Nikolaiviertel

What we did:
- Train got into town around 11. Stored our bags and headed out! Grabbed some quick healthy lunch and then headed over to the famous Brandenburg gate for our historic walking tour. Had some time to kill so of course - drinks!
- We did a three hour walking tour that was awesome! Best tour yet. Our guide (from Los Angeles) was a walking textbook, but made it super interesting and come to life. We learned so much as we covered historical germanic times through to WW1, the lead up and events during WW2, and then all the events through the cold war to the fall of the Berlin wall. We had stops at the holocaust museum, old Nazi HQ and Hitlers bunker, Berlin wall, and famous Checkpoint Charlie. We found it all super interesting since most of our childhood history classes stop by 1950 and didn’t really touch on the Cold War and Berlin wall.
- Now super educated and smart, we grabbed our luggage and checked into the Airbnb. Did some laundry and had a great time calling Helen to catch up and say hey! We talked a big game on our plans to stay out clubbing at the notorious warehouse parties until 6am…
- Grabbed an amazing ramen dinner in a quaint spot and then headed out to burn down the town. Even made sure we were repping our trendiest all black outfits to hide our Americanism and convince bouncers we were worthy of partying.
- Started hot around 10:30 with old fashioneds at the swanky BonBon bar in the Mitte neighborhood. We then walked by a more happening bar and panicked at the quantity of people so kept going. Berlin is intimidating, man. The blogs saying bouncers will straight up deny any Americans had some real estate in our heads. Not to be deterred, we kept it going with Absinthe drinks at the “Sharlie Cheen” bar as we worked up the nerves to hit these wild clubs. Well….. around 12:03am a rotation of yawns had us coming to the realization that we wouldn’t know the first thing to do in a club by ourselves, leading us to grab delicious doner kebabs and hit the pillow by 12:30…. At least we made midnight!! We are still cool, hip, and fun and definitely aren’t on the backend of our peak...
- Woke up at 10 after our wild night out and grabbed our brunch in the trendy Mitte neighborhood - favorite brunch yet!
- We then walked through the museum /old building district and then hit our 1st museum of the trip. WW2/SS museum that was very well done.
- After the somber museum we went to a Biergarten! Trent then took a scheduled call with his boss to talk through his new role, new happenings and plans for return - the real world is trying to pull us back! And we don’t like it
- After drinks we headed back to regroup and opted to grab some takeout food and call it an earlier night. On to Rome and the land of food and wine! Berlin was awesome 🙌

Where we ate:
- Day 1 breakfast of coffee/croissants from the Dresden train station
- Lunch of our future US franchisee, Dean & Davids, as we desperately needed to eat green things. German food is tough
- Dinner of absolutely delicious Ramen, gyoza and edamame. As soon as Steph gets a whiff of fall, her all-consuming Ramen cravings kick in and Trent is happy to indulge. Again, successfully avoiding German food ✅
- Day 2 breakfast at Factory Girl. Voted our #1 breakfast of the trip! This place smacks. All very healthy fancy food. Steph had fruit covered Bannana and Tahiti pancakes with a side of spiced cheesy potatoes. Trent had the classiest pile of eggs, cheesy potatoes, avocado, onions, sauces and more. Couple of flat whites to cap it off.
- Assorted bread platter and dips at Cafe Am Neuen See biergarten
- Dinner of delicious Mexican burritos in Mitte. Place was absolutely packed so we knew we found a gem. Again successfully avoiding German food ✅

Fun facts:
- Berlin has prospered as a mecca for the artsy folks of the world. David Bowie and Iggy Pop among many others lived here. It’s got a grungy, artsy edge to it that you just don’t see anywhere else. As a result it’s nightclub scene is voted the best in the world with countless abandoned warehouses turned into exclusive raves that don’t kick off until 1/2am. If you speak English in line or aren’t dressed edgy enough the bouncers simply won’t let you in
- Being formerly communist, Berlin is one of the few places with a North Korean embassy. It had two buildings and without Germany's permission started a hostel out of the 2nd one. It became super popular for backpackers because it was located in the city center. Therefore, any backpacker that stayed there was technically “staying in North Korea”. Germany has since shut them down.
- Germany is very cognizant of its past and has taken lengths to prevent it again. Students learn about the holocaust/atrocities every year starting in kindergarten and by graduation it's a requirement to tour two concentration camps. The new generation is starting to pushback and asking to stop making them feel guilty/embarrassed to be German when it had nothing to do with them.
- Hitler's notorious bunker is now simply an apartment parking lot. We saw it and they purposely made no museum/recollection for it as to not give a place for anyone to have a sacred spot for HitlerLue lisää