Berlin

Our Eastern Europe trip started in the wonderful city of Berlin. We stayed at Hotel i31 (recommended for around $100 USD/night) in the neighborhood of Mitte, which is a nice central location to everything. Transportation, shops, sights and food were all nearby.

Unfortunately we only had about two days in Berlin. I recommend staying for at least 4-6, as it's a big city with a lot to see and do. Anastasia was sick with food poisoning on the second day, so our time was even a bit more limited than planned. But thanks to excellent German pharmacies, we got the medicine she needed and were back on track by late afternoon.

A few tourist spots we had the pleasure of visiting, and which we highly recommend, are the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall and the DDR Museum.

We enjoyed a wonderful assortment of food, which you'll see is a recurring theme on this trip. The countries we visited specialize in good old fashioned meat and potatoes and delicious pilsner you simply can't replicate in the US.

One popular item worth trying while in Berlin in particular is the famous currywurst. It's wonderful.