The Monday Piece - Berlin, January 2016

This week's Monday Piece is on Berlin January 2016! I took Nick away for a few days as i felt like it would be nice to get out and about and experience some different culture, so we left the UK for Berlin for a few days. I'm a bit of a history geek so love experiencing new places and learning about its History - and there is of course an absolute abundance in Berlin what with it in the past being shrouded in controversy, politics and war, so it was ideal - each corner you turn there are buildings of interest, places to visit and things to see. Day one we had a walk around the hotel and explored outside, we had a quick bite to eat in a German burger house and it was literally the biggest, meatiest burger ever - and so cheap too which is always nice! We strolled around the side streets and browsed the shops, whilst taking it all in, it was freezing cold and there was thick ice spread all over almost all of the pavements so we had to wrap up extra warm, though it added a little romanticism to the experience! After popping back to the hotel to get ready and refreshed, we headed out for some dinner and stumbled across a Vietnamese restaurant that served gluten free food so got comfy in there and ate delicious noodles. There are so many different food choices and restaurants in Berlin, so there is something for everyone, plus it's a fairly hipster city so there's lots of vegan, health and veggie places to eat if that's what you fancy!

Day two we decided to do a bike tour as we figured it would be a good way to explore the city and see everything we wanted to without hopping on and off of trams and trains. Although it was bitterly cold, the chaps at Fat Tyre Bike Tours were still running the trips, so after breakfast in a little German bakery we took a full day bike tour with two girls from New Zealand, and our tour guide Alistair - it was so great and i'm really not a strong cyclist and i got on just fine, it lasted from 11am-5.30pm and we  stopped off for lunch on the route so we all got to chat and get to know each other a little. Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and could answer every question we threw at him, plus he was so funny and kept us all entertained! On the trip we saw sights including Museum Island, Brandenburg Gate, Nazi history, the Berlin Wall, the Reichstag, and Checkpoint Charlie as well as lots others - it was the best day and lots of fun, we even had a tasty Lindt hot chocolate to warm us up which was literally liquid chocolate, and German Currywurst too! If you're heading to Berlin then definitely consider a bike tour as it's epic, it cost us around 26 Euro each which i think is great value for money, especially as it lasts all day and you get to see and experience so much.

In the evening we popped out for more food and drinks, after eating traditional German food all day we fancied something a bit different so found a little French brasserie for dinner - again the food was delicious and being gluten free wasn't an issue so happy days! We then spent the rest of the evening out exploring and enjoying chill time at the hotel. For our third morning we grabbed breakfast then it was time to head back to the UK, we had a fab trip and could have spent weeks exploring! I took a few snaps so have popped these below for you to have a look at our trip, Berlin is a city full of history and culture, i thoroughly recommend it if you haven't been!
X