Berlin Calling!

I was looking for a holiday destination for this year’s Easter break and I decided to take a trip to Germany’s amazing capital. It is a convenient destination as planes leave from Graz and I have a friend there, so I didn’t have to look for a hostel.

The flight went well and I arrived there Sunday evening. We spent a nice evening in a Lebanese restaurant and planned our week. I’ve already been to Berlin 6 years ago but that was only a 3-day-trip and as it was long time ago we decided to visit the most famous tourist attractions again. It took us one day to see the main sights like the Berlin Wall, Brandenburger Tor, Alexanderplatz, the Museum Island or the Siegessäule. 

Victory Column

Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag

Visiting a city with someone who lives there is completely different – eventually we didn’t to that much sightseeing but I got a closer look at places that real inhabitants of the city enjoy.  She took me to nice bars, we went to see a concert of a local musician and she showed me some magnificent parks.  

At the Rittersport shop

We also visited some museums – my favorite one is the Pergamonmuseum. It is divided into three sections: the antiquity collection, the Middle East museum and the museum of Islamic arts. The most impressive piece of art is the reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate, which was a gate to the inner city of Babylon. I also enjoyed the museum for Islamic art very much – probably because I’ve already heard much about Islamic art in Arabic classes but I’ve never had the chance to see some of it up to now. 

Ishtar Gate

Another must-see for Berlin visitors is Sanssouci – a palace located in Potsdam, half an hour from Berlin.  It reminds me a little bit of Versailles as it is built in a very similar style. The park is also beautiful. One can spend a lot of time wandering around there. Unfortunately it was freezing outside when we were there so we could not enjoy it that much. 

Since we were already in Potsdam I insisted on visiting the Babelsberg Film Studio. Many famous films are shot there – German films as well as international productions. It was an amazing experience where we got loads of information about the making of films. What’s even cooler is the fact that we could see the set of GZSZ, a German soap opera. I stopped watching it 10 years ago but it is still funny to see all these places which we know from TV in reality.

Walking in a winter wonderland =)

As one week is I also wanted to see something else than Berlin, so my friend proposed a trip to her hometown, which is situated in Saxony-Anhalt.  We spent two days there – it was quite a change because Thale – her hometown – is a small village that differs very much from the cosmopolitan city Berlin. It is situated in the Harz district, which is one of the most mountainous areas of Germany. Besides it is famous for its legends and sagas that are mostly about witches. 

Werningerode

Quedlinburg

The last night there we went out. Berlin has so many possibilities if you want to go out! It was really hard to reach a decision but eventually we agreed on going to Fritz Club near the East Side Gallery. There were various floors with different kinds of music and we spent a nice evening there. People there are different from Austrians. In my opinion they enjoy dancing much more and they seem more relaxed than the majority of dancing Austrians. 

It was an amazing week but unfortanely time flies when we have fun! I'm already looking forward to my next journey! :)

The most photographed part of the Berlin Wall