Travelling inside Germany: Hamburg to Berlin

Last week we travelled inside Germany. From Hamburg to Berlin. I am going to include in this post the story of our whole trip. It will be a long post.

We have been in Berlin before, but it is amazing how much changes and how quick. The last time we where there was went we got married, some years ago. Now there is a new main train station, Potsdamer Platz has more buildings and there are many more tourists. But Berlin is and will be always an incredible place to visit. Positively and negatively as well. I personally believe it is the city of the 20th century. It should be an obligation for people to visit.

The view inside a train in Germany

We took a train from Hamburg to Berlin, an ICE. Perhaps the fastest train in Germany, to get to any city. In my last trip to Frankfurt, I also took an ICE, and it took me 3 hours to get there. The ICE from Hamburg to Berlin, took us 1 hour and a half. My wife said that we were travelling at more than 200 km/h.

We were in Berlin before 11:00. We arrived to the new train station in Berlin, it has 5 floors!! I was used to the ugly Zoologischer Garten and now you have this huge train station. Not only is big, it has loads of shops. It is like a mall. We walked up to the first floor where the S-Bahn was and we left for the hotel.

Old and not refurbished building in East Berlin, Germany

We checked in then and off to explore the city again. We wanted explore more from East-Berlin, we took a Tram, my wife loves trams, and we walked a little bit later. Among the things we saw, was the building above. If you look close, you can click on the photo for a larger version, you can see that it has bullet holes. There are many buildings in East Berlin like that.

Normally, when we visit other cities, we buy a Lonely Planet guide of the place we travel to. For Portugal it worked very well and for Andalucia as well. This time it was no exception. The guide recommended a sort of a restaurant with Jewish food. I say sort of a restaurant because is a Church or Convent (sorry I am not a very religious person) that serves Jewish Food to support the Synagogue and the Jewish community providing the food their religion mandates. At least that's how I understood it worked.


This photo is inside the patio where the restaurant is. I took only one photo, because later the waitress told me it was not allowed to take photos. It was also not allowed to make phone calles with the mobile or smoking. The food was great. That day was very warm, and the food was very refreshing. I had first a potato soup and later my wife and me later had a plate with: tabbouleh, hummus and many things more that I just did not how they were called.

The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany

Later we walked and took a bus to downtown Berlin. We walked in Unter den Linden, we saw the new American Embassy next to the Brandenburg Tor (It is huge!), took some photos, and saw the Siegessäule from the distance.

View of the Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany

Later on we went to Potsdamer Platz, to enjoy a drink inside the Sony Center. And prepare for the next day. We wanted to see new things, that we hadn't seen before. Yes, perhaps I am going to divide the post in stages. It is a bit big.

Have a nice day.