Berlin March 2001

In March 2001 we decided to get a little bit culture and so we went to Berlin for a week. We found a nice holiday flat next to an S-Bahn-Station (traffic jam in inner city is a daily problem).

interesting things

Postdamer Platz (U2, S1, S2)

- place in the heart of Berlin, new buildings
- IMAX (3D-cinema) - new view on the world
- besides: Der Glöckner von Notre Dame - musical with interesting show effects, but music is not as good as in Webber musicals

Mauermuseum at Checkpoint Charlie (U2 Stadtmitte, U6 Kochstr.)

- a whole house full of stories about the separation of the two German states
- expansive (12 DM per adult, 6 DM for students), but you should invest it
- if you arrive after a large group - try the upper areas first, they have not the time to go there

STASI-Museum Normannenstrasse (U5 Magdalenenstr.)

- museum about "sword and shield" of the SED (secret service)
- entrance 5 DM normal / 2 DM students
- with Mielkes working and living rooms (chief of STASI)

German Museum Of Technic (U1,U2 Gleisdreieck)

- museum with exponats of all kinds of technics
- the German Museum in Munich is nicer

Hackesche Höfe (S-Stadtbahn, tram 1-6)

- historical quarter
- Variete Chamäleon: Midnight show is fine

Zeiss-Grossplanetarium (S4 Prenzlauer Berg, tram 1)

- "theater of astronomy"
- every Saturday night: music and stars
- entrance 8 DM normal /6 DM students

Views on Inner City

- Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz (12 DM)
- Reichstagskuppel

west part of Berlin around Breitscheidplatz

- Shoppingmile KuDamm, Tauentzienstrasse (with KaDeWe)
- not much historical interesting besides Zoo and Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche

east part between Brandenburg Gate and Alex

- historical center of Berlins
- Friedrichstrasse becomes a noble shopping mile (e.g. Galeries Lafayette)

Potsdam

- capital of Brandenburg at the gates of Berlins
- opposite to the fast-living metropole Berlin, historical interesting (not only Sanssouci)

Food:

Here you have a big choice: we tried to eat at all nations and it did not taste bad. A cheap well pizzeria is located next to the S-Bahn-way between Alexanderplatz and Hackescher Markt on the right-hand-side. Right there is a fine Indian, too.

Traffic

Don't use your car to go to the Inner City. The tram- and subway-network is practical (buy a daycard). Take a tour with bus no. 100 from Alexanderplatz to station Zoo, there you can see the most popular buildings of the city (Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Bellevue).

Summary:

One week is much too short for Berlin.