My Week in Berlin: Tourist and Training!!

Hey Guys, welcome to the second post of the blog series where I will give you some insight into my week spent in Berlin. Everything from training to sightseeing and also food! Hope you enjoy 😀

TV Tower Berlin 

Tuesday 10th September:

Today I woke up around 9am once again and chilled in the house and had some breakfast for about an hour before I headed into Berlin for the day. I left around 10:30 and headed for the number 296 bus which I could get as far as the 'Tiergarten' before I got off and got onto the U5 (Underground train). I bought a day ticket for the public transport which costs €7, but it allows you to use all forms of public transport across the city. I got the U5 as far as Alexanderplatz which is the center of the city (You know this because the 'TV Tower' is located here which marks the center of the city). I walked around the area for a few minutes to familiarize myself before heading off to see a lot of the famous historical sites. The first site I visited was the 'Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe'. This site was really touching as it remembers all the Jews who lost their lives during the war. After this I walked to the Brandenburg Gate, a famous Berlin landmark. The gate represents German unity and freedom since the end of the cold war. I strolled around the area which surrounds the gate for a little while, and even stopped to write some postcards home before continuing on for the rest of the day. After some time I headed back to the train station at Alexanderplatz and I headed to the famous Berlin Wall. The history behind the wall and everything that occurred during the war is really interesting and symbolic. I really enjoyed visiting the historic landmarks. The last stop for me was 'Checkpoint Charlie'. The Checkpoint Charlie was best know as the crossing point between the east and west sides of Berlin during the cold war. I took some time here to do the guided tour of the museum which I found very interesting. 

Brandenburg Gate

After a long day of touring Berlin, I headed back to Alexanderplatz where I got a train to my club's hall where we trained for two hours. From only a few days of training in Berlin I have learnt some new things and I have really enjoyed the different training. My team all warm-up as a group which shows the close-nit connection between all the players which I really like. It brings the group closer and everyone feels like a good member of the team. After training, I went for food with Kai, one of the players on the team and we ate Japanese food. A first for me but there's always a first time for everything! And much to my surprise I really enjoyed the food!

Wednesday 11th September:

297 Steps Later I made it to the top...

Today I woke up at 7:45 and got some breakfast before heading to training for 9am. This morning we trained in a local school with some of the students who are training to become full-time players when they leave. This was a really enjoyable session and I learnt some new drills and ways of training from the coach in just a two-hour session. The players are all really professional and train at the highest level.

After training, I went into Berlin again to visit some more of the sites. First up I went to the Berlin Cathedral (Berlin Dom). This was amazing, the Cathedral is beautiful and I absolutely loved it. The inside of the Cathedral was so delicate and the details were amazing. Like most other parts of Berlin, the Cathedral also has an interesting history and I really enjoyed this. If anyone is ever planning a trip to Berlin, the Cathedral is a must see! You can even go up on the rooftop and have an amazing view of the city! My favorite part so far! 

I then headed back for the train station and made my way to training once again. This was a good session and some more people joined the training so I really enjoyed this and worked hard once again. This session was more match practice, getting ready for the Berlin Derby at the weekend. See if you can spot the German legend in the photo below!!

My Training group at SG EBT Berlin 

Thursday 12th September:

Olympiastadion Berlin

This morning I woke up around 9am again and had a relaxing morning before I headed off into the city once again. This time I trekked all the way across Berlin to the Olympiastadion for a stadium tour. The tour was not just like any regular stadium tour, as the site itself is a landmark from the war as the 1936 Olympic Games were held here. The tour still covered information about the Hertha Berlin team who play here, however, a lot of the tour was about it's history including information about Hitler and the Nazi's. I spent some time wandering around the stadium before heading back for the S-Bahn where I headed back for Alexanderplatz. I then headed straight for East Side Gallery, the part of The Berlin Wall where artists came and drew murals following the war. 

Berlin Wall Memorial

After my busy day, I headed to the training hall once again to get some good practice in before the big match at the weekend. Myself and Kai worked together today, doing a tough multi-feed session which rounded off a tough weeks training. Our last session on Friday will probably just be a light hitting session. I had such a great time experiencing Berlin this week, especially the history of the city which I found very interesting. The training here has been brilliant, I have really enjoyed learning from the different people I have encountered and having a new environment to train in gave me a different outlook. I was lucky enough to meet Marc Zwiebler also who I will hopefully have more time to train with and learn from.  I am now looking forward to playing with my team on Saturday (SG EBT Berlin) against the other Berlin team. This match is going to be very exciting as the battle of the capitol commences.

I will post my final update of the blog series following the second weekend of Bundesliga matches this weekend! Talk soon!