What shouldn't I miss? What are the "musts" to see, do, etc.. before leaving ?

You might be interested in these reports:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35084225

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34598738

The "musts":

- Start with a ride on public bus #100 along "Unter den Linden". It goes along the major sights and you can hop on/hop off.

- Make a short detour from Unter den Linden to Gendarmenmarkt.

- Visit the following museums:
- Pergamonmuseum (Gate of Babylon and many other outstanding exhibits)
- Altes Museum (with the famous bust of Nefertiti)
- Jewish Museum
- Checkpoint Charly
- Museum of Natural History (with the world's largest dinosaur)
- or some others of the 175 museums in Berlin

- Reserve a table at Käfer im Reichstag and visit the Reichstag dome without waiting

- At night, stroll along Oranienburger Straße, look into the art galleries at the Tacheles, and visit the Hacke'sche Höfe. Have a drink in one of the bars under the train bridge.

- In West Berlin, see the Gedächtniskirche and stroll along the Kurfürstendamm; eat a Currywurst at Curry at no 195

- take the train (26min) to Potsdam, see Sanssouci Castle and the park

http://www.berlin.de/english/

I really enjoyed the spa, Therman in Europa Center. Ten saunas, indoor/outdoor pool; a great way to relax the legs. Co-ed and almost everyone was nude. Not a sex place. Very professionally run. If you get cold in Berlin, check it out. About 18 Euros.

Thank you. I definitely appreciate all of the help. I think I'm ready to transition to getting really excited about this trip now !!

Hi, Flem.

Do a quick search and read the great Berlin trip reports from JoeTro, Noe, Pegontheroad, Caroline in Edinburgh, WillTravel, among others...they'll get you excited, that's for sure.

All have been helpful to me in planning our trip this January.

By that time the KaDeWe department store will probably have its Christmas decorations in place and those would be worth a visit.

You could also visit the New Palace at Potsdam which is not too far from Sans Souci; the former is reachable by combination of S-Bahn and walking.

I would second the Checkpoint Charley Museum, too.

Thank you. I'll definitely check all of these out. I really appreciate all of the help.

Checkpoint Charlie is pretty well gone.

Potsdam is worth visiting. and I would give it as much time as daylight allows. The local bus tours are not bad (especially if you understand German, but even if you don't).

I liked the Deutsches Historisches Museum.

Stroll around Alexanderplatz and see interesting sculptures and shapes.

For architectural weirdness, see Potsdamer Platz at night.

Look at the architecture: there is wonderful, and there is awful, and everything in between.

The checkpoint charlie museum is excellent, although the actual site i found a bit tacky.

The Jewish memorial is very moving.

The view from the Reichstag is amazing, we got there early and avoided the queue.

Take a walking tour, we took the WW2 tour and learnt some amazing facts about the city during WW2. A lot of companies do them and there is normally a general walking tour which guides you aruond all the main sites.

Just walk around the city, the architecture is superby and there are so many styles. It really reflects the history of the place.

Eat a currywurst from a street vendor, i found them delicious.

Here is my trip report

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35036343

Hope our report from our trip to Prague and Berlin in late November last year will help you.

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34908758

Flem:

While in Potsdam (a town I highly recommend ,too), you may wish to stop (the stop before Potsdam...or en route back to Berlin, the first stop..WANNSEE)..you can walk or taxi to the beautiful lake (Wannsee) and see the Wannsee Conference center (museum)where the infamous "final solution" was planned on one day in January 1942. It's eery and chilling, but an important historical site. Here are some pix:


http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/Wansee0502


Stu T.

We just returned from Berlin. We spent 3 days there and just loved it. One of the highlights was a 4 hour walking tour (met outside McDonalds by the Zoo). We had an excellent guide, very knowledgeable and made the tour very interesting. Hit all the "must see" things. We did it on our first day so we had time to do more exploring on our own. Also loved walking down the Ku'damm in the evening, very relaxing!

RufusTfirefly,Tower and Snowflake25:

Thank you for all of the valuable information.