First time in Germany – Berlin

I’ve just returned to Bangkok from my first trip to Germany, which was my second trip to Europe. I’d planned the trip a long time ago and finally got to realise the plan. My goal was to see whether the vibes, the culture and the people would fit me or not, to help my decision on studying/working abroad, and to test my German language skill.

In this trip a friend was joining me because he also wanted to travel in Germany. Our flight was Lufthansa’s LH773 A350-900 from BKK to MUC. This was an 11-hour flight so it’s my first wide-body aircraft since the A380 in 2018.

Tip: If you have photographic film with you, you can ask for a manual inspection at the security check at Suvarnabhumi Airport, so the film doesn’t get exposed to the X-ray.

Dinner was served 1 hour into the flight. I’d booked a low-fat meal so I got this steamed fish with potato, asparagus and baby corn. Joining it was potato salad with chicken, a bun and some fruits. The main dish was OK, not super delicious, probably because it’s a low-fat meal.

2 hours before the landing, breakfast was served. Also, this was a low-fat meal as requested. The main dish was chicken with vegetables which was OK but didn’t have much taste. Can’t ask much for a low-fat meal. Did it serve a good job at being lean and clean? Yes.

We landed at Munich Airport and had to catch a connecting flight to Berlin. The lines at the security check were quite long so we had to run to the gate.

Tip: You can also ask for a manual inspection of photographic film at Munich Airport.

And we finally arrived in Berlin.

We managed to purchase the Deutschland Ticket for each of us and hopped on a train to Potsdamer Platz. Since it’s still early in the morning we dropped our baggage at a Bounce station near Checkpoint Charlie so we could explore the neighbourhood on foot more easily. It was €13.3 for two bags.

Then we had our first meal in Berlin. It’s a little shop next to La Donna Eiscafe near Stadtmitte U-Bahn station. The shop offered halal food. I had this ‘dough in yoghurt’ thing, not sure about its name. The dough was chewy and the yoghurt was… yoghurt. There was also some sort of minced meat in it.

When the seller was scooping the food into our trays we were REALLY shocked by the amount. At least from where we’re from we don’t eat that big of a portion 😅.

Then we took a walk around the neighbourhood.

We called it a day and went to the hotel. Our stay was Ocak Hotel in Gesundbrunnen. Surprisingly I didn’t take a photo of the room but it was in a very good condition, new and clean. The hotel overall was great, too, so I can recommend this place.

At Gesundbrunnen U-Bahn station there was this ‘Curry Baude’ currywurst shop so we had our first currywurst there. It was very good, especially the sauce which you could see the tomato texture. I can say that that was THE BEST currywurst in the entire trip. Moreover the owner was very kind and friendly.

On the next day we set out to explore the Berlin Wall. Here are some shots along the route to the Berlin Wall. Gesundbrunnen was rather quiet that morning.

We had breakfast at a nearby bakery and then went to the Berlin Wall Memorial. Funnily this was the only picture I took of the Wall apart from our own pictures with it.

We also found a donation scam at the Berlin Wall Memorial. Two people approached us asking if we could speak English (of course we could, because they were targeting specifically foreigners). They asked us to sign a petition to build something related to people with special needs, and asked for €20. That sounded very sketchy so we didn’t give any and finally they left us.

It was exactly the same scam as in this Reddit post.

Beware of donation scams. Some people will go straight to ask you money. Some will pretend to be some kind of a cause. I can tolerate the first kind but the latter is just not right. If something sounds sketchy (e.g. why does this need a donation rather than using the taxes?) you know you should avoid it.

We found this church behind a very nice foreground of pink flowers on Ruppiner Straße. Maybe it’s a welcome to the spring season?

The next stop was Alexanderplatz. Walking up from the U-Bahn station, we were greeted with the stunning cityscape of the urban area. I didn’t take a photo of it 🥲.

We headed to the East Side Gallery. It was the biggest outdoor gallery in the world, as it was the remnants of the Berlin Wall. The other side of the wall was a park where people were hanging out and doing their hobbies, such as drawing.

Here are some street shots.

Markthalle Neun on Eisenbahnstraße was nearby so we went there for some snacks. The market was very clean and offered both snacks and groceries.

This Käsespätzle caught my eye so I decided to have one. Glad I did! The spätzle was very chewy. The cheese cream was perfect: not too creamy and not watery yet perfectly molten cheese. It tasted on the salty side of the spectrum but I totally loved it. The onion on top was a great companion.

This was our last night in Berlin so in the morning we went to Curry Baude again to have the perfect currywurst as breakfast before taking a train to Dresden. This time we also ordered a schnitzel which was the first time for us.

I really liked Berlin. It was such a calm city with rich history, beautiful historic architecture and lots to explore. I wish to be in Berlin again.

Hope you enjoyed my photo journal.

Next up: Sachsen (Saxony)