Late February 2016, I turned 30, in Berlin. To me this was a big deal, for many reasons. In my late twenties, I began to feel that I’d whiled a lot of my early twenties away being here, there and everywhere emotionally and had missed opportunities to travel, learn and explore. I lacked a real focus and this realisation induced a longing to make my thirties really count.
In my quest to make my thirties count, I tirelessly went about making list upon list of things I want to achieve before I’m 30, things to achieve before I’m 40, what kind of person I want to be by the time I’m 30. It was exhausting but it really helped to give clarity and perspective as to what I wanted to achieve within a certain time frame.
So, this is how the idea of going to a different country for my 30th birthday came about. I scoured Skyscanner for flight deals and mused over where I’d like to visit next and it was not long before I found a cheap flight/hotel deal to Berlin. You can always rely on Skyscanner, it’s brilliant for bargains.
I was happy about this booking as it meant that I was going to be visiting a brand new country and that I would actually be there for my birthday. This meant that I was to gain a new experience too – spending my birthday abroad is something I’d never done and it was an exciting thought.
Berlin was absolutely huge and very rich in a torrid history. This can be learnt more about at Checkpoint Charlie and the various museums around the city. I found one of the most epic buildings that I’ve ever seen there – The Berliner Dom, Berlin’s resident Cathedral, located on Museum Island. It’s full name is actually The Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church but is commonly referred to as, Berliner Dom.
Image: Laura Damant
The intricacies of this building are so impressive. You just stand in front of it and can not believe that people actually built this, it’s a work of art and reflects the dominance of Berlin. Next time, I would love to go inside.
We discovered lots of colourful bears all around the city known as ‘Buddy Bears’. Back in the early 2000’s, two artists were inspired to bring art to the streets of Berlin, bringing joy to Berliners and visitors alike. They certainly achieved that and it’s a fun activity to go around the city and discover new ones – sometimes when you’re least expecting it! This is the first one we discovered after we had ventured into the city centre from our hotel. Being bright blue, it really stands out and then when you look closer you see the horoscope diagrams on it!
I forgot to mention, these bears can be found in all sorts of humorous positions, like this one doing a handstand! They are so entertaining and it would be really fun to go all around the city looking for every single bear, I wonder if anyone has actually done that…
A pink bear with what has, if I remember correctly, the map of Berlin on it. Great for tourists!! Some of my friends saw this picture and thought it was Mr Blobby! Can anyone else see the resemblance?
Just when we thought the bears couldn’t get any more crazily cute, we came across this one on the other side of the road to East Side Gallery. It was huge and situated right in front of the rather dull Mercedes-Benz building. The mediocre is never far from the quirky in Berlin!
The last day of my twenties happened to be the last day we spent in Berlin. We did so much that day and I will always be really glad that I made the most of it, exploring and discovering – it was my way of demonstrating to myself that this is what my thirties were (hopefully) going to be all about.
We started off at Tiergarten, a place my friend had recommended to me. I am so glad he did. Even though he went in summer when the flowers were in full bloom and we went during a rainy, dull February, I didn’t feel that this took away from the experience at all. Tiergarten is always going to be a fun jaunt whatever the weather.
It is a very beautiful and interesting part of Berlin, partly due to it’s different sections; it has multiple entrances and sections that allow you to keep finding interesting things along the way. Take this, for example, we entered the first little park to find lovely trees and ponds, cyclists and birds – just what you’d expect from a park. Then, after a bit of wandering, we exited the park on to a busy road to find this amazing sight.
This is the Victory Column designed by Heinrich Strack. It commemorates the military victory of Prussia and stands in the middle of a roundabout for all to see. It is very visually striking when you first come across it, especially when you’re not expecting it! The gold Goddess of Victory that stands valiantly atop looks gleaming and perfectly polished – adding to the aesthetic value, particularly for the unassuming passer by.
This area then leads you to another entrance to Tiergarten where the statues resemble something out of Jason and the Argonauts. I don’t know if it was due to the overcast sky, that the statues were slightly hidden by trees or whether we just felt slightly overwhelmed in such a big city (one of the largest in Europe) but this kind of briefly gave me the heebie jeebies! The statues were absolutely humongous! I’ve never seen statues that big just in a park entrance. I don’t know if these pictures get it across but take the one of me standing looking up at one – I look like an ant in comparison!
