BERLIN | PART 1

If you follow me on instagram then you'll have seen that I recently visited Berlin! I'd never been to the city before but i had lots of ideas bouncing around in my head of how it would be…. and in the end it was nothing like I'd imagined!

From what people had told me about Berlin I'd expected a vibrant mix of London and Brighton - London's coolness and electric vibe with Brighton's picturesque streets and quirkiness. Berlin however, is most certainly unique! For a start, it's a very slow-paced and quiet city, sometimes when walking through the more residential areas we wouldn't pass anyone for ages! It's also extremely flat, which gave a real impression of vastness, something you don't often come by in London.

I found the graffiti all over the walls fascinating, I'm just not used to seeing so much of it! I think it adds character to the city and I love how colourful it makes it! There was lots of street art in Kreuzberg where we were staying - if you're thinking of visiting Berlin it's a great place to be based. We stayed here in a cosy apartment that overlooked the pretty canal that runs through the area; there were some lovely cafes and bars around too. We also stumbled across a sweet little cafe/vintage store called Sing Blackbird.

On the Friday we went to the Aquarium and zoo before heading to the Jewish museum - it was really interesting and insightful but also extremely sad. We went out in the evening which left us feeling pretty hungover on the Saturday, (apparently there's no law to say when clubs must close… they definitely party hard in Berlin.) We still managed to go for a walk and do some touristy things though, including going to see the Holocaust memorial, which is very beautiful.

On Sunday we went to the East Side Gallery where the remains of the Berlin wall still stand. As the wall showcase is nearly a mile in length, we walked along it and took in all of the beautiful graffiti as we went. We then headed to Mitte for the Mauerpark flea market. There was such a lovely, summery vibe there - it kind of reminded me of a bigger, better Camden market I guess - there were loads of stalls selling all sorts of goodies from vintage clothing to vintage cameras or homemade jewellery.  

I didn't want to bombard you with too many holiday photos in one post so I'll schedule the rest for tomorrow… stay tuned! :)