During the last week of my trip, I had plans to explore outside of Ireland. One of my closest friends from home moved to Germany with his family once he graduated from High School. Since flights to Europe are so expensive within the U.S., I took this opportunity of already being here to go visit him. When I landed, he picked me up in their family’s car and drove me to the suburbs of Berlin, where his family lived. We first set off to get some lunch at a Korean barbecue place as well as explore a little bit of Berlin. Later that night, we took the train to a place called Mariannenstraße. Here we got some of Jonathan’s favorite food within Berlin, which was a restaurant chain called Goldies that sells smash burgers. Afterwards, we explored some of the nightlife in that area and then headed home.
On Saturday, we went back into Dublin center to explore some of the famous attractions. We first went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which was very powerful. After we walked past the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag Building, and the Berlin Wall Memorial. We had a tour of the Berlin Wall, which was especially moving. We then went to an Italian restaurant to get dinner and meet up with one of Jonathan’s and I’s hometown friends, Jack, who was studying abroad in Germany. Today was also a special day in Germany known as Christopher Street Day, which is one of the most well-known LGBTQ+ pride parades in the world. Some of Jack’s friends were there in support, so we decided to go join them for some of the live music that was being played.
On Sunday, we decided to have a quieter day. We biked to an Indian restaurant not too far from Jonathan’s house and got lunch there. After we spent some time speaking with his family and then we went back into Berlin for dinner. There, I got to meet one of Jonathan’s friends from school, Paul. He brought us to a beer garden that he enjoyed in the area and got a small bite to eat. We then decided to end the night short, but get some traditional German food before I left. We went to a shop nearby his house that had fresh Döner, which is a type of kebab. It was delicious!
The Krugs were such amazing hosts for my three-night stay and provided some great insight on where we should explore in Berlin. It was also amazing getting to see Mr. and Mrs. Krug once more and catching up with how they have been, as well as getting to see Magdi and Sebastian. I hope to see them all again soon, and I am excited for Jonathan to visit me at Bucknell in a few months when he does a study abroad at Elon.
It sounds like you had a great time in Berlin this past weekend! I want to visit Germany at some point in my life and it seems like you and your friend had a great time which convinces me even more!