Berlin Travel Diary – Berlin Wall and Gendarmenmarkt | Day 3

Obviously I didn’t just come back from Berlin. I’m just a horrible human being who posts things super late at times – but because I love sharing, I would like to showcase the remaining photos of my Berlin trip from September 2017. Plus, it’s nice to finish chapters in your life right?

This will be the last segment to my Berlin Travel Diary series. I know that I said I went to Berlin for 5 days but I decided to only write about the 3 days in the middle since I am not quite counting the day of arrival or day of departure. (Either days were relatively chilled out although I think I have roughly covered the first day of arrival in my first segment.)

In addition, thank you so far for the positive response from my last Berlin post! The comments written were very generous so I guess posting the photographs despite it being months late, was a good idea after all, right?

You can catch up with the previous segments in the series here and here.

So to start things off, I showed this church in Part 2 but didn’t show this particular GIF. It’s actually quite funny because I shot this animation in burst-mode on my then-phone without meaning to shoot this person who also appeared to be shooting me too?! Actually quite crazy when you think about it but makes for a good story.

🔺East Berlin: Oberbaum Bridge

On our 4th day, I remember we headed to East Berlin. This is very much the ‘cool’ part of Berlin where there are rock clubs nearby and an underground scene for music and the arts. I didn’t explore either of those things extensively but if you are a fan of rock music in particular, you’ll be wanting to hang out in East Berlin for sure.

Crossing the Oberbaum Bridge which overlooks a river

Looking over at East Berlin from the other side

🔺Berlin Wall

If you’re going to Berlin, then it is obvious that you have to go visit the Berlin Wall! It’s considered as common knowledge otherwise you didn’t go to Berlin.

However – and this is going to be an unpopular opinion but I was slightly underwhelmed by it. Don’t get me wrong – of course I know and understand the meaning and worth of the Berlin Wall yet when I finally got there, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Maybe I expected too much?

I did enjoy some of the Art though:

If you were ever wondering what I wear on my travel trips, 100% I will be wearing sneakers. These are my Nike Air Max which I’ve owned for possibly 6 years now and they’re still going strong! My feet never get tired no matter how much I walk in them.

When we were walking back from Berlin Wall, we noticed this cute little ‘van-car’. I hope you can tell just how mini it is in the picture?

🔺Mall of Berlin

After Berlin Wall, we headed to another part of Berlin. I can’t remember where exactly but since we hadn’t explored any shopping malls up until that point, we went to the Mall of Berlin.

There is a part at the top floor where you can enjoy a range of cuisines. We chose the Vietnamese parlour because we were really fancying noodles. They had a lot of selection across the floor including Thai and American cuisines.

We had Pho! (Vietnamese flate noodles.) A lot of people rave about Pho but surprisingly I had never tried it up until this point. Or maybe I have without knowing? I loved the soup base – they were generous with the spring onions which transforms the entire soup base itself! I ordered the roast pork whilst my mum and brother ordered the beef.

You’ll notice from the photos that the weather wasn’t the best. It held up though as in it didn’t rain badly so I would say that the weather was mostly in our favour.

When it did rain, it would only be for about 5-10 minutes so it didn’t ruin our trip at all.

🔺Reichstag Building

We visited the Reichstag Building which is very much the government office of Berlin? If you notice, there’s a glass roof at the top somewhere which I believe is accessible by the public but you need to buy tickets. We didn’t book anything though so if this is something you would gladly visit, do your homework!

🔺Neue Kirche – Deutscher Dom, Gendarmenmarkt

For me, I would say Gendarmenmarkt is worth the visit because of the range of restaurants and cafes in and around this area. It’s also a nice walk too. We came across this building which happens to be a church:

Our last night in Berlin was fast-approaching so we really wanted to celebrate it with an amazing meal which is why Gendarmenmarkt holds a bit of a soft spot for me. (Seriously though, there were a lot of restaurants that looked great.)

We went into a Bavarian beer-house/restaurant which had an amazing atmosphere. It was packed! I didn’t take a picture but all the waitresses were dressed in bavarian costumes which I thought was cool. The waiter that served us was very accommodating so I would definitely recommend this place. The details are down below.

Needless to mention, it was a great night.

My brother ordered steak which came with sliced potatoes and a side salad. I tried a potato or two and honestly, they were some of the best I’ve ever tried.

My mum ordered the infamous pork knuckle. She had watched something on tv that involved this as Germany’s must-try foods so this was the main reason why we headed into this restaurant! The pork knuckle is really big so me and my brother had to help out but again – amazing food.

I had the veal because it’s not something that I had tried before. Along with the squeeze of a lemon, it was rather refreshing tasting. It came with a side salad that was completely different to my brother’s – zingy and appetising.

I think on any last night before you leave a place that you have visited, it’s important to go to a restaurant to celebrate with your travel companion. It doesn’t even have to be a fancy restaurant – just somewhere nice with a good atmosphere. Trust me – it makes the entire trip!

🔺Mercedes Forum

The next morning (and our last day), we decided to just stay local to our hotel. There was a Mercedes Forum close-by so we went in to explore it since Germany are very well-known for their cars.

One great thing I learned was that Mercedes is actually a name! I say this with exclaim because when I was young, I remember you were made fun of if you had a name like Mercedes. Turns out, 1. Mercedes is indeed a name – a girl’s name for that matter and 2. the car name takes after the founder’s daughter or something. (I can’t quite remember but it was definitely someone’s daughter!)

When you first go inside, it’s a little like a museum.

An old-style Mercedes Benz

Mercedes Benz E-Class? Am assuming this is a new (or not-so-new now) model.

They even showcased the Mercedes engine which really looks like a work of art.

🔺On our way home from the airport! Crossing Severn Bridge

…and back to the UK it was! We didn’t do too much on our very last day which is why the photo diary more or less ends here. We had a wonderful time and for sure, I’d like to visit Germany again.

Have you been to Germany lately? What do you think?

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Thank you for reading! I’ll be planning another travel story shortly. ❤

I am happy and relieved to have finished this travel series! Honestly, I was even thinking of skipping over it but I took so many photographs that I thought it would be a waste to not share any of it. Also – I felt that it was a post that had been built up mentally for so long that I needed to get it done to move forward.

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