Due to high demand from my six dedicated followers, I have decided to forgo the wait and give the fans what they want. Here is the continuation my advice for your visit to Berlin.
To pick up where I left off, my friends and I had just checked into the Wombat hostel and had begun to settle in. We stayed in an equally impressive room except this time around it was a six-person room so we lacked the privacy of the other hostel. What it lacked in privacy though, it made up for elsewhere. They supplied clean sheets, blankets and towels at no additional cost. The only catch was a lack of soap but luckil
y I had anticipated this and brought my own. The rest of the facilities were pretty similar, with wifi available in the lobby and a nice area to sit, drink, play pool and meet new people available on the top floor. All of this was available for 20 US dollars the first night and only 13 USD the second (because it was a Sunday night).
As promised, I feel the need to reveal an important travel tip when staying in hostels. Here it is: Don’t trust anyone! During our stay, our Romanian roommate robbed my friends and me despite our access to lockers in our room (similar to that of the first hostel). Three of us lost our iPhones and all of our cash (the fourth had it all under his pillow). I am telling you this not to scare you or get sympathy but to make sure you do not make the same mistakes that we did.
Where did we go wrong?
Essentially our Achilles heel was the letting down of our guard. We had enjoyed drinks with this seemingly normal solo traveler earlier that night and therefore let our suspicions die as he fed us lie after lie. Even with our guards down, we still had everything locked away…except our room keys and iPhones. After returning home from a late night, we simply plugged in our iPhones, as most would do before bed, and passed out. As can be seen in the picture below, each bed came with a personal bedside table and outlet. Although convenient, this setup gave us a fa
lse sense of security as you would expect to wake up if someone were to reach over you. Well believe it or not, you don’t quite notice everything while you are in a drunken slumber. He quietly reached over us and acquired our phones and also our room keys. These room keys doubled to unlock the lockers, making our efforts to lock up our wallets futile. Also below is a picture of the Romanian thief as captured by our Snapchat stories before the robbery. Although unlikely, it could never hurt to spread pictures of him for both your sake and mine.
I would also like to add how accommodating the Wombat was to our situation. Even though they could do nothing to catch the thief, as he had given them fake information, they did manage to give us one night’s stay back, a few beer coupons at the bar and a free breakfast which was very kind. The Australian gentleman at the front desk was exceptional as well, giving us great recommendations, especially for a German restaurant that had its own microbrewery just down the street. I do not remember the name but I had my favorite beer there since I’ve been in Europe. A picture of my friends and I there can be seen below. I highly recommend the schnitzel!
Enough about hostels. You are probably wondering at this point if I will ever tell you what to see during your stay…well the time has come. Below is an itemized list of what I thought to be some of the most significant attractions and whether or not I believe they were worth seeing.
- Brandenburg Gate– Brandenburg gate is the famous arch that served as a rallying point for soldiers in WWII. I would consider this stop worthwhile for two reasons. The first being that it is a great photo opportunity in a great location. It is only 100 yards or so from both the Reichstag capital building and the Holocaust Memorial. From there you are also able to see a line of bricks in the road that outlines where the Berlin wall once stood. The second reason being that it is the meeting point for most tours.
***I highly recommend you go on a free “New Europe” tour. It was an excellent guided walking tour that lasted three hours and provided a surplus of information. It hit many major monuments and even informed us of significant locations, like that of Hitler’s bunker, that we would of never known about otherwise. Click the picture below to find out more!
2. Reichstag Capital Building– As mentioned, the Reichstag is the capital building located just around the corner from the Brandenburg gate. I would consider this monument a must see for its architecture alone. It is also the place to go if you want to learn more about other parts of the city. They offer a free audio tour in which you ascend into the clear glass dome on top of the building and look out over the city. It uses your location to tell you about what you are looking at. I highly recommend it.
***It is free BUT you have to make sure to make a reservation ahead of time!
- Holocaust Memorial– A gorgeous memorial to the tragedy that took the lives of over 6 million Jews, the Holocaust Memorial lies on the other side of the Brandenburg gate. Consisting of 2,700 or so gray stone blocks of varying sizes, the Holocaust memorial was designed to be open for interpretation. You will find no signs in the memorial but will slowly draw your own conclusions about its significance as you weave through the maze of stone. I would definitely recommend this memorial and you will be sure to see it if you go on the recommended “New Europe” tour. It is a free attraction as well.
