We have been meeting up with Beth and Bobby for various jaunts for a while now. They are great travelling companions: into food and drink as much as we are, flexible to go somewhere pretty much at the drop of a hat and both up for a bit of luxury!
When we met in Rome last year, we talked about making Berlin our next place to visit and so it was that we found ourselves tucking in to messy, delicious eggs in brioche buns at 44Brekkie on our first morning in Prenzlauer Berg. I don’t think any of us were too sure what to expect from Berlin and we’d chosen Prenzlauer as our base as it was described as a more chilled out neighbourhood, with cobbled streets and leafy surroundings. This sounded more up our street than the grittier neighbourhoods with pumping techno going all night long! That brekkie was a very good start and set the tone for the days to come.
We spend the rest of day one ambling around, getting our bearings and seeing some of the main sites: the Prenzlauer Wasserturm and stumble stones are reminders of Nazi atrocities within the city, whilst Alexanderplatz and the Fernseherturm point to the post-war separation of the city. Musing over this history we amble along the Spree taking in the Dom, Museuminsel and Unter den Linden, arriving finally at the Brandenburg Gate where present Berlin comes sharply into focus with preparations for Euro 24 well underway. The Gate is overshadowed by a huge set of goalposts and astroturf rolls out like a green carpet through the Tiergarten to create a massive football pitch. Portacabins litter the area for reporters to beam analysis of the matches around the world. We are glad we are here for the preparations and not for the actual melee of the competition!
Later we head to Frau Luna to meet up with one of Beth’s friends who now lives in Berlin. It’s a great recommendation with excellent cocktails, charcuterie platters and dips.
The following day is my birthday so we start with a run round the Volkspark in Friedrichshain to justify the feasting to come! Birthday brunch at Croissant Couture does not disappoint, followed by a shopping spree along Kastanienallee. Clothes shopping for me in Italy and Spain tends to be filled with disappointment as the general physique in those countries is far more petite than my own! But the German stature is definitely closer to my own body shape and clothes shopping in Berlin was a revelation. I’d definitely go back just for that! We finish the day of celebrations with birthday beers in Prater Biergarten and then to Coccodrillo in the lovely Weinbergspark for more great cocktails, delicious food and slightly traumatising one way mirror toilets! But the night is still young and Dark Matter is calling to us and we must go! This art and light installation show is both playful and sinister, balletic and planetary, organic yet mechanical. It is witchy and magical, an immersive, mesmerising experience. Afterwards we debate going to Sisyphos, the 72hr nightclub just next door, but we decide not to spoil things and instead crawl into bed after a brilliant, full on day!
For our final few days we take in the Eastside gallery on the Berlin wall and learn more about the history of the city. Yet more history comes our way when we head to the Reichstag building for afternoon tea. This is apparently the only parliament building in the world which members of the public can visit for food and drink, and the afternoon tea more than lives up to expectations. The ticket gives us access to the inside of the glass dome on top of the Reichstag, which has an exhibition on the history of the building as well as being an amazing piece of architechture. Highly recommended! We also enjoyed mooching round the Mauerpark and Arkonaplatz flea markets, taking in live performances of breakdancing and soaking up the atmosphere. This is definitely where we would be on a regular basis if we lived in Berlin! Wandering between the two market sites we see the layout of the Berlin wall shown on the floor and the distances involved between one side and the other are stark and sobering, such a huge amount of space given over to keeping people apart. It’s fitting that Berlin’s flourishing arts and cultural scene, which brings so many people together, owes more than a little to this space which, once the wall came down, gave creatives the opportunity to squat for free right in the middle of a major city centre, shaping and developing their practice in a way that would have been unaffordable in most city centres.
Our final destination in Berlin is Hotel Oderberger for a swim in their magnificent looking pool. Unfortunately the pool is freezing so we only dip for about a minute! But its still a pleasant place to lounge and relax before our flights home, which are stress free due to the free fastrack through security which we book on Drew’s recommendation.