Berlin; Friday, 11 February, 2022

I had the afternoon booked off of leave, and had worked out of a hotel near the airport for the morning, so shortly after finishing for the day I was able to wander over to City Airport and checkin for my flight.

Despite there only being a few flights leaving in the following couple of hours the airport was surprisingly busy so I ended up wandering down into the gate areas to find a seat. A short while later our flight got it’s gate which was even further down than I was already sitting so I was able to just wander down the corridor when they started boarding.

An uneventful flight later and we landed at Berlin Brandenburg airport, almost a decade after I was first due to land here. I had booked flights in December 2011 for a journey in July 2012 that was supposed to use Berlin Brandenburg airport. After nearly a decade of delay the airport finally opened in October 2020.

I had a quick journey through the airport and then down onto a train into the city. From the station at Alexanderplatz it was a short walk over to the hotel where I was able to checkin, drop off my stuff and head out for a wander around.

I headed over towards the site of the former Palace of the Republic, the old East German parliament building which, when I first visited Berlin in 2004 was still standing, albeit in a derelict state. The parliament building had been built on the site of the former Berlin Palace which was destroyed beyond repair during WWII, the ruins being blown up by the DDR authorities to make way for their parliament building. Now in 2022 it’s almost as though most of the last 100 years didn’t happen as the Humboldt Forum, a replica of the original 17th century palace has been constructed and opened on the site.

I spent some time wandering around the area taking in the views of the Humboldt Forum and the stunning regeneration of this part of Berlin that has taken place over the last 18 years.

After spending quite some time round the forum I wandered back towards the heart of old East Berlin in the Alexanderplatz to grab some dinner and then turn in for the night.