If you follow me on one of my many social media channels then you’ll know that I recently spent the week in Berlin. It was my first time visiting the city and I was very pleased to be able to fit lots of activities into the week. We had warm weather ’til the last day when autumn really started to show it’s true, beautiful colours.
Just like I did with my Liverpool trip post I’m sharing a little overview of the week and then following up with a selection of in-depth review posts, top tips and many more photos.
Our Airbnb was located in Prenzlauer Berg which is a beautiful neighbourhood with lots of hipster cafes, restaurants and friendly, health conscious people. On the first day we stumbled upon bJuice, the best cold pressed juice bar in Berlin. I went for a fiery little number with ginger, mint, pineapple and jalapeño. I’ve already recreated it at home. We went back to this place a few times throughout the trip because the juice was delicious and the customer service was brilliant. After a waltz ‘round the park and Bio Market we enjoyed good wifi (work time) and delicious coffee at Elbspeicher B.
That evening we all headed to Alexanderplatz where we sipped on mulled wine and waddled about in search of some food. A few of the team headed up the TV tower. I’m not one for heights so I decided to stick with the mulled wine.
One of the many things I was keen to do during the trip to Berlin was the free walking tour. On Thursday we headed out early, grabbed a coffee from Lorch & Söhne (the best during the trip) and made our way to Brandenburg Gate for the free tour. At the end of the tour you simply tip as you see fit. We were very lucky and had a passionate and knowledgeable tour leader to take us ‘round Berlin. Don’t worry, I’ll be sharing a full review on this. 
The following day we enjoyed brunch at Anna Blume which is a big cafe linked to a beautiful flower shop. We then made our way to the Holocaust Memorial – Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It becomes more overwhelming the further you walk within the memorial. The underground information centre is heartbreaking but important to visit.
We stopped off at Fassbender & Rausch chocolate shop, cafe and restaurant. Phil and I shared a cake and a hot chocolate both of which were delicious. The restaurant is filled with chocolate-inspired dishes, a chocoholics dream. 
The weekend was spent at Maker Faire Berlin. This was the main reason for the trip, Phil was working there and I’d been invited to tag along for the week. I really enjoyed experiencing my first Maker faire. It’s not something I would have gone to otherwise but I found it very interesting. A couple of the highlights (more to come later) were Vai Kai and this chap making music with grapes. 
Monday rolled around quickly and Phil, G and I has the best breakfast (brunch style) at EntwederOder. I can’t wait to tell you more about this place. It’s a must visit if you happen to be in Berlin. After breakfast the aim of the day was to visit Amerika Haus for the Eyes Wide Open exhibition. The exhibition tells the story of 100 years of Leica photography. I really enjoyed this exhibition and would love to go back and see it again. As with everything else I’ve mentioned, a full and detailed post is soon to come. After the museum we decided to join a few of the others in the zoo. At first I was a little hesitant but decided to give it a try. That was a big mistake. The surroundings are beautiful but many of the animals are in small cages and showed stereotypic behaviour. I’ve heard that they’re renovating the zoo. I hope this is true because I left feeling very sad for the animals we had seen. I may dedicate a full post to this. I managed to drop my camera whilst looking at the poor brown bear pacing his enclosure. We took this as a sign to leave and headed over to Bikini Berlin shopping centre. We met up with C to reflect on our visit to the zoo. I would’ve liked to have had enough time to fully explore the shopping centre, they had a very good selection of independent shops.
On our final day Phil and I had breakfast at the big department store in town. We then met up with Connor and made our way to the boat tour. We’d had beautiful weather throughout the week but on this final day we started to see a little rain and colder weather. We wrapped up in fleecy blankets and relaxed as the boat guided us around all the important buildings.
On Wednesday morning we headed to the airport. Everyone boarded the flight back to Manchester but I ended up with an unexpected bonus night in Berlin….