As the capital of Germany and one of its most recognizable cities, a weekend trip to Berlin was high on my to-do list. One early subway ride to the train station and a few hours on board the Intercity Express later, I arrived at Berlin Central Station ready to explore. From the train station, it’s only a short walk to the Reichstag, the German parliament building. It was a sunny morning, so there were plenty of locals walking along the banks of the Spree river and relaxing on the Reichstag lawn. The Brandenburg Gate isn’t much farther, and soon I was walking between the famous pillars surrounded by other tourists trying to get the perfect shot of the Quadriga on top.
I didn’t have enough time during my short trip to visit any museums, but there are plenty of public monuments and memorials that tell the story of Berlin’s history. In a wooded clearing off of the path to the Brandenburg Gate, I stopped at the Sinti and Roma Memorial, a reflecting pool with a triangular stone in the center, which serves as a reminder of the hundreds of thousands of Sinti and Roma that were murdered during the Holocaust. After that, I took a bus across the city to visit the East Side Gallery and see the former Berlin Wall turned open-air art gallery.
I finished off the day by grabbing dinner at a shop recommended to me by a tour guide from the East Side Gallery said to have “the best Döner Kebab in Berlin,” and then I watched the sunset from a bench overlooking the Spree.