We were off to Berlin again, no particular reason this time, other than we love it there. As we were flying from Liverpool and the flight wasn’t until late afternoon, we had some time to kill. We stopped off at Cafe On The Corner in Knutsford for the epic Turkish breakfast and then headed over to Speke, first for a cheeky pint of Guinness at The Hillfoot Pub (it was after 12 😉) and then to Cineworld Speke to watch ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’. This was like a good old Tarantino and did not disappoint, absolute classic 🙌👍
We always fly to Schönefeld Airport, which means a quick train journey to the centre, but we’d just missed a train so time for a quick pint and pretzel at Augustiner Bräu at the airport. There is just something about wheat beer in Germany, it never quite tastes the same back home. Afterwards, we got the train to Central Station and then jumped on a tram, we were just a few stops from where we were staying, which was the Berlin Holiday Apartments on Invalidenstraße. The accommodation was in a great location, only 10 minutes walk from Berlin Central Station, but was very basic. No toiletries were provided which we would have expected for the price… what was a bear meant to wash himself with!
The front of the building had scaffolding erected so you couldn’t see a great deal through the window and we later found the workman painting the building started at 8am on weekday mornings and could pretty much see right in! We ended the day with a visit to BrewDog Berlin, Germany’s first BrewDog bar, with 30 draft lines of beer from German and global breweries. Prost 🍻
Day two and over to our Berlin “local”, Ständige Vertretung, for a few Köstritzer and Dunkles – some of our favourite beers here in Germany! I wish we could live here! Achtung! Achtung! #foodporn alert, Der Rheinische Flammkuchen… black pudding, sour cream, apple and onions. A flammkuchen is thin dough with different toppings, like a pizza and it was super delicious! How yummy 🙏🙏🙏👌💕❤️❤️😋
We spent the afternoon walking around, mainly on the hunt for Buddy Bears, which are painted, life-size fibreglass bear sculptures developed by German’s Klaus and Eva Herlitz, in cooperation with sculptor Roman Strobl. The raised arms of the standing Buddy Bears are intended to indicate friendliness and optimism. The first bears were displayed at an artistic event in Berlin in 2001, where artists painted approximately 350 bears to appear as decorative elements in the streets of Berlin. Four different bear designs (one standing on all four paws, one standing on two legs, one standing on its head, and one in a sitting position) were placed in the city centre of Berlin.
Afterwards, many of the bears were sold at auctions in aid of child relief organisations and nowadays, these Berlin Buddy Bears are exclusively presented on private premises, in front of hotels and embassies, as well as in the foyers of various office buildings. We finished the day by watching England at Belushi’s and then grabbed a kebab to eat. Mum was on the ball when the man in the kebab shop tried to short change her 😠
Day three and a trip to Urban Nation and street art hunt, which you can read about via the link. In the afternoon, we went to the old town and stopped at Zum Nußbaum for the plum cake. I think I died but I must have been a very good bear as I sure did end up in heaven 😇🤣
Day four and it was raining. This was not good at all as the flight was pretty late and we had lots of time to kill. After checking out of the hotel and having a walk about, we went for lunch at Die Berliner Republik. A full menu of home-style Berlin and German fare is on offer. Dad had ‘The Berliner Flammkuchen’, which was topped with curry sausage, French fries, curry ketchup, cheese and sour cream and Mum had ‘Königsberger Klopse’, which was meatballs in a white caper sauce with boiled potatoes and beetroot salad. It’s a shame we hadn’t known about this earlier, but just as in a mini stock exchange, the price of beer (18 varieties on tap!) fluctuates with demand after 5pm at this tourist-geared riverside pub. Everyone goes wild when a heavy brass bell rings, signalling rock-bottom prices. There’s always next time.
We just had a few more things to do before we headed to the airport. The year 2015 marked the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the official demolition of the Berlin Wall and also the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Ⅱ. Potsdam Square, a public square emblematic of the Cold War and of the reunification between East and West Germany, saw the construction of a traditional Korean pavilion completed in November 2015. The Tongiljeong Pavilion, a traditional Korean stone and wood gazebo, is situated in the famous square and well worth checking out. The pavilion was built in the hopes that the world would work as one to help the two Koreas achieve reunification, as Germany began to do just over 25 years ago.
A final stop was to Back Palace in the old town and just check out the pawsome blueberry cheesecake and iced matcha 🍵 latte we had there. A nice little place for coffee (or a beer) and a snack. Great food, great service and not expensive. Off to the airport and the end of another visit to Berlin. We weren’t sure when we would be back again. We’ve seen a lot of the city and as much as we love it here, it is getting more and more expensive. Auf Wiedersehen, Berlin!