Amsterdam Stories: Bits Of Amsterdam, Berlin City Trip & More

Hi darlings!

Are you ready for some major Christmas vibes? Well, get ready ’cause here we go!

But … before I forget: I also did spent a day in Amsterdam before we went on our city trip to Berlin. My intention was to take a relaxing yoga class + cacao ceremony, but the class was canceled unfortunately. So, I decided to create my own yoga session at home, including a long meditation and a cup of ceremonial cacao. The effect was the same: I felt grounded, relaxed, blissful and centered :) In the afternoon I did some shopping and I had a lovely cup of tea.

Now on to the city trip to Berlin with my parents! Last Sunday we left early in the morning for the 5-hour drive to our hotel. At first, I didn’t look forward to spending so much time in the car, but in the end it wasn’t that bad. Traffic was good and we arrived around 14:30 at the hotel: Motel One Berlin Upper West (after a few stops). We were lucky to stay on a high floor (14th and 18th), so we had beautiful views. After we left our luggage in our rooms, it was time to explore the cute Christmas market right in front of the door (Breitscheidplatz) and the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. It didn’t took that long before I found a cute Christmas ornament for my Christmas tree. An hour later we tried searching for a decent place to eat, but some places were full and others didn’t have that much food to choose from. In the end we found a nice spot: Upper Burger Grill, where I had a yummy vegan burger and sweet potato fries.

The next morning we started with a breakfast on the 10th floor. There were enough lactosefree options to choose from: bread (one type), oatmeal, soy/almond & oat drink, vegan pate, plant-based yogurt, crackers and so on. A few hours later we took the underground to the Holocaust Memorial, Brandenburg Gate, Pariser Platz and Unter den Linden. Spontaneously we decided to have a luxury experience at the legendary Adlon Kempinski hotel: having a cup of tea/coffee at the lobby lounge. The hotel was decorated beautifully and we had a great experience. Then it was time for our next stop: the dome of the Reichstag Building. We reserved a spot to visit this place a few months earlier, which is also required. The view from there was wonderful! Later that day we took the underground once again to the Gendarmenmarkt Christmas market (surrounded by beautiful buildings, like the German Cathedral, the French Cathedral and the Konzerthaus). Afterwards, we visited KaDeWe, which is a luxury department store. We were luckily surprised that there also was a small Christmas market right in front of this store. There even was a Prada popup stand, where I took some precious and fun polaroid photos with my mom. We ended our day with a dinner at the H10 Berlin Kurfürstendamm hotel’s restaurant.

The next morning we traveled to our second hotel (the evening before we decided it would be fun to stay at another hotel for a change). When we were all settled, we took the underground to the Museumsinsel. Beautiful buildings and museums can be found in this area! We visited the Berliner Dom, Wintermarkt Schlossplatz and the Alexanderplatz Christmas market + World Time Clock. Ohh, we also had lunch at the Atrium bar of the 5-Star Radisson Collection hotel. In the evening we couldn’t really find a restaurant that met all our requirements, so we had a basic dinner at the hotel we stayed.

On our last full day it was time to visit the Charlottenburg palace + accompanying Christmas market. We didn’t know the palace had so many rooms. It was beautiful! After we discovered all rooms, we wanted to stroll around the Christmas market, but unfortunately it was still closed. It didn’t took that long before we decided to take the underground to the luxury Marriott hotel for lunch. And … it certainly didn’t disappoint. I had yummy vegan cauliflower nuggets and fries. Afterwards, I even bought a vegan carrot cake to take with me. Up next was the Christmas market at Potsdamer Platz and the Deutsches Technikmuseum (this one was especially for my dad, but I ended up enjoying this museum too, hihi). We ended our city trip with a dinner at DoubleTree by Hilton Berlin Kurfürstendamm.

Right now I’m back at Amsterdam and all settled. Tomorrow a brand new work week starts. It feels good to be back in Amsterdam, but there’s also some kind of feeling within me that longs for change. I’m not really sure yet what to do with this feeling, but I’ll keep you up to date :)

So, that’s all I wanted to share for now! I hope you enjoyed reading everything about my city trip to Berlin. Have a wonderful evening and there’s only one thing I want to say: trust your gut feeling, always♥️

X JJ

Ps. special thanks to my mom for taking so many photos of me and my outfits <3