BERLIN

I finally lived a slight dream of mine back in October by going to Berlin. I'm not really sure why, but even when I was little I was completely in love with the German accent and so consequently Germany became somewhere pretty high on my list to visit - and when Atari Teenage Riot announced their 20th anniversary show would be held in Berlin, it was the absolute perfect excuse.

It was completely not what I expected. I'm not really sure what I had in mind, but I think living in London for the last 3 years made me imagine Berlin to be a darker London. Not at all. If I could compare it to anywhere I'd pick Edinburgh - but perhaps more modern and spacious.

We stayed in the East of the city, a short tram ride away from Alexanderplatz - somewhere we became rather familiar with as when we got a bit lost we knew to head there and start our route over. We started by doing the classic tourist past time by taking a tour bus around the city, so even if we didn't get to places we could still say we technically saw them. Visited Checkpoint Charlie, saw remnants of the Berlin Wall - I was tempted by a keyring claiming to harbour part of the Wall, but thought better of it - went to the Stasi museum and sampled some vegetarian Currywurst. Had a poignant few moments at the Holocaust Memorial and visited one of the best museums I think I've ever been to, the Pergamon Museum which houses the Pergamon Altar. The Altar was originally constructed in the 2nd Century BC, is 36.5m wide and depicts the battle of the Giants and the Olympian Gods. Over time it crumbled away, and it's only very recently (in the context of how long ago it was originally built) that it has begun to be painstakingly excavated and put back together. It took my breath away.

-FERN