Berlin is a city with the most history in modern times in my mind. The city’s turbulent and violent 20th century is evident from several ruins, monuments, and memorials across the city such as the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Berlin Wall. The city has come a long way from its past to being a center of reunification and a hub for art, music and sports.
I got a chance to visit when my son decided to do a Study Abroad program in Berlin and I jumped at the opportunity to go with him. How could I not? It was a city on my bucket-list and I was ecstatic that my son decided to go to Berlin when he had the choice to go to London or Copenhagen also.
We flew from San Francisco and after a couple hours layover in Amsterdam, we reached Berlin at 2.00pm. The most interesting part of the airport was that the moment we got off the plane and got out at the gate, the baggage carousel was right at the gate. As we had already cleared immigration at Amsterdam as we were in the European Union, we got our bags right away. In fact, our bags were the first ones on the carousel which was a miracle by itself as I always have to wait for my bags.
We got our bags and I went looking for the booth to validate my Welcome Berlin Card and also check for Sim cards. Unfortunately, I didn’t get either of those tasks accomplished. We decided to head out and found a taxi to take us to our hotel. Taxi’s at Berlin airport are available at Gate A9 and taxi drivers will not stop in front of other gates.
The hotel Ludwig Van Beethoven was in an area called Kreuzberg. I chose Kreuzberg because it was close to the center of Berlin and close to my son’s dorm. The ride to our hotel from the airport was around 20 minutes and the fare was around 31 Euros.
Address: Ludwig Van Beethoven
Hasenheide 14, 10967 Berlin, Germany
We reached our hotel, checked in and crashed as we were exhausted. Jet lag took over and we fell asleep for a while. We woke up late in the night and just ate food and snacks we had on us.
Day 2: Monday
We had breakfast which was amazing at the Ludwig Van Beethoven Hotel. The choices ranged from scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, deviled eggs, to sausages and different sliced deli meats such as ham, prosciutto, salami, smoked salmon. There was meat salad and egg salad, fruits, yogurts, cereals and breakfast sweet breads such as danish, croissants, muffins and cakes etc.
After breakfast, we went to O2 to figure out the SIM card. At 1pm we took a cab to my son’s institute in Gneisensaunastrabe to get my son checked in and settled in his dorm. He was starting orientation right away so there wasn’t much I needed to do.
After he was settled in his room, I realized I was on my own. I took the train U7 towards U Grenzallee (Berlin) from U Gneisenaustraße to U Hermannplatz. It was a quick journey with two stops. The U Hermannplatz station was a minute walk from my hotel.
After resting for a bit, I ventured out again to Gendarmenmarkt. This time I took the following route:
I reached Französischer Street to find everything dark and the shops closed at 7.30 pm. I still walked the block to Gendarmenmarkt to find everything dark and desolate.
There was no one at the Konzerthaus plaza so I walked around the plaza and returned back to Friedrichstraße street and walked to Check Point Charlie.
The distance from Gendarmenmarkt to Check Point Charlie is less than a mile. The road was well lighted and there were a few people walking around. The restaurants and pubs were open even though the shops and stores were closed.
I took a couple pics at Check Point Charlie and spent some time in the Museum Shop. I picked up a few souvenirs and one particularly special item was a piece of the Berlin Wall. The museum shop had them for sale and I felt I needed to own a piece of history. The museum shop also provided an authenticity certificate with the piece I bought.
I returned back to my room around 9.30pm. The U Bahn station near Check Point Charlie is U Kochstrabe and I backtracked my way by taking U6 with a change to U7 at Mehringdamm to U Hermannplatz.
The U Kochstrabe station was completely empty and I found myself alone on the station waiting for the train. It may not have been the wisest decision to wait for the train or to be alone in an underground train station. However, the trains come literally every minute and my wait was short and there were people on the train. It did creep me out a little bit and I wouldn’t repeat that adventure again. Anyway, I returned to my room safe and sound.
Day 3: Tuesday
The next day I woke up and ate a hearty breakfast of eggs and sausages and smoked salmon. I think I like Germany! I did get a couple fruits to go with me and ate yogurt at breakfast too so I covered all the food groups.
After breakfast, equipped with my map, I took the train to Alexanderplatz. I had bought the Welcome Berlin Card online back in the US and needed to redeem the voucher for the card. The easiest thing to do would be to redeem the voucher at the service desk at Tegel Airport. However, I did try but because of my poor German skills, the person didn’t understand me and asked me to redeem at the bus stop. I had no idea which bus she was talking about so I left the airport without getting it done.
Anyway, the Welcome Berlin Card can also be redeemed at the Park Inn by Radisson at Alexanderplatz so I made that my first stop. The train again was very convenient and I took the U8 to Alexander Platz from Hermannplatz.
Alexanderplatz is a huge busy square in the center of Berlin. It also has the bus station, the train station in addition to the U Bahn. From Alexanderplatz, one can walk to several sights such as the Berlin Tower, Berliner Dome, Museum Island and if one continues to walk on Karl Liebnecht and Unter Den Linden, you can walk all the way to Brandenburg Tor which may be 1.5 miles from Museum Island.
The World Clock is located right in the square outside the station. There are several stores and restaurants in the area.
Park Inn was very easy to find as it was the only skyscraper in the square. The concierge exchanged my voucher for the card right away and I was good to go. I got a coupon book, city map along with the card. I had paid 37€ for the 4 Day ABC region Welcome Berlin Card so my transportation was free for the rest of my trip on all buses and trains in the city and Potsdam.
The card also gives you discounts at several museums, restaurants and the hop on hop off bus. Equipped with my card, I took the U8 train again for a few more stops to Bernauer Straße for the Berliner Mauer or Berlin Wall Memorial.
As it was freezing cold and raining heavily by the time I got to Bernauer Straße, I decided to take a quick stop at the cafe across the street from the train station. The cafe was cute with a very charming hostess who was very knowledgeable of the area and sights to see. After the hot chocolate break, I started the Berlin Mauer walk along the lines steel rods and part of the wall. It’s a nice walk along the wall interspersed with rods, and pavilions to walk through.
One can also walk to the Documentation Center and climb a few stories to the Observation Deck. One can see the whole area from the Observation Deck. The walk to the end of the memorial and back must have been close to 1.5 miles or so.
I walked back to the Bernauer Straße U Bahn station and made my way to Alexanderplatz again. From the station I stopped by the World Clock and then made my way to Fernsehturm or the Berlin TV Tower.
My next stop was St. Mary’s Cathedral, a beautiful cathedral that I went in to visit. The walk from Alexanderplatz to Museum Island has historical sights and buildings all along the way so give yourself the time.
From St. Mary’s Cathedral, I slowly made my way past every historical building and fountain to Museum Island and stopped by each museum and the water to take pictures.
My last stop was the breathtaking Berlin Cathedral. You have to buy a ticket for 7€ to go inside. Also, make sure to keep any bags or bag packs in the lockers before heading into the cathedral. Also please note that when you buy the ticket, the machine churns out the receipt first and the ticket later. I forgot the ticket in the machine and assumed the receipt was the ticket and had to go back.
The Berlin Cathedral is one of the most stunning churches I have ever seen and believe me I have seen many in Europe and Central America.
The self-guided pathway takes you through the main area with the amazing dome and altar to the pathway that leads up to the Berliner Dom. There are approximately 280 steps to the top and the steps get narrow as one gets closer to the top.
The view is absolutely stunning with a 360 degree view of the city from the dome of the cathedral. It was breathtaking and as usual I found myself alone at the top. It is a definite workout though!
The path down the narrow steps lead all the way down to the crypt and one can only exit the cathedral by making their way through the tombs.
I left the place happy to have visited and climbed it as the view was worth it. I also lit a candle at the altar and said a small prayer.
After the Berliner Dom, I realized I was exhausted and had clocked more than 6 miles so I made my way back to U Alexanderplatz and came back to my room via the U8 route. After resting in my room for an hour or so, I ventured out to Gneisenaustraße for dinner at a small, quaint restaurant on Gneisenaustraße called Little Tibet.
Food was good and their portion size for the entree was more so I boxed some leftovers. I came back to my room on the U7 line to finally crash for the day as I had clocked 7.4 miles and 41 floors climbed for the day.
Day 4: Wednesday
Day 4 started like every day I had been in Berlin, cold, grey and rainy. Actually, rain had been replaced by snow but it wasn’t snowing heavily.
I started the day with a hearty breakfast of eggs and sausages, fruit and yogurt. I could easily get used to this lifestyle if I didn’t have to watch my weight and every bite I eat. So I took the U7 line from Hermannplatz towards Rathaus-Spandau and got off at Mehringdamm and changed to the U6 line towards U Alt Tegel to get off at U Kochstrabe Check Point Charlie station.
As my last trip to the spot had been in the dark, I walked around Check Point Charlie and checked out the museum across from it. Checkpoint Charlie was the crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War where at one point, Soviet and American tanks briefly faced each other during the The Berlin Crisis of 1961, the last major political/military incident in the Cold War. The checkpoint was the official crossing for foreigners and diplomats until German reunification in October of 1990.
A US Army soldier was standing at the station but I wasn’t too interested in getting a picture and there was no one there to take out picture actually even if I had wanted to.
I walked down the Niederkirchnerstraße street for a couple blocks to the Topography of Terror and spent some time walking around the ruins and then inside the information center. The Topography of Terror is located where once the main vein of the Third Reich was located. It was also the headquarters of the Gestapo, as well as the Reich Security Main Office. The Topography of Terror is an indoor and outdoor museum that documented the history of the rise of the Nazi regime to their fall.
It took me a while to go through the pictures and information and it wasn’t easy. Some of the pictures are graphic and my heart broke and tears were falling. I looked around to see that I wasn’t the only ones. There was hardly any dry eyed person and mood was somber. A word of caution for those with young children as the pictures are quite gory and depict executions, public shaming, and mass graves.
After the Topography of Terror, I walked down to Stresemann Street to PotsdamerPlatz. PotsdamerPlatz is an urban square with offices, stores and restaurants.
After a couple pictures, I continued straight on Ebertstrasse towards Tiergarten. There are several monuments and sculptures on the way to Tiergarten. 
Tiergarten is a serene park which gives the feeling of a forest and woods in midst of a bustling city. I decided to take a detour from the city streets and ventured into the park and its trail. It was wonderful to see a slice of nature in midst of the hustle bustle of the city. Like most places I was venturing out to in Berlin, Tiergarten was empty too and I loved my solitary walk. I only came across only two runners my while time in the park. I did wonder where the people were, but I think I may have been the only crazy walking miles and miles in freezing cold weather in rain and snow. But I think despite the rain and snow, I lucked out as it didn’t pour down and the mild drizzle felt good while walking.
There are a few statues and sculptures in Tiergarten that one can look at. There is a beautiful Goethe statue in the park and I found it to be a beautiful walk along the trails.
The Holocaust Museum also known as the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe is right across from Tiergarten at the corner of Ebertstrasse and Hannah-Arendt Straße. 
It is a somber site with tomb like structures of different sizes lining and spanning a few blocks. The heaviness in my heart continued as I spent some time at the memorial. It was surreal walking through the concrete slabs of varying heights in a grid formation on a slope. Underneath the memorial is the Place of Information. I decided not to go to the place of information as I was an emotional wreck by this time.
I had to sit down and process my thoughts and wonder why us humans behave the way do and where humanity was going. My thoughts may have been too deep but it was my surroundings and I can’t imagine any human not being affected.
Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe
From the memorial I walked less than a couple blocks to Brandenburg Tor or Gate which is a beautiful gate like structure. The whole area is in the heart of Berlin and is part of the city center.
From Brandenburg Tor, it’s a short walk to the Republik Building also known as the Reichstag. I walked around the building and took several pictures, however I opted not to go inside and take the tour. Entry to Reischstag is free but one needs to make an online reservation a day in advance at least. Be prepared for long lines and security check to get in. You can go all the way up to the dome to take a tour.
From Reischstag I walked through Tiergarten back to Brandenburg Gate and walked through PariserPlatz on Unter den Linden to Friedrichstraße.
The whole street is lined with stores and beautiful old buildings which are now being used as embassies by different countries. You can continue to walk straight on Unter den Linden to Karl Liebknecht Street to Museum Island and Berliner Dom and Alexanderplatz.
The distance cannot be more than 1.5 mile. I turned right on Friedrichstraße to reach Französischer Street and decided to go to Gendarmenmarkt labeled as the “most beautiful square in Berlin”. As I had walked by the place at night a couple nights before, I decided to go by the Konzerthaus and Franz Dom and Deutscher Dom. I was excited to see a couple people in the area this time 🙂
There are a couple shops where you can buy chocolate on Charlottenstraße near Gendarmenmarkt. I stopped by a small cafe on Friedrichstraße and got some hot chocolate as it was cold and drizzling.
After feeling warmed up, I decided to take Bus 147 from the corner of Französischer Street and Friedrichstraße to Berlin Ostabahnhof to visit the East Side gallery. The bus was a very convenient way to get to the East Side Gallery as the Wall starts at the corner of Berlin Ostabahnhof.
This section of the Berlin Wall is covered in murals painted by several artists. The wall spans for a mile or so and goes past the Mercedes-Benz complex and Mercedes-Benz arena.
At a point you can go up to the river and check out the Oberbaum Bridge.
Although I liked most of the murals painted, the most popular mural is the painting of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing and titled “ God save me from this deadly love”.
After walking and checking out all the murals, I backtracked on Mühlenstraße to Berlin Ostabahnhof and took Bus 147 back to Französischer Street and took the U6 back to Mehringdamm and changed to U7 to get to Hermannplatz and back to the hotel.
As it had been a long day, I got take out at the local Turkish restaurant Donyali and spent a quiet evening in my room. It had been another 6.5 miler day for me.
Day 5: Thursday
Day 5 started the same way as usual with a hearty breakfast. The day started with me first making a stop at Conrad Electronic Store at Hermannplatz for converters. With a combination of me speaking broken German and sign language, I managed to find a converter and left the store feeling accomplished. I took the U7 going towards Rathaus Spandau and got off at Gneisenaustraße where my son was staying in the dorms.
As he didn’t have any classes on Thursday, it was my day to spend with him and get him the items he needed. We took the U7 train to Rathaus Neokolln to go to Kaufland and bought groceries. My son needed to stock up on food and snacks and Kaufland turned out to be an amazing grocery store. It is located in a mall right across from the train station. We were also able to buy books, notebooks and other stationary supplies at McPaper in the same mall.
We finished our shopping and then took the U7 back to Gneisenaustraße and dumped the items in his room.After that we walked a few blocks down to a small store where we got the SIM card changed for the phone so he could use it. The deals for cell phones were cheap and my son got the 7gb data for a month.
With our work accomplished we decided to go to Potsdam, a small town outside of Berlin. I had the Welcome Berlin ABC Card so I didn’t have to buy a ticket for myself but we did get a ABC day pass for 7.70€ for my son. The easiest way to get to Potsdam was to go to Alexanderplatz and then taking the RE1 to Potsdam.
The train ride to Potsdam is around 45-50 mins and any RE1 line should take you to Potsdam. As we missed the Magdeburg train, we took the next one going to Brandenburg and got off at Potsdam Park. There are three stations for Potsdam and the first one actually takes you to Potsdam Scholss or Palace. As we wanted to walk in the park, we got off at the last station Park Sanssouci.
The trail walk to through the park to the Neues Palais (New Palace) and Potsdam Universitat is .8Km and the palace grounds and the university make for a beautiful site. We walked all the way to the Neues Palais and the University and then walked the trails for a while. The well maintained grounds and the uniformly pruned trees lining the trails made for a beautiful walk. As usual, like the rest of my trip we were alone on the grounds.
One can walk to Schloss Sansoucci and Orangerie Schloss, but we had decide to take the train to Schloss Sansoucci. We walked the grounds of the palace for a while and then walked through a different trail in the park back to the train station.
We took the train to Potsdam Hbf and got off for a quick walk to Schloss Sansoucci (Old Palace). As it was getting dark and we were almost out of time, we just took a couple pictures and then caught the train back to Berlin Bahnhof.
