An arty long weekend in Berlin

WELL, what a weekend it was! Loads of you asked me on Instagram to write a post to share the details of my visit, so here goes!

Berlin wasn’t particularly a place I’d been desperate to visit, but I’m pleased that I did! The people in this city are fashion forward. Even at the airport, straight off the plane I noticed middle aged men in cropped turned up jeans and trilby hats, old ladies in bright coloured tights, and grungy cool hipsters, all way ahead of the outfits I see in Britain. It’s a great city to have a drink and people watch.

There’s an overflow of creativity all over Berlin. Street art is everywhere you look and, of course, we had to visit East Side Gallery, an almost mile-long stretch of the Berlin wall which features the most famous wall art in the city, ‘The Kiss’.

The Kiss was painted on concrete in the year I was born - 1990- and has recently been redone by Vrubel, which was necessary since some eroding and some graffiti had taken place since the original.

One thing I will say is PLEASE make sure that you pack some decent footwear with you on your break. I brought my converse trainers, thinking that they would be my comfy shoes, but little did I realise how much walking I’d actually end up doing. We spent days walking aimlessly, stopping in wherever we thought looked cool, and constantly coming across cool building art like this…

And trendy, colourful streets like this.

I ended up buying some sports shoes because we averaged about 20,000 steps a day. It was easily done with so much to see.

After all that walking you’ll need a good nights kip! I stayed at the ‘Provocateur Hotel’. Obviously I chose it based on the amazing interiors. It’s a playful 1920’s style hotel with a trendy cocktail bar and a French-Chinese restaurant. I wouldn’t recommend some of the breakfast menu options, like ‘the hangover breakfast’, where you can pay ten euros for a cigarette, a coffee and a vodka shot. The Avo on toast was much better suited to my taste!

That’s something to consider when visiting Berlin. Probably the only thing I didn’t like about the place. They still smoke indoors, so you leave small bars and cafes with a sad throat, smelly hair and smokey clothes!

Whilst on the topic of food, here are a couple more stops not to be missed.

Our first meal was at ‘Benedict Berlin.' They serve all day breakfast and it was a treat! I had the savoury chickpea pancake. They have a bakery in the cafe so you get a basket of bread with their signature apple and cinnamon jam when they seat you.

Naturally I was drawn to that concrete ceiling and the plants everywhere.

I also found myself in plant heaven at ‘House of Small Wonder’, where I called in for a beer, but they also serve food and cake. Let’s be honest, I was too distracted by that dreamy spiral staircase! Upstairs they have plants growing in old suitcases, rusty pans and cracked mugs. They didn’t have any colourful marbled concrete pots though, so they could improve by investing in some of my work, I’m sure you’ll agree!

My favourite meal of all was at a place called ‘Cookies Cream’. It’s one of those hidden restaurants that are kept secret, hence why I have no photos, but if you visit Berlin I can not recommend this place enough! You walk through a dodgy car park, it’s actually a bit scary, but then you’ll notice a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Under it is a metal door where you press a buzzer and they welcome you in to this booming cocktail bar with a restaurant upstairs. It’s a weird menu with a mix of sweet and savoury on each plate. It’s all veggie food. Every course was a creative work of art, I totally loved the whole experience. Make sure that you book ahead. We did 2 weeks in advance and we still couldn’t get a table until 9.30pm. It’s not to be missed. There are no photos allowed there.

I’m completely and utterly the wrong person to give you a history lesson, but know that this city is full of it and you will benefit from researching at least the basics before you board the plane. You will want to know what you’re looking at, because you will see things everywhere. We visited the Berlin Wall Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie and the East Side Gallery, to name a few.

Luckily, there was no rain during our stay, which I guess is lucky for a January visit. Summer would be the best time to go, weather wise, but personally I like to travel at quiet times because this way you avoid big queues at the tourist attractions and the streets aren’t too busy. A couple of the bars we wanted to visit had closed due to it being the quiet season, but most were still open and we saw some beautiful sunsets over the city, thanks to the low sun at this time of the year.

Berlin is a city that celebrates freedom, equality and creativity. You see it everywhere. There’s expressive fashion, no judgement, a real free spirit feel. This is a weekend spot I would highly recommend.