Every trip needs a cultural sightseeing museum visiting time. This was mine.
I know it seemed like this Berlin trip was never ending. But it was only 4 days so couldn’t really stuff all of it in one post. It wouldn’t be fair to all of the things I got to experience. This Berlin trip was different so past the pure bad luck and the porn star incident (if you missed it, have a laugh and read about it) here is the cultural part of the holiday.
The ITB Conference
Second day was pretty productive as I was at ITB – the International Travel Trade Show in Berlin for most of the time, met some nice people, exchanged blogs and information, got a picture with the Slovenian mascot: all business not much fun. Though seeing the mascot playing poker was interesting. For more pictures from ITB you can check our Pinterest Board: Travel Conferences.
 The cultural interesting stuff
At lunch we went to Alexander Platz to see the TV Tower and the Watch.
The TV Tower is one of the musts of Berlin. It is extremely busy with queues taking up to 3h even on weekdays. There is the option to sign up for a text alert that confirms your entry slot, but it doesn’t always work. It didn’t for us anyway. Good thing we estimated the time and managed to get up. The tower itself is a landmark and a remarkable structure with views from the top that will make the waiting well worth it.
In Alexander Platz we also got to see the famous Berliners’ meeting point The World Time Clock. Built in 1969 it is 10metres tall and it features the world’s 24 time zones with the major cities in the world engraved. It’s a simplified model of the solar system and it revolves once every minute. Pretty cool I would say.
The Wall
Anyway we powered through the rest of the day while seeing the Berlin wall. Which is absolutely amazing! I am a massive street art fan and just witnessing the power of the messages on the wall combined with the history made me heart smile.
I got to see the wall during the night but I would recommend a daylight visit to take better pictures and observe the details of the street art closely.
The Bundestag
Took the metro to the bundestag. It’s fairly easy to get there obviously and the station looks brilliant. The Bundestag in the night light is gorgeous but make the effort and book a tour in advance about a week before as we did. The next day we went and it was really worth the visit.
During the tour you explore the building from the lower chamber to the dome, and get to see the old walls the Soviets occupied in 1945. The audio guide is extremely helpful and I make a habit of taking one on every tour I go on. So much information about a place it would be a shame to pass the chance for a few extra Euros.
The glass dome at the Deutscher Bundestag is quite remarkable. You can have breakfast in the dining room and enjoy the outstanding view of the city without waiting in line for the dome. We wanted to try it but the prices were a bit out of our budget. If you do find it cheap definitely do it.
The Brandenburg Gate
The Branderburg Tor is a landmark of Berlin which symbolizes both the division and unification of Berlin. Its place in history cannot be contested. It was built during Friedrich Wilhelm II reign in the 18th century. The reason the photos are during the night for the Brandenburg Gate and the Bundestag is that during the day you can barely move in the crowd so pictures weren’t even an option.
Food
I love German food. There are a few places in the world where you can get sausages as good as in Germany. We passed by the Wursterei fast food place and took the classic menu: fries, and a currywürstel warsteiner for only 5.90 Euros. Delicious!
We had breakfast at Cafe Krone and for £7 we got the best meal in Berlin. Admittedly, we are always hungry but the food was really worth the price, the atmosphere amazingly relaxing and the service …well… great.
If you have any recommendations for Berlin leave a comment below and let me know.
