Leevi & Sarahs Travel Blog

Sarah and I have just returned from a five day round trip of the wonderful city Berlin.

Trying to make the most of our time in Berlin we planned to depart Stanstead Airport at 9:30am. We booked this trip while in Australia and didnt quite realise how challenging it can be to get from Burham to Stanstead in the early morning.

As a result we had to book a cab from Burham to Stanstead at 3am at the cost of £60 which was actually cheaper than catching 2 buses, a train and a nights accommodation in London.

Pics coming tomorrow!

Arriving a little early for our flight waited a while and then checked our luggage and continued to to the boarding gate. Three hours later we landed in Berlin greeted by two charming german officials Smiley and Frosty. We made our way through the airport and to the very efficient rail system and onto Schönenberg.

Let me just say the german rail system is great and always on time. The stations are well sign posted and with a little experience Sarah and I where able to navigate our stops and transfers with ease.

Thirty minutes later we arrived at our stop and Sarahs eyes opened wide when she stopped and had her first genuine german pretzel. Thirty seconds later the pretzel had disappeared and Sarah had once again found a new favourite.

Leaving the station with no map or clear instructions we where mildly stumped in which direction to travel. A local which excellent english skills helped us find the street where our couchsurfing.com host Julie Kratz was located.

This was our first experience couch-surfing and we didnt really know what to expect. Julia our host was very warm and welcoming and staying with her and her family proved to be an interesting and enjoyable experience.

We spent our nights resting in a wooden loft / playhouse complete with slippery slide. Lofts and indoor playhouses are common fixtures in German homes to keep children occupied during the cooler months.

Julias two boys doubled as our own alarm clocks who woke up at 7am every morning to play drums, jumping on the indoor trampoline and racing their race cars up and down the slippery slide just under where we where sleeping.

After dropping our bags off at Julias we headed to the centre of Berlin and the World Cup Fan Mile to enjoy our fourth unique football atmosphere. Realising that we needed some more euros we tried to find an ATM which proved to be a huge challenge. ATM’s seemed to be rare in Berlin although our obvious lack of local knowledge and tiredness may have hindered our search.

Successfully finding an ATM Sarah and I headed back to the Fan Mile via a slight three block detour courtesy of some newly established road blocks implemented by the german polezi.

Locating Mark (our friend from Ireland who was also staying with Julia) in the crowd headed towards the second main screen along the mile. Wishing to fully immerse myself in the German culture I purchased a 1/2 metre bratwurst and pint of pilsner. Sarah enjoyed some authentic german tofu and noodles washed down with a glass of very fruity punch.

We settled down to some very bad german pop music and rapping by a couple of guys in tuxedos and prepared for the game.

Honestly we didn’t pay too much attention to the game and by the second period of extra time we where ready to head home. We left the game five minutes before the end to beat the rush and managed to catch the first of the two extra time goals at a little roadside cafe on our way back to the train.

Arriving back at Julias we where asleep before our heads hit the pillows.

Day 2:

With the temperature creeping towards 32° we decided to get to know our new surroundings a little better by taking an open bus tour around Berlin. We met a couple of fellow aussies from the Gong on the bus who explained that had also been traveling around Europe. We all quickly came to the conclusion that sitting on top of an open bus in the middle of a stinking hot day was not a great idea.

The trip took in all the tourist sites including sections of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, The Brandenburg Gate and the Open Air Holocaust Museum. All of which we revisited later in our trip.

Exiting the bus for the final time we explored the centre of Berlin, ate another form of sausage on a bread roll and Sarah enjoyed a pretzel salad sandwich. We wandered around the city centre for a while and with a mild case of sun stroke decided to head back to Schönenberg for some dinner and rest.

If you think ordering a meal is hard in another language try and order thai from a german menu. The challenge is significantly increased. Eventually the cook/waiter handed us a dusty english menu and we where set.

Day 3:

Learning a valuable lesson the day before we decided to explore somewhere a little more covered. Sarah and I decided o venture down to famous Berlin Zoo and Aquarium for the day.

Interesting note: Berlin Zoo has more local Berlin visitors per year than tourists.

Berlin Zoo was a wonderful experience allowing us to get within a few metres to most of the non-aggressive species. The outdoor animal habitats where separated from the observers by a small 30cm fence and a deep ditch.

We where greeted by a family of elephants as we entered the zoo. Sarah was obviously excited as she saw her first baby elephant, even if it did have poo on its head (it will make sense when you see the photos).

The zoos array of animals and species was most impressive covering well know and not so well known animals. While at the zoo we saw polar bears, penguins, hippos, big cats and many types of birds and primates.

Leaving the zoo we ventured into the Aquarium where Sarah touched her first fish after a little coaxing. Above the aquarium was a very humid insect, amphibian and reptile house.

After spending all day at the zoo and aquarium we headed back to Schönenberg and decided to check out a small local pub down a side street. “Ein bier, bittuh” produced a crisp pilsner with a creamy head and Sarah ordered a white wine.

Schönenberg has a diverse ethnic population and as a result we enjoying pizza for our nightly meal washed down with another pilsner and rosé.

Day 4:

Thanking Julia for her hospitality and wishing her luck in her new role as a bad ass madam in a german soap we hitched our packs onto our backs and headed to the S-Bahn. We travelled to our next accommodation stop at Weiner St. on the famous district line 1.

Departing the train we found our new surroundings very similar to Newtown in Sydney. The area was full of vintage clothing shops, alternative book stores and lots of vegetarian cafes.

As the sun set and the evening approached the alternative side of Berlin started to appear. We enjoyed into a couple of cocktails at the Tiki bar (one to many for some, yes i’m talking about Sarah who managed to down a full one and a half cocktails) and witnessed the arrival of the Berlin punk element to the bar net door. Realising our morning flight was fast approaching we headed back to our Hostel and set the alarm.

Day 5:

Unfortunately for us the time on the clock was an hour slow which resulted in a middle panic. This panic spurred us into action however we where hampered by a case of food poising that had mysterious hit Sarah sometime after she finished her cocktail and the morning.

Nothing a pretzel and a warm diet coke couldn’t fix right?

We made it to the airport with about 10 seconds to spare boarded the plane after some delays in the tight german security.

We landed back in the UK and after a plate of pizza and wedges Sarah was over her food poisoning and we started planning our next trip to Birmingham.

Our accommodation @ Julias in Berlin.

Leevi @ Fan Mile Germany

Leevi with a massive weiner

Bored and tired @ fan mile

Sarah @ fan mile

Leevi and Sarah @ fan mile

Crazy indian fan - go figure?

Sarah @ fan mile

Sarahs pretzel sandwhich - “I think I have a new favourite”

Baby elephant with poo on its head. Mature we know

Sarah with a bear @ Berlin Zoo

Sarah about to be head butted by the greedy goat

Sarah w/ some hippos

Sarah w/ a polar bear

Jellyfish @ the aquarium

Sarah watching the fish swim by.