Berlin here we come!!!

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!

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

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)

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

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

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

hmmm, there seems to be a post missing

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.

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.

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

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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!

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