Catching a plane between Brussels and Berlin was definitely the wrong travel option to take. It, I imagine, takes just as long as catching a train. Getting to the airport two hours early, one hour flight, waiting another hour for baggage to be offloaded, waiting for the bus, and sitting in said bus for another 40 minutes. That ended up taking 5 hours, not including the train trip to the airport in Brussels and the extra hour before the designated “get to the airport” time because Chen is neurotic (Neurotichen). That is pretty much where the misery stopped in Berlin though because it was a pretty lovely experience . Not only was I glad to finally be out of Brussels but, it was also the first time we experienced darkness since arriving in Europe — go us.

Food

I’d been dying to visit Berlin since Chen brought me Fassbender & Rausch chocolates from his 2009 trip to Europe. I can say, without a doubt, this is my favourite chocolate in all the land! So excited – we actually went to the cafe THREE times! The first time, the savoury dishes weren’t served so we all opted for cakes and drinks; the second time, we had a chocolate lunch – with items like steak with chocolate sauce, sashimi with chocolate sauce, chocolate and lamb ragu, and chocolate avocado soup; the third time, we tried some more drinks! To add to my chocolate excitement, there was the Ritter Sport experience nearby where you can make your own Ritter Sport flavour! Exclamation points ahoy!!!

It’d only been a little over a week and we were already craving some Asian food. Luckily, our German friends came prepared and had already organised a visit to a very hipster sushi joint. It was delicious. There was also an unholy amount of currywurst eaten on this leg. Chen grew a little obsessed.

Sights
Berlin is a wonderful place to get your tourist cap on and visit all the amazing places it has to offer. From visiting the incredibly lame, but fun Berlin Dungeon, to travelling up to Sachsenhausen and everything in between.

There was the Currywurst Museum Chen insisted on visiting

Brandenburg Gates, the Reichstag, the Jewish Memorial, the Pergamon Museum.

Potsdam
Can’t say I was expecting Potsdam to be as enjoyable as it was, despite being an incredibly warm day and a helluva lot of walking under the sun involved. The palaces were big and scary and beautiful and we noticed some ruins while we were standing in Sanssouci Palace so we did a quick Google Maps check – Ruinenberg – and walked on over. It was a nice shaded walk and fewer people than the rest of the Palaces and the gardens.

Really, spending a week in Germany wasn’t enough. I would love to visit again some different cities and see more. Berlin was such a difference coming from Brussels, and the moment we were out of the airport, it felt like a place I could be settled in.