Getting There (Top)

Depending on what review you read, you might think that Flixbus is either an awesome low-cost way to travel or terrible and to be avoided at all costs. Although we love trains and could have taken one to Berlin, we opted to take a Flixbus instead, saving somewhere around 50 euros overall.

We booked our Flixbus back when we booked our initial Airbnbs, so we booked a Flixbus from Hamburg to Berlin. Leaving from Worpswede, we had to first get to Hamburg to pick up the Flixbus. This involved getting up at six in the morning to board the local bus back to Bremen, where we took a train to Hamburg (we couldn't let our trip be completely train-less). The train had designated bicycle cars, where the top deck was seats and the bottom was just bicycle storage. I thought that was pretty neat.

Eventually, we arrived at Hamburg Station, which was huge and quite a thing to behold. We immediately noticed that it felt very different from Bremen, even though they're less than an hour apart. Hamburg felt grittier, more touristy, more capitalist. We saw a lot more homelessness and desperate looking folks, even in the few hours that we were in Hamburg. Perhaps this was just the area around the station; we admittedly saw very little of Hamburg. Right outside the station, we did find a little piece of home: a KFC. A couple of these exist in Sweden, but none convenient to where we are.

During the Flixbus ride to Berlin, we saw more of the endless corn fields we'd noticed around Worpswede. We also saw huge swaths of solar panels, something I've never seen in the U.S. I expected there to be city between Hamburg and Berlin (the trip takes around four hours, so it's not an inconsiderable distance), but it was mostly rural, fields full of crops or trees.

Bike car

Hamburg Station

KFC!

So much corn

I was surprised by how much some of these fields reminded me of driving from Texas to Mississippi

Except for the massive patches of solar panels

Food (Top)

You'd think that really huge cities would have a variety of food, from bad to mediocre to excellent. But so far, that hasn't been my experience in metropolises. Tokyo has the most amazing food I've ever eaten, and restaurants are consistently excellent. Most of the food we ate in London was well above average as well. Berlin is keeping up the trend. Food, whether from extremely highly rated fancy restaurants or from local dives, was consistently high quality during our trip.

KFC

Technically, this wasn't in Berlin. But we've lumped together our short time in Hamburg with our time in Berlin, so...

A "ricebox." I don't know if they've introduced these in the U.S. or not, but I ordered one because novelty. It was okay. The baked beans were not the same as in the U.S. (had a strong chili flavor) and were all over most of the box. Do not recommend

Classic tenders. Literally the first I've had since we moved to Stockholm

Botania

Our first night in Berlin, we went to Botania, a special event at the Berlin Botanical Garden. They had what felt like an endless set of vendors selling all sorts of food, which we happily nommed... until a massive thunderstorm shut the whole event down (more on that below)

Bratwurst, freshly roasted

Fresh toasted garlic bread

Roasted glazed pecans

Pi-Love

After arriving back from Botania, drenched and hypothermic, we found that we were hungry and thirsty too. And this was a problem, because the fiasco of getting home had left us returning home just before midnight. However, we noticed this rather small restaurant open. It turns out it's a Turkish restaurant. We shared a doner sandwich that first night (all evidence eaten before pictures were thought about), but were impressed by how good it tasted. We vowed to return in the future for more evidence. And indeed, we went back more than once. In addition to the excellent doner, we found a special curry that we both love. Top it off with the fact that the staff is super friendly and sweet, and it quickly became one of our favorite "local" joints.

Doner plate. Everything is delicious

Curry. So good

Lily Burger

We noticed that there was a local burger joint with really outstanding Google Map reviews. Hungry, we headed over to try it one afternoon. Staff was super friendly (this seems to be a trend for Berlin, or at least the neighborhood we were in), the decor/ambience was unique, and the burgers were spectacular. (Sean thinks likely the best burger he's ever had; I think mine was rivaled only by a perfectly done Mugshots burger).

Lily's interior

Sean's "Indiana Jones": a burger with cheese, bacon, and a fried egg

Sean's curly fries, topped with cheese and jalapenos

My "John Gotti": burger topped with cheese, macaroni and cheese, sauce, onions, and an onion ring

My side: fried macaroni and cheese, topped with macaroni and cheese, bacon, and herbs. Are you sensing a theme with my choices?

Klunkerkranich

When we were planning what to do in Berlin, we discovered an event on Facebook for a trio of shamisen players. Going to see them (more below) led us to discover Klunkerkranich, a rooftop garden, bar, restaurant, and music venue with an incredibly relaxed and unique vibe.

