Beer, Bears and Bratwurst in Berlin - day 3 Thursday 25th October 2018

[Goldia]

Welcome to the Beer, Bears and Bratwurst in Berlin trip report!

I’m Abby, my DH is Dave and we have 2 children Max (14) and Kate (11). We love a city break in October half term and this year we were trying out Germany as we’d never been before, specifically Berlin. We like walking and each day we had a tour designed by me to take in the sights of the city.

I woke up at just gone 7.30am. I had slept on the little bed on the floor as Max had not wanted to sleep on the floor so he slept in the double bed with Dave.

We slowly got ourselves ready for the day and left at 10.30am. Today I had planned for us to walk along the river to the Eastside Gallery and have lunch at one of Caroline’s suggestions – Pirates!

First of all though I wanted to head to Bebelplatz. We walked a different route into the centre of the city today which took us past a little park.

We had seen a lot of these bears around the city and it was at this point that I decided we needed to get photos with them whenever we saw them.

The kids were less than impressed at this idea!

We walked through Gendarmenmarkt square and the kids had another run up and down the red carpet.

Then up past Humboldt University.

I wanted us to go to Bebelplatz square which has the book burning memorial. But this was being renovated and so while we could see the square we couldn’t go up to the memorial.

We made our way to Museum Island to the Berliner Dom and Altes Museum.

We crossed over the river.

There were some interesting buildings along the way.

We walked along as much as we could before having to head back to the road as the path stopped.

The kids were starting to grumble and wonder when lunch was! So, we stopped off at a coffee shop just as it started to rain and had a couple of coffees and a couple of hot chocolates.

By the time we had finished the rain had stopped.

It was good to get a little further away from the touristy centre and see some more of the city.

We continued heading towards the Eastside Gallery.

This is a 1km stretch of the Berlin Wall which has been turned into a gallery.

We were quite hungry by now and it was perfect that another of Caroline’s suggestions of good restaurants was just at the end of the gallery.

Pirates was a great stop for lunch.

I had a rather tasty Prosecco cocktail to drink. Dave had a beer.
The kids both had cokes.

It was a slow laid back lunch, which was great as far as we were concerned as we were quite tired and in need of a rest. We were sitting in a booth overlooking the river.

Kate took lots of photos out the window for me.

Kate had a pulled pork BBQ burger.

Max had a cheeseburger.

Dave had a double chicken burger.

I had a hash brown, 3 egg, bacon and spinach burger.

The fries that came with the burgers were a mix of regular fries and sweet potato fries.

This was a really tasty meal that gave us the energy to carry on to our next destination. I think the kids were hoping we would head back to the hotel. But I was intent on continuing our exploration out of the centre as I wanted to go to Treptower Park.

This was somewhat further than I thought it would be though!

We walked and we walked.

The kids had a little play.

I persuaded them to carry on.

Treptower Park was deserted.

There were us and just a couple and a man talking photos of all the monuments.

There is a memorial to the Soviet soldiers who were killed in the war.

This was a huge statue of a soldier rescuing a child.

I'm glad we walked out there though as it was so impressive and the photos don't do justice to the scale of it all.

The fact that it had been raining and so was completely deserted helped to add the atmosphere. It felt very sombre.

There was then the long walk back to the hotel.

My phone estimated an hour and a quarter for the walk.

I suppose we could/should have caught a bus or train, or even a taxi, but we didn't and we made them carry on.

The kids found another play park on the way back and in spite of their tired legs they couldn’t resist playing on the zip line and the obstacle course.

We pushed on, the last 30 minutes were a bit tough. Both Dave and myself were aching a bit by now!

We eventually made it back to the hotel and a much deserved rest was had, plus we scoffed some biscuits as we felt like we'd earned it.

We decided to walk to Potsdamer Platz for dinner. This was a 10 minute walk from the hotel and when we got there we discovered it is a bit like Leicester Square and there was a film premiere with a red carpet area that had been cordoned off.

There were a lot of celebrities being interviewed…but we didn’t recognise anyone and so we went in for our dinner at another one of Caroline’s suggestions.