Incredible. This really is the park that keeps on giving. We walked around as much as we could then sat on a bench, saw a really cute squirrel and then walked towards a back exit and came across Brandenburg Gate! This was exciting as we’d only seen it through a rainy bus window the day before.
So to get up close and personal with it was fabulous. It’s an epic landmark of Berlin. It’s kind of like Berlin’s answer to Paris’ Arc de Triomphe.
Image: Laura Damant
Next, we moved on to East Side Gallery to check out the remains of the Berlin Wall and see the incredible artwork that we knew was waiting for us. It didn’t disappoint. Here is a mini gallery of some of it:
Image: Laura Damant
Image: Laura Damant
It is quite surreal walking along the wall and seeing all this artwork that spans over a kilometre. 118 different artists from various countries contributed to the painting of the different political movements that were initiated as a result of the wall being built in the first place, dividing East and West Berlin and making it a crime for residents to cross over without seeking permission. Seeing it up close and personal is very humbling, certainly a learning curve and you learn a lot about the city from it – the paintings say a great deal.
After East Side Gallery, we went to the Aquarium and Aquadom. This wasn’t as impressive as I thought it was a going to be, the aquarium was much smaller than ones I’ve visited before and as exciting as the Aquadom sounds and looks, it was rather underwhelming. It takes you up and down slowly and you are surrounded by water and fish and it is great for kids but compared to other aquariums, I wasn’t as impressed.
However, we still enjoyed it and subsequently soldiered on to our next and final destination (another recommended by my friend) – Tempelhof. Tempelhof is an abandoned airport turned into a park where people ride bikes, dog walk and just come for a stroll where all the runways would have been. In the weather we were in, very dull and overcast, there wasn’t a whole lot to do at Tempelhof but it is just really interesting and surreal imagining it as a full running airport as, for a while, it was the biggest in Berlin known as The City Airport. Furthermore, the main building of the airport was one of the biggest buildings on earth at that time, roughly from 1927-2008.
There is a lot of history surrounding this airport and many poignant things happened here. So, I think if you were to do your reading, visit and simply look around the area. keeping the history at the forefront of your mind, it is definitely worth coming. It is cool to see the building itself and imagine it busy and bustling full of travellers. This is definitely a place to come for anyone that is interested in abandoned places – there is a lot to learn about Germany, all stemming from this one area of Berlin.
We went on our way after spending some time reading up about the history of Tempelhof from stands located around the park. We had walked and done a lot and we decided that it was time for tea, the last supper of my twenties! So, we hopped on our train back to Alexanderplatz on a quest to find some traditional German food – I love to try the traditional cuisine when we travel somewhere, that way I feel like I’ve gotten to know the culture of that country that much better, plus it’s another food type to tick off my food bucket list!
We managed to find a cute little restaurant that served some traditional German meals but that was also very reasonably priced – that’s one thing we noticed about Berlin, the meal prices are quite reasonable, we didn’t have to spend too much at all on a big meal each; after all the incredible things Berlin has to offer, this was just an added bonus.
Our food was delicious, I had a meat and potato casserole baked and topped with sauerkraut and my travel partner had pork and fried potatoes – German style. It really was a perfect way to spend the evening after such a great day of exploring and getting to know Berlin as well as we could in the time that we had.
I feel I made the most of the final day of my twenties. For me, this was more than just a birthday, it was the marking of a new me: a person no longer victim to uncertainty and confusion. A person that – whatever happened – would now know what she wants and how to find it. Berlin was like the ceremonial setting for this and I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other way.
I woke up early the next day ready and raring to get to the airport to travel back home to England. This was my actual birthday day – that was it. I was officially 30 and for once, I actually DID feel different, because I had chosen to. I was glad I was travelling that day as somehow it felt like the right thing to be doing, symbolic perhaps. Either way, I was happy with our trip and had certainly learnt some new things – which is what life is all about.
Learning.
It is a journey in itself. Never stop learning and never settle. That is something I have learnt and I will take with me through life.
Berlin really is an interesting city and I hope that I’ve given you some inspiration and ideas of things to do if you visit.
Have you ever travelled away for a big birthday?
Let me know in the comments below!
