[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 2 October 2016]
6 December 2015, Sunday
After spending two days here, it’s time to say goodbye to Manchester and hello to Berlin. Our Airbnb host Jennifer had recommended us to take an Uber cab to the airport because it was more convenient than taking public transport, especially since we were leaving early in the morning. I had already downloaded the app and created an account so I was all ready to try it out for the first time. As our apartment was located in the heart of Chinatown, there were many Uber drivers nearby and it wasn’t hard getting one. At 7:19am, I got a cab and it arrived at our doorstep just 3 minutes later.
The friendly driver helped us to load our luggages into his car, which was a BMW 3-series. The ride from our apartment to Manchester Airport was 12.14km and it took just 15 minutes, and we arrived at 7:39am. The fare was £15.89 (S$34.40). The best part of it all was that we didn’t have to pay cash because the fare was charged to my credit card.
After using Uber for the first time, I find that it is really convenient and especially useful for overseas trips because firstly, you can just use the app to input your pickup address. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection, which should be readily available at your accommodation. You don’t have to go through the trouble to find out what is the local phone number to call a cab, or to make expensive voice calls to hire one.
Secondly, as the fare is charged to your credit card, you don’t have to scramble with notes and coins or worry about keeping the change properly while juggling with your luggage as you disembark from the vehicle. So it’s less hassle and safer actually, as you have one less thing to distract you, thereby making you less prone to pickpockets.
Thirdly, it also frees up the cash that you can otherwise use for other purposes. This also means you don’t have to carry so much cash around on your travels, so it is one less burden. Based on the above reasons, I highly recommend using Uber whenever you are overseas. Of course, it makes more economical sense when you are travelling in a group of three or four persons because you can split the cost. For solo travellers, it may not be so worthwhile to take an Uber cab.
At 10:15am, our Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) flight SK540 departed Manchester. About two hours later, we touched down at Copenhagen Kastrup Airport for a two-hour transit. There is no direct flight from Manchester to Berlin. I had never been to Denmark before but there was not enough time to leave to leave the airport to explore the capital city, so we just roamed around the transit area. At 3:00pm, we departed Copenhagen on SAS flight SK679 and finally landed at Berlin Tegel Airport at about 4:00pm.
From the airport, we took a taxi to our Airbnb apartment. We didn’t take an Uber cab because airport taxis were readily available. When we arrived at our apartment at about 5:00pm, it felt like 8:00pm as the skies were already dark. The days were really short in winter.
The apartment was located in a high-rise building. As it was dark, we didn’t have a good look at the building, but when we saw it properly the following morning, it looked remarkably like one of our HDB flats in Singapore.
Airbnb Apartment: Central flat near Alex
Address: Heinrich-Heine-Straße 3 Apt. 11 / Heinrich-Heine, Berlin 10179
Price: S$367 for 2 nights (i.e. S$61.20 per person per night)
This was one of the Airbnb apartments that was managed by a company so it was in total contrast to the one that we had just vacated in Manchester, which was owned and operated by an individual. This Berlin apartment was very spacious and very clean, and everything worked perfectly. And for once, I had a room to myself and a huge bed to sleep in. There were also proper instructions and directions printed out and compiled into a folder for us to peruse. It was more like a studio apartment than an Airbnb apartment so it was very different. However, while everything was laid out nicely and well organised, I felt it lacked a personal touch and I preferred the previous Airbnb apartments in Amsterdam and Manchester, which had a more homely and authentic feel.
With most of the day gone, we quickly unloaded our stuff and made our way out to see as much of the city as we could. From our apartment, it was about a 10-minute walk to Alexanderstraße, where there was a huge Christmas carnival taking place at the open-air carpark beside the big Alexa shopping mall.
Dubbed Der Grosse Berliner Weihnachtsmarkt – Wintertraum am Alexa, it means “The Great Berlin Christmas Market – Winter Dream on Alexa”. It is a huge winter market that runs for five weeks leading up to Christmas and attracts about 2 million visitors. It is really huge – 25,000 square metres, or about 3.5 football fields. Best of all, entry is free. We were quite disappointed with the Christmas markets in London and Manchester, so we were really glad that we got to see the real deal here in Berlin.
It really was a carnival, with many brightly coloured rides thrusting daredevils into the air, and screams filled the air every now and then. I was quite keen to try some of the rides but decided against it in the end. As it was a Sunday evening, the Christmas market was packed with people all out to have a good time.
We had a hard time choosing which food to eat first because they all looked so good! There were plenty of colourful sweets, cookies, nuts and even roasted chestnuts on sale.
In the end, we decided to indulge in the grilled chicken sandwich first because the smell was simply irresistible. The smoking hot chicken patty was wrapped in between crispy baguette bread halves and topped with sweet caramelised onions. It was very yummy.
Next, SJ tried a serving of sausage (wurst) with sauerkraut. The sausage looked like a Taiwanese sausage, of the bright pink variety instead of the usual orange/brown ones. The sauerkraut was being stewed in a giant pot and it looked quite scary. I’m not a fan of sauerkraut so I didn’t try it. For the uninitiated, sauerkraut is finely cut cabbage fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, thus giving it its distinctive sour flavour. It is like the Western version of Korea’s kimchi, and I am not a fan of kimchi either.
I was more inclined to try the churros though. They were freshly prepared in front of us and we had a good look at the whole process. There is a machine that squeezes the dough through a tube that gives churros its star shape (it is a star shape if you look at the cross section). Once it is of a certain length, the chef will use a pair of scissors to cut it, and the strip of churros will drop into a large pot of oil below, where it is being deep fried. It reminded me of our Asian version of dough fritters, or you tiao. Once cooked, the chef will scoop it up and leave it for a short while for the oil to drain before coating it with a layer of fine sugar. The chef will then scoop up some thick, hot chocolate sauce into a plastic cup and stick the churro sticks into the cup. It was super sinful but oh so heavenly.
We also saw many people carrying glass mugs drinking some kind of red wine or chocolate drink, so we began to look for the source of it. We discovered that they were drinking a traditional German drink called Glühwein, or mulled wine. It is red wine served warm with a dash of cinnamon, cloves, citrus fruits and sugar. It is very popular and you can find it at all the Christmas markets in Germany. You can also buy the mug that the Glühwein is served in. Indeed, many people go round the different Christmas markets to collect the different mugs because the mug designs are all very pretty.
On this night, I wasn’t up for Glühwein yet so I bought a mug of Baileys hot chocolate, while sis and SJ shared a mug ofGlühwein. I had a sip of their Glühwein and I was surprised that it tasted quite strong. I can understand why the drinks are so popular, because there’s nothing better than sipping on hot chocolate or mulled wine on a blistering cold winter night!
We decided to keep the frosted mug as a souvenir because it was nicer. How the system works is – the price of the mug is included in the cost of the drink. If you choose to return the mug, you will get a refund, which is equivalent to the price of the mug. If you choose not to return it, the stall does not make a loss because you have already paid for it. Pretty smart huh.
The market closes at 10pm but we left at around 8pm because we were tired, and it was cold. Somehow, when the days are short, it feels much later than it really is. Our apartment wasn’t far away, but perhaps it was due to a lack of street lighting or simply the fact that our apartment was located in a quiet neighbourhood, I felt just a tad unsafe walking on the streets at night. Among all the cities that we went, I felt that Berlin was the least safe. However, we didn’t actually encounter any crime or untoward incidents, but it was just a funny feeling.
Once back safely in our apartment, we washed up and had a good rest before the real exploration begins tomorrow. Gute Nacht! (Good night!)