***There is a Holocaust museum underneath the memorial but unfortunately it was closed the Monday we were there. Stop by if you have the chance.
- Berlin Zoo– World renowned, the Berlin Zoo is apparently a must see for travelers and locals alike. We personally did not have the chance to see it, but I would not have wanted to anyways due to the poor weather. From the pictures I’ve seen, I would say it would be worth a shot in the summer months.
- Berlin Cathedral– Berlin is home to many major churches, perhaps the most iconic of which is the Berlin Cathedral. My friends and I stopped by this destination on our walk back from the New Europe tour. We snapped some great pictures as seen above and proceeded inside. I believe the cost was 8 euros, which was not worth it for us so we promptly left. If you are a church or architecture enthusiast then it might be worth it for you but otherwise save your money and buy 8 Berliners instead!
- East Side Gallery MY FAVORITE DESTINATION IN BERLIN- One of the last segments of the Berlin wall, this surprisingly long section is one of the largest art galleries in the world. The images depict all sorts of scenes and designs often with a central theme of freedom. Some of my favorites can be seen in the slideshow above. Bring your camera!!
- Checkpoint Charlie– Checkpoint Charlie is the home of a famous Cold War checkpoint. It contains a small booth with two actors and an enlarged picture of an American soldier, “Charlie”, facing east towards the Russian checkpoint as a reminder that we are always watching.
***This stop was on the New Europe tour but otherwise I would definitely recommend SKIPPING this attraction. It was one of the most fake memorials I have ever seen…two actors dressed up as soldiers in a Disney-World-looking-checkpoint. They were there simply to take pictures for a fee. I felt like it almost disgraced the site…AVOID IF POSSIBLE.
- Bode Museum– On museum island lies five or so museums, one of which is the very famous Bode museum. If you are an art enthusiast I definitely recommend. We were able to obtain a student rate for roughly 6 Euros and that to me was worth it. Although I’m not an art enthusiast, I still enjoyed looking at historic and contemporary art in room after room of displays. Enjoyable for an art museum in my opinion.
- The Fernsehturm Tower– The iconic Fernsehturm Tower is the “Seattle space needle” that you will probably stumble across a couple of times during your stay. Located in the famous square/train station, Alexanderplatz, the Fernsehturm Tower stands 368 meters tall in the Berlin sky. In my opinion I would AVOID this attraction at all costs. The concept of it is pointless if you manage to make it to the Reichstag capital building as you are once again seeing Berlin from an aerial view but this time without an informative audio tour and this time at a cost. I have posted the high prices below. I remember them being even higher, roughly 18 euros but perhaps I am wrong. Either way, definitely not worth it.
http://www.tv-turm.de/es/tickets-preise.php
- Bonus for the Adventurous: Spreepark– Spreepark is the place to go for adventurers and photography enthusiasts alike. An abandoned theme park, Spreepark is a prime example of nature’s quick overgrowth of a former common attraction. This is for the tourist trying to get off the beaten track. Personally, I did not do this excursion as I was not willing to take the risk of a fine. This is because someone bought it a few years ago so it is now technically trespassing to go… finable up to 500 or so euros I believe. Although I am not encouraging this behavior, from the many people I talked to, no one had ever heard of anyone getting fined. In the few cases that the police did come and they were caught, I was told they did not get fined but rather just asked to leave. We decided against it as we had just lost all of our money and iPhones the night before and didn’t want to take the financial risk. If you do want something unique though, this is definitely an option.
Due to the length of this post, I will save you another in depth nightclub story like the one present in my last post. Long story short, you should try to go to Watergate nightclub (which we didn’t get into) as it has great reviews. We ended up going to Matrix again, which once again was a great alternative. Thus concludes my adventure to Berlin. Hopefully you enjoyed this blog and can use some of my advice in your travels!
Making The Right Travel Moves 