Visited Berlin with two of my flatmates, Amelia and Arturo. We had no idea what to expect out of this trip. Amelia and I asked for recommendations on FB and got quite a lot of responses, but we had no idea where things were in relation to each other. We figured we'd make the most of our time by going on tours and museums. PSA: free tours are popular in Berlin, but they expect you to tip. Also, if you're traveling as a student, take your ID card! They'll discount your museum/tour prices. Another way to save money would be couch surfing!!! Would highly recommend. Granted, I have only heard good things, but the concept of it still blows my mind... People offering up their place for free just for the sake of the traveling community... in a cruel world that we live in today? What?
Also, the title was quoted by Berlin's major that reigned for 14 years. He is very progressive and a huge supporter of the arts. Though the quote was interesting and turned out to be accurate, based on what we saw for 4 days.
Us the first night in front of the Berlin Wall murals. Saw this image at least 5 times on our trip. It's supposed to represent the agreement of 2 communist leaders before the world wars I think.. But I have a theory it is painted here to support gay rights. After all, Berlin has the 3rd largest gay population, after San Fransico (2nd) and Sydney, Australia (1st). This was highlighted during our fat tire bike tour :-)
The remains of the Berlin Wall is the largest, free art museum to date.
Typically, you're supposed to gift your couch surfing host. We ended up making him a traditional dinner and buying drinks for our last night here. We made Spanish omelettes, fried rice, and Moscow Mules for our host :-) He really enjoyed it. This is also the room where we slept. He had a really comfortable pullout couch and a blowup mattress. Also, he let us use anything from the kitchen. Really nice guy
Us in the East Side Art Gallery doing a little exploring after we went to the Otto Weis free museum.
Left to right: Arturo, Amelia, Me, Lukas (the couch surfing host)
In addition to our bike tour, we went on a "free" alternative street art tour. This was one of my favorite places. It was very Berlin-esque.