Going to Berlin...Any suggestions?

 DH and I just booked our first real trip since moving to the UK. (Yay! so excited) We are going to Berlin. Does anyone have any suggestions on things to do? Or any travel tips? I have seen a few museums and other things I am interested in, but I was just wondering what your thoughts are. We leave June 7th. Thanks! 

http://www.silberfisch-berlin.de/

This is my favourite bar in Berlin!

I was there for 10 days in February and loved every minute.  The place is full of history and culture, and is a city of contrasts in the extreme. I spent most of my time walking around the east of the city and hanging about in museums.  Going to the Jewish Memorial nr the Brandenberg gate was one of the most moving experience of my life, and is a must.  I think the East of the city is far more interesting - the west is just another western town.

The underground network there is really good, and you can get a weekly ticket that will cover both of you.

Any specific questions, let me know.

Victoria

Berlin is great! You will enjoy it! Try to find a local street fair or a place to hang with the locals. There is such an incredible vibe in Berlin.


http://www.berlinwalks.com/

try a walking tour. there is so much history in Berlin and it is worth hearing from a storyteller. I did two of these.

http://www.chgs.umn.edu/Visual___Artistic_Resources/Public_Holocaust_Memorials/Sachsenhausen_Concentration_Ca/sachsenhausen_concentration_ca.html

Sachsenhausen is a close day trip to see a former concentration camp. Easy to get to.

Thanks Victoria and jklm!!

ha ha and I forgot to mention how the U2 song Zoo Station can get stuck in your head while in Berlin

I spent the whole time singing '99 Red Balloons' and 'Oliver's Army' ("there was a Checkpoint Charlie...")



Victoria

The Reichstag is probably pretty cool this time of year. . . .When my husband and I did it back in January, we weren't really impressed, but that was after waiting in line for an hour when it was 10F outside. . . .

I would also recommend the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. It was heavily damaged during WWII and never repaired. Its pretty interesting to see. . . .The Jewish Memorial is really amazing, as VictoriaS said. . . .And, if you're much of a shopper, you should stop by KaDeWe (I think its one of the biggest dept. stores in Europe.) They have a pretty good interntational food section, where my husband and I were able to find all sorts of American goodies. (Including Easy Cheese!)

Please post and tell us how your trip was. I'll be back there in a few months, so I'd love to hear about things that haven't been mentioned already!

oooh shopping! I hadn't even thought about that. Thanks for the suggestions. We still haven't planned out our trip, but we got a book from the local library and with these suggestions here we should be pretty busy. I like to be spontaneous, but since we only have 4 days we want to get in as much as we can. A friend of ours suggested we take the bike tour and I think we are going to give that a try one day. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

A visit to Berlin is not complete without a visit to the Checkpoint Charlie museum.  It has on display all the ways that East Germans tried to escape over to the west as well as other memorabilia - including the old Check point charlie booth for Americans to check into before going over to the East during those days. The Pergamon museum is interesting with the old turkish altars and a trip up the television tower at the Alexander Platz gives you a demanding view of all of Berlin.  Another great side trip is catching the train to Potsdam.  It's a really nice town and has alot of history too. 

A visit to Berlin is not complete without a visit to the Checkpoint Charlie museum.  It has on display all the ways that East Germans tried to escape over to the west as well as other memorabilia - including the old Check point charlie booth for Americans to check into before going over to the East during those days. The Pergamon museum is interesting with the old turkish altars and a trip up the television tower at the Alexander Platz gives you a demanding view of all of Berlin.  Another great side trip is catching the train to Potsdam.  It's a really nice town and has alot of history too. 

Checkpoint Charlie is definitely on our list. Thanks for all the suggestions!

Just wanted to update you guys. We went on our trip last week and it was great! The weather was beautiful and we had a great time touring the city. We had been listening to a German CD and I was a little bit disappointed that I didn't get to use the new words I had learned very often. I probably would have butchered it anyways. 

There is just so much history in that city! I highly recommend taking a Fat Tire Bike tour if you want to see the sights. It was a six mile tour of the city's big monuments and hot spots. The tour guide was great and halfway through we stopped at a beer garden for about an hour. I was a little bit worried since neither my DH nor I are in top shape, but I didn't get tired once and I wasn't even sore the next day. It was so much fun! If you have already seen the main sights, they have more in depth tours as well. They also do tours in Barcelona and Paris if anyone is headed in those directions.

We had a wonderful holiday. Thanks for all of your help and suggestions!