.
There is a pretty sizeable chunk of the Berlin wall running along the outside of the museum, right over where the Nazi party headquarters were.
Sidenote/irrelevant rant; how come every city in the world has an Irish pub? Don't get me wrong, we nearly always end up ducking in to one for a drink at some point, but isn't it strange? Why an Irish pub? Why not a cosy English countryside pub? Have you ever been wandering around Dublin or Belfast and thought 'HEY, let's pop into this Australian themed pub? That would actually be pretty great.
I guess the Italians have restaurants and the Spanish have tapas bars and the Germans have Christmas markets, but why do the Irish only have pubs? Is there no exploitable cultural cuisine in Ireland?
End of rant. Would legitimately like some answers to those questions, though.
Here is one of Berlin's many Irish pubs.
We also visited Checkpoint Charlie, but I found it to be a huge disappointment - there was nothing there! Except many disappointed looking tourists and a gift shop.
Our last historical stop of the day (before beers and food), was Bebelplatz. The site of a huge Nazi book burning, the square now has a small memorial, with the words:
"That was only a prelude; where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people" - Heinriche Heine
It was a busy first day, and when I hit the hay that night, my brain literally felt heavy with information. And beer.
Day two was our reasoning behind taking a holiday - our first wedding anniversary!
My husband is a kind and patient soul, so we spent the day on Museum Island - potentially my new happy place. An island of museums! Like I mentioned, there are 147 museums in Berlin city centre alone, and with only an average of 108 rainy days a year, it means you would never run out of things to do!
Well. I wouldn't.
I had to strategically pick which museums I would like to visit; I chose the Pergamon Museum, the Neues Museum and the National Gallery.
Behold, a plethora of pictures from all of these.
That owl sculpture has to be my favourite piece of art, ever.
We managed to break up our day of being cultured by stopping to refuel in a cereal cafe, which was totally adorable and had a Super Nintendo with Super Mario Brothers, so, that was the husband happy.
We had pop tarts and coffee.
It was a wonderful anniversary, and the weather had definitely picked up - Berlin had stopped feeling quite so grey and gloomy.
We had a crazy anniversary dinner at a street food market in an extremely hipster Berlin suburb. There was so much to choose from, so we were sure to fit in a beer between each course, to properly consider our options.
We devoted most of the next day to looking at dinosaurs and stuff in jars.
Yes, another museum. I may have a problem.
This guy doesn't look so happy about his situation.
Other than all the museums and the learning, we really did spend most of our time just wandering. I found a few Berlin thrift shops (they were very cool, and very into the Eighties and the Nineties, lots of bright colours and polyester).
While at first glance, Berlin is a cold and somber place, there is so much colour and fun and warmth. You just have to look for it.
This is Tiergarten! Perfect for a quiet Saturday morning stroll. Also, it's full of German doggos. Such good puppers.
The Sony Centre is very cool, too. Crazy modern and full of very lost looking families looking for the weird underground Legoland. They don't let adults in without children, so...screw them.
I would definitely change a few things about our trip - the U-Bahn is amazing and I wish we would've used it more and walked less! I feel like I saw a lot of Berlin, but I never really got my bearings. We took a boat tour around the city on one of the last days, but I really feel like I could've done with taking an organised tour on the very first day.
On our very final day (we headed to the airport at dinner time), we took the trek up to a flea market - apparently a pretty big deal in Berlin. Oh my goodness, it was my favourite thing. It was muddy and cold and packed, but there were treasures to be found. I really wish I'd brought an extra suitcase. Or five.
I seriously want a collection of creepy dolls.
We wrapped up our trip with cosy, quiet drinks in the coolest little bar around the corner from our hotel.
They sold cookies and had Rick and Morty on their boards.
I really loved Berlin. The people were so cool and weird and stylish, and the city is tragic and not afraid to talk about it. I'd definitely go back, but maybe our next holiday could be a warm one?
x
