Monday 16th March 2015:
We departed The Netherlands bound for Germany. Accommodation was at Plus Berlin hostel, which is in the former "East Berlin" (the previous communist side of Berlin that constructed the wall).
From its tumultuous past and the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1990, Berlin has come a long way. Today, at first glance Berlin has plenty of the ingredients of a large, cosmopolitan European city. When you look a little closer though, there are plenty of reminders of Berlin's past, such as the derelict buildings scattered throughout the city, and remnant sections of wall. In many areas, these give a depressing, eerie feeling.
We were taken on a guided walking tour, and one thing we found interesting is that Germany have seemingly attempted to hide key elements of its history. One major example is the bunker where Hitler took his life. This has been completely filled in and is now a very unassuming car park, with no signage or plaques to acknowledge the significance of the site.
On Tuesday night, we visited a traditional German beer hall or Hofbräuhaus and shared a massive pork knuckle (disclaimer: we were told it isn't actually a knuckle) and each consumed a 1 litre stein of beer - Roslyn's was a radler, watered down with lemonade aka Shandy!
Highlights:
- 3 hour walking tour of Berlin
- Drank 'Mezzo' - a German soft drink that is a cross between Fanta and Coke
- Made our own chocolate bar - milk chocolate with vanilla cookie, strawberry pieces and hazelnuts (delish!)
- Dinner at a German Hofbräuhaus beer hall - consumed a litre of beer each plus a mammoth pork knuckle
- Night walking tour, where we were shown the former "death strip" and locations of where escape tunnels had been dug
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