I had wanted to visit Berlin for ages, so I was really looking forward to this trip. After almost missing our flight from Schiphol, we arrived in the Adlon Kempinski around noon.
The Rolling Stones hadn’t arrived yet and we had to wait till three to get our room. After a short walk on Under Der Linden and a visit to the Branderburger Gate, we returned to the lobby due to bad weather. That evening we had a lovely dinner at the Quarré restaurant.
The next day was concert day, so after we had picked up our badges, we went for some shopping, also visiting the Rolling Stones pop up shop. It was nice, but not as impressive as the one in Selfridges. We were back at the hotel around 5pm and got on the VIP bus to the stadium. After a great show, we spent some time in the hotel lobby, where we met some members of the band after the concert and then went on celebrating at the Torbar, great place to party in Berlin.
Saturday was a bit of a resting day, partially because of the terrible weather and partially because as a true Belgian I had to cheer on my football team! We spent a lot of time in or around the hotel on Saturday, so we got to witness the Rolling Stones fans waiting for hours in the cold, rain and brisk winds in front of our hotel. There were hundreds of people… It shows how popular the Stones still are. We went for a lovely dinner at the Brasserie Am Gendarmenmarkt and then back to football. We are in Germany and the mannschaft also had to play a very important match. It showed again there’s a fine line between overwhelming happiness and terrible sorrow. In the very last seconds of the extra time, they scored the winning goal. Euphoria and partying crowds at the Brandenburger gate, fans desperately waiting for a glimpse of their favourite rock band in front of the hotel.
I really wanted to do some sightseeing on my last day in Berlin, so we started by visiting the Berliner Dom and the Nikolaïkirche, then on to the Fernsehturm. It was quite busy and lots of roadblocks due to some demonstration, but we managed to get to the East Side Gallery. Really impressive. I love creativity and artwork. The graffiti on this bits of Berlin wall is beautiful and full of meaning. Then on to Checkpoint Charlie. It’s just a small checkpoint in the middle of the road, which seems rather out of place in busy modern Berlin, but it’s a nice reminder of the rich history of the German capital. The Reichstag is a beautiful building which really exuberates the grandeur of Germany. The contrast couldn’t be bigger after visiting the Memorial for the holocaust. It’s very impressive, holding the names of 3 million murdered Jews and looking like a field full of coffins. The lyrics of ‘Gimme Shelter’ still hold so much meaning. The fact that this memorial is placed in the middle of the capital shows how Germany acknowledges its past, while continuing to move forward.
Now I’m on my bed in the amazing Adlon Kempinski writing this. We will leave for Marseille in a couple of hours. Just wanting to say how I always love to visit Germany. As you may know we travel with our dog and Germany is really dogfriendly, the people, the hotel, restaurants… just amazing! I hope to see you soon, Germany!
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