I didn’t know what to expect in Berlin. While packing to leave London, my roommates and I looked at each other and asked, “So, what’s in Berlin?” We’re great planners. No matter, as what usually happens when I have no expectations, I ended up loving Berlin. It actually was my favorite part of my Semana Santa.

Once again we arrived at our destination at nighttime, so our first hours were spent having dinner. For our first night we decided to sample one of Germany’s main dishes: Currywurst. Currywurst is sausage with a ketchup sauce and curry powder sprinkled on top. It might not sound that tastey but the restuarant I tried it at was dimly lit, and the dish, with potatoes and a little salad on the side, was actually pretty good. While Currywurst is served everywhere as street food, I suggest trying it at the old family restaurant, Metzer Eck, if you’re a little shy. Otherwise, my main meal of Berlin – which is not only delicious but super cheap and accessible anywhere – is Doner Kebab. This consists of a gigantic pita-like bread filled with meat, lettuce, cucumbers, onions (you name it) and a spicy and tangy sauce. I couldn’t get enough of it and it never failed to fill me up for multiple hours.

We spent our first day in Berlin on a free tour that picked us up at our hostel. The tour was about five hours long but it was worth it seeing the majority of the main sites. We began our tour walking through Museum Island, which isn’t really an island but rather a cluster of Museums together in one area of the city. While sitting in front of the the Berliner Dom (or the Berlin Cathedral), our tour guide drew a map of Germany in the dirt and gave us a history lesson on Berlin and how the Berlin Wall came to be built.

From where we were standing, our tour group was able to see the sun hitting Berlin’s famous TV Tower, forming the shape of a cross across the sphere of the tower. Our tour guide explained to us that this was called “The Pope’s Revenge” for the communist government’s removal of crucifixes from all the churches in Berlin. Next, our tour guide took us to Humboldt University and showed us a glass panel in the ground which displayed empty bookshelves underneath, symbolizing the Nazi book burning of 20,000 books back in 1933.

We then visited where the West met the East of Berlin: Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie marked the border between the U.S. sector and Soviet Union territory in East Berlin. This constant emigration to the western side is what led to the construction of the Berlin Wall. Now Checkpoint Charlie is a busy part of the city with an imitation of the checkpoint remaining, guarded by two men acting as U.S. soldiers. (Funny thing, our tour guide told us that sometimes those male actors are actual male strippers at night). Nearby Checkpoint Charlie we got to see a portion of the Berlin Wall. While we stood next to this historical structure, our tour guide explained the methods built so that people wouldn’t be able to cross it. Basically, without hesitation, guards had the permission to kill you if they saw you crossing over the wall. If you weren’t seen, there were nails on the other side so that they can find you by tracking down the blood left behind from your feet. But, somehow, people still found ways to escape (one method being similar to that of the Trojan Horse).

Our last bit of our tour we headed towards the Branderburg Gate, which serves as the city gate of Berlin. On our way there we stopped at the Jewish Memorial, which are a series of rows of multi-leveled pillars. While some people had not responded quite fondly when the memorial was built (since it is so simple), I thought it was really interesting. Not only was the design unusual, but the memorial morphs into a sort of maze as the pillars get taller. You can wind in and out of these the tall rectangular stones and get almost lost in it. After the memorial, we walked over to Hitler’s bunker, which is now just a parking lot with a sign to mark it’s existence. Across from the Brandenburg Gate our tour guide pointed out a well-known hotel – Hotel Adlon – where wealthy, famous people often stay at. Turns out this was the very hotel where Michael Jackson did his infamous act of dangling a baby over the balcony.

The best thing you can do while in Berlin is bike in the city. Berlin is a very bike-friendly place (bikers are equivalent to cars in this city) and since it is such a flat city you can get to places easily. Not to mention you see so much more of the city. The day after our tour, my roommates and I, along with some new international friends from our hostel, rented some bikes (it’s super cheap at 10-12 € for 24-hours) and headed out to explore Berlin. Our first stop was the East Side Gallery, which is about a mile-long stretch of the Berlin wall covered with street art. One side is full of colorful graffiti and names and phrases written by tourists. Here, I got out my sharpie that has been around the world and passed it to each one of us to tag our name. The other side of the wall featured the real street art. Walking along the expanse of the wall we encountered mural after mural, so much of it talking about peace, love, toleration, and commemorating the symbolic liberation of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It was beautiful. I quickly discovered that the street art didn’t end here. As we biked through the city, I was constantly presented with colorful graffiti on passing buildings. I instantly fell in love with the city and its artistic, bohemian culture.

We backtracked our tour from the day before and biked to the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag. After we had successfully visit the big sites, we retired to Tiergarten Park. While biking into the park, I felt as if I was in a whole other world. We were instantly masked by bright green trees and followed the park’s path aimlessly through the shade, and past little ponds until we came across a sunny opening. We then parked our bikes against a tree and took a mini nap in the grass. I couldn’t have been happier. As the day started to cool off we headed over the the Victoria Column, which is a monument in the center of the park. After paying only three euro to get in, we climbed over 500 steps to the top where we had a 360˚ view of the city below. I decided that I had the best day of my spring break in Berlin.

For our last night in Berlin, our whole hostel went out to a local bar together and became the life of the party. We took over the stage next to the DJ table and everyone sang along to his epic song choices. Jumping up and down and singing to the top of our lungs to songs such as Mr. Brightside by the Killers and The Real Slim Shady by Eminem was the best way to spend my last night in Berlin (we tried to go to a club since Berlin is known for their great music, but I think our night turned out the way it was supposed to). It’s amazing how our world became that much smaller singing to the same songs with my new friends from Australia, Norway, Wales, England, Brazil, you name it. Back in our hostel lounge, we all exchanged names and email addresses in order to find each other on Facebook, and said our goodbyes. After meeting so many awesome solo travelers in Berlin, I was inspired to book my own solo trip and meet more youth travelers from around the world.