After two and a half glorious months in the southern part of Europe, it was time to head north. Max spent at least a day mentally preparing himself for putting real pants on for the first time of the trip. We made it to Berlin late on Saturday night, settled into our lovely Air B&B and off to sleep.
The next morning we were up early to get to our Berlin Walks tour. Four hours of walking around Berlin is no mean feat, but it was totally worth it for the rich history lesson and a fantastic introduction to an amazing city.
Over the next three days we explored old and new Berlin, from the street art and the shopping, to the Jewish and Holocaust Museums. We gained a great appreciation of the amazing history that Berlin has been both through during the world wars as well as the Conflict between East and West Germany.
Berlin was the first city that I was revisiting and I was right to come back, it was just as enjoyable if not more showing Max around an incredible city. But what made it an incredible city? As I said, the history is a big one for me. The other delightful thing amount Berlin is it’s inhabitants. Albeit a little grumpy at times, the people of Berlin are fantastic. One day while at a small cafe for lunch, we found that most of the locals were standing out the front, using their time outside of the office, not to sit in another seat, but to catch up with each other while standing in the sun.
Next up was Amsterdam, the motherland. We had four days to explore Amsterdam and we didn’t stop.
The first day was a trip to Anne Frank. I had missed it last time, so it was a top priority to get there this time. I was not disappointed. It was incredible to experience the rooms of the tiny apartment and visualise what it might have been like for Anne and her family.
We also made it to the Dutch Resistance museum. It was pretty interesting to see what life might have been like for my Grandma in The Netherlands during the war. She worked with the Dutch resistance which would have taken a lot of courage.
Finally, we found a Banksy exhibition at the Moco museum. I’d never had appreciated Banksy before despite having seen one of his pieces in Naples earlier in the trip. All I knew was that the was an anonymous street artist. It was awesome to get a better appreciation of his message and outlook on modern society. In a world where it seems everyone is striving to be recognised and famous, he has gained huge fame without anyone recognising him.
Berlin and Amsterdam were fantastic, even if a little cold! I guess that it something we are having to get used to!
Until next time
G x
5 discoveries of…
- Again, do the walking tour
- Make sure you get to Anne Frank if you can. (Need to book 2 months in advance)
- Find the unusual museums and galleries, they can have the most wonderful things in them.
- Don’t go to Northern Europe in Autumn without a good coat.
- Revisiting cities is OK and you can absolutely learn more the second time around.
Discoveries of Grace 