We were catching our easyJet flight from Milan Linate Airport back to Berlin today. Our flight departs at 6:50 am so we were at the airport bright and early.
We got our breakfast at the famous local staple Motta 1928. There is nothing more Italian than standing around the cafe table and sip your espresso.
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| Milano Linate Airport 4:21 am |
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| Waiting for the shop to open |
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| Espresso, cappuccino, and croissant to start the day |
When it was our turn to board, and after presenting the gate agent our boarding pass, we were told by the gate agent that we did not have the proper ticketing class to take carry on bags on board. We were quite surprised by this revelation since we did purchase the "speedy boarding option" which included overhead luggage space. It turned out that easyJet had changed our originally booked flight and when the flight was changed, the speedy boarding option was not kept. We had no choice but to pay for the bag check fee at the gate. It pays to pay attention to all the fine prints when your flight is changed by the airline.
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| No speedy boarding option on the boarding pass |
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| Boarding our easyJet at the crack of dawn with a bit less money in the wallet due to the last minute overhead luggage fee |
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| The A319 will take us back to freezing temperature of Berlin |
We landed in Berlin sometime after 9:00 am and it was only a bit past 10:00 am when we got to the Berlin Main Station (Berlin Hautbahnhof). We were staying at the
Meininger Hotel Tiergarten. The Meininger Hotel is a budget hotel that almost feels like a hostel. The room we stayed at had four twin size beds and were bunk bed style to optimize the space usage. The hotel is located in the historic neighborhood of Moabit north of the Tiergarten (the big inner city park). Moabit was part of West Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall. We wanted to get a feel of the former West Berlin vibe by staying here.
The neighborhood is very residential and there were not many tourists around. There was one major disadvantage of staying in this area was we had to make a bus connection from the Berlin Main station to the Tiegarten stop via bus 245 which we will eventually miss going back to the airport the next morning.
The hotel was able to check us in early. We got our room and we passed out in the twin beds for nearly 3 hours after checking in.
When we finally came to, it was almost 1:00 pm. We debated on a lunch spot and settled on
Paulaner Wirtshaus in Potsdamer Platz.
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| Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Nov 24 10:18 am |
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| South of Tiergarten, 1:06 pm after our 3 hour nap |
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| Waiting for bus 245 to take us back to Berlin Hauptbahnhof for our transit to Potsdamer Platz |
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| Back at the very large Berlin Hauptbahnhof |
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| The remains of Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz |
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| Where we exited the metro |
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| From 1961 to 1989, the Walls divided the once thriving Potsdamer Platz |
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| Potsdamer Platz in 1945 after WWII |
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| Potsdamer Platz in 1962 |
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| Potsdamer Platz 2022 |
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| Finally, time for lunch |
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| Pretzel tree to start |
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| Pork knuckle, chicken schnitzel, and Nuremberg sausage |
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| Christmas Market at Potsdamer Platz |
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| Kids can enjoy the large slide |
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| Saying bye to Potsdamer Platz and on to our next destination - KaDeWe |
We took the metro from Potsdamer Platz to Wittenbergerplatz to do some window shopping. This area (Charlottenburg) is the most well known shopping area of Berlin. The grand avenue of Tauentzienstrasse and Kurfurstendamm cut through this area just south of Berlin Zoo. There was also a lively Christmas market in this area right by the landmark Emperor William Memorial Church.
We checked out the large department store KaDeWe first, which stands for Kaufhaus des Westens, or the west side department store. This store had once symbolized the material success of West Germany over East Germany but we don't have to worry about that anymore.
After checking out KaDeWe, we checked out Brandy Melville on Nurnberger Strasse then we made our way to the Christmas Market by Europa Center.
After trying couple of items at the Christmas market, we decided to get a drink at the Starbucks on Kurfurstendamm to rest our feet before heading to our final stop - dinner at
Kafer restaurant located at the
Reichtag Building.
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| KaDeWe on Tauentzienstrasse |
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| Christmas Market at Charlottenburg |
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| Christmas Market is a serious thing in Germany |
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| Enjoying the festive spirit |
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| What food should we try? |
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| MM enjoying the Christmas spirit |
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| Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church |
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| Full of Christmas spirit |
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| This church was near completely bombed out in WWII, shrapnel holes can be seen on the wall |
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| The Church circa 1900 |
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| The Church in 2022 |
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| The new church is on the left side of this picture |
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| Looking eastbound on Kurfurstendamm |
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| Entrance to the market |
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| Christmas tree at the northeast corner of the market |
After the listing the Charlottenburg area, we headed over to our dinner reservation at Kafer at the historic Reichstag Building via bus.
The Reichstag Building was constructed after the unification of the modern German state. The construction had completed in late 19th century and was subsequently used by the German Republic as the parliament building until a fire in 1933 rendered the building unusable.
The building and its surrounding saw heavy combat in the battle of Berlin in 1945 and was eventually captured by the Red Army.
Today the building had been restored and most importantly, a glass dome had been constructed on top of the building. The glass dome allows natural lights in and symbolizes the watchful eyes of the German people overlooking its politicians.
The restaurant Kafer is located on top of the Reichstag Building adjacent to the base of the dome. We decided to dine at this facility which includes the complementary entrance to tour the glass dome. Otherwise we could have to book just the building entrance via the
Reichstag official website.
The security to enter the building was similar to airport security and we had to provide our passport information in advance to be verified upon entry.
We did a quick tour of the glass dome by walking up with spiraling stairs to the very top. We then sat and dined the multi-course meal at this fancy restaurant to celebrate our last night of the trip.
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| The Reichstag Building, circa 1900 |
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| The Reichstag Building fire, 1933 |
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| The Red Army captures the building in May 1945 |
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| The Building stood in ruin in June 1945 |
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| The Reichstag Building in Nov 2022, the inscription "Dem Deutschen Volke" or "To the German People" is still at the front of the Building |
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| The German flag color of black, red, and gold is seen right after the main entrance |
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| The Glass Dome at the rooftop |
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| Mirrors surrounds the center tower of the dome |
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| Looking down into the parliament which is actually in session |
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| MM on top of the dome |
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| Walking down from the spiraling staircase |
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| Bread with seasonal spread |
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| Soup |
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| First course |
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| Sorbet palate cleanser |
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| Entree with seasonal ingredients |
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| Dessert |
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| and a large bill as well |
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| The politicians are still hard at work |
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| Waiting for our bus to go back to hotel outside Bellevue Palace (Schloss Bellevue), the official resident of the President of Germany |
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| The orange mailbox |
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| Back to Meininger Hotel Tiergarten, another early morning tomorrow to catch our flight home |
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