TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

We have finally come to an end of my Berlin travel posts. Hopefully in the near future when I come back to this city, I will be able to visit the amazing glass cupola of the Reichstag. Because of the new security guidelines, visits will have to go through a preliminary screening and visitors will have to register 3-days in advance online at the Reichstag website. Unfortunately we did not have the luxury of time. Another thing that I’d like to do in Berlin next time around is to visit the food or farmer’s market. I have simple wishes, I do not ask a lot =) Below are more pictures that I took during our 4-day Berlin long weekend trip in March of this year. They are daily street scenes, some of our dinners (they did not merit their own post), more historical monuments and places and things of interest. One of our dinners at Restaurante Malatesta, an Italian restaurant in Gendarmenmarkt. We shared a spinach salad doused in balsamico vinegar and showered with roasted pine nuts. Dutch...

Dutchman and I walked for the most part of our discovering Berlin city adventure. However, we also made use of the city’s subway called U-Bahn. U-Bahn means ‘Untergrundbahn’ (underground railway) and it serves the city of Berlin. The S-Bahn however which means ‘Stadtbahn’ (city railway) serves Berlin as well as its neighbouring states, Potsdam and Brandenburg. Both railway networks are integrated and the routes are interconnected with each other. Berlin is a big city and taking the U-Bahn helps save time hopping from one ‘platz’ or neighbourhood to another. For short-time visitors, there are day passes or a few days passes available. The nearest U-Bahn from our hotel is the Spittelmarkt so we were quite happy with that. Unfortunately, some of the subways do not have route information so we had to ask people or make a wild guess by figuring out the electronic schedules flashed above the platforms. It’s not very handy at all. We do not speak Deutsch but since Nederlands is related ...

After our visit in Kurfurstendamm we went to the other side of town, still in the same borough though, the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, for some more walking and sightseeing. It’s a Sunday so many shops were closed but many people were out and about in the parks. We arrived in Charlottenburg Palace, the biggest palace in Berlin dating back to the 17th century. It is heavily influenced by baroque and rococo architecture. I have also heard about the baroque style elegant gardens in its courtyards so I was quite looking forward to visit it. The Dutchman however didn’t want to go inside the palace and I can’t leave him outside as well. What to do? Oh well, there are things in life that you just have to compromise with. So with that we walked further around the neighbourhood, then we took the U-bahn back to Mitte. Here are some of the pictures I took... Hi there! How do you find my red bear? Not the soft one I would have imagined though. Charlottenburg Palace. Tra...