First time in Berlin (part 1)

My first time in Berlin

In my third year of Bachelor I went for the winter semester in the extreme north west of Poland, more precisely in the city of Szczecin. To arrive in that part of the country the best option that I found was taking a plane from Bucharest to Berlin because the german capital was closer to Szczecin than Warsaw or any other bigger polish city.

From Romania to Berlin and then Szczecin

My flight from Romania to Berlin lasted for about 2 hours and flew me on Schönefeld Airport. From here I had to go to Central Bus Station Berlin(ZOB) for taking a FlixBus to Szczecin. I used the public transportation from the airport and because the distance between the two locations was quite long, that fact gave me the opportunity to see from the S-Bahn’s window many parts of the city. I arrived at the bus station 2 or 3 hours earlier due to my departure and I decided to walk around the area and know more of Berlin even though I had a heavy luggage and backpack with me.

At that time, Berlin seemed very strange to me. I kept seeing people of various nationalities and the configuration of the city in itself appeared a bit unbalanced. I didn’t know much about it but I was really curious and determined to come back in the city since I didn’t have enough time that day to explore deeper through the streets, buildings, parks or important institutions. I only got just a glimpse and then I had to go to catch my bus for Szczecin. The good news was the deed that Berlin was circa 2 hours and 30 minutes away (by bus) from my exchange city.

How I got from Szczecin to Berlin?

At one point, during my semester I couldn’t resist the temptation and bought FlixBus tickets for Berlin. I was so excited to go back and truly discover the german city. The ticket cost from 10 to 15 euros depending on the hour of departure, in the morning was much expensive than in the middle of the day or afternoon. My colleagues from the new faculty also recommended me to go to Berlin because when it comes to art, the city offers a lot of places such as galleries or museums worth seeing.

My journey started in the early morning when I took the Flixbus from Szczecin główny. I slept the entire ride to charge my batteries for the day that was ahead of me. The bus took me again to Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof Berlin, a dirty station where I didn’t stayed much but immediately left for my first destination.

Walking on the streets of the german capital

I had made a list with the places I wanted to visit in Berlin. At the same time, my idea was not to use any mean of transportation, but to walk my way to everything that was on my list and by doing so I thought that I will get a profound feeling of the city’s vibe and save some money too because the tickets for the public transport were kind of expensive for me.

The first landmark I wanted to check off of my list was the one and only "Brandenburger Tor", but to reach that destination I had to walk a long way. In the beginning of the day I didn’t bothered at all to stroll the streets by foot. I kept looking at the architecture of the houses or the aesthetic arrangement of the urban space. Usually, I like to notice the citizens too, but I don’t know why at that time there were almost no people on the streets or if there were people, they were for sure riding a bike and not walking. Later that day I found out why, but I will write about this in the second part of the article. Stay tuned.

I observed that, and I hope it is true, that Berlin has very wide streets, both the road and the pedestrian side were large and clear. The space of the city was opened and developed more horizontally than vertically. That’s why between important places there was normally quite a long distance to walk. For example, according to Google Maps I had to walk 1 hour and a half from ZOB to the "Brandenburg Tor".

Strolling through The Berlin Tiergarten

On my way to “The Brandenburg Gate” I passed by other significant monuments such as “The Helmuth Graf von Moltke Monument”, “The Victory Column” and “The Soviet War Memorial”, all of those being located in the Berlin Tiergarten. Plus, when I entered the huge park, I found a very interesting market, namely "The Berlin Flea Market" where I spent some time looking at the old weird things that people were selling.

Walking through The Tiergarten was a nice experience. At some point due to the fact that I was not seeing or hearing any car or people around me, I got the sensation of being not anymore in a city, but rather in the middle of nature, surrounded by trees and vegetation. The path among the Tiergarten was lengthy, but pleasant. I went for maybe more than 45 minutes from one corner to the other because I also stopped to observe the monuments and take photos of it.

The Soviet War Memorial

“The Soviet War Memorial” impressed me the most and made me think about the past history. On the memorial was only written dates and information in Russianso I didn’t understood many things about it. Since I was in Germany, I remember that I got a bit confused when I saw that the writing on the memorial was only in Russian and from here I started to wonder why.

I acknowledged directly from the title and from an explanatory panel that the monument was built by The Soviet Union to commemorate the war soviet soldiers who died during the battle of Berlin in April and May 1945. Certainly, ” The Soviet War Memorial” is a burial site of some 2000 fallen Soviet soldiers.

Finally I got to The Brandenburg Tor

After I finished visiting this monument, I continued on my way to the Brandenburg Tor, which I started to see raising up in the distance. Soon, I found myself being in the Pariser Platz where The Gate was located. Immediately I was no longer almost alone on the streets, but surrounded by many diverse nationality groups of tourists who came here to see probably the most famous landmark of Germany.

I looked at the Brandenburger Tor from a few angles and also passed through it using one of the 5 passageways created by the 12 doric columns positioned six to each side. I could travel freely via The Gate and enter The Pariser Platz from where Unter den Linden Boulevard starts.

The neoclassical construction dating back to the 18th century was very imposing and what attracted me the most was The Quadriga installed above the gate. As far as I know, the chariot drawn by four horses is herd by Victoria, the goddess of victory likewise the monument being a symbol of peace. Only when the Nazis ascended to power, the Gate became a party symbol. The Brandenburg Gate survived over the World War II but it was significantly damaged.

It was kind of difficult to take nice photos of it because there were numerous people doing the same activity as I did. I knew since before that in the proximity of the Gate it is also located The Academy of Arts and I wanted to get inside of it but the entrance was closed. Anyway, I was excited to see it from the outside too.

After I got enough from the view at the Gate and, because I wanted to buy some souvenirs for my friends and family, I stayed at Unter den Linden Boulevard and kept caring on among the stores.