I just found a thread with some beautiful photos of Berlin.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=655858

You may like to look at those pictures which give you an impression of the diversity of this fascinating metropolis.

Here is my list of favourite experiences in Berlin:

1) A hop-on/hop-off ride with public bus no. 100 from Alexanderplatz to Zoologischer Garten (or the other way round). At € 2.10, you get an excellent sightseeing tour of Socialist Berlin (Alexanderplatz), Historical Berlin (Unter den Linden), Modern Berlin (Potsdamer Platz) and West Berlin (Zoologischer Garten). Take a seat on the upper deck and enjoy the scenery passing by.

2) Strolling through the historical heart of Berlin. See the Gendarmenmarkt (IMO, Berlin's most beautiful square), Pariser Platz (with Brandenburg Gate), the Dom (cathedral) and Museum Island.

3) A boat ride round the Museum Island.

4) A nightly stroll along Oranienburger Straße. Do not miss to visit the art galleries in the "Tacheles" (practically a ruin, with some special life in it) and the Hackesche Höfe (5 interconnected courtyards).

5) Seeing the show at the Friedrichstadt Palast theatre - a grand revue, similar to the Radio City Music Hall Show in NYC.

6) Seeing the Chamäleon show in the Hackesche Höfe. A wonderful show with travesty, comedy and artistry.

7) Visiting the Pergamon Museum - a world class museum with stunning exhibits from the ancient world, including the Ishtar Gate and Procession Street from Babylon, the altar from Pergamon, a complete Moorish fort and much more.

8) Visiting the Egyptian Museum right next to the Pergamon Museum with Nefertiti's bust and the best artifacts from the Akhenaten era (including some artifacts which show the close links between Akhenaten's sun cult and the Jewish-Christian religion).

9) Visiting the Jewish Museum and its stunning building designed by Daniel Libeskind.

10) Visiting the Helmut Newton Museum with his most important huge blow-up photographs (be prepared for many nude women - I mean, on the photos, not in the museum).

11) Visiting the museum of Natural History with the world's largest dinosaur skeleton.

12) Walking up the stairs within the glass dome of the Reichstag at sunset (book a table at the Käfer restaurant in order to avoid the crowds).

13) Shopping and having a meal in the KaDeWe department store (the meal is mandatory - it would be a waste to miss the enormous food halls).

I probably missed three dozen other things - feel free to ask me for more tips.

Very interesting list and one I will save as my only trip to Berlin was far too short. Thanks.

from a second visit to Berlin (last month)
I would add


- Berlin- Neue Galerie
Designed by Mis Van Der Rohe , this Museum house some of the most impressive works of XXthe Century masters from Cubism, Bauhaus, Expressionism and Surrealism.

-The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe .
Very different that one expects: strange and haunting.


-"Strolling through the historical heart of Berlin. See the Gendarmenmarkt (IMO, Berlin's most beautiful square)'
One of the most beautiful squares period (IMO) .


-"A nightly stroll along Oranienburger Straße"
Don't be surprised to see street walkers in the
area.

-"book a table at the Käfer restaurant in order to avoid the crowds)."
We could not get a table even 4 days ahead. Travelers have caught on!

-The Bebelplatz in Berlin, site of the 1933 book burning.
Beautiful platz with a small but poignant memorial. You have to look at the ground to see it.

-Topography of Terror documentation center opened in May 2010.
Detailed and massive documentation on the terror Nazis
imposed on its own citizens and the rest of Europe.

-Martin-Gropius-Bau and other galleries ( too many to mention).

I enjoyed the Soviet War Memorial in Treptow - very poignant and not too publicized by today's Berlin info office.

Have you been there? and the large park it is near is also a great day out IMO

>>>"A nightly stroll along Oranienburger Straße"
Don't be surprised to see street walkers in the
area.<<<

That's part of the charm. And it's totally safe. We have done this walk together with our children many times. Have a Currywurst or a Döner Kebab under the S-Bahn bridge on Friedrichstraße late at night.

I expected to find many of the things you listed in Berlin. That's why I went!

That said, everything in Berlin was a revelation to me -- especially the museum of the Berlin Wall and the incomparable Reichstag Dome, perhaps the greatest examples and most understandable of civic architecture I've ever seen.

What I expected to find in Berlin but didn't was food I liked (but I didn't go to KaDeWe, and no doubt I should have).

But I can't wait to go back to Berlin.

(Also, I didn't expect to find foxes in Berlin, but I saw one, late at night, walking alongside the Spree, like me.)

The "traditional" German food may not be great, but fabulous cakes and
excellent beer make up for it.

Yes Pal, I visited Treptow many years ago and long before the wall was taken down.

I too found it very poignant. So many service men and women to mourn.

It was a dull rainy day, cold and with a strong wind all of which added to the atmosphere. I am sorry to read that it is not well publised locally these days. That is a great pity.

Bill