Ein Wochenende in Berlin! (A Weekend in Berlin!)

Mercedes Car Museam

After an impromptu plan for a trip to Berlin for the weekend, Mackenzie, another exchange student from Clarkson University and I booked a hostel and flight just 3 days before we would leave. Our flight was just a short one hour flight from Stuttgart to Berlin with the European Budget airline, Easy Jet.

Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart Germany

We hopped on a train and took a three hour train ride to Stuttgart where we headed to the Mercedes auto museum, we got taken back in time and learned some of the history of Mercedes and the automobile. It was a super impressive museum which is ranked as one of the top car museums in the world. It houses more than 160 cars, ranging from the first automobiles all the way through present day prototype designs.

Brandenburg Gate

Next, we headed to Stuttgart airport where we flew to Berlin TXL airport. After arriving we purchased our bus ticket and headed to our hostel. We checked into Meininger Berlin Central Hotel, a hostel, and hotel where we had rented two beds in a four bed dorm. We got into our room, and unfortunately found a very hot dorm room with a smelly old man who wouldn't stop snoring all night, one of the more unfortunate aspects of staying in hostels.

Berlin Shoes on a Wall

The next morning we woke up and grabbed a bite to eat in the Train Terminal. Berlin Central Station or Berlin Hauptbahnhof, is by far one of the most impressive and largest train stations I have seen, a modern constructed building full of glass windows, that approximate 1800 trains travel in and out, and approximately 350,000 passengers travel through each and every day.

Graffiti on the Berlin Wall

We hopped on the tram and headed to meet some other students from HTWG who were visiting Berlin for one of their classes. The two of us joined them for a three-hour bike tour of the Berlin wall. This was by far one of the highlights of our visit in Berlin. We saw many different sections of the wall, including Mauerpark, a park with a section of rebuilt wall using the original parts of the wall, a reconstruction of the original looking section of wall including a watch tower, as well as other aspects such as the Famous East Side Gallery and much more. It was very interesting to learn about and see parts of a wall that played such a big role in Berlin's history as a city that was once divided.

Berlin Murdered Jewish Memorial

It's hard to believe that the Berlin wall, something that was breaking news every night while the wall was up has only been down for less than 30 years. Learning about the stories, the failed escapes, the successful escapes and the deaths that went along with the wall was something that brings true understanding to what it may have been like to live in Berlin during this sad, but historic time.

Berlin Reichstag Building

After this, we headed to some of the other historic sites in Berlin, including Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the capital building, and the Jewish Memorial. Our last day in Berlin we headed to Potsdam, Germany. To hear about our adventures to Potsdam, click here.

To view my photos of Berlin, Click Here.