Berlin on a budget
August 19th, 2008 by Zofia
Back in July 2008 I decided that it had been far too long since my last holiday to Europe (I hadn’t been back from America for very long and already I wanted to go off somewhere else) so I made the decision to spend three days somewhere. The problem was that I had very little money to work with so the holiday would have to be as cheap as possible otherwise there was no way I could afford to go. After an extensive brainstorming session and some Google searching I finally settled on Berlin, Germany.
I managed to find bargain flights with RyanAir, the catch was, my flight out of London was at 6.30am and so I had to check-in at 4.30am and since it was at Stansted Airport, which is not that close to me, my journey to Berlin began at 2am – but hey, I could sleep on the plane if I wanted!
Kirsty, one of my closest friends, lives in Berlin so I was fortunate enough to have her meet me at the airport and spend the three days with her, seeing Berlin through a local’s eyes.
As I was stepping off the plane I was filled with fear at the realisation that my knowledge of the German language was good day and thank you (that’s Guten Tag and Danke for the un-enlighted out there)! This was my first trip to a non-English speaking country on my own and I hadn’t even given the language barrier a second thought before I left London – how unusually disorganised of me! However with Kirsty as my local I suppose I wasn’t really on this trip alone so I would have someone who could understand everything going on around us.
After my early arrival in Berlin, Kirsty and I made our way from the airport to her flat in East Berlin. It is a very different experience to be somewhere like Berlin, it is nothing like any place I have visited so far. The buildings in the East are so industrial, there is graffiti everywhere, the West is different again, but ultimately Berlin as a whole is very different to London or Paris which is the extent of my European travels at this point!
Once I had put my bags down and freshened up, the sightseeing began. Without overwhelming ourselves too much I was impressed by how much we managed to cover in 2 and a half days.
We started by heading down to the river to see the large sculpture known as the Molecule Men. It is three giant men all joining together. According to Kirsty, the point at which they meet is where East and West Berlin meet – very symbolic. We walked along the river for a bit, and then using the train and tram system, which I thought was incredibly efficient and easy to use, we made our way to Potsdamer Platz.
At Potsdamer Platz I saw my first bit of what remains of the Berlin Wall. this area has a lot of modern and high rise buildings and also had a movie theatre complex which Kirsty and I went back to later in the evening to see the film Mamma Mia.
Brandenburg Gate was walking distance from Potsdamer Platz so it was next on the hit-list of sights to see. I must say, it was just as impressive as I imagined it to be. Behind the Gate is The Reichstag building, which is where Parliament convenes. This is an intriguing building because of the interesting modern glass dome that sits atop the more traditional-looking building. This glass dome is open to the public to climb and experience great views across Berlin as well as provide a unique opportunity to look down directly into the room where the seats of parliament are located. So after seeing the gate Kirsty and I made our way to the top of the dome by which time we had stunning night-time views across Berlin.
After kebabs for dinner it was off home to get some much needed sleep after my very early start to the day.
We had a very relaxing start to the next day, not making it out the front door until about 1pm! Our first destination was Alexanderplatz where we saw the giant disco ball on a stick – also known as the Television Tower – and the Red Town Hall (yes that is it’s very original actual name!). We then continued walking and took in the sights of the Berliner Dom (Cathedral), the Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden), the Opera House and a whole lot of other fantastic old buildings.
We then discovered the joy of Berlin Bears 
These are giant bears that seem to be all over Berlin and all decorated differently, usually representing different countries from around the world. We came across a set of over 20 all together including one that represented NZ so of course we had to take photos! It is at this point that I might also mention we each had a soft toy travelling with us so they make an appearance in these photos (Kirsty has a elephant called Afalant who has travelled the world with her, I have a small puppy called Max…)
Back to the Bears, they are actually known as United Buddy Bears, a UN initiative with the following message:
The Buddy Bears stand together hand in hand in a peaceful circle, promoting tolerance and under-standing among different nations, cultures and religions.
Quite an inspired idea actually. Over the course of the day as we walked further around the city we continued to find more of these bears – there was even one which had the whole world in his hands!
Checkpoint Charlie was an amusing experience. We went to have a photo with the Checkpoint Charlie guards and they spotted Afalant and Max, and well boys being boys they seemed to have fun making animal noises and playing with the toys, not very guard-like or serious We didn’t spend too long here as there wasn’t really much to see other than the checkpoint gate (Checkpoint Charlie was one of the crossing points between West and East Berlin when the wall was still in existence).
Just down the road from Checkpoint Charlie was one of the largest remaining pieces of the Berlin wall. Underneath the wall there was a very interesting exhibition you could walk past called Topography of terror which told the story of that site as the location of the central institutions of Nazi persecution and terror (the Gestapo headquarters etc) between 1933 and 1945. Seeing such a large section of the Berlin wall made me really thankful for the relative freedom and the peace that I have experienced growing up in NZ. I couldn’t imagine what life must have been like for all the people who had to live through the Nazi occupation, and to be honest I am not really sure I want to know.
My final day in Berlin started much the same as the day before however we were out of the house a lot earlier this time! There was a lot more walking today of various parts of the city just taking in the day-to-day sights and sounds of the city and relaxing. We made our way to a riverside pub which where we took some outdoor seats and enjoyed a beer with a view across the river towards museum island (the part of town where all their big museums are located, just next to the Berliner Dom where we were the day before). We also found a very interesting exhibition at another point near the riverside, it was sandcastles – a very unusual sight for a riverside city!
Eventually it was time to hop on a train and head for the airport. It was sad to leave because I had such a great time. Berlin surprised me, it was not what I expected, it was better!