DiscoverEU: Berlin🇩🇪

Hi friends, hope we’re all keeping well.

Here’s my post summarising my experience in Berlin, as a Discover EU interrailer👍🏼

Day 1

Walked along the Berlin East Side Gallery and appreciated all the various weird art there. Interesting how the art can vary from realistic coloured portrails of Johann Goethe and Albert Einstein, to distorted pictures of naked bodies. Even got to see the famous kissing artwork between the 2 old men.
Visited the Berlin espionage museum and deciphered morse code and Caesar ciphers, searched for hidden bugs in a tiny room, dodged lasers, and underwent lie detector tests. Was unexpectedly interesting and fun.
Visited the Berlin Disgusting Food Museum. Not going to lie, I think only the first half was really truly ‘disgusting food’. Foul-smelling cheese, insects, exotic parts of exotic animals etc. Then after the museum’s first half was filled, they realised they had very little stuff to show off, and so decided to include some other ‘minor’ disgusting food that isn’t conventionally disgusting, like US twinkies, haribo jellies, pork etc. It was an alright experience though, and we even got to finish it off with a taste test of certain foods. First time I ever smelt the infamous Surströmming and endurian, as well as tried actual worms and insects. Very crunchy, very foul after-taste.
Saw the Brandenburg Gate and Victory Column. Very aesthetic, and they complemented the golden sky well.

One crazy coincidence happened too, actually. It happened when I approached a random girl in front of the Brandenburg Gate to ask if she could take a group picture for us. She simply stared at me for a second and then asked where I was from. I said Ireland, to which she exclaimed “No way! Me too!”.

“Oh wow! That’s so cool. What county?”

“Dublin”

“Oh damn, me and my friends are all from Dublin too, what the hell that’s crazy!”

But the coincidences didn’t even stop there. After talking a bit more, we literally found out we WENT TO THE SAME HIGH SCHOOL, the only difference being she graduated a few years earlier. That encounter had me shook. What are the odds you find someone who not just is from the same country, same county, same area as you, but who also went to the same secondary school as you, in a completely foreign country. Wild.

Day 2

Toured Berlin Zoo and was semi disappointed and semi-blown away. Firstly, considering the zoo I was most familiar with is Dublin Zoo, my expectations were completely blown out of the park. Berlin Zoo was a huge place, and we got to see many animals, fish, and insects that we most likely never saw before. On the other hand, some of the other animals I was looking forward to seeing like penguins and kangaroos, weren’t even available to see for some random reasons such as ongoing renovations. A lot of the animals also hid in their habitat, which led to us making the joke that we weren’t here to ‘look at animals’, but instead here to ‘look for animals’🙃Still fun, still worth it though 👍🏼
Visited the ‘Garden of the Worlds’, a massive park showcasing all the different types of beautiful gardens from different parts of the world. Unfortunately we arrived late and could only see the Oriental garden and the Chinese garden. Ran through my first ever garden maze as well and finished before all my friends, which definitely earned me some bragging rights
Ended the day and trip off with a breathtaking view from the Berlin TV Tower. I think when one views the world from the sky above, every problem you thought you had becomes so minuscule. It’s a great and therapeutic feeling.