Citybreak in Berlin

City breaks are the perfect way to get away and refuel from the every day life. In this post we will have a brief look into a trip I made to Berlin in Germany, five years ago. We visited places like Pariser Platz, The Berlin Wall, East Side Gallery, Berlin Zoo and The Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe.

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For this city break I was accompanied by Sabina. We travelled from Sweden (Arlanda) and flew in to Berlin airport. We travelled on a Thursday to get an extra day, and have a long weekend to tick off as much as possible on the list of things we wanted to do in Berlin. Our hotel was just off one of the bigger shopping streets, so getting around via train/buss was easy enough. No Ubers needed here! At this time they also had free WiFi at the train-stations, so there was no worry about running out of data - which was needed to know where we were and where we should go.

"The wall is until this day one of the most powerful symbols of the Cold War."

Our main attraction was of course The Berlin Wall. This is as you might know a big moment of history in Germany, and I will just briefly explain the history behind it: In 1961 the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) built barbed wire and concrete between East and West Berlin. They did this to keep what they said was "Western 'facists'" from entering East Germany. When the wall was built it stood until 9th of November 1989 when the Head of the East German Communist Party said that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they wanted, and that night crowds swarmed the wall. The wall is until this day one of the most powerful symbols of the Cold War.

We also went on a tour below the city where the history of the wall was further explained. We also got told stories of attempts to cross the wall - both attempts that was succeeded and failed. Most of the tour was underground, and it was a long one. It is not suited for children and it is not suited for people who has issues walking or standing during a longer period of time. I remember I was even struggling with this!

We also visited the East Side Gallery, which is the longest open-air gallery in the world. It is 1.3 kilometres (approx 0.8 miles) of history and art. When the wall came down 118 artists from 21 different countries decided to paint the wall, and it has been open since 1990.

Another attraction we decided to visit was The Berlin Zoo. It is the oldest and most preserved one in Germany with around 20.000 animals and more than 1.000 species. It is said to be the most important collection in the world.

"...it is not difficult to understand that these animals doesn't belong in a zoo."

This was a difficult one for us, and I think it was the first time I realized how crazy it is that we as humans has taken the right to put other animals in captivity just for our own pleasures. Nowadays I would recommend everyone to go to an animal sanctuary/rescue instead of a zoo. However, the visit to the zoo in Berlin was not all bad. Some of the animals seemed to be in a happy place, but most of the bigger ones just didn't look like they belong. I'm sure the zoo-keepers are doing the best they can to their ability to mind the animals, but it is not difficult to understand that these animals doesn't belong in a zoo.

Lastly I want to mention The Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe, as this is not only an important part of history, the monument is incredible. It was opened in May 2005 after 17 years of constructing it, and is located near Brandenburg Gate, where the wall once stood. It is made out of 2711 concrete steles, which you can walk into and next to from all sides.

There is also an information centre at the memorial with personal documentation about individuals and families. The monument is open day and night and located in a way for you to be able to walk through the concrete 'stones', almost with a "maze"-feel to it.

There are many things to do in Berlin, and we were busy enough with the few days we spent there. These are only the main things we decided to do, which I would recommend looking into. Also worth mentioning is to take a stroll in Berlin's largest and biggest park - Großer Tiergarten and visit Checkpoint Charlie. It is definitely a city I would visit again in the future.