For a week in June, my friend Taylor and I traveled from Berlin to Wrocław to Warsaw. It broke down to 2 days in Berlin, 4 days in Wrocław, and 2 more days in Warsaw, with a day on either end reserved just for travel. I’d been planning this trip for a while – my friend Hanna lives in Wrocław and I hadn’t seen her in person in the 6 years since I lived in Austria, where we met. Admittedly I knew very little about Polish history, architecture, or culture and didn’t know what to expect. Hanna was more than willing to be our guide around Wrocław and we did and saw so much. Yet it feels at once like we packed so much and yet so little in to the 10 days over which we visited.
I ended up dividing this post in to a few parts, so the rest will be shared soon!
Camera: Olympus XA
Lens: Olympus F-Zuiko 35mm 1:2.8
Film: Fujifilm Superia X-Tra 400
Berlin
We flew in from the states arriving in Berlin on a Monday afternoon. We were at that point mostly concerned with finding the BnB so we could get some much-needed sleep. I don’t think flying coach was ever intended for humans. You just kind of zone out for hours, submit yourself to the passage of time, and then arrive, disoriented and exhausted, at your across-seas destination. I finished a book. I barely remember it. After jumping in to a packed bus, we were almost able to take the S-bahn straight to the BnB on the eastern side of Berlin, however we did manage to grab the wrong train once in the process and backtrack the wrong way for a stop before trying again.
I’d been to Berlin before and so had Taylor. The city feels modern, maybe a bit industrial, and very busy and young. I liked staying in the more residential areas this time outside of Berlin mitte. I believe the neighborhood was Prenzlauer Burg, the eastern side of the city which still shows its Soviet Union heritage through the barely-adorned concrete buildings and occasional working-man sculpture. Truthfully I find the architecture, parks, wide boulevards, and cobblestones lovely. We didn’t have a huge agenda for the days in Berlin. We planned on visiting the German History Museum, maybe walking through part of the Tiergarden (a big undertaking, if one were to walk the whole thing), definitely eat a traditional German breakfast, and otherwise definitely indulge in the espresso drinks and bier. And sleep. We did that first, and right away.
As a Midwesterner I must make a short mention of the weather. Hot. Sticky. And Europeans aren’t so embracing of air conditioning like we are in the states. At night it would thunder and lighting and then barely rain. A true set of summer days the whole vacation through – Germany and Poland included.
We did a lot of walking in Berlin. We took the tram to city center and took a long and insomniac stroll through the German History Museum. I found the propaganda posters and pieces of the Berlin wall the most interesting, although due to the time change I perpetually felt like falling asleep. Ice cream and currywurst later at bustling riverside cafe, followed by a long walk in the sun to the Brandenburger Tor and in through a sliver of the Tiergarden to sit in the shade and drink beer.
Berlin is an international city. There are people everywhere, mostly speaking English, but also frequently speaking other languages too. I was surprised how quickly my German came back to me. But there are so many people. It was bustling the whole time. I found our BnB neighborhood a nice respite from all of the movement. Evenings we spent there – getting food, drinks, never staying out too late and always eating well. I have heard before that it takes two visits to Berlin to truly fall in love with the city. I do not find this true of myself – I like it enough and really enjoy the history, but overall it’s too big and sprawling for me. To internationally everywhere, and pockets of local culture seem elusive and hard to find. I don’t know why, but for some reason I do want to someday travel back. Perhaps 3rd time’s the charm.
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