Thankfully the weather decided to play nice on my second day in Berlin so I zig-zagged my way across the city on a rented bike. First stop was checkpoint charlie, past a section of the berlin wall, the topography of terror and the Holocaust memorial site, on to Brandenburg tor.

From there it was just a short cycle around the corner to the Reichstag building, from where I headed through the Tiergarten park up to the Charlottenburg palace. It was a fair distance, and after checking out the outside of the palace I headed over to the district, back to Potsdamer platz with the intention of going to the east wall gallery. After a scenic detour around Kreuzberg I arrived and was duly impressed. Its a nice long stretch, thankfully because I left the first part within minutes thanks to some unwanted persistent attention – it seems like if you female and travelling alone no matter how shit you look there will always be one who doesn’t take your no for an answer…

That area beside the Spree river is quite beautiful, with a mix of old warehouses and more modern high-rises standing around the banks (if not a little deserted in places..). A friend had recommended a restaurant in Freidrichshain which couldn’t have been missed. Taking her advice I ended up on a street overflowing with every kind of restaurant imaginable. More delicious dumplings were devoured in a small thai place, so it can safely be said that the Simon-Dach str. is the place to go for some food.

The cycling tour was far from over after lunch, pedaling up past Frankfurter tor to Prenzlauer berg for a coffee in one of the many gorgeous cafes they have nestled in between random stores selling everything imaginable, an old market building with more alternative stores hidden away in streets of lovely old houses and an old water tower.

The tour ended after a few more hours cycling up and down the streets and sunset and was topped off by some coffees in a cafe just on the corner of the river overlooking the dome. Berlin, I’m beginning to like you.