Mark Twain once said “Berlin is the newest city I have come across. Even Chicago would appear old and gray in comparison” and I was looking forward to rediscovering this city on a luxury city break to Berlin.
You have to love the German efficiency, in less than an hour of landing at Tegel airport we were checked into our lovely room at The Intercontinental Hotel – if this was only the case at London Heathrow! This was our lucky last Intercontinental property in Germany after staying at Frankfurt, Berchtesgaden and Dusseldorf.
We were checked in by the lovely ladies at the Club Lounge whom were so welcoming every time we visited the Lounge during our stay. Our room was gorgeous including the biggest bathroom / dressing room a girl could want while on holiday.
As it was our birthdays while we were in Berlin, the hotel spoilt both G and I rotten and I can’t thank the staff enough for their sweet birthday wishes.
G turned 40 on Valentines Day and he received a lovely bottle of bubbles…
and I received the best present a shoe addict could wish for! A pair of red Birkenstocks, Made in Germany – I can’t wait till it gets a bit warmer to take them for a test run…
… should I mention the gluten free birthday cake… AMAZING!
While I’m not a morning person, I do love breakfast! The hotel has to be the best breakfast I have had in a long time, why – well firstly every item is clearly labelled if it contains gluten or lactose (and they have alternatives available) and the staff were kind enough to make me gluten free pancakes! Only the second time for this to happen in two years – I can’t recommend this breakfast enough if you are gluten free and a big thank you to the staff!
The hotel is deemed a business / conference hotel however don’t let this put you off booking as the location is amazing if you are visiting with a family (the zoo is only a few mins walk away) and the KaDeWe luxury department store is about a 5-7 min walk. The 200 bus picks you up directly in front of the hotel and whisks you off to visit all the major tourist sites – a great luxury hotel if you are visiting Berlin.
This wasn’t my first visit to Berlin; I had visited a few years ago for the Christmas Markets so I didn’t really have too much of a chance to embrace the history that surrounds Germany’s capital city however on this visit I was going to change that.
One area that I wanted to learn more about was the Berlin Wall and Check Point Charlie. We decided on doing a tour through Berliner Unterwelten where a guide talks about the history of the Berlin Wall, stories of people and their attempts to escape for a bargain price of €13 pp; this includes walking through some underground bunkers. This was a truly amazing tour and we ended up doing the Subways and Bunkers in the Cold War Tour which was even better; it gave us a lot of food for thought!
Our next stop was the Check Point Charlie Museum which seemed to be popular with all the tourists however for us it was a big disappointment. For €12.50 (this price doesn’t include the audio guide) we were expecting a lot especially after our previous tours however the Museum seemed cluttered of information and there just was no flow when walking around the Museum.
Due to the history of the city where over 70% of the city was bombed during WW2, the buildings are a mixture of old and new, the architecture at times made me think of the beauty and the beast. Case in point below!
The building above is actually the Topography of Terror Museum which is a free museum in Berlin and the site was once home to the headquarters of the National Socialist SS and Police State. The Museum is well worth a visit as the information is very clear and gives an idea what it was like to live during the Nazi reign.
The city has some beautiful buildings especially located around the Konzerthaus in the Central Mitte District…
… the detailing is superb
Our next stop was Pariser Platz, the home of the Brandenburg Gate – it’s an interesting place to just people watch as there is always something going on. Check me out trying to take an arty photo.
After checking out Brandenburg Gate, we popped into Hotel Adlon Kempinski for a birthday drink or two and also to check out the gluten free Afternoon Tea; you can check out my review here.
As we were leaving Hotel Adlon Kempinski; the red carpet was rolled out and everyone was going mad photographing these gentlemen – I didn’t want to feel left out so I took a few snaps – question is – who are they?
I fell in love with this manhole cover in Berlin! The city is so flat that you can wear pretty shoes and not end up with a blister.
There were so many great shopping areas in Berlin however for me there is only one place to go shopping in Berlin, KaDeWe – the home of luxury shopping and the most amazing shoe department a girl could wish for.
I received a cake recommendation from the Katie and Chelsie blog to check out the cake selection at KaDeWe. Gluten free wise I will admit, there was almost nothing available and I found this to be the case if looking for cake in Berlin but I found some chocolate mousse which was good enough for me; look at these beautiful cakes. Shh I may have eaten that strawberry dessert at the end but G doesn’t know that!
If you can’t make it to the Christmas Markets then you are in luck, as Kathe Wolfhart has an all year shop offering gorgeous German Christmas products – I may have done a spot of Christmas decoration shopping in February.
Would I head back to Berlin, definitely – I see a Christmas Market tour coming up in my future!
xx
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