30/04/2026
A 3:15AM alarm is never a nice way to start your day, but when it opens up so many possibilities, as modern travel allows, it’s tolerable. An uneventful journey marked only by wonderful timing of our luggage passing by on the carousel the moment we approached saw us arrive at our hotel, a few minutes walk from Alexander Platz, around 1pm.
We changed and headed out, passing by the Markethalle Neun to grab some, of all things, Brazilian snacks to keep us going. Berlin seems to exude edgy artiness at every opportunity. From the politically charged graffiti to sophisticated looking book shops, even the dirty parts don’t really feel as dirty as they probably would back home. Maybe it’s the sunshine colouring my vision but it has a nice feeling, even if it might be sugar-coated.
Museum Island (or Museumsinsel) is an incredible collection of buildings, people chilling on the grass open spaces and buskers playing The Beatles on repeat. The damage, and subsequent sympathetic repairs, inflected in World War 2 is obvious. These repairs have been completed in a way to enhance and add interest to older buildings. I think this mixture of old and new, even within the same building, is one of the things that gives Berlin its edgy charm.
Berlin feels like a city made for bikes. Geographically, it’s totally flat and it seems that great care and attention has gone into planning roads with cyclists in mind. Like most big cities now, it has no shortage of pay-by-the-minute bikes and scooters though instead of them being littered on every corner, there are designated areas to park them in. Very civilised. We took advantage of this and hopped on a pair of Uber bikes and took off towards food.
The Markethalle Neun is a trendy food market towards the east of the city. On Thursdays it transforms into a street food market with food from all over the world, though very little German food. Burgers, Momo, Cannelloni and Ice Cream stole our attention and while all were good none were outstanding. The market had a fun feeling to it and I’d go back, but not really for the food.
We picked up bikes again and headed to the Brandenburg Gate. It’s obviously something you need to see if you go to Berlin but a few minutes there and it was enough. Countless tourists posing, dancing and trying their best to be the coolest version of themselves fill the pavement. We decided to walk back to the hotel via Unter Der Linden Straße and a small supermarket to pick up some snacks. The supermarket was full of drunk (assumedly) homeless people cashing in their DRS finds and buying more drinks. To me, as someone not used to this, it felt quite threatening but locals seems to not be in the slightest way interested or worried. The pair of local police were buying food, and they gave them no attention. The scheme is obviously a great way to increase recycling, but the side affect of enabling this economy, with no oversight or care is an (assumedly) unintended consequence. People don’t seem to mind, but as an outsider it made the shopping experience quite strange.
I decided to fit the Pocket Dispo to get some interesting shots with a different slant to them. While detail is clearly missing the style of lens does give a cool vintage vibe that feels a bit more authentic than an Insta filter.
01/05/2026
Today was Labour Day, a lot of places were closed, which caused various levels of distress throughout the day. We headed out for a coffee at what turned out to be a really solid coffee shop (link to 19 degrees coffee) super close to our hotel. It was pretty quiet but so amazing, and to me European, to sit outside in the sunshine and enjoy a simple coffee (and almond Croissant). When that coffee is actually nice, it’s almost unbeatable.
From the coffee spot we walked in the general direction of the Berlin Wall memorial. This is where the first in a long line of snackcidents occurred. Edgy and Round is a tiny little shop with barely enough space for 5 people inside. They sell coffee and warm cookies, but their claim to fame is the banana pudding. I was skeptical but oh my was I wrong. If you find yourself in Berlin I highly reccomend the trip.
The Berlin Wall memorial is obviously a must see when in Berlin. It explains the history and consequence of the wall and the politics of the time well. It’s a hugely complicated topic and I cannot even begin to explain in a way that gives even the slightest level of respect that it deserves. I think I can say that, at the time that I write this, it feels eerily like history is starting to repeat itself. I hope I’m wrong.
We walked following the path of the wall to the Contemporary Art Gallery in a train station. There was an incredible exhibition involving hundreds of thousands of wooden blocks. Visitors made constructions from the blocks so what was ‘on display’ changed every day. Some were much more sophisticated and I got the impression that there were people there to made bigger and more interesting pieces. We continued around the gallery taking in the exhibitions and enjoying the building.
This is where the day took a turn for the worst (not Wurst!). On the plan I happened to be sat next to a man from Berlin who recommended Konnopke’s Imbiss – the inventor of the Curry Wust. For some reason we decided it was an important detour and set off on the 25 minute walk to get the true and original, but it was closed. We wandered around for a while, almost in disbelief, before giving up and heading to Hofbräu. Substituting a chain that has spread internationally is never going to compete with local street food, but we were getting hungry and tired and needed to sit-down, so for us at that moment it was perfect.
To save our feet we picked up bikes again and headed to the Tiergarten to see the big tower and wander around. From here we slowly walked back to the hotel, stopping to listen to the a French man sing The Beatles outside the Berlin Cathedral. As the sun set it was a great way to end the day.
