A Brooklyn Girl’s Guide to Sunday: How To Spend a Day in Berlin

I’ve been off the grid for a little bit, doing some traveling and enjoying that feeling of being in another country where your phone just flat out doesn’t work. It’s not on airplane mode, it’s not “kind of off but actually right next to you”. It’s just not an option– that feeling of having your phone rendered so useless that you almost feel compelled to leave it behind when you go out for the day, because it’s actually useless, unless being used as a camera. There’s nothing like a little bit of traveling to stir things up and get the brain going, whether it’s to the beach for the day or out into the streets of another country. So this week, let’s talk about Berlin.

I’ve been to Berlin three times, but this past trip was the first time I’ve ever been able to full immerse myself in the city and let the local vibes wash over me. I want to lie and say that we spent the entire time in and out of museums, but it’s just not true. We biked all over, just sort of stunned by the giant Eastern European architecture, and my mom and I were lucky enough to be given a tour of Olafur Eliasson’s studio, which was basically a dream. We drank coffee and sat at cafes and wandered around parks, trying to figure out how so much graffiti could exist in a single city.

GC Readers who visit Berlin have to get coffee at The Barn. My mom gushed about their coffee for days. Also: Eat dinner at Katz Orange, which feels like a living room that serves short ribs for the table and dinner in a lit up courtyard; also try to make it to dinner at Lokal, which does just what the name promises: serves locally-sourced food that’s really, really good. Those who aim for comfort over finesse should head to Markthalle Neun on Thursday, when the restaurant converges into one giant cozy dinner party full of stalls selling dumplings, flank steak, ribs, and cheesecake. And make sure to rent a bike; it makes the sprawling city seem small, and lets you hit every vintage-themed cafe in the city.