Berlin 9th April 2011

Weeze Station
The cheapest way to get to Berlin from Marseille found was a Ryanair flight from Marseille to Dusseldorf. I went on this trip with my friend Christine* from California. Our flight took off at 9.15 and we landed at 10.45. Although Ryanair claims the airport is in Dusseldorf it is actually in a town called Weeze which is in the middle of nowhere. This was obvious when we landed at the airport, we then got a shuttle bus to the train station where we waited for about 30 minutes for a train to Dusseldorf. The train was €15.10 for a single to Dusseldorf. We got on the train at 11.45 and got to Dusseldorf at 12.52. We had booked our tickets in advance online as they were considerably cheaper than if we had booked them on the day. Dusseldorf station was very busy and there are several places to eat here. We went totally authentic and had bratwurst and currywurst, currywurst is a bratwurst with a curry sauce on top and is delicious. It was also quite cheap, the currywurst was €3 and you got a bread roll with it too.

Currywurst
We got on a train at around 2pm, it was a nice train with comfortable seats. You can also buy food and drinks on board as there is a on board restaurant. The train is 4 hours long, we slept for most of it as it had been a long day. We got to Berlin at 6pm, Berlin's central station is very modern with several stores, food places and souvenir places. We then had to take the metro equivalent to get to our hostel. We took the S-Bahn 7 to Hackeschen Market.  The hostel, City Stay Hostel is a 5 minute walk from the metro, after we checked in we went to our room. It was by far the nicest hostel I've ever stayed in. The room was spacious and had a lot of light with a balcony and was very clean. We were in a 4 bedroom dorm and 2 of the beds were not bunk beds which was nice as usually all the beds in hostels are bunks. The lobby had an area for internet use and a bar, the communal area was very large. The bar has cheap drinks, they offered breakfast at €5 but we passed on that. The only negative point I would say is that the hostel didn't take card which was very surprising and medieval.

Mixed Grill
My first impressions of Berlin is that it is very metropolitan, modern and clean. Not what I was expecting at all of Germany although I'm sure Berlin is very different to its other German cities. There are several restaurants around the Hackeschen Market area near our hostel, as well as clothes stores and bars. The hostel is located in a very good location.

We went to Rocco Restaurant at Hackeschen Market, there was an inside and outdoor area so we sat outside. It was very busy, there were electric heaters on they gave us cushions and blankets so it was cosy and we were very warm. I ordered a mixed grill of steak, chicken, pork and sausage with salad as I was very hungry and Christine got a Wiener Schnitzel which was a good choice as it was very juicy and delicious  My chicken in my mixed grill was a bit dry but most chicken breast is, overall a good meal. It was about 17 degrees in Berlin at the time.
Hostel cocktails




We then went back to our hostel and got some cocktails as they were only about €4/€5 euros each, then went to bed as we had a lot planned for the next day.

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