Berlin Recommendations & Trip Highlights

Old Oct 20th, 2012, 04:04 PM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 202
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Berlin Recommendations & Trip Highlights

Hi. Recommendations from my trip to Berlin:

Visit the Checkpoint Charlie Museum: Relive successful escapes from East Germany through photos, documents and the actual get-away contraption. Don’t miss the third floor, in particular the somber/creepy/mesmerizing Matthias Koeppel

See the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Memorial: ut-in-the-open and located in a busy section of Berlin, a constant reminder of the past.

Visit the Berlin Historical Museum (Deutsches Historiches Museum). You’ll learn a lot, and some of the images (none exactly cheerful) will stick with you for awhile.

Visit the Pergamon Museum. Everyone whispers here.

Visit the DDR Museum: Dig-in and experience life in Berlin Wall-era East Berlin firsthand.

Visit the Bauhaus Archive Museum if Design: If you're into design.

Visit the Berlin Film and Television Museum (in the Sony Center): If you're a movie buff.

Tour the Reichstag. Walk a spiraled ramp hugging the perimeter of a glass dome (representing transparency in government) to be treated to an unparalleled 360-degree view of Berlin.

Sneak into the DZ Bank building (3 Pariser Platz square): There's an architectural surprise awaiting you inside.

Check-out The Berliner Dom Cathedral: Stunning domed ceiling

Stay at the Propeller Island City Lodge: You know it’s not your father’s hotel when there’s a sign in the display case at the front desk forbidding sex in the coffins.

Lunch at Kaufhaus de Westens (KaDeWa) Food Hall: Department store food hall rivaling Harrod’s.

Dine in the dark at unsicht-Bar: Berlin’s “blind restaurant”.

See the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church: For contrasting architecture.

Eat a currywurst: Ubiquitous, weiners.

Shop the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood: Full of modish shops and galleries.

PHOTOS AND MORE: http://www.esmetravels.com/category/...-blog/germany/
Esme_Travels is offline  
Old Oct 20th, 2012, 05:56 PM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,969
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is somewhat difficult to find right now. It is nearly completely enclosed in modern building looking scaffolding matching other buildings in the area. If you are looking for a church with steeples, you will not find it unless you are quite far from the building where can see the tip of the steeple. Trust your map indicating where the church is supposed to be and step inside this "modern" building.
greg is offline  
Old Oct 20th, 2012, 06:43 PM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 465
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I second the curry wurst recommendation. No other curry wurst like Berlin curry wurst!
tom18 is offline  
Old Oct 21st, 2012, 03:25 PM
  #4  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 202
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
They are best with a hefeweizen!
Esme_Travels is offline  
Old Oct 22nd, 2012, 06:11 AM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 641
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Esme_Travels, thanks for the link to your travel blog and photos, really have enjoyed all of the information. We were in Berlin in late August but only for 1 day, however we will return in early December for 6 days and love your recommendations, especially the DDR Museum.
wunderbar2 is offline  
Old Oct 22nd, 2012, 05:47 PM
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 202
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thanks, wunderbar2, I appreciate the feedback.

Glad to hear that my enthusiasm for the DDR Museum came through. I've never before encountered a museum with such a sophisticated, snarky sense of humor. It was a gray, rainy day outside and all the adults inside the DDR were acting like children in a big playhouse. I'm qoing back there when I return to Berlin.
Esme_Travels is offline  
Old Oct 22nd, 2012, 06:01 PM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 26,390
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Good list.

Visit the Jewish Museum in Berlin within a short time of seeing the Memorial to Murdered Jews. The curators of that museum and the architect Daniel Libeskind did an chilling amazing job of telling their stories.

I think everyone ought to try a currywurst. Once was enough for me. To each their own.

Berlin is such an exciting city.
LSky is offline  
Old Oct 23rd, 2012, 05:43 PM
  #8  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 202
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
L Sky:

It kills me that I know people who return time after time to Paris (not that it's not a fabulous city) but have never experienced Berlin...
Esme_Travels is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 12:24 PM
  #9  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 202
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
New Berlin blog post from interior designer and TV personality Bob Richter:

http://huff.to/1zZbN0K
Esme_Travels is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 12:49 PM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 11,212
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
What does a currywurst taste like? Just the name makes my stomach do cartwheels!
adrienne is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 12:52 PM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 11,212
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Is this the real link?

http://www.esmetravels.com/category/...n-travel-blog/
adrienne is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 12:56 PM
  #12  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 401
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I'm glad this was bumped up... taking notes for my 4 days in Berlin coming in October!

We are doing the Berlin Food Tour and so far it's the only thing we have booked... On the tour we'll taste currywurst, and I also have NO IDEA what that will be like!
Ruby99 is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 12:58 PM
  #13  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 15,729
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I HAd to try currywurst on one of my visits to Berlin.
it is digesting, IMO
danon is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 01:00 PM
  #14  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 15,729
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I mean disgusting !
danon is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 01:39 PM
  #15  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,100
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
>What does a currywurst taste like? Just the name makes my stomach do cartwheels!

It is a normal Wurst cut into small pieces and drenched in tomato sauce and a thick layer of curry powder. It is not bad, but not my all-time favourite Wurst. I like the plain Thüringer Bratwurst (just a long, pale sausage with a small bun on the side, with mustard, if that is your thing), and some places in Niedersachsen have what they call a 'Zipfel', which is a hotdog bun pierced by a hot, sharp point so as to make a long hole in the end. It is filed with Remoulade and tomato sauce, then the Wurst is put in, more Remoulade on the top, and then crispy fried onions are sprinkled on the top (the dried kind, if you know them). Yum!

Lavandula
lavandula is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 03:45 PM
  #16  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 11,212
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Lavandula - by tomato sauce do you mean Ketchup? Or pasta sauce?
Either one sounds ghastly with wurst.
adrienne is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 05:55 PM
  #17  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,100
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Yes, I mean ketchup, not pasta sauce. It is not awful, but it's also not my first choice of snack

Lavandula
lavandula is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 06:46 PM
  #18  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 11,212
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I live in a ketchup-free zone so no currywurst for me! I was going to try it but you saved me with the ketchup information.
adrienne is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 07:03 PM
  #19  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,100
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
LOL, there are plenty of snacks from the Wurstbuden which don't have ketchup! 'Kein Ketchup bitte' means 'no ketchup please' (just in case you need it...)

Lavandula
lavandula is offline  
Old Aug 31st, 2014, 09:47 PM
  #20  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 862
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Bookmarking
macanimals is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -