October 10 – 14, 2012
Our first weekend getaway from Grenoble was to go and check out Berlin with Iain and Brynja. Back in Canada before we left for this trip, we often asked people what their favourite city in Europe was – and we were surprised at how often the answer was Berlin! So we were very excited to finally check out this historical and cultural city for ourselves…
Berlin is a wee bit of a hipster city, where trendy shops, cafes and bars are scattered across the city and are often hidden right under your nose. Luckily we had expert insight from Iain and Brynja and were able to enjoy things like the best Lebanese restaurant in town, as well as the tiniest bar we've ever been in (aptly named: Mini Bar).
Interesting fact - around a third of Berlin's area is composted of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes. We meandered through a big beautiful park complete with a petting zoo, and took in the refreshing fall air.
There's a big outdoor market, where we picked up some dips and breads for a delicious lunch together.
No trip to Berlin would be complete without sampling some fine German beer, which you can buy anywhere and carry with you as you go. In the background you can see the iconic television tower - Fernsehturm.
One of the most memorable parts of our city tour was of course visiting the Berlin Wall. There is an area of the wall called the East Side Gallery, which is considered a memorial of freedom. The wall here is covered with 105 paintings by artists from all over the world.
The artistic theme spread from the Wall to the rest of the city, where there are interesting and colourful paintings covering the sides of most buildings...call it graffiti or call it art, but either way it's adds to Berlin's charm. This robot-like piece was one of our favourites.
We spent a lot of our time checking out some very cool bars, including a local brewery, and a pub where we played a few games of 8 ball.
Our apartment for the weekend was awesome - it was old, beautiful and huge. It had our future dream couch, and a very cool and colourful painting on the wall. What an awesome spot to hang out with some of Iain and Brynja's friends before going out to check out Berlin's nightlife.
The bars we checked out were really fun and they all had a very chill vibe!
Although we were only there for a few days, we felt like we got a great sense of Berlin. We loved how it’s edgy and artistic feel was blended with history and a diverse culture. And thanks to Iain and Brynja’s inside scoop on Germany’s capital, we got to check out some of the hidden, random spots that make the city so interesting!
Check out the rest of the photos here!