Speaking of Berlin... A Trip Report
 

Berlin July 2007

What do Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and I have in common? We were all in Berlin at the same time.

Flight: Zürich to Berlin with Air Berlin. Flight is on-time and sandwiches and non-alcoholic drinks are included. Flew into Tegel.

Weather: Cold and rainy: 17 – 23 C with rain and drizzle

Hotel: Mercure an der Charite in Stadt Mitte
Excellent modern hotel with friendly service and affordable prices. Paid 66 Euro per night/room which included twin beds, breakfast, welcome drink and one Tageskarte for city transportation.

Tranportation from Tegel to Hotel: Take the 128 bus to Karl Schumacher. Then take the U-Bahn purple line to Zinnowitzer Platz.
Cost: Euro 2.10.


Highlights:
City Tourbus. We were on top of a double decker and heard commentary in English and German. A bit confusing since we understood both but very informative. 17 Euros

River Cruise: 7.50 Euros
Took the boot from “Alte Börse” and saw the Mitte up to the Regierungsviertel. The commentary was only in German, which was a plus for us, because it went into more detail.

Citybus 100 and 200. Great public buses to the see the city. No commentary on sights given.

Tageskarte: 6.10 per day. We saw a very good-looking young man enter our metro car. Just as we were about to comment on his looks, he asked everyone to show their cards. He wore normal clothes and had a partner with him.

Museums: We only went to the free Holocaust victim museum. Very informative.

Impressions:
Kurfürstdamm: shopping heaven. Lots of big stores for any wallet size.
Tiergarten: nice green park. Tom Cruise took his daughter walking their during our stay.
Regierungsviertel: Lots of big new modern buildings next to the River Spree. Very open area.

Reichstag: We didn’t go in because of the long lines. Very imposing to building from the outside.

Brandenburgertor: The central point of Berlin. Wonderful sight to see.
The Wall: We followed the cobblestone path of the wall in some places. Many buildings are now built right where the wall passed through.

East Side Gallery: 1.3 km of the wall. Not well taken care of. Wouldn’t see it again. We liked the Warshauer Bridge.

Prenzlauerberg: The baby buggy viertel. 3 out of 4 pedestrians were pushing baby buggys.

Fasanenstr. near Ludwig Church: Our favourite part. Quiet, quaint and lovely little restaurants. No tourists. Best espressos and margaritas were found here.

Nikoleiviertel: Don’t miss! The only area where it feels like being in an old quaint German city.

Savignyplatz: Disappointment. Not much there.

KaDeWe: Might have been impressive for the Ossies at one time, but it is now one of the many departments stores you’ll see all over the world.

The Gedächtniskirche: Don’t miss. Makes you realize the ruins Berlin had to deal with after the war.

Checkpoint Charlie: We found it very informative. Read all about the wall and had a nice café right next to the checkpoint (Café Adler?).

Alexanderplatz: Did the Fernsehturm. Paid 8.50 Euros to see Berlin from above. Very interesting.

Hackescher Markt: Very quaint with lots of small restaurants. Went into the Killkenny Irish Pub twice.

Oranienburgerstr: Nice restaurants, many Indian, but gets rather seedy towards the evening. We saw about ten beautiful prostitutes with long legs, long blonde hair and sexy jeans standing at every corner. It was Fashion Week in Berlin, and they could have been models.

Tacheles: An alternative area at the end of the Oranienburgerstreet. Located in a desolate building. Kind of hippiesh.

Potsdamerplatz: Brand-spanking new glass buildings ten-plus stories high. The Sony building was our favourite.

Food: We had everything but German food. For wonderful steaks, go to one of the many Block Houses. For the best margaritas, go to Poco Loco on the St. Ludwig Square below the Lietzenburgerstr.

Tourists: Lots of Americans. They were everywhere.

Current security measures: The block housing the American consulate is blocked off. High fences and security men standing on both sides of the street entrances. The British Embassy is very similar. In front of all Jewish synagogues, we found a security man keeping watch as well.

Intergrations policy: We walked by a demonstration in front of the Angela Merkl’s office. The Turks were protesting an intergration referendum. There were more cameramen than demonstrators. Next to the demonstrators, we saw a scraggly old man holding a carton board stating: “Turken raus. “ No uproar. This demonstration barely made the papers and the man was no where to be seen in the news.

Overall impression:

Berlin is a new city. Very few old buildings because the city was destroyed during WWII. Very nice people and we felt safe. The food is very good and prices reasonable. Not a quaint city though and all the “denkmals” can make it a very sobering experience. Brush up on your history before going to Berlin and you’ll find that history may have never moved you as much as there.

excellent report! very useful information.

did you have star sightings while you were there? ("Inquiring minds want to know")

Originally, I thought I wanted to stay near Orianberger Strasse, so I'm glad to read this!

Hi Skatedancer,

Our hotel wasn't too far from the Oranienburgerstr. and we didn't feel the area was seedy at all. I just wouldn't stay on the above mentioned street directly.

We didn't see any stars, just read about them in the daily paper.

Hi schuler :)

Glad you enjoyed your trip to Berlin! I, too, found it quite the modern city, with all the new glass buildings. Quite fancy! The Sony Center was very impressive. It seemed quite the hangout for locals, with the restaurants and plaza packed with people when we were there.

Tracing the cobblestone path of the old Wall was pretty interesting to me as well. I don't know why, but I pictured "The Wall" as being straighter, not so curvy.

Good deal on your hotel! ((Y))

Good report. Thanks!

Schuler, we liked that hotel also when we stayed there last year. And for this summer, we're booked there again (if we can get there, considering the rail strike).

I liked your list format. I saw prostitutes on Oranienburger Strasse, but many fewer than you saw. One memorable moment was seeing a young pretty woman hauling off an unattractive lummox (sorry for the description, but extremely accurate) to wherever she takes her customers.

Gruezi Kopp, We too were amazed on how curvy the wall was. What a terrible thing to have happen to a city.

Willtravel:
Isn't it a marvelous hotel? So modern, friendly and still not too far from the city center. The hotel tip came from someone on Fodor's but I just can't remember from whom. Was it you?

Schuler, it's quite likely - I don't recall anyone else saying they stayed there :).

Well then: Danke schön!

Thanks for your interesting report, schuler. I laughed at "The baby buggy viertel" - must remember to avoid it ! :-)

Berlin is great, isn't it ? We've now been twice, loved it and would like to carry on going for a short break every year if possible. We also like the Nikolaiviertel and Fasanenstrasse areas best & mostly eat in the little inns there.

Interesting that you found lots of Americans there - I don't remember hearing any at all on either of our visits. Maybe something to do with the time of year ? We've been in March & April.

We stayed on Oranienburgerstrasse (Arcotel Velvet) last November and had no problems at all. We saw prostitutes along the street, but they did not approach us. The location was excellent, and we enjoyed several meals at the variety of restaurants and cafes in the vicinity.