Ich Bin Ein Berliner! Berlin Travel Diary.

Guten Tag from Berlin, Germany!

We left Prague on Friday morning and spent the weekend visiting with friends, family and exploring a new city, Berlin (which, by the way, is SO MUCH BIGGER than I thought!). This blog post is my first Travel Diary in my semester long series. Here's just some of what I did, saw, ate and thought in Berlin.

On Friday we visited the Topography of Terror Exhibit, and ate some delicious Bürgermeister (thank you, Sam, for the recommendation!) and hung out in the Kreuzberg neighborhood (thank you Andy for this one) along the water. The night was great for the most part. But eventually it was time to return to our weekend residence: Check-In Hostel Berlin. At first we didn't mind it. The hostel was relatively quiet and clean. But I don't know, something about a 3 a.m. wake-up to three shirtless & bald men walking around just isn't for me.

Saturday started with a trip to a coffee shop nearby, some homework, and going to a yoga class. I could not understand a single thing the instructor was saying (except when she reprimanded me for not taking a long enough rest at the end... classic) despite the fact that it was supposed to be an English-speaking class, but the studio was ~adorable~. After yoga, it was time for brunch (a.k.a. best meal of the day, scratch that, best meal of the week). Benedict Berlin could not have given us a better experience. The TOWER OF PANCAKES & PLATTER OF FRUIT truly changed our lives (and our moods, we were in major starvation mode so this meal really saved us).

**P.s. Benedict has restaurants around the world so PLEASE, if there is one near you, you MUST GO! You will thank me if you do.

Brunch was followed by a nice tour of the city guided by a local Berliner, my friend Melanie (thank you dear! It was a pleasure to see you:)) We headed for the Brandenburg Gate and sight-saw (sight-seed?) from there.

Our Saturday night was wrapped up by being turned away from a biergarten (not sure why considering the legal age in Berlin is 18 and we are all 20), wandering around the streets of Kreuzberg (again) and ending it off with a solid dinner from Que Pasa (nachos 😍😍😍).

Sunday morning we woke up, left our roommate-infested room and headed to breakfast in a shopping district a few transit stops away. The food was great but the shopping, not so much. (Mom I was planning on getting you a gift but the store wasn't open due to Europe's unreasonable "everything is closed on Sundays" thing they have going on). The rest of the day was taken up by some more sight-seeing including the East Side Gallery, which is an absolute must-see if you are in Berlin, along with the TV tower, and the best part of the day: laying on the lawn in front of the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral). After weeks of freezing my a$$ off in Central Europe, relaxing (in just a t-shirt!) on the grass with the sun beaming was much needed.

Berlin was probably one of my favorite weekends ever! I loved the city and had a great time with my friends, but when we arrived back at our dorm on Sunday night, I couldn't have been happier to hop in my uncomfortable dorm bed & K.O.😴💤💤!

Xoxo,

(a)Lex

p.s. here's a little vlog from the weekend *with a special note from Melanie* that explains the title of this post!

*post from Alex's previous travel blog, Life with Lex. February 20, 2019*