Category Archives: Germany

Ich bin ein Berliner!

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Brandenburger Tor, Berlin

Brandenburger Tor, Berlin

Albeit slightly delayed, I wanted to write about my recent travels to Berlin for a friend’s Stag!  I write this as I longily look back to the Indian Summer we had in early September, where the temperatures hit the 30s (C) for a long weekend. Probably not the best combination when planning on drinking copious amounts of beer!

This was my first trip abroad this year, and only extended break from work following a week away in Norfolk.

We set off early on the Friday morning. I was lucky to get a lift so was able to relax a little to the airport. We missed the junction to Stansted off the M11, so not a good start.. but we made it with plenty of time to spare.

We got our bags dropped and through security, where we could relax a little.

This was my first trip to Berlin, and although I am half German, hadn’t made it there yet. I have family near Dusseldorf and in Hamburg.

Following delays getting through airport security on the German side (lots of jokes relating to German efficiency) we managed to get an Uber and get to our AirBnb. At this point we were fairly ravished, so headed out to find food and beer! We managed to find the German equivalent of Weatherspoons so got stuck in for lunch.

Next, our plans were to see some history, before we drank too much. We hopped on the U-Bahn and checked out Brandenburger Tor, the Rathouse, and the Wall. The weather was beautiful whilst we walked round taking in the sights.

We returned in the evening for a traditional beer hall event, with music and lots of steins. We bumped into lots of friendly people and all had a good laugh.

The next day was a rather slow start, but we had a beer bike booked so needed to get ready and into town. We managed to split off and get some breakfast and headed to our location. The idea was to eat something to line our stomachs. The weather was going to be hot and we were all dreading a beer bike in the heat. I remembered sun cream and wore my hat constantly. That and my forward thinking bringing electrolyte powder with me (saved me).  It’s also true that a lot of local UK beers have impurities which tend to cause a fuzzy head the next day. The heat and lots of walking kept us drinking lots of water too anyway.

We had a great time, with many additional breaks added in. These were definitely needed as the weather was very hot and we were out in the middle of the day.

We got some good recommendations of places to go and visit and stopped off at a nice river side location called “Holzmarkt” lots of pop-up bars and restaurants. We got really good homemade pizza! I was equally surprised how many places still didn’t take card (compared with Hamburg where everywhere takes it, certainly since Covid).

This is getting quite lengthy now, so keep an eye out for part 2!

Trip to Hamburg

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U-434 Hafen City Hamburg

U-434 Hafen City Hamburg (yes, it’s Russian)

It was great to be back in Germany to see family last month. This was the first time since 2019 – and not since I had been diagnosed with the big C and the Covid pandemic.  We stayed in the centre, or near enough, at a hotel called Novum Centrum – good value and convenient location with a quick walk to the U-Bahn. We did have to fight to get a second pillow though, but they did comply in the end!

We were right next to a great Turkish restaurant (Back-Lava) where we were able to get a good breakfast to keep us going until after Lunch. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re in the area.

For one day and night we visited family for my Aunt’s birthday and it was great to meet up. Unfortunately my parents had caught Covid and as my Sister lived with them they were unable to join us. We will need to arrange another trip soon so we can all go together.

The weather was good, and although it was fairly warm I was surprised how few people were wearing T-Shirts and shorts. I must have stuck out like a sore thumb but at least I wasn’t overheating 🙂

We spent another afternoon visiting the Hafen City area and walked all along the strip. I spotted a U-Boat on Google and that’s where the photo above was taken.

Look forward to going back and visiting other parts of Germany again. I have always wanted to get to Berlin…

Summer Holiday – Part 2

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For the second leg of our holiday we would fly from Amsterdam to Hamburg. We got up at around 4 am and got a taxi to the airport from Muiden. No buses were running that early. The taxi cost around €65 but we didn’t really have any other choice.

Waiting for the plane at Schipol Airport.

My cousins live in Hamburg and we had said last year that at some point we would visit. We wanted to tie the two holidays together somehow and save flying out another time as my girlfriend only gets set holidays so we wanted to make the most of it.

The weather was still very warm and on the first day we did a boat trip on the big lake in Hamburg called the Alster Lake. This was very peaceful and there was a nice breeze. The boat we took was a genuine vintage steam driven boat and was very interesting. If you want to go shopping then there are lots of high street brands and promiment shopping outlets, intertwined with restaurants and bars. You can spend a lot of time here just walking and relaxing.

The rest of the time for the most part we just relaxed, visited the village of Volksdorf where my cousins live.

Chilling at the museum village

On the last day before we were due to fly back to Amsterdam, I went on an 18km bike ride to the big cemetery, Ohlsdorf Cemetery, which has its own roads and landscaped gardens and avenues. It’s really big if you look at it on a map. This was exhausting as the weather was still warm but we stopped for an ice. I was quite pleased as I can’t remember the last time I got on a bike. Need to do that again soon!

Overall we had a really good time. In the end we were both pretty exhausted. We went back to Holland for a few days before flying home to England. Until the next time….

Heineken never tasted so good…