BerWIN

Berlin is possibly one of the best cities we visited interrailing, actually scratch that, it is the best city we visited interrailing. Possibly. Maybe. Ah I just can't decide, it’s a top contender anyhow. Before jumping into the highlights of visiting Berlin, I feel there's something I need to address: the German accent. I don’t care what people say, the German accent is sexy. German men are equally as sexy. Sexy accent + sexy people = sexy city. I am not joking. Ok, so that’s not really the greatest thing about Berlin (although it’s definitely a strong factor), in fact it’s hard to summarise in a sentence or two what exactly it is that makes Berlin so wonderful, if anything it’s the sheer amount that’s going on in this city that makes it so appealing, unfortunately I won’t be covering all of them in this post, but here are some of the best bits.

Perhaps one of the main reasons I look back on Berlin so fondly is down to the hostel we stayed in: Helter Skelter. Tip #4, if you’re going to Berlin, go to Helter Skelter (http://www.helterskelterhostel.de/). Helter Skelter is by far the best hostel we stayed in, it literally ticked all the boxes. The location was ridiculously good (5 minutes walk from the station), the price was astonishing (€6/night!) and the facilities were great: small bar, a kitchen with plenty of dining room and a chill out area. To sound like an absolute twat: the ambience was magnificent. It should be noted that although smoking is prohibited in the rooms, you can smoke in the kitchen/bar area (this was great for me, but obviously not for the non-smokers, which btw aren’t that common in Europe!)

Because we had 3 nights in Berlin, we thought we’d take our first day easy, have a little wander and hit they hay pretty early – we had roughed it up at the train station the night before don’t forget. But as often seems to be the case when you’re an alcoholic interrailing, we had a gander about the sites, got a feel of the city, ended up befriending a lovely group of fellow travellers, had one too many and decided to the hit the town. I really do think that this is what interrailing is all about, going to places you’ve never visited, bonding with a complete group of strangers and thinking you’re going to be friends forever. I thought this was going to be the case with a particular Italian man - well less friends and more lovers.  I’m not sure what it was about him, his long hair, his cooking us authentic Italian food, him not being able to speak a word of English?  I never did find him on Facebook, he did buy me a pint though… (For €2! Cough Amsterdam).

Look at those eyes...

Our first full day in Berlin and we knew exactly where we wanted to visit: the Berlin Wall. It has got to be one of the first things you associate with Berlin, and unlike Amsterdam’s cyclists and red-light district, it most certainly did not disappoint. We decided to start at the East Side Gallery and end at Check Point Charlie, which at a slow stroll takes up a good few hours, the gallery stretches for 1.3km and covers over 100 pieces of artwork! You can get the S-bahn (Berlin’s answer to the tube), to Warschauer, which is a few minutes walk from the gallery, and even better the S-bahn is included in your interrail ticket (the U-bahn is not). I don’t consider myself an art-buff by any means, in fact, I find art on the whole rather boring, but even I would struggle not to be impressed by the East Side Gallery. It’s especially hard not see the irony in the East Side Gallery, a wall which once segregated - figuratively and literally –  the German people, has now been transformed into one of the most (in my opinion at least) interesting canvases for modern art, something which can only been seen as the ultimate middle finger to those who had the wall built all but 60 years ago.

Cheeky

On our third day we decided to leave the city behind, and experience a bit of German nature. I don’t know what it is about visiting the continent that screams out to me au naturale swimming. But it does. And nowhere did the fantasy of swimming in the great outdoors feel as right as it did in Berlin – to those of you who’ve seen The Reader, you’ll know what I mean. To those who haven’t, shame on you. Now let’s just clarify something here, yes I know that pretty much every holiday you go on you can go swimming in an outdoor pool, most of the time you can even go swimming in the sea. First off, pools aren’t natural. So they’re out of the picture. Second off, the sea? Hello saltwater, we’re looking for some of that freshwater shit. Prior to beginning our journey around Europe, I had a vision of what al fresco swimming would entail: an open expanse of still fresh-water, clusters of old oaks littered around the lake bed, handsome German men bursting out onto the lake’s banks, towelling each other down and greeting me with ope – wait scratch the last bit - you get the picture. Lake Schlachtensee (http://www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/schlachtensee) offers just that and more. Well, except the German men, if ungroomed women in their late 50’s do it for you though, there’s sure as hell plenty to see. The journey is about 20/30 minutes on the S-bahn (free again with your ticket!) and stops right at the park so there won’t be any aimless wandering about. Of course, if you fancy the outdoor swimming but not so much the lake (yes I am judging you), there’s always Berlin’s famous riverbank lido. (http://www.arena-berlin.de/badeschiff/)

Mmmm currywurst

My interrailing partner and I somewhat differ when it comes to our love of food, I’m what one refers to as a ‘foodie’, whilst Kay, as much as she enjoys food doesn’t exactly get as… excitable as I do. Being on a budget we had to come to an agreement about how much we could spend on good food, and came to the tough decision that in each city we visited we could have one authentic meal out and the rest we’d cook ourselves. (Tip #5 as hard as it sounds, cooking for yourselves really does save money, especially in Western Europe) However, sometimes rules are meant to be broken, and when it came to Berlin this was exactly the case, after all, who in their right mind could choose between the McRib and Currywurst, both of equal grandeur on the food hierarchy. Now I know what you’re thinking, McRib. Really? Who on earth is bothered about McDonalds when their travelling through the culinary highlights of Paris, Rome and Prague? Well I’ll tell you who. ME. Prior to beginning our journey around Europe I did my research, and by research, yes, I do mean I went on every European McDonalds website and listed the countries which had the best that McDonalds had to offer (I don’t want to ruin future reading, but here’s a little teaser: Pistachio McFlurry. I know, shit the fucking bed). Anyhow, currywurst is a crazy-ass combination of traditional German sausage and a curried-tomato sauce (see you get it now, curry-wurst) and McRib, well McRib is a McRib. Words can’t do it justice, let’s just say both were phenomenal, and at €2.50 and €6 a pop, who can complain? That’s 2 authentic Berlin meals for just over €8.

                                            

And there you have it, a post on this blog that wasn’t bitchy, well done me. Of course, that wasn’t all we did in Berlin, there’s much more to do and see. The Holocaust Memorial is beautifully poignant, the Death Strip is a brutal reminder of Berlin’s troubled past, and the museum quarter offers some astounding architecture. One last tip (#6), if like us you’ll be catching a ‘sleeper’ train from Berlin and don’t want to lug those backpacks around all day, the lockers at the station are only €5 a day – bargain. All I’ve got left to say is if you’re going to do Europe, do Berlin. Oh, and one other thing, make sure you take lots of photos with bears.