Berlin Trip Report (pretty short)
 

This will have to be short as my schedule here at work will not permit a lengthy review at this time (also, I really didn't have very much time in the city).

Arrived in Berlin (Tegel) at 8:10pm on Friday the 12 of November. Flew Germania Express from Frankfurt which was actually pretty good. On time and comfortable seating for such a small plane. Short ride to my hotel via taxi for only 16 Euro.

Hotel: I stayed at the Hotel Kuenstlerheim Luise on Luisenstrasse 19 in Mitte. This hotel is one of the many ?Art Hotels? in Mitte. The room was fairly large, full of light and contained many interested paintings done by a local artist. Our friend stayed in a room that had a really wonderful and colorful installation. The only problem with our room was that it faced the S-Bahn and was actually only about 30 feet from the rails! The extremely thick double windows prevented a lot of the noise but the room and the bed really shook when the train went by. The hotel was very convenient to the Unter den Linden and the restaurant next door was quite good. Very good taxi service as well. There are soooo many Art Hotels in Berlin now that I would definitely be tempted to try another one next time.

Sights: I only had three days so I was, unfortunately, extremely limited in what I could see and since Berlin is sooo large I only had a tiny taste. Also unfortunate, was that one of my days was a Monday so I only had Saturday and Sunday to see the museums. One of the most interesting contemporary art exhibits that I saw (and there are too many too count) was the Hoffmann Collection in Mitte?s bustling gallery scene. The collection is housed on three floors of a 19th-century factory building which is Erika Hoffmann?s Berlin residence. Every Saturday, the widow of the late Rolf Hoffmann (who made his fortune in fashion) opens her home and its collection of contemporary art to small groups of visitors. A 90-minute tour of this apartment provides a primer on art since the 1960s, and is off the tourist-beaten path. The Hoffmanns had impeccable?if eccentric?taste. Their maze of halls, rooms and offices houses paintings, sculptures, photographs and video installations. An appointment is an absolute must -- you cannot simply ?show-up?. Information is as follows: Sophienstrasse 21 Tel: +49 (3) 2849-9121 We also popped in and out of what felt like 20 or 30 galleries in the area. Wow was I pooped -- all this was accomplished on Saturday!!

Also visited the Reichstag, the Altes Museum, the Pergammon Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Bauhaus Museum, the Deutsche Guggenheim, the Checkpoint Charley museum, and part of the Berlin Wall next to the Topography of Terror exhibit. WOW!! I?m getting tired again just reading this. I loved and appreciated and was greatly emotionally affected by many of these.

More later as I must get back to work now?

Sorry about the question marks -- those should have been quotes and multiple periods.

Next time try saving your report as text only or write it with Simple Text to eliminate the conversion problems that creates all the question marks.

Michelle, I'm impressed by how much you got done! I think I recall you asking about that hotel.

My back and feet were equally impressed and pained! I really wish I had had more time. I plan on going back in May next year. My next installment will deal with restaurants.

Thank you for the report and suggestion about Hoffmann collection.

Michelle, a great report with a lot packed in very concisely ! We are going to Berlin next April so I'm very interested to hear about galleries & will look forward to your restaurant round-up. We are there Mon-Sat - between what hours is the Hoffmann collection open, please ? It sounds great so I do hope we can fit it in. Presumably the tour is only in German, is it ? (DH speaks it but I don't.) Thanks.

My aplogies for the delay in continuing the post. We visited the Hoffmann collection on a Saturday but I really do not know when exactly they are open or what the hours are as a friend of ours who lives in Berlin made the appointment for us. The "tour" was in English -- when you make the appointment, make sure to specifically request and English-speaking guide.

Now to the restaurants.

We hit the following: Monsieur Vuong: Good Vietnamese food but really nothing that great. Plus I found the service horrible. Slow, orders completely incorrect in some cases, plus they brought some of our orders out and then the rest of the orders for other members of our party were brought out 30 - 40 minutes later. I wouldn't go back.

Florian - I loved this restaurant -- my two friends did not. I thought my dishes were terrific - I had an orange and frisee salad with cheese that was great and then a beef dish with a hearty red wine and leek sauce that was delicious. My friends both had goose -- not to their liking. I would go back.

Chez Maurice: I, and my friends, LOVED this restaurant. Traditional country French. Wonderful escargots and a terrific filet with a cognac sauce. Mmmm... I'm salivating just thinking about it. VERY cozy place and wonderful service. I would go out of my way to visit this restaurant again.

We also dined at a Spanish restaurant (the owners were from Galicia). I can't remember the name since we went there the first night I arrived and I was quite jet-lagged and out of it. The food was OK-- nothing great.

Overall, I thought the restaurant scene in Berlin was great -- and I understand that new restaurants and exciting cuisine are popping up very frequently. I look forward to returning to Berlin and experiencing my "favorites" as well as trying the new offerings.

Any questions, please ask. :)

P.S. I included a telephone number in my first post for the Hoffmann collection. I understand that the person who answers the phone there speaks English, so please give them a call.

Sorry -- PPS... Please note that the restaurants listed above were visited for dinner. For lunch, since I had such little time, we usually just grabbed a cappucino (GREAT in most places) and a sandwich on the go.

Thanks very much, Michelle. Lots of good tips !

TTT for a friend!! :-*