Berlin here we come!!!

[Jonny boy]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 2:49pm

Hey...... We just bought our tickets out to Belin in March. Anybody have an pointers on places to stay or things to do???



Oh ya... and if anyone has ever wanted to go there , Orbitz is having a deal right now.... we got our tickets for $380 after taxes, from LAX!

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 3:01pm

That's an amazing price! I'm going to Berlin in March, too. Definitely see the East Side Gallery (the largest-surviving portion of the wall), the Kudam ("West German" shopping district), the Reichstag dome, and the Jewish Museum.

As for places to stay, the Luise is a funky, fun place in the middle of the government district. http://www.luise-berlin.com/en/index.htm We've also had good luck staying in furnished apartments. Just do a Google search for "Berlin apartments."

[Jonny boy]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 3:08pm

Ya... we are going March 5th for 6 days! We were planning a trip to Costa Rica, but we found this deal and could'nt pass it up!!
My boyfriend has been looking at apartments a lot online but, there are so many neighborhoods and we don't know which is the most convenient for going out.
We were looking at staying in Mitte. How is that area?
Updated On: 1/14/08 at 03:08 PM

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 3:16pm

Mitte is perfect, I think. It literally means the "center" of town. You'd be in walking distance of the Reichstag, Potzdamer Platz, Checkpoint Charlie, etc.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 4:08pm

My boyfriend and I stayed at the Park Inn Berlin in Alexanderplatz last year, which was a nice hotel (free hot breakfast buffet) and a perfect location. The rate was more than reasonable, the room was clean, modern and comfortable and all methods of transportation were right outside the door. Television tower, Rathaus, Museum Island and the Berliner Dom were just a few blocks away, followed by the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate. We had an amazing trip. One of our favorites together.

Some of our favorite sights:

Berliner Dom
Deutsches Historisches Museum
Galeries Lafayette (Friedrichstrasse)
Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz (be sure to locate the last remnant of the original Grand Hotel)
Zoo
Tiergarten
Fernsehturm
Hackesche Höfe (the labyrinth of outdoor shops and cafes is gorgeous)
Topographie Des Terrors
Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtnis Kirche
Schloss Charlottenburg
Sansoucci (Short train trip to Potsdam)
Denkmal für die Ermordeten Juden Europas
Viktoria Park (beautiful view from bottom of the waterfalls)

We visited the site of Checkpoint Charlie, which is interesting, but I had been to the museum there before and it's overpriced for what it is, which is more or less a museum of WWII German propaganda.

Restaurants:

Corroboree (Australian) - Potsdamer Platz (inside Sony Center)
Zur Letzte Instanz (Traditional) - Alexanderplatz (Berlin's oldest restaurant; make reservations)
Telecafe (Traditional & Continental) - Alexanderplatz (revolving restaurant at the top of the TV tower; make reservations; admission fee to observation deck required)
Brauhaus Lemke (Traditional) - Charlottenburg & Hackescher Markt (great beer, sausages and pretzels)
Galeries Lafayette (Assorted cuisines)
Nord See (Fast food seafood)

Updated On: 1/14/08 at 04:08 PM

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 4:11pm

Don't forget to bungee jump!

*wink!*

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 4:13pm

My favorite restaurant in Berlin, for hard-core German food, was Kartoffelkeller, in Mitte. If you love potatoes and saurkraut, that's the place! In fact, in the two weeks I spent in Europe during that trip (including London and Basel), that's the only restaurant we went to twice.
Updated On: 1/14/08 at 04:13 PM

[another_reprise]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 4:29pm

Berlin was by far my favorite city I got to visit when I studied abroad. I highly recommend taking a Coach tour of the city. There are so many incredible sites you would have no idea existed unless someone showed you, (ie Hitler's bunker).

I would also check out the Pergamon museum, they have the original gates of Babylon from 4000 BC, among many many other incredible artifacts.

[Jonny boy]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 4:35pm

Thanks guys.... This all seems like really good stuff! Is there any neighborhoods that we should stay away from?

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 1/14/08 at 4:55pm

Good question. My boyfriend is German, and had been to Berlin several times before we went there together...he already knew which areas to avoid, so it never came up.

[Liverpool]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 3:26pm

hmmm, there seems to be a post missing

[Jonny boy]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 3:29pm

post missing?

[Liverpool]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 3:30pm

it said you had posted today, so i clicked ont he thread and there was no post by you. Unless its just on my computer but After MYB's post at 4:55 on the 14th of January my post is the next one.

[Jonny boy]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 3:32pm

Oh...I see.... that's wierd! I was just saying I am leaving in 1 more day and I can hardly focus here at work!

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:22pm

Speaking of Berlin (again)...does anyone watch Anthony Bourdain's show called No Reservations? At least, I think that's what it's called. Slightly obnoxious guy. Anyway, he did an episode in Berlin a week or so ago and made one of the most brilliantly accurate summations of Berlin I think I've ever heard:

"Berlin is a city that wears the scars of its history like architectural campaign medals."

Couldn't be more true. As many interesting places as there are to go INTO in Berlin, I personally think the wonder of the city is on the outside -- bleak, sometimes crumbling cold-war relics standing side-by-side with structures that seem to have been lifted out of an episode of The Jetsons.

The city (and really, the country) is acknowledging its dark history, yet rebuilding itself before your eyes. It's truly fascinating to see where they've come from and where they're going just by standing on a streetcorner.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 6:02pm

do not forget KaDaWeh, the largest department store in Europe....they carry everything........and the food/chocolate floor is especially fine

[GuyfromGermany]

Posted: 3/5/08 at 10:30am

Why's everyone going in March?
I'll be there the first week of April...

[Jonny boy]

Posted: 3/5/08 at 11:39am

The reason we are going now is cause of the amazing deal we found.. even though it is still winter over there, we couldn't pass it up=-)
It probably will be raining a few of the days but I dont think it will put much of a damper on things

[Elphaba]

Posted: 3/5/08 at 6:42pm

Guy! You should come Apr 30-May 2 when we're there!

Jonny, I tried to find that deal......must have been a quick one.....that was amazingly cheap! You lucky dog!