Berlin in a day.

Touching down in Berlin knowing I was leaving the next day meant that I wanted to hit the ground running. Time to make the most of one day in the city.

You Must Create

Malick shirt indigo

Carharrt W.I.P

Johnson midvale shorts

Birkenstock

Taupe Boston slippers

Wood Wood Copenhagen

Bum bag in dark green khaki

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Have you ever been in a new city for just twenty-four hours? It can be over before it’s begun. Recently my work took me to Berlin for a Bread&&Butter preview event with Zalando. It sounds silly really, travelling all that way for just a day, but if you have a plan (aka notes and pins on your phone), along with realistic expectations of what you’ll be able to achieve, you can still enjoy it.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to visit everywhere, but that’s okay. Berlin is only a short journey and somewhere I want to pencil in again later this year. So with it being a time sensitive visit we tried to get a taste for everything: a couple shops, sample some good coffee and then leave the rest to chance. Our first stop was Commonground for lunch and then Five Elephant for a coffee. My tip would be to always choose the window seat: good natural light, prime people watching position and in this instance, a chance to witness Germans getting knocked out of the World Cup… all while having a great filter.

Though it may appear that I go from coffee to coffee, it’s the time in between that I enjoy more. They offer a start and finish point, going through streets I’m yet to walked down and seeing the make-up of the city. Berlin has that rough and ready appeal to it, a mixed up colour palette with no cohesion and textures galore. I think though my tastes lean towards a clean aesthetic (think Cereal), I still enjoy the unpolished finish. 

Brittany has a knack for finding the most beautiful spaces. One of them was Black Isle Bakery. Set away from the main road and highlighted by the sunlight coming through in the early afternoon, it was an inner sanctum of peace. The cleanest of spaces and the cakes were the main event. If you’re ever in Berlin, please stop by and have the lemon drizzle!

As for stores, I know Berlin likes to say Voo is the go-to, but with time ticking we headed to The Store (located inside Soho House Berlin) and Do You Read Me? Both enjoyable visits, one being a library of good magazine reads and another whose space contains label after label I’m all but used to seeing on street style best dressed.

It was strange to be in a city and stay within one area. Yes so much was missed and naturally so, but I came away feeling satisfied with the time we did have and I think the takeaway is to appreciate the time you’re given rather than rue the time you were not. I find that three days is the optimum for short haul city trips, but when it comes to travel I’ll take what I can get time wise and utilise it just as much as I did this time.jbicon

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