Travel Talk

Keeping Busy in Berlin, Germany

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Greetings,

The sun is shining and I’m fully enjoying my late checkout before hitting the road once more. My short but sweet stay in Berlin is coming to an end so I want to share some photos and stories with you from my time here. Yesterday was a little cooler than the day before but it didn’t stop myself and new friends from linking up with some older ones and exploring the city / seeing the sights and mixing lots of laughs in along the way.

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I was on this tour with three other bloggers and it turns out Caspar and Mike are in Germany shooting some video for the tourism board. I had the pleasure of meeting Caspar in Mauritius and Mike in Canada so when I heard they were in town; it was a no brainer to link up. We went for some lunch before cruising around and seeing the sights. Since it’s Easter weekend, Berlin is packed. It’s so packed that most hotels are booked out solid.

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When hotels get booked out solid, you can bet your last buck that the streets are filled with streams of citizens here for a good time; not a long time. As a result it was a lot of fun, really tough to get good shots of places without too many people and a cue for this gent to have to get a move on. If I could have found a hotel room here easily, probably would have stayed a few more days but such is life, yes? Good news is I’ll be back in Berlin soon. If you’re planning to live a long time in berlin probably the best idea would be to rent an apartment in Berlin.

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Of all the sights we saw, the Holocaust Memorial is what sticks out the most in my mind. It’s a beautiful but eerie place and from what I’ve heard, has lots more meaning than meets the eye. There are 2700+ concrete pillars ranging in height… On the outsides they are all very low but when you get into the middle, it feels like a trap and you can’t find your way out and sort of wonder how you got there. Supposedly this is to represent how many Jewish people felt; when the Nazi movement started they couldn’t see where it was going until they were in the middle and it was too late…

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After that we made our way to several more sights which can all be seen here. I’ll mention that the Berlin Cathedral is something else and to call it behemoth would be an understatement. Also, the attention to detail is positively mind-blowing. The photos I’m sharing don’t do it justice and it has to be seen if you’re in Berlin. Like the rest of town, it was packed here too and I quite liked the energy. Quick note; there is real no downtown core as Berlin is really spread out and it’s roughly 9 times the size of Paris with countless more bridges than Venice… Just thought I’d throw that out there.

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Later we went to De Berliner Republik for some traditional German dishes. I had the pig knuckles as it’s their most popular dish and it was tasty but not for the queasy. The portion is behemoth and you need to cut through lots of fat to get to the meat. Let’s just say that if you have some vegetarian friends who are going to come to dinner with you; don’t order this dish or they will surely be disturbed. That said, the restaurant / pub was incredibly lively and they had a cool stock market game where prices of drinks went up and down based on consumption. A rather novel idea, I dare say.

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Soon I’m off to Potsdam to meet up with my friends from yesterday as they are staying there the next few days. It only makes sense as I’ve had a busy couple of weeks and some rest and relaxation involving little more than feeding / bathing myself as well as playing on the internet is in order. Potsdam has some incredible parks and castles; I love castles and can’t wait to explore them before sharing them with you here.

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Goodbye for now Berlin but we’ll be seeing lots more of each other in the coming weeks.

Happy Easter everyone, wherever you are…

Tips hat,

P.S: Top right of photo with busy crowd is hotel where MJ held baby over balcony…

P.P.S: Below is some of Caspar and Mike’s Previous work for the city of Dresden.

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