Monday 29th September 2026

When I knew I was going to be doing the Berlin Marathon I reached out to Tobia to see if we could meet up. Well we sure did meet up, she generously cleared her schedule and we had three whole days together. I was staying at the Melia hotel which was very close to where Tobia grew up in Berlin, plus her parents still live in the area and her Hubby works nearby as well, so it was pretty convenient. I was unsure how I would pull up after the marathon so we organised to meet at the hotel at 11 am had a coffee and work out a plan for the following days. On the day I was off coffee but we met up and headed out for hot drinks (chai for me). Can I just say how easy it is to have a German speaking friend with you to do all the ordering. We got to know each other a bit over our drinks and then headed out to explore the streets.

Tobia is a storehouse of knowledge about Berlin, pointing out various buildings and weaving in historical and personal stories as we walked through the streets. We poked our heads into beautiful little courtyards, checked out interesting buildings and monuments. I saw where Tobia went to school, lived, studied and worked as well as seeing some of the cool places she has managed events at. If you ever are in Berlin reach out to Tobia. She is a fantastic guide and has so many wonderful stories, some even feature some famous people.

For lunch we went to Chen Che Teahouse, a delightful Vietnamese restaurant. I had the Banh Xeo which were messy but yummy. We sat in the outdoor courtyard and Tobia kindly took some photos of me with my medal so I had something for the blog. The inside of the tea house was also beautiful and quirky, filled with all sorts of curiosities and smelling of the fragrant teas.

After lunch we continued our explorations through courtyards and streets, ending up in Alexanderplatz. I’d been here before with G and E. Everytime I’m there I think about the Jason Bourne movies 🤣. We got the obligatory photo in front of the world clock but didn’t hang around for long. It is a chaotic place.

Our next stop was the ruins of the medieval Franciscan Cloister. When I saw it, I thought “that looks Gothic but it’s made of bricks?”. It turns out that Brick Gothic is a style of Gothic architecture in north eastern and central Europe. We then wandered past the section of ruins of the 13th century city wall, into a few more courtyards and through the Nikolai Quarter which is a

the oldest residential part of Berlin. The Nikolaikirche was built in 1200. The quarter was mostly destroyed by bombing in World War 2 but was rebuilt in the 1980s.

After this we decided to wander towards the Brandenburg Gate. On the way we passed the main museum complex and the university. In the plaza at the front of the university is the Book Burning Memorial. Sunk into the pavement is a room, lined with empty bookshelves with room for 20,000 books, the number of books that were burned here in 1933.

By this time we were both pretty tired. It was a lot of walking—23,720 steps for the day to follow up my 61,036 of the previous day. We picked a sushi place not far from my hotel and enjoyed a selection together before Tobia hopped on the train and I walked the final couple of hundred meters back to the hotel and my comfy bed.

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. Check out San’s blog for all the details and to join in yourself.