This is Klunkerkranich's take on a Moscow Mule. It was very bitey, very alcoholic, and had a slice of cucumber in it. I don't know if the other Mules I've had have been the oddities or if this one is

We also got a pretzel to share - true to stereotype, we've eaten our share of pretzels during our time in Germany. This one was our favorite, though

Tung Long

Sean often craves pho, but has yet to try any of the Stockholm joints. Tung Long is a Vietnamese place just down the street from where we were staying, so we knew we'd eventually try it out. I took pictures of our food, but they came out terribly blurry, so you'll just have to trust that our food existed. I got a peanut coconut curry, and it was easily the best Vietnamese I've had (I'm generally not a fan of Vietnamese, except banh mi). Sean got a beef pho and I think it mostly made him miss Pho Than Brothers back in Washington.

Interior - they were quite busy when we went

BoboQ

We live in a bubble tea desert, so I guided us to Alexanderplatz for our first bubble teas in over a year.

The pictures are super blurry. I was so excited, I don't care

Currywurst

Currywurst is a popular fast food in Berlin and other parts of Germany

Mostly tasted like ketchup to me

Piazza Rossa

I'm pretty sure Italian restaurants exist in Stockholm, but we've never been to one. But we were both excited about the idea of eating Italian, so we headed to Piazza Rossa near Alexanderplatz

My spaghetti carbonara. It was quite good

But this was the rockstar. Ravioli in a sage butter sauce. Honestly, one of the best sauces I've ever had with pasta in my life. The plates looked like they'd just come out of the dishwasher when we were done (only a slight exaggeration)

Around and About (Top)

Berlin photo dump ahead!

Our very first night in Berlin, we had tickets to a special event at the Berlin Botanical Garden, Botania. Essentially, the botanical garden is filled with lights and special displays, and they have folks going around in whimsical costumes. This building is at the entrance to the gardens

This person was dressed up as Monsieur Chocolat and had a whole routine going. I caught a bit of it on video too

Flowers in a garden. Makes sense

Parts of the garden were quite lovely and green

More characters - this time a king and his knights

Us during the event!

Our night - and in fact, everyone's night - at Botania was cut short by the most severe thunderstorm I've witnessed in years. We'd taken a bus to the garden, but since hundreds or thousands of folks had to flee the garden at the same time, the "line" (more like disorganized crowd) for the bus was untenably long, especially since we would have been standing in the deluge, freezing and wet. So we walked to the nearest U-Bahn station and returned home. I wrung buckets of water out of my clothes - I was literally as wet as I would have been jumping in a pool. At least it was a memorable experience!

While on the subject of the U-Bahn, here's a picture of a sign explaining where the different exits go. Stockholm, take notes

More useful U-Bahn info

And again - Tokyo has similar systems in place to make using their trains/subways easier

The neighborhood we're staying in, Neukölln, has this beautiful rathaus just a block or so away

Fountain near rathaus

With rathaus

Ways to tell you're not in the US: the main drag near our airbnb is Karl Marx street

A few days after arriving in Berlin, we went to see a show at Klunkerkranich. This bar/event space/garden used to be the top floor of a parking garage. Very cool

More of the approach

A welcome welcoming sign

I love this statue

Converted rooftop

Collection of disco balls on turning arms

The comfortable vibe continues inside

Inside stage

The band we went to see, Mitsune

I have no idea either

Buildings near Checkpoint Charlie

Banner criticizing Putin's stance on the Ukraine

Museum near Checkpoint Charlie

Actual Checkpoint Charlie. Love the KFC juxtaposition

This balloon flies over the city. For 25 euros, you can ride in it - Sean was tempted, I was definitely not

Beautiful museum near a length of the Wall

A remaining portion of the Wall near the Topograhy of Terror museum, stretching into the distance. Sad content ahead alert

Graffiti from before the Wall came down is still visible, a poignant reminder of a divided Berlin

"Happy Birthday Farrah 7-4-76" The English threw me off, but this part of Berlin was in the American sector, so the English makes some sense

"...e Wall 86"

Poignantly nearby the last one: "To: Astrid. Maybe someday we will be together."

New life at the base of the Wall

When this bus full of touristy tourists stopped in front of a gap, I had to snap a picture

A sign of how far we've come: a rainbow banner flag outside a government building near the Wall

After visiting the Wall and the Topography of Terror museum, we headed to Alexanderplatz, where this statue greeted us

Cool church nearby

This awesome fountain was being well used (old rathaus in the distance behind)

Closer

Very well used!

From the front

I love this part of the fountain

Sean with the cool part

And with the front

A second fountain, also well used

Berlin TV tower from a distance

The tower from below

Closer to Alexanderplatz proper

Anti-suicide ads (from a local church)

The temperature this day was almost 90 degrees and it shows

So hot that at night in our unairconditioned airbnb, I draped myself with a towel soaked in cold water

After eating at Piazza Rosso, we headed to Kreuzberg to check out an art exhibit. This side of Berlin, which was part of East Berlin during the division, feels very different from the neighborhoods we'd been in so far