Ich liebe Deutschland!

(written by Kizzy)

Our time in Germany was great; better that if I had planned it. We spent two days in Cologne and three days in Berlin. 

When we were planning what we now term our ‘European tour’ we choose the countries we wanted to visit based on friends and family we wanted to see. Germany did not fall exactly in that plan but it was close enough to everything else and I wanted to go back there again. 

Last time I was in Germany, it was something like 1998 – the year abroad as part of my 4 year course and the best time of my teenage life. I left Germany with a promise to go back and have a great life there.

Well, the reality is that after I went back to London I never returned. Until now.

So we choose Cologne, so that I could finally meet Liz - we worked together and communicated mainly by email and phone, her from Cologne and me from London office - and visit the RSA office. And we choose Berlin because we both wanted to get to know the city.

We landed in Cologne Schoenberg airport. I was happy to finally be back in Germany, it was a country that welcomed me very well when I first visited and did not disappoint again.On conversations with Liz re my ‘comeback’ to Germany she suggested that I could stay at her sister’s Tscheska who has a profile in Couchsurfing. Great! It worked really well, Tschesca gave us the directions on how to get to her place and it couldn’t be clearer. 

with Tscheska

 We didn’t do any research on Cologne at all. We stayed with Tscheska – Liz’s sister – who has a profile on couchsurfing. Happy that Tscheska’s 15 minutes introduction was enough to get us to cover some ground. We arrived on Sunday, and it was cleaning day both at Tscheska and Liz’s so we took a stroll down the city. The sentiment: relaxed and happy. 

We were introduced to the majestic Cologne cathedral where we took the challenge of going up 500 and more steps to the top of the cathedral. I was beat. Apparently it took 700 years to build this thing and I am not surprised it is incredible and the pics don't really do it justice! 

The Cathedral

A view of the top

We recovered our energy by taking a really nice walk to the river side, we walked across one of the bridges across the Rhine to come across a strange scene of thousands of locks attached to the bridge. Each lock was a message of love between two lovers.  We heard later that it had only started a few years earlier - one couple put one up and then it grew exponentially.   We also heard that the council was worried and had been threatening to remove them all due to the weight of all these locks and the bridge perhaps not being able to stand it...

A view of the bridge with the locks

Oh, in Brussels we were introduced to a discount rate for unemployed people to visit museums and stuff. It was so funny. So wherever we go now we ask if they have the ‘unemployed rate’. Lol. We got it again at the Cathedral. I was a bit shy but with Col’s cheekiness and my translations we got there. Remember if you don’t ask you don’t get.

On Monday we visited the RSA office in Cologne, it was great to put some faces to the names. These days you can work with people in India, Europe and America from the comfort of your desk and not even meet them. It was great to just be there you know, it felt right. Later on the day we had a really nice dinner with Liz and her fiancé Wolfgang and her children. I feel like I’ve know Liz a lifetime, it was great to meet her outside of the ‘work etiquette’ and I have to say it was such a nice ending to our Cologne adventure.

with Wolfgang and Liz

Berlin

We went to Berlin our hearts still in Cologne. Yet once we got there our hearts returned in a beat. What a great city! Don’t try to fit it all in one week. We respect Berlin too much and know that you need to make time to really fully enjoy it. So we did our mini-itinerary and we covered what we could.

We stayed at the Quentin hotel, in Schoeneberg. Very nice area, very central, and within a short walk from pretty much everywhere. We did the classic itinerary: Potsdammer Platz, Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg gate, Berlin's Siegessäule (Victory column), Unter den Linden and the great exhibition 'The Topography of Terror'. We just about missed the Fernsehtur .

One of the iconic images in the Wall

A section of the Berlin Wall near Checkpoint Charlie

A section of the Berlin Wall in Potsdammer Platz

Brandenburg Gate

Ok, so Berlin = Clubbing, makes sense. On Wednesday we went to ‘Tresor’ one of the happening clubs in Berlin, there was another one, but they are popular for their ‘selection policy’. So we didn’t try.

We clubbed until 4am, not bad for the aged.... It seemed pretty much like an episode of Skins. A surprise to realise that everyone still smokes pretty much everywhere. At least I didn’t get any cigarette burns in the club.

In the club

Note to self: watch for the psycho cyclists! There are cyclist’s lanes almost everywhere, they rule the city. Boris Johnson should come here and check how it’s done! Transport system spot on, the tube runs Mon-Fri until 3am and 24/7 on weekends. You can have a meal for 2 almost everywhere for €10 or less. Great meals if I may add. The Berliners are laid back and get on with life!

A giraffe made with lego

Yes if you didn't see me before here is the close up

I can’t really get the right words to describe it. You get this feeling of space wherever you go. The city is full of sentiment and you can’t escape it. Also full of life and a determination to be great.

Note the Brandenburg gate sketch on the windows

Nuno Rocha was in Berlin – what are the chances? - he saw my post on Facebook and we arranged to meet. That was weird, but good weird! We met for dinner, and we went to a burger place, only the 3^rd best in Berlin as rated by the internet.

The original Marien Burger

with Nuno Rocha

Col was is in charge of the map and directions and he was brilliant in his role once he realised that you can speak to almost everyone in English if you want.

Highlights:-

Cologne Cathedral

The Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne with the love locks

The walk by the Rhine

The unemployed discount for museums

Everything about Berlin

Kizzy