We slept well. We were tired. Holidays are exhausting (might be an unpopular opinion).
We’re staying at Anna’s place in Prenzlauer Berg… spacious, airy, unbelievably comfortable. Once a gritty quarter of East Berlin, filled with squats and artists after the Wall came down, Prenzlauer Berg today is leafy, gentrified, and beautiful. Think restored Altbau apartments, graffiti, cobblestone streets, independent cafés, and organic supermarkets.
By the time we set out, the neighbourhood streets felt warm and welcoming. We walked toward the Brandenburg Gate, exploring as we went. The scenery shifted from graffiti-strewn walls and leafy squares to more austere streets and architecture, until finally we arrived at Pariser Platz in Mitte.
The Gate itself is smaller than I’d imagined, though no less impressive. I bought a pretzel (Berlin), we found coffee, and then wandered south to the Holocaust-Mahnmal. A field of grey concrete stelae. The memorial doesn’t hit you all at once… instead it draws you inward. Before long, you’re literally swallowed by the narrow corridors, dwarfed by towering walls of concrete. It’s oppressive, effective. Beneath all this lies a small museum, beautifully designed, predictably a little devastating.
From there, we walked into the city and it changed again. Commercial. Modern. Then we caught the U-Bahn into Alexanderplatz, and it felt like stepping back in time. Grey malls and department stores lifted from the 1970’s, all dwarfed by this insane TV Tower. Trains, trams, cars, and people colliding in a constant fight for space. It’s messy, chaotic, oddly captivating.
We grabbed a bite to eat, jumped back on the U-Bahn, ducked into a supermarket, and sprinted through a Berlin cloudburst on our way home. East Berlin is quite a lovely.
Did you know that so far on this trip we have visited a supermarket at least once every, single, day!
The Obligatory Blog 