Cape to Milan

Berlin has more than enough sight-seeing opportunities and historical attractions to keep any visitor busy for their stay, but the city’s real charm is in its quirky, graffiti-smothered neighborhoods, easily accessible by the city’s public transportation. We met up with one of Chrissie’s friends at Neueheimat, a food market in the neighborhood of Friedrichshain. Long picnic tables are encircled by vendors selling vegan Yemeni wraps or Vietnamese pork buns. There’s a small cover charge; ours went to supporting the “food art” performance that evening. Walking around Friedrichshain. We recharged in the area with some Lebanese food and a Club Mate. Although this mate tea soda has been around for a while, it’s recently become a hipster staple in Berlin. The high caffeine content is essential for going out in Berlin, where clubs don’t get busy until 3 or 4am. Once when we tried to head home at 6am, a girl we met on the subway looked at her watch in total shock and said, “It’s way too early! You have to get out at this stop.” She gave us directions to a nearby dance spot where the sunlight was already streaming through the windows and lighting up the dedicated dancers. One of our favorite spots was this hidden rooftop bar in the neighborhood of Neukölln. Klunker Kranich offered an unbeatable view of Berlin. Here you can see the TV Tower in Alexanderplatz (you’ll see a close up later). The patio is a fantastic place to relax, drink some wine, snack on some antipasto or ratatouille, and watch the sunset. As promised, here is your close-up of the TV Tower in Berlin’s Mitte neighborhood. This is home to most of the important sights. The Berlin Cathedral Brandenburg Gate (or Brandenburger Tor, to be more exact) Reichstag (Parliament), just before it was blocked off for a rally in support of Germany opening its arms to refugees. No matter where you are in Berlin, you’re never far from a great spot to give your feet a rest and enjoy a beer. Checkpoint Charlie, once a crossing point between East and West Berlin. There are plenty of other reminders of Berlin’s divided past. These cars–called The Trabant or “Trabi”–were the standard East German vehicle. In their second lives, they are colorfully decorated and rented out to tourists. Remnants of the Berlin Wall stand in 2 places. The first is Mitte, where the wall is lined with a really informative display called the Topography of Terrors. The wall is lined with glass hangings filled with photographs and short descriptions about each. The pieces of glass allow you to see the wall behind them and serve as a timeline from before World War II until the fall of the Wall. The second place you can see the Wall is the East Side Gallery. While the Topography of Terrors serves as a lesson and a reminder of a dark past, the East Side Gallery’s kilometer of vibrant murals offer hopeful artistic expressions of freedom and peace. It’s a perfect way to reimagine the wall in a city that loves its street art.