Berlin is the capital of Germany. I took a direct train from Amsterdam to Berlin which was about 6.5 hours. I can’t do much in Berlin since I am only staying 2 nights here (in fact I only have one day to walk around Berlin as I lost one day in the train). Overall my experience in Berlin is not very good.

 

The city centre is quite far away from the main railway station

I stayed nearby the main railway station in Berlin. My hostel was close to the railway station, however, it was quite far away from the city centre. I took about 25 minutes to walk from my hostel to the city. I already expected this before I came, so it was not a big issue for me. I still wanted to stay nearby the train station because I was only here for 2 nights. If you are staying in Berlin for more than 2 days, I recommend staying at the accommodation nearby the city centre.

 

Free Walking Tour in Berlin

The free walking tour began at Brandenburg Gate, Berlin. I joined the earliest tour that started at 10 am.

Our tour guide was very good. Many people like the tour guide, but not me. I felt that she talked too much about history – in very very detailed level down to the exact dates. It is good to know the year but I don’t need to know which date it happened (and there is no way I can remember it). Also, the sun was very hot and I felt like I almost fainted. I didn’t pay too much attention so I can’t comment much here!

But she made a very impressive speech about Berlin Wall.

 

Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall is one of the most famous attractions in Berlin. The wall is full of history. It is the wall that divided the East Berlin and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. At that time, many people wanted to escape from east to west because the west side has a better economy and job opportunities.

The tour guide asked us to feel… if one day, when you woke up in the morning and realised you became a prisoner, and separated from your family, what would you feel. Looking at the Berlin Wall as if I can feel how much the people wanted to escape to reunite with their family, I was very grateful that I was born in a safe place. I couldn’t ask for more!

 

A scary incident

After the tour finished, I explored Berlin on my own. When I was at Checkpoint Charlie (the Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War, and became a famous tourist attraction now), suddenly a girl came to me; she kept asking me to sign something. My intuition told me something was not right, so I did not respond to her and quickly walked away.

I wanted to cross the road but saw a car coming this way so I stopped for a few seconds, then she pulled my sleeve and said ‘this way! This way!’ (she was very aggressive) I totally ignored her and crossed the road immediately.

Later I checked online and found that this is a common scam in Europe; I also saw a warning sigh board from the police in Berlin. I was lucky that I was not holding my phone at that time (as someone may take it while I stopped) and nothing happens this time. Berlin is not very safe! Anyway, I need to be very careful and keep alert all the time in Europe.

 

The Traffic Light

Just a small comment about the traffic light, don’t you think it is very ugly and funny 😂😂 There must be some stories behind it. 🙂

 

Feeling not well!

If you followed my blog, you may have noticed that I posted only very few photos on this post. This is because I had a very short stay here, and also I was not feeling well in Berlin. I had a headache and my body was quite weak. Maybe I drank too less water in the past few days. Have to take care of my body!

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