Yes, it’s another ask the Massive I’m afraid, I hope some will indulge me. Mrs L is 50 in February so we are going to Berlin on Feb 11th for a five day break, staying on Alexanderplatz, which seems reasonably central. Anyone have any recommendations for anything in the way of sightseeing, music-related, walks, places to eat, museums, independent shops for Mrs L etc? Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.
ATM-Berlin
Take Manhattan first…
Sure did, in 1999. Bit of a delayed follow up…
The Design Panoptikum is a must if you – and the Mrs – are that way inclined. Deeply weird.
https://www.designpanoptikum.com
The last time I went, which was late 90s, my top five were
Museum Haus Checkpoint Charlie. Fantasic, really demands a full day.
The Bauhaus-Archiv. Currently closed, due to reopen “in 2022”.
An SS torture basement somewhere near the Reichstag. Grim but fascinating.
Brandenburg Gate.
Vcitory Column. Pretend you’re in a Wim Wenders film. A head for heights required.
I visited last June. Fabulous city.
I really liked the area around the Warschauer Straße station. You have a nice balance of all the commercial stuff around the Mercedes Benz arena, and then a short walk across the road you have the local bars, restaurants and markets. And loads of lovely parks. Obviously Tiergarten is the main park, but I’d strongly recommend buying an old school fold out map. We found loads of beautiful little parks hidden away in the city – Berlin is blessed with parks.
The train service is excellent for getting about – and cheap as chips.
If you fancy some industrial techno on a Sunday morning, I’d recommend a walk to the Berghain and Panorama Bar. It’s a fascinating walk through the housing estate to get there – just as all the strange and beautiful are on their way home after 48 hours of hardcore clubbing!
You can buy a single ticket for all the galleries and museums on museumsinsel. A day wouldn’t be enough to see them all.
If you feel like an escape from the bustle of the city a trip out to Sanssouci is well worth while.
When we asked our cab driver from the airport for tips for lesser known spots he recommended Treptower Park, a huge riverside park where the central section is dominated by a vast Soviet War Memorial – a 12m tall statue of a soldier breaking a Swastika with his sword. Note – the park was walking distance from our rental flat, so we went fist thing in the morning and had the place to ourselves. When I put photos on Facebook friends who know Berlin better than me were amazed to see it so quiet as the park is usually busy.
Never been. I lived in Zürich for many years. Once a friend was visiting me and we talked about going, in the days before cheap flights we were going to take the train. Decided not to when we realized it took 17 hours. That same week the wall came down
We went before the kids were born – and my wife took me up the Berlin TV tower for a meal in the revolving restaurant – that was fun and it seems to be still available:
https://tv-turm.de/en/restaurant/
As you eat, the restaurant slowly circles the tower, so you get to see the whole city from the comfort of your dining table
The post office tower had a rotating restaurant for about twenty minutes. Ah the glories of British Engineering!
I’d recommend the usual stuff that was mentioned here in similar enquiries over the years:
• The Ramones museum
• Musikinstrumenten museum: next to the Philharmonie and the Sony Center, this is dedicated to musical instruments – from a two-storey-high »cinema organ« (which produces thunder, lightning, train noises, and screams…) to the guitars of Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix to a collection of vintage synths from Klaus Schulze. On Sunday morning there are guided tours during which a couple of these are played by the guide…
• Frank Zappa Straße (nothing much to see, but nice street sign)
• David Bowie’s flat on Hauptstraße (again, nothing much to see. Better go to Kurfürstendamm/corner of Uhlandstraße where Bowie crashed his Mercedes after a fight with his drug dealer)
• Dussmann megastore on Friedrichstraße: Five storeys of vinyl, CDs, books, DVDs, and more books.
• Spreepark: The abandoned amusement park near Treptower Park – take a guided tour to marvel at the remains of the »English Village«, a ferris wheel, and artificial waterfalls that look like remains after the end of the world. Including fallen down life-size sculptures of dinosaurs.
• Stasi Museum & DDR Museum: check if they’re open again (they had to close when the Aquadome above exploded and thousands of dead exotic fish spilled all over the neighbourhood in December.
• And you can take the »U2« – the tube line where Bono & Edge once played a free gig.
• Best place to eat – Die Henne in Kreuzberg, next to the (former) Wall. (They only serve one meal, fried chicken, and it traditionally comes without forks or knives – you eat with your fingers)
I was blown away when I went last June – first visit since 1983 (quite a few changes, funnily enough).
Very beautiful in parts, & as a cyclist it seemed like an urban Utopia – light years ahead of Blighty.
We stayed in Prenslauerberg (sp?) , on Schonhauser Straße, just in what was the old East side – apparently a very ‘happening’ neighbourhood, lots of nice places to eat & window shop & a decent record shop a minute or two away – Schoenhauser Music.
Went to Hansa studios, & a couple of historical sites, including the Flak tower in Humboldt Park ( I think) as well as the museum section of the wall , which was very moving & much nicer than the ‘art gallery’ section by the river.
A boat trip through the centre is recommended – not too dear & covers a lot of ground, giving ideas of places to check out after.
I’d definitely also recommend doing the Hansa studio tour if it’s on. I did it around 5 years ago and it was great.
(It’s not always available, due to still being in active use.)
Perhaps my favourite city in the world. It has a real sense of history being all around you.
If you can, try to join a walking tour. We did one led by a British ex-squaddie who’d been there since the height of the Cold War. Told us so many stories that we would never have known otherwise. I remember him getting us to touch some odd marks in a wall, then explaining they were bullet holes left after a massacre – a chilling moment.
For something lighter, head for Saturn, which was near the city centre (not sure if it’s still around): enormous store packed with CDs, vinly, etc. Could keep me busy for hours.
Agree re the walking tour – especially the memorial in the pavement near to the centre where the Nazis burnt books.
Definitely Dussmann or Saturn for cd’s and lp”s.
Take a boat out of the city to Potsdsm past Glienecke Bridge- wonderful Apfelkuchen.
A curry wurst from an Imbiss is a must.
KaDaWE department store is a must whenever we go – think Harrods without the crowds and a great cafe on the top floor.
Saturn update – they once had a whole floor of CDs and vinyl (much like the Tower or Virgin megastores of yore), but this is now massively reduced to a corner between stacks of coffee machines and mobile phones.
Thats a shame – last time was there found a couple of rare Bonnie Prince Billy cd’s and a really eclectic selection.
Wow, thanks for all your comments everyone, much appreciated. I’m now thinking five days might not quite be enough…
Don’t worry, the whole town will be on standstill on February 11 and 12 because it’s the big & really important Repeat Election weekend (last year’s election was annulled because too many things went wrong…).
The Holocaust memorial is just by the Brandenburg Gate and will give you much to think about.