Berlin: Ausstieg links with your taschengeld

Although the title of this post may not make total sense to everyone, it reminds me of my incredible trip to the beautiful city of Berlin with my best friend and the two phrases I learnt while visiting.

For my boyfriends 21st birthday, I took him to wintery Berlin and I can honestly say it was one of, if not, the best holiday I have ever been on.

Day One

As our flight landed in Schönefeld airport we prepared ourselves for the cold that would hit us when we stepped outside of the aircraft. The air was a dry, refreshing cold and instantly woke me from the snooze I had allowed myself to fall into on the flight.

With our gloves, hats, scarfs and coats stopping us from freezing solid, we attempted to work out the Berlin metro system, our efforts failed miserably. The train was supposed to take us from the airport, to just steps away from our hotel. Unfortunately for us, this particular line was not operating and all signs telling us so were written in German. My boyfriend speaks a little German, so we eventually worked out that we had been stood on the wrong platform for around 30 minutes. Nonetheless we asked a local in a hi-vis jacket, as these people always know what they are talking about, and we made our way to our boutique hotel in Savigny Platz.

The Sir Savigny Hotel is part of the Sir hotels collection and is fit for kings, let alone a sirs. The boutique hotel lives up to its name and the interior is designed with an old-fashioned gentlemen's club in mind. The large glass door opened smoothly to a reveal an incredible African hardwood table. The varnished table took up the entire dining room and every curve and crevice was embraced, it was a work of art and I had never appreciated a piece of furniture more. To my pleasure we were invited to sit at the table by our lovely host, who sat next to us with his apple mac laptop and offered us a glass of champagne, we happily took him up on the offer. As I sipped away, I took in my surroundings and realised that there was no physical reception. Instead the stunning piece of art we were sitting at was the more laid back, informal, version of a check in desk.

After checking in and discussing "must see's" with our host, we were taken to our room (in the green leather elevator!) and informed that we had one of the only rooms with a balcony. Our room was as plush as reception and not one detail was amiss. The china tea cups and saucers were perfectly placed, the complimentary soaps smelt divine and the bed was like something out of the princess and the pea (only without the pea and with extra fluffy cushions). Although it was winter, we made good use of the balcony, by admiring the views of Berlin and daring each other to step out into sub-zero temperatures in nothing but a towel (it had to be done).

Although we were enjoying the luxury of our hotel were were eager to see what Berlin's night life had to offer, and it is safe to say we were not disappointed. The hotel was based in the zoological district in west Berlin, meaning that we were in the perfect spot for evening drinks with a side of funky music. I had researched the area before the trip and discovered a roof top bar, offering cocktails far cheaper than you would find of that in London. We headed out for dinner and after we'd eaten in a lovely Italian restaurant we made our way to Monkey Bar. Although we had to queue a little while before we went up, the view when we reached the bar was certainly worth it.

Monkey Bar offered views of the entire city and looked out onto Berlin Zoo directly below, although we couldn't see any monkeys our animal themed cocktails made up for it. The DJ played an excellent array of upbeat music and set the perfect vibe, one coherent with the excellent reputation Berlin's has for its nightlife . It was clear that we had found the hottest bar in our area, as the queue at the for drinks at the bar in the centre of the room was at least five people deep. We had a few drinks, and headed home, after all it was past midnight, and we had a busy day ahead.

Day Two

Day two was where the fun really began, I had booked a free visit to the Bundestag , a glass bubble on top of the Reichstag building, in advance. However, this was for the evening and we had an entire day to fill before visiting the German Parliament building.

We started the day with a delicious breakfast of fruit, yoghurt and fresh pastries provided by our hotel and headed out into the cold. As you may know, I love a shopping trip, so we took the train to Alexanderplatz and visited the Alexa shopping mall and the surrounding stores to feed my need to spend money. Admittedly, I picked up quite a few bargains and was bought a lovely Lulu Guinness purse by my generous travel companion, which we named my taschengeld, the German word for pocket money (and part of this posts title).

After grabbing a bite to eat for lunch and getting our bearings of the area, we decided to venture a little further and took the train a few stops further to get a little closer to the Bundestag for our tour that evening.

We wandered along the River Spree, which took us right up to the Reichstag. By this time, it was the evening and the German flags were fluttering in the night sky proudly above the impressive architecture that made up the parliament building. I couldn't help but think back to my trip to Berlin when I studied German history at secondary school and we weren't allowed to enter due to a terror scare. It was undoubtably an intimidating building and held so much history within its walls.

