A Visit to Berlin full of Illusions

This time last week I was strolling around my hometown in Germany with a friend I used to go to secondary school with. The weeks are just flying by and I only seem to be able to sit down now and write about my adventure. Over a week ago I visited my friend Karo in Germany.

It was a complete spontaneous decision. At the time of booking the flights, Ryanair had a 20% sale on a lot of seats. It was probably the first time ever I went to Germany and didn’t spend a fortune on flights. I wanted to combine my visit with a visit to my hometown as I haven’t been there in well over four years. It was well overdue and I had to visit my mum’s and grandparents grave.

On a Friday I took a half from work and set off to the airport at lunch time. With a bit of a delay I arrived in Berlin roughly at 6pm. I met Karo at a train station close to a cinema. We planned to go and see the Nun that evening.  It has been on my list to see it for a week or two and before it was out of the cinema, this was my last chance. If you havent’ seen it it yet, I would recommend you go and see it now. The rest of the evening was just chilling out and catching up with Karo’s dog and cats and giving them a cuddle.

Saturday morning we had a nice breakfast and headed off for some shopping. There is a shop in Germany called Action which is pretty addictive as everything is super cheap there. They get new goods in pretty much on a daily basis. The company is originally from the Netherlands. I am glad they don’t exist in Ireland yet because I would very poor then. I picked up everything that I can take into my carry on suitcase. Their home decor is absolute amazing. I also managed to pick up a new cosy jumper and a warm cardigan. For some reason I always get nice clothes in Germany and in the shops here it could take me weeks if not months.

For lunch we went to a place called L’Osteria. It’s Italian and the pizzas they do are MASSIVE, I am not joking. It must be 20 inch and for the price of not even €20 it’s super cheap, too. Somehow we managed to eat the whole lot, minus the crust. It was delicious and I am not going to regret the weight I put on from it. The afternoon we drove to a big super market where I could stock up on my usual German foods and sweets. The evening we chilled out with some beer, treats and a movie.

Sunday morning started with another lovely breakfast. As shops are closed on a Sunday in Germany, we took the train into Berlin and decided to go a museum. Currently October Fest is everywhere and so there were stalls all over Alexander Platz. We had a quick browse and then started queuing at the museum of illusions. It’s a museum every Instagrammer would love. You may have seen some photos on my feed already. Admission is only 12 EUR which I find reasonable. They only let a certain amount of people in so it doesn’t get too crowded.

We spent about an hour or just under in there. What I liked about is that they had people floating around taking photos for you and explaining how the illusions work.

After that we walked around the October Fest market for a bit and took another train to a place where we were going to Vietnamese food. I never had it before but it was delicious. If you want to compare it with other food, it’s kind of like a mix between Chinese and Indian food. I had a chicken dish in Mango sauce with salad and rice on the side. I tried one of the famous teas, Jasmine Blossom. It was really nice and perfect at the time because the weather was horrible.

After all that food we didn’t really have anything to it that evening because we were so full. Karo had work in the morning and I had to get up early too to get the train to my hometown. We had an early night in front of the TV and went upstairs for a little chat and it was bedtime.

Early rising on Monday morning I had a quick toast before Karo dropped me off at the train station. The train to Waren takes ninety minutes which is not too bad. The only thing about it is that it’s only departing very two hours. I met my friend and we went for lunch. I had to have a doner of course from the place used to get it back in the day. However it doesn’t taste and look the same anymore. I visited the grave and put down some sunflowers and we drove around the town for a little while. In the afternoon I took the train back as I didn’t want to be back too late. My flight the next morning was early enough, too.

Tuesday morning was pretty much getting up and out the door as my plane departed at 11am. I am glad I managed to get there a bit earlier because for whatever reason all security checks were packed. I didn’t even get a chance to grab my morning coffee or have some light breakfast. The plane food was the only option. A long weekend came to an end and it has been back to normality since. Trips like this seem to fly by way too fast.