So the time had come to finally make my journey to collect my final letter for the parkrun Alphabet Challenge. I wanted to get this done before the end of the year for arbitrary reasons and because it’s getting cold.
Kyle humoured me in joining me – he’s good like that 😉 And we flew to Berlin Tegel from Gatwick on a Thursday evening. Now I had only just got back from New York Tuesday morning so this was quite the turnaround for me!
It has been a while since any Anna-Related Incidents have occurred so it was only right for one to crop up. Everything had been going all fine and dandy until we reached the car hire place in the airport. I was down to drive the car (Kyle doesn’t have a car licence – he rides a motorbike instead). So when the man behind the counter says, “Can I see your driving licence?” I had a sudden feeling that someone had poured cold water over me. Driving licence… ah yes. That thing I did not pack.
I turned round to Kyle and said “I’ve forgotten my driving licence”. Kyle, bless his heart, has the patience of a saint and just sighed a little. When I asked the man what would happen if I didn’t have my licence he looked at Kyle and asked if he could drive instead. Kyle showed him his licence, technically not lying by saying nothing, and the man nodded and said “OK, he drives then. You just need to pay the extra fee for changing the driver”. Riiiight. Seems legit. I tentatively asked if I could still drive the car (remember, Kyle can’t actually drive) and the man said “Sure, but I didn’t say it”. OK then. We paid the added fee of being able to take the car out of Germany and £100 later we were out of there (I paid £61 for my mistake – ouch).
We arrived at our hotel, nicely located less than three miles from the Brandenburg Gate, and got very lucky with finding the last parking space where we wouldn’t have to pay. Thank god. The hotel was called, wait for it… Apple City. I mean, how perfect right? They did indeed have apples in the lobby.
So the next morning we woke up early and headed out for a gentle plod round the sights of Berlin. Genuinely I was so chuffed with where the hotel was located. It was a lovely run along the Spree River to get to the Tiergarten.
The autumnal colours were beautiful and we stopped several times to take photos and enjoy our surroundings. I love runs like this.
We ran to the Brandenburg Gate and then to the Reichstag building and it brought back all the memories of running the Berlin Marathon.
It was nice to get some photos without hoards of people milling about.
It was also nice to finally get to showcase my new New York Marathon vest that I got at the expo (love the colour!). Kyle and I took the run nice and gently and ran just over 5 miles in the end. A lovely start to the day – and a great way to tick off some “must-sees”.
We then got showered and ready and headed out to walk the way we ran to get back to the centre. After numerous recommendations from people, we decided on the Steel Vintage Bikes cafe for brunch.
It was such a unique and cool place. There were bikes hanging from the walls, the artwork was really cool and even in the bathroom the tiles had little bikes on them. The service was super friendly and the menu looked great. I went for a tea and it came out in this very cute little teapot and cup affair.
For food I had scrambled egg and we shared some maple bacon pancakes (which also came with scrambled egg).
Brunch was really tasty and helped fuel us on our Berlin wanderings. We went to Checkpoint Charlie, the Jewish Memorial and the big cinema area where they have all the premiers.
I was so chuffed as there was a small Christmas market around that area and I was able to grab myself a chocolate covered apple (something I adore – can you quite believe, eh?).
We then walked to the Berlin Mall where I was amazed to see that there was a slide that you could take from the third floor to the ground floor!
I mean, how cool is that? Of course I had to give it a whirl. After that we walked back to the hotel.
We passed a small bakery and we couldn’t help but buy a delicious looking iced thing (I have no idea what it was but it looked amazing) and a pretzel.
It was delicious! And so lovely to sit outside this very small German bakery and enjoy the chilly but lovely weather.
We then packed up and got going to Zary. Driving through Berlin was a little bit stressful (not to mention being on the “wrong” side of the road and using the wrong hand to change gear) but we made it onto the autobahn. The road to Zary from Berlin is basically all motorway and one long road. It was very dull driving but with good company and good music (and a pretzel) it flew by.
When we arrived in Zary (blink-and-you’ll-miss-it size of town) it was dark and very misty. I’m not going to lie, it was quite eerie. Almost like we’d wandered into a horror movie.
Big pine trees towering over long dark roads, not many people about with oldie-worldie feels.
That said, we checked in to our very lovely ApartHotel and everyone was met was very friendly (that we could tell, to be honest most people couldn’t speak English and we ca’t speak Polish).
We checked in and then headed out to walk to the local town (a 5 minute walk) to find some dinner. We happened upon a pizzeria. I mean, there wasn’t a huge choice of restaurants because Zary is a small town but this place was fantastic. The menu was great (they had an English version, hurrah!) and the pizzas we had were very tasty and not to mention ridiculously cheap.
We both had large pizzas and a beer each and it came to £8, which is insanely good for a restaurant meal! It was very tasty as well (even if we weren’t hugely hungry due to all the snacks and food we’d had earlier…).
Then we headed back to the hotel ready for a good night’s sleep before Zary parkrun…
Have you ever been to Berlin or Poland?
What is your brunch option of choice?
Have you ever driven abroad?
The “delicious looking iced thing” is called a Streuselschnecke (or sometimes Streuseltaler) – streusel are crumbles – and I am utterly addicted to them!
Ahh amazing – sorry for my ignorance! It was indeed delicious! 😀
Ah so jealous! Berlin and Poland are both on my travel list. Driving abroad is definitely more challenging especially on the other side of the road. Although it probably didn’t help someone ran into the back of me when I was queuing on a motorway slip road. Hopefully you didn’t have such issues!
Such an exciting trip! That bike cafe looks good- I shall look it up as I am going to Berlin at Christmas (not going to Zary though)- we went in the summer a few years ago and I really liked it, lots of interesting museums and nice big parks, and of course the Germans have excellent bakeries!
I am so impressed that you drove too- Andy always drives abroad as it just makes me so nervous, but I think it’s usually an automatic- I think in Italy it was a manual and I have no idea how you would change gear with the other hand (I mean I know technically it’s just as possible but it’s such a habit that I just think I’d get it all wrong).
I love that colour on your vest too- and those runs are the best (the stopping for photos and scenery ones). Looking forward to the next bit 🙂
That is a really nice NYC Marathon tank top! Your trip sounds really amazing. I will be going to Berlin next summer for a day.
Sounds like another fab trip. I’ve never been to Berlin or Poland (although I would like to). I’d definitely be on board with all those tasty snacks!
I’ve actually never driven abroad. To be honest, I avoid it as I’m not the biggest fan of driving at the best of times and with a drive to and from work every day I just can’t be bothered at other times. I guess I would have a go if I really had to, but it wouldn’t be my first choice of transport.
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