Things to do in Berlin

[cookie_monster]

Hi all, I'm off to Berlin soon for a few days, obviously i'll be interested in seeing some historic sights the Brandenburg gate etc but i'm wondering if there are any hidden gems that I should seek out.

 

Anyone been or know the city well?

 

Cheers.

[steve]

I went once to watch England play. Its a nice enough place, the stadium is great if you like looking at those sort of things.

 

A good video on it is: http://youtu.be/TTvKhr2A2sk

[TechMonkey]

Went about a month ago with the school. Love the place.

If you like a bit of odd art or graffiti then get to the artists squat (marked here). Lovely little alley entrance covered with little sketches, remarks & nice graffiti. Leads into some galleries and courtyards with sculptures.

The Bunker tours are brilliant. We did the air raid shelter and it was really interesting to see 'the other side'. The guide was hilarious as well. The kids thought it was the best bit & you know what they are like to try and impress. I aim to go back to do the AA batteries and the cold war bunkers.

Hopefully the Reich-stag is back open to the public, if it is get up to the roof in the evening to see the city all lit up. Not far from there is the Sony Centre (not sure if that is the actual name though) which has a huge tent like roof which is lit up. Very impressive and has a few bars, cafes and under it for a nice relax.

Checkpoint Charlie isn't quite as impressive as you think it will be but the museum is good.

The television tower in Alexandria-platz is very impressive if the sky is clear and the rotating restaurant is very nice.

If you don't mind travelling out a bit & like a bit of history there is the Summer Palace (Sanssouci).

Also out in the suburbs if you are into WW2 history is the House of the Wannsee Conference, the place the drew up the final solution. Bit grim but interesting to see the history behind it.

If you are there on a Sunday try and get directions to the street markets. I think the main one we went to was on the museum island and is a treasure trove of old soviet stuff, relics and LPs. Nice to browse even if you don't buy that kind of stuff.

The museums looked really nice. We popped into the Natural history one to use their loos and watched the European borders display in the lobby which was interesting.

It's also a great place to just pick up a guide book and walk around. There is so much stuff you can just look at and just follow the history.

I'll try and remember some of the other little places we stopped off.