Bye Bye Berlin

As our journey in Germany sadly comes to an end, we have some time to reflect on this amazing experience and review our thoughts of what we expected Berlin to be like. For the most part, our predictions were pretty accurate, but a few things were different from what we expected.

1.  Berlin was definitely more urban than the city of Munich. We wouldn't go as far to say it is exactly like New York City, but there are definitely more tall buildings and an overall more urban atmosphere. It was also slightly more difficult to navigate because there is more city to explore.

2. We were wrong about fewer people in Berlin being able to speak English. A majority of the people we met knew at least some English, maybe slightly less than the people in Munich, but overall people did know the language pretty well. In some cases, we ran into people who knew English better than a few of the people we met in Munich.

3. As we expected, Berlin was more of a hot spot for fashion. People had a variety of styles depending on where in the city they were and where they were headed. Part of that can be attributed to the better weather here. The highs most days were in the high 60s and low 70s and we hardly saw any rain.

4. For the most part, the food in Berlin was more international. Down the street from our hostel there was a burrito restaurant, an Italian restaurant, a sushi restaurant, a burger place, a thai restaurant, a few Indian restaurants, a Vietnamese restaurant, and hot dog stand. There are still options for traditional German food, but there are fewer than in Munich.

5. Judging from our experience here and from our conversations with a few of the locals, people in Berlin are much more open-minded; they do what they want and they don't care what other people think. There is less judgment, and people let other people live their lives the way they choose. There is a very diverse group of people here, so it would be hard for them to not be as accepting of different walks of life as they are.