I studied German in college years ago and like most Americans who learn a foreign language in the United States educational system, I completed three semesters while managing to acquire almost no ability to actually communicate in the language, though I could read it reasonably well. During a summer traveling Europe on a railpass after a year studying abroad I visited a few German cities, and of them I only liked Munich. My intention was to visit Berlin, but with my initial experiences being negative, I diverted after Munich to I think Budapest and never made it to Berlin.

I don’t remember how Berlin made it back on my travel itinerary, but I planned a trip for the summer with my daughter. Because visiting a new country is always appealing and I have long been interested in visiting Copenhagen, I planned for about 12 days between the two cities, with the expectation we would make a day trip or two from Berlin.

Copenhagen is fairly compact, and it was easily possible to walk the city center from the hotel to most of the sites we wanted to see.

There are several palaces worth visiting.

The Royal Stables are nicer than my house, except for the smell. No horses present when we visited.

The central square is a good place to sit and watch people and birds.

My daughter and I always enjoy walking through botanical gardens and if there is a chance to stop and look at an historical building, that is a bonus.

My daughter is a bit of a foodie, so a food tour in Copenhagen was a must. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Danish food, and was afraid at the worst it might be all variations of that most delectable Norwegian dish, lutefisk.

In fact, Danish food, both on and off the tour was excellent, and the tour was a highlight of the trip.. We were able to try several different kinds of pastry, smørrebrød (Danish open faced sandwiches), sausages, cheeses, and some sweets and consistently enjoyed our meals.

We spent three nights in Copenhagen. We saw most of the sights we wanted to see, though there were a few I would have liked to visit but were closed. I would have liked to have another day or two in Denmark to visit another city even if only for a day, but that can always be a return trip. For a fairly large city, it is pretty calm. Just prepare yourself, because it is expensive.

I remember from my travels when I was in college how comfortable and convenient European trains are including Deutsche Bahn. I would much rather travel by train than airplane when possible. I had seen some of the memes on Instagram and Youtube about German trains being late, but didn’t overly worry myself about it.

When our train arrived at the German border, we had to wait 2 hours for the German crew to arrive to replace the Danish crew. Once on our way into Germany we had to stop and sit on the tracks for some issue ahead to be resolved before we could go on at least twice. With our connection missed, and it seemed like practically every other train at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof late as well, and many of our options for alternate connections filling up, figuring out what our options were for connections was quite difficult. I considered myself fortunate to have stumbled across a very helpful, but flustered, woman who worked for Deutsche Bahn and was able to get us moving to the right platform to catch a train to Berlin. We had to reroute through Hannover for a reason I never entirely understood, but I think a train was stalled on the tracks. Ultimately we got to Berlin by around nightfall I think, when our 7 hour relaxing train ride had turned into 14 hours of stress.

From what I could tell from talking to those around me, this is pretty normal for Deutsche Bahn now.

Getting there aside, our stay in Berlin was very enjoyable. Berlin looks very modern, I think as a result of the destruction during World War II, but historical buildings are interspersed throughout the city. I was please to find that my German was still adequate for basic travel needs, though nowhere near what was necessary for a real conversation.

The Berlin Zoo was one of our first stops. We were in Berlin in early July, and it was hot, so we had to take care to drink enough water, stay in the shade when we could, and not over-exhert ourselves. The Berlin Zoo is excellent and you will see many of the usual suspects there. But, for not so usual suspects, this was one of my daughter’s favorites, which bears a striking resemblance to an ordinary housecat. It is called a sandcat.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Never forget.

The Reichstag.

Brandenburger Tor.

Berlin Cathedral

Berlin Cathedral is on the Museuminsel (Museum Island). It is fairly likely you will be approached by people on the Museum Island asking you to sign a petition for the deaf and mute. I declined reflexively and one of the petitioners got very annoyed with me over it, but later did some reading online about this and found that it is some sort of scam. I don’t know how the scam works, but it is best not to engage with them.

I have forgotten the name of this church, but it was bombed out in World War II and never fully repaired.

You can’t go to Berlin without seeing the Berlin Wall (or at least what is left of it). A line of bricks trace the former position of the Wall throughout the city if I understood correctly, and I think seeing that meant more to me than seeing the wall itself.

Checkpoint Charlie is worth a stop I guess (one of the crossing points from East to West Berlin), but there really isn’t that much to see.

I was a little nervous about taking a day trip from Berlin after our experience traveling from Copenhagen, but it was also clear that without taking a day trip or two were were going to run out of worthwhile things to do in Berlin. Daily train schedules on Google Maps showed everything with significant delays, but we decided to go first to Potsdam. Potsdam is where the treaty that divided Germany after World War II was signed. In reality, for the local and regional trains, the delays didn’t make much difference to us. Sure, if you are leaving at 9 am, the train you are getting on may actually be the 7 am train that is two hours late, but we got to our destination in a reasonable timeframe, and that was fine. Unless you actually needed to leave at 7 am.

I believe this was an old monastery or church. It was lovely.

Sansoucci Palace

My daughter really liked this windmill.

We also went to Sachsenhausen, which was a concentration camp during World War II. You can visit it from Berlin and get there by regional trains. Entry is free at the time we visited. Technically it was a work camp, though I think at least 200,000 people were murdered there through various means.

I visited Auschwitz near Krakow, Poland thirty years before. That is one of the places I have visited that had the most effect on me. Mostly what I recall from Auschwitz is seeing the gas chambers, the crematoriums, and the chambers with the shoes, glasses, and I think wigs of people who were slaughtered there. And how peaceful and serene it was, when 50 years before it was the closest thing to hell on earth I would be able to imagine. I do not remember Auschwitz having all the detailed descriptions of what was done to people there, as they did in Sachsenhausen. My daughter said it was getting to be a bit much after about 2 and half hours, and so seeing she had gotten the message I said we could go.

We did do a food tour in Berlin, which was a bit of a let down. There is no problem finding good food in Berlin, but the food tour did not make the best choices. I had already eaten curry wurst, and didn’t need to eat it again even if it is one of the most commonly eaten foods in Berlin. And some Arschloch apparently not listening when the tour guide told them my daughter can’t have eggplant because she is allergic did not help. Fortunately her reactions are mild.

Even with day trips, we were in Berlin a little too long. I had suspected that might be the case when planning the trip, but felt that we could visit another city if we had seen all we wanted in Berlin. However, after I realized what a mess the train system is, I decided we would stay in Berlin. I preferred Copenhagen to Berlin, though I enjoyed both, and if I could go back and do it over, I might have chosen to spend a day or two more in Denmark and maybe venture to another city, and a day or two less in Berlin. Hindsight is always 20/20, and nevertheless, the trip was very enjoyable in both places.