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My gf has a work trip to Berlin so ages ago we booked flights together when they were dirt cheap. Now I've heard Berlin is a great place for art and culture, but unfortunately I'm something of a philistine when it comes to that sort of thing. Especially modern [s]rubbish[/s] art. I think it would be good, but a shame, to spend the whole weekend sampling lots of proper German beer and eating sausages. What else does Berlin have to offer? Any particularly interesting architectural things to go and take photos of?
Many thanks
Mowgli
I was in Berlin for a couple of days last year and did a bike tour with [url= http://fattirebiketours.com/berlin ]these guys.[/url] The tour guide was really knowledgable and entertaining. Highly recommended.
I really enjoyed the Stasi museum http://www.stasimuseum.de/en/enindex.htm the Brandenberg gate and Checkpoint Charlie
Caberet or naked swiming!
The Irish pub in the shopping centre underneath the big office block with the mahoosive revolving Mercedes sign on the roof is a somewhat surreal experience. Especially when a German country & western band are playing.
Very weird
[url= 
]Reichstag[/url]
[url= 
]Museumsinsel[/url]
[url= 
]Holocaust Memorial[/url]
[url= 
]Gendarmenmarkt[/url]
[url= 
]Potsdamer Platz[/url] where you'll also find some recent history as the Berlin Wall split it in two halfs and hence a completely empty square only 20 years ago.
The Reichstag-you can walk round inside the glass dome but there may be a queue.Brandenburg gate is also close. Museum Haus Am Checkpoint Charlie shows how people tried to escape to the west-very evocative. Christmas Markets if they happen to coincide with your visit. Potzdamer Platz-previously no-man's land of the Berlin Wall but now regenerated into an interesting architectural centre. A good idea is to take a tour bus & just hop on & off as you fancy.Berlin also has very good shopping centres if you or your GF are into that sort of thing.
Sowjetische Ehrenmal
soviet war memorial in Treptower park, very impressive place.
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also I'd recommend a trip to Templehof airport
the former "germania" Airport, its been opened up to the public, the runways everything.
here I am riding down it with my bro.
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also go to some of the districts like kruezburg and prenzlauerberg, Kastanienallee in prenzlauerburg has some cool shops,
the food is great there, enjoy
KuDamm is pretty cool, just by Zoo Station. Tourist buses go from there, give you a good grounding as to what you might like to see, and you can hop on and off. Valid for 24 hours too so you can go the next day too. Jewish museum is very moving, and Checkpoint Charlie museum is good too.
And it is to my eternal shame that I missed the Currywurst Museum near Checkpoint Charlie too.
You have to do the Holocaust Memorial after dark, its one of the most genuinely scary and moving experiences you can have. Doing it in the daytime with loads of tourists around just spoils it IMO.
Don't forget tha the nightlife, especially in the east, doesn't even warm up until midnight at the weekends, so don't peak too soon!
The Fernsehturm television tower in Alexanderplatz.
Tallest building in Germany and a great view over Berlin and into Poland.
[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Fernsehturm ]Wikipedia link[/url]
Also the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Breitscheidplatz near Zoo Station.
A poingnant reminder of the stupidity of war.
[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Wilhelm_Memorial_Church ]Wikipedia link[/url]
[url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5821953/German-brothel-offers-discounts-to-cyclists.html ]Discounts for cyclists[/url]
Mon Cheris nightclub...
Check out Watergate and Bergain
Close to Checkpoint Charlie is a cafe called Snackpoint Charlie 🙂
Eastside gallery - walk from Alexanderplatz for a real feel of how grey this place is.
The whole place is teeming with 'living' history. People were getting shot there as recently as '89 or so.
Second Watergate - best club in the world. Weekend is pretty awesome to up on the 12th floor of a building with some amazing views. midnight is early for berlin though........met a guy around 2 who said on saturday that 2am was early and places were only just getting going. He said that "you know what comes after techno? Tuesday!" He was right - I left watergate at 10 am a broken man and the place was still going strong!
Some really good museums and art galleries as already mentioned above
Berghain is another great club although the door policy can make it difficult to get in.
tresor is good too. Particularly love the entrance to it as you walk along this big corridor that is just lit by stobes, then all you can see once you get into the dance area is even more strobes and smoke and people going nuts.
Go the kitkat club.
Definitely try a walking or bike tour, you get so much more out of it than doing it yourself. We stayed in the radisson, pop in to see the mahoosive fish tank. At night try here for food and a boogie :
http://berlin.unlike.net/locations/72-Claerchens-Ballhaus
There is a free walking tour that runs from the near the Bradenberg gate
http://www.newberlintours.com/nbt/dailytours.html
Map 4, down the page, absolutely brilliant, tip at the end, very worth it
Also White Trash Fast Food, American style food in an old kitsch chinese restraunt, with bands and rock and roll, waiters and waitresses covered in tattoos,real experience!
Great suggestions, thanks everyone!