DIARY OF AN ADVENTURER: BERLIN BABY

The first stop on my month long European Adventure was the German capital. Ever since going there in 2010 as a part of my School Exchange I had dying to go back and it didn't disappoint. Last time I had visited however the whole place had been covered in snow and I was excited to see the place without it this time. I was travelling with my cousin Ellie who had just arrived in the United Kingdom from New Zealand.

We spent two full on days exploring Berlin. We were fortunate enough to have our own private tour guide on the evening that we arrived. One of the German exchange students from my school exchange was conveniently on work placement in Berlin at the same time we were there. He showed us how the S and U Bahn's worked and how to go about validating your tickets (not that we paid to go on the trains very much). We had dinner in the Hackesher Markt, near the TV Tower and managed to find our way back to our hostel without a guide! A great start to our pair dynamic.

The next morning we joined a free walking tour to familiarise ourselves with the city and to learn a bit about the history of Berlin. It absolutely poured down after the first half an hour, luckily we had our rain jackets, but it was the wettest tour our guide had ever given! We still managed to see the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial (a Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe), Checkpoint Charlie (The American Checkpoint during WWII) the Reichstag (Parliment building) and some of the remains of the Berlin Wall.

We also saw Hotel Adlon Kempinski the place where the Queen stays when she visits Berlin, and the same hotel that Michael Jackson famously held his son out the window. I had already seen this all before but I still had a really great time, as Berlin is truely a great city. For lunch I introduced Ellie to Curry Wurst and Berliner - curried sausages and a delicious donut!

Fortunately the afternoon cleared up and we clocked up a couple of 100 kilometres by walking from one end of Berlin to the other. We still had so much to see and so little time to see it all! We walked along Strasse des 17 Juni, which connects the Brandenburg Gate with the Siegessäule (Victory Column commemmorating victory of the Prussian-Danish war). This road runs through the middle of the Tiergarten - Berlin's very own 'Hyde Park'.

We saw the German president's house (Bellevue Palace) and finally Keiser Wilhelm's Church which had the top blown off during the war. This church is super impressive. It was an early night after such a busy day and another early start!

On Day Two we decided to visit Sachenhausen, a concentration camp located just out of Berlin, used for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May 1945. On our way to the tour meeting point we stopped to take some pictures the Berlin Dom/Cathedral, which was closed so we couldn't go inside. We also saw Museum Island, a complex of five of the Berlin State Museums.

Sachenhausen was an interesting experience. Most of the buildings had been destroyed but there was still an eerie feel to the place. On the gate to the entrance I saw the words that I had previously seen at Daucau "Arbeit Macht Frei" - "Work will set you free". We learnt a lot about how they disposed of the bodies here and even saw the remains of the ovens that were used to burn them.

Once we returned to Berlin we went to one of the tallest buildings to get a panoramic view of the whole city. It was so amazing to see all the places we had walked the day before and to see everything from a different angle. We decided then that we would make sure we climbed to the highest point of every city to experience this wonderful feeling.

We ended the day by walking along the East Side Gallery, a part of the Berlin wall that still stands. The wall was put up in 1961 to divide East and West Berlin. It is crazy to think that during this time my parents actually visited Germany and saw the wall in use! The 9th of November 1989 was the date the wall became no longer necessary. Decorating took place in 1990 and it was later restored in 2009 to celebrate the 20th anniversary since the falling. There was some incredible pictures drawn over the 1.3km wall which runs along side the river Spree.

We had to check out the next morning as it was time to move on to Prague, but we made sure to check out Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) on our way to the train station! We both really loved Berlin and it is a city I will never get sick of!

"A year from now, you will wish you had started today." - Karen Lamb

I hope this has inspired you.

LARISSAJODEE x

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