02/05/2026
Today we needed a slow start. Breakfast at Father Carpenter was a great accidental find. Expect long lines but get there 10 minutes before opening time and (for us at least) you only need to wait for it to open and not for a table to become available. You can book a table, but in typical German fashion this is for inside only. If you visit on a day like the one we did and want to sit outside you cannot. Because you booked. Every single person who said they booked and were told they had to sit inside even though there were tables outside available, had the same puzzled reaction. I wonder what would have happened if they asked to cancel their reservation and take a table outside.
For the second time we had to buy new shoes because the Veja’s we brought were becoming unbearably uncomfortable. While Japan provided Crocs Berlin sent me to New Balance. With happy feet we set off for the day.
First on our list for the day was the Berlin Cathedral, or Berlinner Dom. The building looks like an ancient European church, but it’s actually only 120 years old. Obviously heavily damaged in the 1940’s it had extensive repairs done in the decades that followed. It’s a wonderful space to visit and well worth a few hours when in Berlin.
Back to the more important aspects of travel, we headed off for food. This time Schnitzel. One of my favourite German delicacies, pared with seasonal Asparagus and potato salad is a must.
We wanted to take a boat trip, but the German gods of punctuality and adherence to rules would not allow it. Despite being only a short hop from the boat we were told it was departing and there was not enough time to buy a ticket by a grumpy man. Instead we walked to Checkpoint Charlie and the Topography of Terror. Both were pretty sombre locations discussing provocative subjects (did Germans know what was going on in concentration camps, for example). I’m sure many would struggle with the subjects and evidence on display, it was not a nice part of world history.
03/05/2026
We happened to get lucky and be in Berlin on the annual opening of the Reichstag building to the general public. You can visit the dome any day of the week, tickets can be bought online but often months in advance, we discovered they are often available for the same or next day at the ticket office next to the entrance – good to know for anyone planning a trip.
Berlin @ 8am on a Sunday is quiet and so calm compared to the busy tourist hustle of the rest of the day. A breakfast of apple cake and a pretzel, with coffee, was about all we could find.
The Reichstag tour was well worth going to, in addition to seeing parts of the building (including bomb-proof toilet doors) not usually open to the public we spoke to representatives from various departments of the government. A very enthusiastic and proud shorthand note taker explained the strict entry requirements (degree and an ability to record 400 syllables a minute) as well as the protocol for note taking inside the main chamber of the German government. We heard from some very well dressed (suits and bow-ties) gentlemen about how votes are counted. Even in 2026 the manual system of stacking the cards into a wooden frame is faster, more accurate and more secure than a computer system. While they conceded that technology has a place, it was obvious that counting votes was not one of those places.
We climbed the dome and took in the sights of Berlin. On any other day this was the only part of the building that is open to the public, but after being able to see the inner workings and talk to the officials that are part of the running of the government, it felt a little like an anti-climax.
We biked back to the hotel via Nordsee to drop of the swag from the Reichstag and headed back out to visit the art museum and the Neues Museum. A river trip allowed us to take the weight from our feet and see Berlin from a different perspective. Because we’d already walked and cycled so much of the city we had already seen most of the route, but it was nice to do it in such a relaxing and lazy way.
With a few food spots left on our list we grabbed some street food – Mustafa’s Gemuse Kebap and Curry Wurst (not from the spot we wanted, but delicious all the same) then sat by the river and watched the world go by before heading back to the hotel and getting some much needed rest.
04/05/2026
Today is back to work. We travelled to Essen on the cheap Flix train from the cool and clean Berlin HBH station. The adventure continues, but if there is a story worth telling, it will be a new one.
To cool for school?
On first impression Berlin seems to be a cool and relaxed place, but the inner German-ness of rule following pervades. All you need to do is stand at a pedestrian crossing, with no cars, bikes or trams in sight, to see. Every single person will wait for the famous Apfelmann to indicate it’s safe to cross. It almost feels like, despite the obvious, some basic functions have been outsourced (in this case to the traffic light) and as a result a loss of free thought pervades. This is then in intense juxtaposition to the overt Berlin-ness visible elsewhere – politically charged graffiti, fashion and oh-so-european way of living life.
From talking to a few locals and some research I have come to the conclusion that Berlin is, a lot like London, almost a different country to the rest of Germany. The people here often have different beliefs, different priorities and a different opinion of the government. The government will mess it up. We’ll fix it ourselves. seems to be the best way to describe the feeling.
On top of this the obvious development and move towards the artistic and stylistic left seems to be leading to incredible gentrification. Political intervention in 2023 (Mietpreisbremse) aimed to help stop, or at least slow, this but the cool-Berlin view seems to show no signs of stopping, and this can surely only exacerbate the problem. Even with the rent cap (15% a year) housing will surely continue to move out of reach for many. I wonder what this gentrification will mean for Berlin in the future.
Ciao