Us being us, we managed to enter through the wrong entrance. So we were directed to another wing of the building, where orderly queues were formed, and taken through a number of security measures. We then walked to the main entrance and were escorted through two glass doors operated by guards. I couldn't help but admire the security measures taken to protect the building and the people inside, it was all very orderly and German, but nice to see in times of uncertainty.

We were taken up in a large elevator to the Bundestag. When we arrived we were given automatic tour guides, which described what we could see as we slowly made our way up the circular ramp. We joked that the man who was speaking in our ear would have a fit if we just ran up the ramp, but as much as the children inside us wanted to, we didn't try it, and admired the entire city from our stunning vantage point.

The English man in our ear educated us on Berlin's history and we could even see the zoological district from the incredibly cold glass bubble. We only realised when reaching the top that the Bundestag had an open roof, this was to catch the rain, which falls into the metal tube at the centre of the construction. The rain is then filtered and used to within the plumbing of the entire building. We snapped a few pictures of the view and made our way back down the slope.

On our way down we could see the purple seats of the German parliament below us. We continued walking and came to the ground floor, where pictures and a timeline provided a magnificent history of the building. After our educational section of the evening, we realised how much our feet hurt, admitted defeat, and made our way back to the comfort of our hotel.

We decided to eat in The Butcher, the restaurant joined to our hotel, and what the staff referred to as the kitchen. The interior of the restaurant fitted it's name and I'm not going to lie, it looked like a very high class butchers, but without the smell. However this didn't bother me I liked the quirky design and the open kitchen, we could see, smell and almost taste the delicious burgers before they were delivered to our little booth. I ordered a lamb burger, which did not disappoint and a watermelon cocktail, which was arguably the best drink I have ever set my lips on.

After all that walking and filling our bellies almost to the point of explosion, we admitted defeat and head to bed before another fun filled day and our imminent flight home.

Day Three

Our final day in beautiful Berlin had begun. We packed our bags, went down for breakfast and reluctantly checked out of the hotel. Personally, I wanted to stay there for ever, I had truly fallen for Berlin and was already looking forward to the next time we could return.

We decided to take another stroll and yet again had another look in the shops Berlin had to offer, again we were able to secure some bargains and made our way to East Berlin to soak up a little more history of the city.

The remainder of the Berlin wall was an incredible sight, however the differences between East and West Berlin were still evident, with the West being more opulent and the East giving off more of a hippie yet youthful vibe. We walked a while alongside the wall plastered with graffiti and murals telling its story. You could sense the history, of a not so happy time for the city, seeping through the walls. It was a poignant experience, being in the presence of an object that caused such grief for the city, and truthfully I felt rather emotional.

We decided to grab some food and a hot drink, and entered a café that from the outside looked inviting. As we stepped through the doors we had to pull back a curtain, which was in place to keep the cold out, and revealed a rather moody looking eatery. Berlin hipsters sat behind their apple macs drinking their macchiatos under dim lighting. The music in the background, was rather loud and electric and in my opinion really did not fit the could-be-cosy vibe. We sipped at our coffees and swiftly made our way out of there.

We caught another train to Ostkreuz where we planned on changing trains for the airport, however we had an hour to kill, and after exiting the previous café as quickly as possible we had completely forgotten about eating (very unlike me - I know). We tried to find a place to eat and multiple times would spot a restaurant from a distance which we thought would be perfect and would reach the door, only to find that it wasn't for us.

Finally we spotted a restaurant with a little duck above the door and we were pleased to see that once we reached the entrance it looked like a rather pleasant family run Chinese restaurant, named Glory Duck. And it certainly lived up to its name, glorious duck dishes were on offer and delighted our taste buds. I decided on a duck sizzler, while Jaime went for a Thai red duck curry, both were delicious and I would certainly recommend that, if you can find the authentic restaurant tucked away in the streets of East Berlin, you visit it, as it was certainly the best meal Jaime and I had in Berlin.

After our delicious meals that I could have eaten three times over, we regretfully made our way back to the airport, and back home.

P.S. if you were wondering what the title means: Exit to the left with your pocket money. I know bizarre but they are the only two new phrases I learnt and I wanted to embrace them.

P.P.S. NEXT STOP: ROME My wonderful Jaime is taking me on my dream 21st birthday trip to Rome at the end of September, (I am so excited, grateful and thankful to my lovely boy) and I plan on sharing our experience of our next adventure soon (a little sooner than I shared our trip to Berlin).

Make sure you're keeping up with us ;)

P x