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A Vacation in Berlin, Germany

Berlin Reichstag

I have spent a week in Berlin, Germany, with my wife and kids. We stayed in Abba hotel, at Lietzenburger Street, which is situated just 2 minutes walk from Kurfurstendamm, one of Berlin’s most famous streets, where you can find many shops and malls.

Some Words About Berlin

Berlin offers a lot of attractions for tourists, and one week is certainly not enough.

There are many historical places, museums, parks, malls, beautiful streets, restaurants and coffee shops worth visiting. You can find malls and shops in every city in the world, but it looks, as if in Berlin their number is greater than in any other place.

In Berlin you can find more expensive malls, such as KaDeWe and Galeria Kaufhof, or less expensive ones, like C&A.

You can find in Berlin everything you want. It is a feast for people who love shopping.

It was more than just a trip to Berlin. It was a family vacation.

You know how it is with adolescent children nowadays. They are busy with their friends, television, the computer and Facebook, and have no time for their parents. When you travel with them, it is a good time for bonding.

While traveling the kids have no choice, but to be with their parents, talk, and spend time with them.

We took a few guided tours, but mostly traveled and walked around the city on our own. It is very easy to get around in Berlin, and very simple to use the public transportation, the buses and the underground.

Brandenburg Gate

Highlights in Berlin

There are many the highlights in Berlin, and here are a few of them:

  1. The Pergamon museum, which is spectacular. You can see there a life size temple, monumental buildings, such as the Pergamon Altar and the Market Gate of Miletus, all consisting of parts transported from Turkey.
  2. The Neue and Altes museums.
  3. Fragments of the Berlin wall that separated the western and the eastern parts of the city.
  4. Brandenburg Gate.
  5. Checkpoint Charlie.
  6. The television tower.
  7. Alexander platz and Potsdam Squares, and many other places.

One of the streets street that I recommend visiting is Unter den linden, which starts from Brandenburg Gate. It is a beautiful long and wide boulevard, with beautiful buildings on each side.

In Kurfurstendamm Street, also known as Ku’damm, you can see the United Buddy Bears exhibition.

It is an exhibition of about 140 Buddy statues of bears, 2 meters tall, each bear representing a country recognized by the United Nations. Each Buddy Bear has been designed and painted by an artist on behalf of his or her native country.

Buddy Bears

The United Buddy Bears express the wish to live together in peace and harmony in the world, and are on a global tour.

Berlin a is a nice place to spend a vacation, not only because of the places you can see, but also because of its Cosmopolitan atmosphere, the ease of finding your way, the buses and trains that arrive on time, the culture, and because it is inexpensive to stay there.

I want to say something about the weather. Though it was August, there were some rainy days, especially in the morning. One day, we even had hail falling on us, just at the moment we got out of the bus at Alexander Platz. On other days, it was rather hot, about 30 degrees Celsius.

It was good to be away for some time. It’s good to be on vacation now and then.

Do you wish to go on a vacation, but don’t have the time? You can have a vacation in your mind. It’s a sort of vacation, which you can enjoy, without asking anyone for permission.

You can go on this vacation at almost at any time or place you wish. The effects and benefits are no smaller than an actual vacation, when you leave work and home and travel somewhere. Read about the mental vacation.