What to do in Berlin
 

Hi,

I'm off to Berlin in a couple of weeks for a long weekend. I've been once before and loved the city but am now looking for other things to do as last time we did most of the major touristy things.

Does anyone have any suggestions of things to do?

Reichstag new dome

stroll Unter den Linden to Museum island - Pergammon Museum with awesome Pergammon Altar and ancient city gates

East Side Gallery - about one mile on intact Berlin Wall

Holocaust memorial and Jewish Museum

Potsdammer Platz

Kaufhaul des Westens (sp?) amazing food halls in this department store

Checkpoint Charlie

all these things are in the Mitte - or historic center of the city and in a few mile radius, mainly in what once was East Berlin

I am definitely going to visit the Jewish Museum as that was one museum we didn't get to on our first trip.

However the rest i've done, although i may climb the Reichstag again, the views were amazing

Potsdam and Sans Soucci?

The Olympic Stadium of Hitler-jesse owens fame

Topography of Terrors

Art Museums complex?

I've been to both Topography of Terrors and the Olympic complex, but Potsdam intrigues me, what sort of things are there? Would one day be enough to see it?

Yes but you can make it a full day if you want to take in all the sprawling park and its various palaces

But Sans Soucci, the Prussian Versailles is the highlight

Potsdam town was an elite town under the DDR and a royal town before that

spruced up nicely - on a lake

nice pedestrain shop zone

up above Sans Soucci is the interesting Russian Colony, built by Czar's emissaries and has typical Russian country houses and a farm

S-Bahns right to Potsdam the best - the Potsdam main HBF train station is farther away from the town centre

If it weren't winter i'd recommend some other nice walks in the area

Sounds great, its definitely on my list now.

Do you have any suggestions for important sites to see relating to the GDR times, Obviously there was checkpoint charlie and the East side gallery which we went to last time, but i'm thinking of some less well known sites which have a less touristy feel to them?

yeh - the monumental Soviet War Memorial in East Berlin near Treptower Park - to me was one of the most interesting (and least visited) sights in Berlin.

Soviets no doubt lost a lot more lives in taking Berlin and Germany than the Allies

they in fact freed the city, and unfortunately stayed for some decades later.

also in a former Wall tower near Treptower Park you can see such an itact tower

and the STASI museum in East Berlin - in the building the STASI worked out of - i have not been to these last two sights but will next time

I second PalenQ Postdam recommendation, definitely a must see. There is also an old dutch settlement with typical dutch architecture in Postdam.

If you want to see more of the true local Berlin on a street level/ close up, here's a few ideas on Kreuzberg, Fridrichschain,& Prenzlauerberg.

1.Take the U bahn to the Mehringdam station to explore the colorful western end of Bergmanstrasse,just a block south of the Mehringdam station in Kreuzberg.

2. Take the U bahn again to visit the double level bridge Oberbaumbruecke which used to be the gateway into Berlin from Brandenburg. Take the S bahn from the Warschauer station to get to Alexanderplatz.

3. Take the bus from Alexanderplatz to the Volkspark Friedrichschain, you'll see the old DDR mega building architecture along the way. Friedrichschain is a poorer East Berlin suburb so go during the day when it's full of kids and young families.

4. Explore the more touristy Prenzlauerberg: starting from Friedrichstr station cross the bridge over the Spree river to explore Schiffbauerdamm area(lively at night), then north along Friedrichstr to reach the colorful Oranienburgerstr to get to Hackeschermarkt. Have a meal around Kollwitzplatz & surrounding side streets. The famous restaurant is Gugelhof which offers wonderful alsatian food. You'll see more young local families relaxing in the park and around it especially on Sundays. I like the Sunday buffet brunch (7 euro)at a simple but lively local cafe called Saturday on Sredzkistrasse corner where you'll be ebow to elbow with the younger locals.

Thanks for all these ideas, you've been a great help. I'll definitely try some of these out especially the stasi museum

Here's a link to my trip report in case it includes anywhere you haven't been - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34614269.

On both of our trips to date our visit to the Sammlung Hoffmann was the highlight. Next time I will set aside a day to explore all the small galleries on & around Augustsrasse.

Have you been to the 3 opera houses & the Berlin Phil ?

Plottenzee Prison is another WWII/Nazi era poignant site

Here's where Nazis opponents were hung on meat hooks and executed

very gruesome - meat hooks still there

Palenq, i think my boyfriend would be interested in Plottenzee prison. Can you tell me more about it, perhaps a website link, i googled it but nothing came up

Caroline - if you wade thru this i described it in more detail i think

Fodors.com > Travel Talk > Europe > Palenque's Berlin Journal
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34660080

Ploetzensee,
they deserve that honor.

That'll be why i couldn't find any information on it, now i've googled and there is a ton to wade through. Thanks for the link to your Journal, i'm going to be wading through that as well