We are just finishing our family week in Berlin. I want to thank Cowboy1968 for the Thai restaurant tip. All 4 of us loved Good Time. The food was great, the restaurant was full and had a fun vibe, and we were happy to have just a short walk to our hotel.

Unfortunately we have had COLD weather the whole week (including some snow and hail), and it will get even colder in the next few days. It hasn't slowed us very much, however.

Here is a link to the first batch of our Berlin pictures, including Unter den Linden, Stasi Museum, Karl Marx Allee (formerly Stalinalee) and some of the museums:
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZsmzZuzURLQ

Here's the second batch - Old Town Spandau and the Luftwaffenmuseum:
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZsmzZuzURPA

I walked past the 12 Apostles several times as I stayed at the Melia on Friedrichstrasse. It looked interesting, but I did not venture in.

Loved the Gemaldegallerie. Loved Galleries Lafayette!!!

I was looking at your photos and I couldn't help but laugh when I remembered drinking GLUE WINE (and yes, it tastes like rubber cement) on the bridge in front of the Bode Museum.

Half of the wine was spit into the Spree and off I went to drink a bottle of Veuve Cliquot.

Thingorjus

Did I miss your trip report, Thin, or should I keep holding my breath?

(gluhwein is definitely an acquired taste)

No, I never posted a trip report. No one seemed interested.

I had a really great time, though.

I LOVED the glass dome on the top of the Reichstag.

Thin

You might be surprised at the interest, Thin. But it's hard to actually know because people read and don't often comment. Berlin could use a trip report such as you would write, imo. I mean, Paris reports are a dime a dozen...

I agree about the Reichstag dome; I've now been up there 3 times and it's still cool to me. Next time, I plan to go up at night.

Here is a link to the remainder of the Berlin pix:
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8DZsmzZuzURSw

I hope to write a bit about our time in Cologne, and post those pictures.

Now I am laughing again as I look at your photos of the Sony Center because I would sit up on the second floor of the Dunkin Donuts and look down at the area you photographed.

We obviously walked in the same footsteps.

Thin

noe and Thin-- I hope you both will post your reports! There are many devoted readers out here!!

noe-- I'd love to hear what you and your daughter did for your second week.

Thin-- I thought maybe your trip was more of an introspective, personal journey so I didn't want to pester you, but now I will beg-- please write!!

bkmk for may trip.

Hi noe- Finally got around to look at your photos. I want to jump on a plane to go to Berlin now! Hope you'll get around to write a TR on your more recent trip.

Hi Noe, not sure how I missed this!

you said you hated the Time Out Berlin--what was it that you hated, out of date or just bad choices in it?

sorry to be a pain--am going to Berlin in May and am having a serious no- planner at this point--I have that book and the shortlist lonely planet guide to Berlin.

Frankly--I've barley looked at the 2, but if there is something better...

Thanks!

yk, given how much you like museums, you will LOVE Berlin! Leave yourself a minimum of 5 days, including Potsdam. You'll still be running.

Surie, I have to finish this report (Cologne part) before I begin a report of the third trip! For the second week, my daughter and I ended up following the general route I outlined in my planning thread:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=35110910
(The last night we stayed in Mainz instead of Frankfurt.)

cherrybomb, we have lots of Berlin books at this point. Most are decent. The best guide we had was a little book called "art/shop/eat Berlin", put out by Blue Guides. I bought it online somewhere (Amazon?) and it has great recommendations for restaurants and shops. It covers most museums, and picks some for in-depth coverage. It's arranged by region, so if we found we'd be somewhere late in the afternoon, we could just check the descriptions of nearby restaurants. We carried it with us all the time (happily it's very small).

Also, the Red Map has a nice list on the back of museums, attractions, and shops, with locations.

There were a lot of things that we didn't like about the Time Out book. The last straw was when we used it to go to a restaurant that turned into a minor fiasco, and we ended up leaving before we ordered.

hi noe847-
I actually have been to Berlin before, in 2003, for 6 days. This was before I discovered Fodors forums and trip reports. On that trip, I went with my parents because my Dad lived in Germany for a couple of years in the '50s and he visited Berlin for a few days. It was a very tense time back then obviously. He really wanted to return to see how things are now. We also did a day trip to Potsdam. But there was so much to see and do in Berlin that I really feel that I need to return for another visit.

Wonderful report, noe847. When we were in Berlin in 2005, many of the museums on the Museuminsel were closed, disappointingly. Now I want to go back!

I just checked amazon.com and here is the guide book I like:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Shop-Berli.../dp/039332785X
It says there is 1 left in stock. I hesitate to say that and cause a stampede! ha ha.

yk, how did we ever plan trips before Fodor's Forums? (or have a life, it seems sometimes!)

QueScaisJe, I think you'd enjoy going back. Besides the wonderful museums on Museuminsel, we went to lots more on this visit. It's simply amazing the quantity, variety and quality of Berlin's offerings. I'll detail these when I ever get to the <i>next</i> Berlin trip report!

And now it looks as though I may be in Berlin again in the fall. My younger daughter is going to study there for 10 months next school year. My husband and I are hoping to combine a little visit to see her with an excursion to Poland (both of us want to travel there.)

It doesn't surprise me that there weren't a lot of WWII aircraft. I did an exchange with the Luftwaffe back in 2001 (I was at Jagel Air Base near Denmark on 9/11). I found the German's tend to downplay that part of their military history. When I left, the officers gave me their squadron poster with everyone's signature. It had the WWI fighter plane going into a cloud on one side and a current Tornado fighter-bomber on the other with a barely perceptable WWII fighter inside the clouds. Germany has a proud military tradition but the Nazi's are a stain on their history that they would as soon forget.

noe-- how fun for you to have your daughter study in Berlin!!
What program is she doing?

bdjtbenson, I appreciate your insight. We got glimmers of the Germans' understandable reticence to display the Nazi past. I hesitate to get political, but on this most recent visit we had some interesting conversations with our relatives about that very topic, and how it plays out with Germany's current international role.

Surie, my daughter will be with the Columbia University program. Features she liked:
1. It begins with a home stay for a month or so before the start of the academic semester. She will have to move to her own apartment or house share (a common component of the programs she investigated), and the home stay should give her some time to do locate suitable lodging. Also, if she hits it off with her host family, she will end up with a mini support system.
2. She will take regular German university classes.
3. She will not be with a group of other Americans. In fact, I believe she will not be allowed to live with any other native English-speakers. She really wants to advance her German, and knows that the immersion will be great for that purpose. Of course Mom worries that she will feel isolated. But I know that she is strong and resourceful and will be fine!
4. There is a program administrator in Berlin itself.