28 February- 2 March 2020

Our decision to go to Berlin was another fairly spontaneous one. Just weeks before an upcoming holiday in Spain, we began thinking of taking a trip somewhere. We had an extra day off so we looked around for cheap flights and landed on Berlin- and boy are we glad we did!

Our first stop after arriving in Berlin was to Checkpoint Charlie, the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point during the Cold War. We stopped and took pictures, then wandered into the Berlin Wall Museum. As Jacob mentions in his Jacob’s Top 5 post, he purchased a small piece of the wall to take home.

Next, we ventured onto Museum Island. We walked past Humboldt University, the Berlin Cathedral and sat in the Lustgarten, which has held many historical rallies and protests. We finished our first night in Berlin with dinner at a small restaurant near our hotel. 

Day 2: Potsdam Tour. 

A teacher at Jacob’s school named Sergio and his girlfriend, Rocio, recommended that we take a day trip to Potsdam (a city just southwest of Berlin). This was probably my favorite part of the trip. Potsdam was once where the Prussian Kings would have their summer palaces. We also saw the famous Glienicke Bridge or the “Bridge of Spies” where several exchanges of captured spies were made as it was on the border between West Berlin and East Germany.

That evening we had some amazing cheese spätzle and a plate of sausages and sauerkraut. This was my favorite meal in Germany.

The next morning we checked out some remains of the Berlin wall. Some parts were kept exactly as they originally were. We had delicious currywurst for lunch. This is usually served as street food consisting of sausage and french fries covered in a tomato/curry sauce. 

That evening, we went on a tour of the Reichstag Building which is home to Germany’s parliament or Bundestag. The building now has a large glass dome that was constructed on the top in the 1990s. We were able to walk up to the top of the dome and see wonderful views of the city and learn more about the history of the building. 

If you ever find yourself in Berlin with some extra time, I highly recommend taking a tour of Potsdam. It is really beautiful and the history was especially interesting. Our tour was only 17 Euros because it used public transportation. You will need to have a Berlin ABC day pass, which you will probably already want to buy to get around on your own anyway.

The next morning we said good-bye to the amazing food, culture and history in Berlin and headed home to Madrid.