2023.04 Amsterdam and Berlin (Part 6)
During our visit to Berlin we didn’t visit the typical tourist sites. Now to be fair, we did luck out and drove past a few of them instead.
Sightseeing by Car window
Google maps ended up having us drive past the Brandenburg Gate, and the Victory Column during our exit from the city. Still, neat to be so close to these sites:
Hard to miss this one while we made our drive.
In fairness, we’ve visited Berlin several times, and had already visited most of the major monuments and sights. As well, being slightly distracted, we weren’t in much of a mood to spend the day running about the city.
So what did we see?
Well across the street from the Hilton Berlin is a park that contains this gorgeous church:
Downtown Berlin Chocolate Tour
I didn’t know when I booked the hotel, that within a few blocks of the hotels were several chocolate shops. Fine chocolate shops too!
In no particular order, the first store we visited was Neuhaus. Being just after Easter there was a selection of Easter themed items available for sale.
An example of the quality available, no discount on their Easter eggs!
Our next stop was Laederach:
Again, no shortage of truffles, sweets and tasty treats available!
Rausch!
This chocolate shop also had a cafe upstairs where we did have some of their sweets with tea. The selection in their shop was extensive with so many options it was almost to difficult to decide what to get.
Other things that caught my eye, was this store:
Something of note is how renovation and restoration work is approached. It’s commonplace that pipes are moved above ground. The first time I saw it during a trip, it looked like spaghetti!
KaDeWe
When you want to find an excellent food hall, and outstanding cafeteria head to KaDeWe, Kaufhaus Des Westerns. Located in the shopping area on Kufurstendamm around the Kaiser-Wilhelm memorial.
The food hall is on an upper floor of the department store and there are even more booths with outstanding selection of sweets and treats.
The most surprising thing to me was Lakrids by Buelow. A licorice company from Denmark, and somehow they mastered a way to make black licorice irresistible! I ended up buying a few flavours and quite enjoyed them.
When you finally head upstairs to the cafeteria the selection will ensure you don’t leave hungry. During our visit we purposely timed it being the early afternoon so that we could have a tea and cake and not be rushed.
There is much more than just cakes and pastries available. Here was the fruit selection:
Dicke Wirtin
The first time we visited Berlin, we stayed near Zoo Station. We requested a place that served typical German food. The hotel recommended a nearby restaurant, Dicke Wirtin. We loved it! Our first visit occurred during white asparagus season where we enjoyed schnitzel with potatoes, asparagus, and hollandaise sauce.
Now when you visit and order their Schnitzel, you must be hungry and the butterfly cut of meat provides more than a plateful to be enjoyed. We can easily split a meal when we visit here.
Leaving Berlin
When our time in Berlin was complete we made the drive west back towards Amsterdam. It’s important to note that Berlin is a city state in Germany, and it’s boundaries are quite large where it took us over an hour before we encountered the signs bidding us farewell from the capital.
The weather improved during our drive and when you approach the former border between East and West Germany. There is a road sign to inform drivers:
Then there is a monument in between the highways:
There is even a watchtower that remains as a reminder that this was not an open border during those times.
Explore other parts of this trip:
Part 1 – KLM Lounge and Flight Toronto to Amsterdam
Part 6 – Berlin, not sightseeing (this post!)
Part 7 – Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol