Chan Weng Kit's Blogspot: DAY 257

May 16

1) Today is the first day on our 2-week adventure. Kuhan, Zi Yan and I walked to the bus stop, only to find the road closed. So we ran (at least only I ran) to the next closest one, and just as all of us reached, the bus arrived. If we had missed that bus too, we would have been stranded for another half an hour, and that would have been cutting it really close to the checking in time! So that was a lucky escape for us.

2) Long story short, we arrived in Berlin Schonefeld Airport without much hassle. Once there, we decided to buy a day pass which would allow us unlimited bus/ train travel for the entire day. Having bought that, we decided to have lunch first, at the Hbf Central Station. Afterwards, we checked into our hostel (The Happy Hostel) at around 2 p.m. A little while later, we decided to head out again, walking back to the train station to board the train to Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). With landmark no. 1 covered, we carried on until we reached our next stop - the Holocaust Memorial. We queued up to enter and witness first hand the history and documents left behind by the victims.

3) Next, we retraced our steps back to the Brandenburg Gate and instead entered into the woods on our left. A brief stroll in the park brought us to a chance encounter with the Beethoven-Haydn-Mozart Denkmal (Memorial). We continued our lovely walk in the park, until we decided to stop for dinner. We went to a Trip Advisor recommended restaurant called Berlin Pavillon. In my opinion, the food was top notch, and I couldn't resist ordering some dessert :D Unfortunately, Kuhan was unwell from exhaustion, and we called a cab to take him back to the hostel.

4) Meanwhile, the rest of us waited for our appointment to go up the Parliament Building (Reichstag building). After taking an elevator ride to the base of the dome, we were provided with audio guides to guide us as we walked up the spiral incline to the very top. All around us was the magnificent view of Berlin at nighttime. As it was getting late, we took a combination of bus and train rides to get back to our hostel. That has been the end of our very first day of our trip, in Berlin. Stay tuned for more exciting places tomorrow. Have a nice day, cheers!