Veronica Stenberg: blog

When I travel to new cities and countries, I prefer to know a local or hang out with someone who I know that has relocated to the city. I’m not your average tourist, in fact I love traveling and exploring – but would rather gauge my eyes out with my own sunglasses, then to be horded around a new city on some guided tour of some sort. Even if I would have to explore a city alone, I rather do that and skip the tour buses!  Equipped with a map and a smile I get see new places and meet new exiting people.

I’ve made this guide to Berlin – to share with you how I travel and what I did when I was in Berlin. Hopefully this can inspire you and perhaps give you some new sights to explore next time you are in Berlin.

TRANSPORTATION

• I get a map and a comfortable pair of shoes. Then I walk. After living 5 years in London, and getting the Jon Hannan crash course in navigating big cities – I am ready for anything! Plus European cities are not that hard to navigate (London can be an exception to that).
• I travel only long distances or across the city using public transport.
• Note that on weekends you may take one adult with you for free on your ticket, so if you are in Berlin on a weekend and there are 2 of you., you only need 1 ticket.
• Go by boat. There are several companies to try out, I went on a 1 hour trip which I jumped on at  Friedrichstrasse Station. I used Reederei Bruno Winkler. It’s about €11 and they serve weiss beer

GET LOST

• At least 2-3 times. You will definitely find something interesting. I got lost in Berlin several times out on my own. I found my way back to Hackescher Markt and found a nice market to explore.  I also stumbled across an intriguing corset store and took the tram by mistake up to north Berlin. So I could tick that place off my list of things to do

EXPLORE

• Explore Tiergarten
• Explore the museum island – I do recommend the National Art Museum – the building is impeccable with it’s details and the color scheme. The first two floors are the most breath taking. Floor number two made me drop my sunglasses from looking up at their ceiling to much.
• Explore Hackesche Höfe, a series of connected courtyards in the city
• See the artist residence at Oranienburger Strasse. A bit on the shabby side but well worth all the support they can get right now.
• Explore Kreutzberg. It’s a nice neighborhood.

MARKETS

• Kottbusser Thor – Friday market (for food and vegetables)
• Vintage market in Tiergarten, every Sunday
• Mauer park market – every Sunday

OUTSIDE BERLIN

• Potsdam, explore the cute city or the two parks loaded with castles
• Visit the beach in Wannsee for a swim

DO

• Visit the large beergarden at Zoologiske/Tiergarten
• Drink coffee at nice cafes
• Take long walks
• Go to Cupcake Berlin – YUM!

SEE

• East Side gallery
• Gypsy theater – I don’t remeber the street this is on. It was just so romantic! Very 1920′s but with a fairytale twist! Go see!
• Castle Charlottenburg
• Ka De We – it’s like Harrods but smaller.
• Teufelsberg – it’s a bit outside the city but so worth the trip to see! It’s so bizarre! This is a man-made hill in the Grunewald forest. Made from the bombed buildings and statues from the Second World war. Incredible.

ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE

• Buy groceries at Biomarkts or at Ulrich or Kaiser
• Aphoteke means pharmacy, and looks pretty much like the pharmacies in the UK. (green cross signs)
• Rossman are like Boots. They got painkillers, make-up, bits and bobs you might need.
• On Sundays most shops are closed, even Ka De We.