Once we got back to Berlin, we took the train to Mehringdamm and ate dinner at Curry 36. Curry 36 is right across from Mehringdamm station.
Curry 36 serves one of the best Currywurst and I chose the option of Currywurst with French fries. There was something magical about hot steaming on a cold rainy winter night. After a full tummy, we decided to crash and turn in for the night.
Day 6: Friday
Day 6 was my last full day in Berlin and it was a free day. I hadn’t planned too much for the day as I had pretty much explored the whole city. After breakfast, I decided to check out Charlottenburg Palace and Olympia Stadion.
Those were the only two places I had left as they seemed further away from where I was staying in Kreuzberg. Anyway, I decided to check those off on my last day.
Directions were pretty straight forward to Charlottenburg Palace from my hotel. I took U7 from Hermannplatz to Richard-Wagner-Platz. The palace is around 10 minute walk from the station.
I toured the palace and its grounds and Schloss Charlottenburg is an opulent and massive structure again like the rest of the palaces I saw in Potsdam.
I walked back to the train station to make my way to Olympia Stadion. 
I took U7 going towards Grenzallee and got off at the next station BismarckStraße and transferred to U2 going towards Ruhleben. 
Olympia Stadion was only 5 stops away. I got off at the station to find that it was built exactly like the stadium and had several posters and photos on display to showcase the history of the stadium and the 1936 Olympic Games. 
It was raining and fairly cold at this point, but again like before I found myself alone at the station and outside the station. The path to the stadium is around 1 km and goes through dense woods known as Olympia Park. I did get a tad bit spooked because I was alone and my antenna for personal safety did go up.
I debated not walking the lonely path and going back to the platform to take the train back and was tempted to do so, however I decided to make the walk.
Coming so close and not seeing the stadium did not sit well with me. So I walked the wooded path and the large parking lot to the stadium. The stadium looms large and is a witness to several events in the history of Germany. I remained alone in the large span of the area and enjoyed the solitude.
After taking a few pictures, I made the lonely path to the station. Luckily, even though the path was lonely, there were a few people on the station and I felt a sense of comfort. I took the U2 train back to BismarckStraße and changed to U7 going towards Grenzallee.
As it was my last day in Berlin, I met up with my son in Gneisenaustraße and we decided to go to Pariser Platz and Brandenburg Tor to spend some time and eat early dinner. We took the train to Französischer Straße by taking U7 from Gneisenaustraße and changing to U6 from Mehringdamm.
By this time, I had learned the train system and was so used to the routes that it became fun to travel by trains. After browsing in a couple souvenir shops we ate dinner at Nanteck. The menu consisted of several German dishes and my son ordered the Fried Cod with Parsley Potatoes and I ordered the Crayfish Bisque with Rye Bread. The food was amazing and the service was good.
After dinner, we walked a few blocks on Unter Den Linden to BebelPlatz, a square I hadn’t had a chance to visit. BebelPlatz is a square in the center of Berlin and is surrounded by St. Hedgwick’s Church , Humboldt University, and the Opera Building on each side. BebelPlatz is named after August Bebel, the founder of Social Democratic Party of Germany in the 19th Century.
Right in the square, visitors can look through a square of glass floor in the basement room, which is a memorial to the Nazi book burning by Micha Ullman.
From BebelPlatz, we walked a couple blocks to Friedrichstraße to U Französische Straße and took the train back to Hermannplatz. We decided to go Karlstradt Store to buy some items my son needed for his room.
Karlstradt is a huge store with multiple levels and carries everything from take out to clothes, shoes, linen, home goods, shoes etc. I did satisfy my love for boots by buying three pairs from my favorite brand. I got them for 30% off and could not believe the deal. If I had space in my little suitcase, I would have bought more!
Anyway, that ended my Berlin trip and I said goodbye to my son and returned to my room heartbroken that my baby was going to be staying so far away from me. I came back to my room to pack and crashed for the night as I had an early flight out of Berlin.
I was happy that I had a chance to explore Berlin and the city was everything I imagined it to be.
Take a Chance On Me 