Lindenbrau serves traditional Bavarian cuisine and has seating over 3 or 4 floors looking out into the square.

Given the number of people out in the square we didn’t have much hope of getting a table, but we didn’t wait very long and we were seated.

I had a half a roast chicken with potato salad. This was lovely chicken. I really enjoyed it.

Kate had a jacket potato with a creamy sauce. She wasn't feeling too hungry yet given the big lunch, so a jacket was just enough for her.

Max had a flatbread with bacon. He wasn't sure what to order and he can be quite fussy, this suited him well though.

Dave had a meat feast meal. He enjoyed this very much.

Three of us also had pudding. Max had a chocolate brownie. He will always choose the chocolate option.

I had cheesecake. This was not as good as the one in the cafe the first day.

Kate had an apple cake, which she thought was fab.

We went back to the hotel and played cards before going to bed.

It was a tiring day, but absolutely worth it and I really enjoyed this day. We had a good time in each others company walking along the river and around Treptower Park, with some lovely food thrown in.

Steps today: 34,513

[Melbatb]

Wow - you walked a lot! Well done to the kids! Some great meals too!

[Archie14]

Enjoying your reports, we just came back from Berlin yesterday, we had a 4 night break. We stayed at the Movenpick just over the road from the Novotel and went to the Italian restaurant on the corner too. It's a great city for walking around! The Holocaust Memorial was so emotional. Looking forward to seeing what else you did!

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Wow - you walked a lot! Well done to the kids! Some great meals too!

See more...

They were worn out by the end of it but it was great to walk out to the park. We've got more park visits to come...Tierarten is next up.

Originally Posted by Archie14

Enjoying your reports, we just came back from Berlin yesterday, we had a 4 night break. We stayed at the Movenpick just over the road from the Novotel and went to the Italian restaurant on the corner too. It's a great city for walking around! The Holocaust Memorial was so emotional. Looking forward to seeing what else you did!

See more...

Ha! It's a great city isn't it? I liked the layout of the city, which sounds odd, but I felt like it was really easy to navigate and we learnt our way around pretty quickly. I was really happy with the location of the hotel, being close to Potsdamer Platz was good. We ate there several times In the evening when we were worn out!

[collybird]

I love all the bears, we had something similar here (with Oor Willie) last year and it was so fun.

The photos from down by the river are very reminiscent of the Thames.

Dinner looks lovely, especially Kate's apple cake, omg at the size of Max's flatbread.

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by collybird

I love all the bears, we had something similar here (with Oor Willie) last year and it was so fun.

The photos from down by the river are very reminiscent of the Thames.

Dinner looks lovely, especially Kate's apple cake, omg at the size of Max's flatbread.

See more...

I liked all the bears. It wasn't something I knew about before we went, but they were cute and after a while I decided I wanted a photo with any that we saw. I should do a tally to see how many we 'got'.

It was quite similar to the Thames. I was very impressed that Kate managed to get a photo of the train crossing the bridge.

She raved about that apple cake the next day too...she has a brownie that was nowhere near as good, I forgot to say that in the report for day 4. Oh well.

[CrispyA]

Looks like a another really good day and some great food again. You’re really exploring the city - and having fun

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by CrispyA

Looks like a another really good day and some great food again. You’re really exploring the city - and having fun

See more...

I enjoyed this day the most I think. It really was fun walking along the river and exploring.

I had planned on using the trains at some point because you had said how fabulous they were in your report, but in the end we never did get round to it.

[smithlane]

What a fab day with a whole load of walking! Your two did well, you just know Hope and Sam would have staged a protest at some point
That restaurant looks fab, added to the list!

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by smithlane

What a fab day with a whole load of walking! Your two did well, you just know Hope and Sam would have staged a protest at some point
That restaurant looks fab, added to the list!

See more...

On reflection we should have just grabbed a taxi as there were lots around and it would have been pretty cheap. It was less than 30 euros for a taxi from the airport to the hotel, so I doubt it would have cost much to get a taxi back. Still it was a fun day, we did enjoy all our food! Lots of traditional restaurants and then also some burgers and pizzas!