I will be in Berlin later this month,staying at Bernie's beloved Adlon, something I always promised I'd do if I ever got the chance! What other must-see Bernie sites should I look for in my few days there? Cheers, Jillie
In addition to a regular tourist map of Berlin, look in the bigger bookstores for a reprint of a map printed under the Nazis, which locates many buildings now either destroyed in WW II or (obviously) used for different purposes.
Just found out I'll be in Berlin around Easter 2015 - with a bit of luck I'll get to take a few pictures of BG sites and put them up on this site. Is there a web resource for pre-WW2 maps of Berlin?
Hi, I'm new here. I was working in Berlin for a month in 2000 and met a great British bloke who lent me 'Noir' to read in my spare time there. It was wonderful to be introduced to what I'm naturally now addicted to, in the city itself. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to do a thorough search of Bernie sites, but saw some of the 'strasses' and buildings that he mentions. If I'm ever back there... Delighted to find this site by the way. I've just finished "Zagreb' this evening which I loved and have the 'Noir' kindle downloaded as I type. Looking forward to revisiting the beginning. Cheers to all.
Recently returned from 5 days in Berlin which I hadn't seen since before the wall came down - what a change! While my objective (family meet-up) precluded much exploration I did get to see quite a bit of the (new) Alexanderplatz, the Reichstag (now Bundestag) building, the Brandenburger Tor, the nearby (new) Adlon Hotel, a remainder of the Wall, and the Museumsinsel. Sadly I didn't get to Wannsee or Potsdam.
Interestingly, some of the museum staff on the Museumsinsel were still exhibiting a bit of the old condescending Prussian/3rd Reich/DDR mentality of "you better be glad we - the state - are even letting you near this place" when an argument about ticket entitlements broke out ... they had clearly never heard of customer service principles! Strikingly, Berlin is very different from Paris or London: Much more open spaces, equally cosmopolitan, but still about a decade behind in terms of being tourist-friendly (both in terms of catering to tourists unfamiliar with the way things work there, as well as in terms of far less crass tourist exploitation).
When you go there, make sure to buy the 3- or 5-day Berlin Card right at the airport which besides the convenience of free travel on all public transport has enough discounts built in to more than pay for its higher up-front price! And the best way to skip the long visitors queue in front of the Reichs-/Bundestag is to book a (quite affordable) table at the rooftop restaurant [http://www.feinkost-kaefer.de/index.php?id=berlin]. The view from Norman Foster's masterpiece of reconstruction is only rivalled by that from the bar of the Alex's Fernsehturm - where your Berlin Card will get you a nice cocktail discount ...
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Interestingly, some of the museum staff on the Museumsinsel were still exhibiting a bit of the old condescending Prussian/3rd Reich/DDR mentality of "you better be glad we - the state - are even letting you near this place" when an argument about ticket entitlements broke out ... they had clearly never heard of customer service principles! Strikingly, Berlin is very different from Paris or London: Much more open spaces, equally cosmopolitan, but still about a decade behind in terms of being tourist-friendly (both in terms of catering to tourists unfamiliar with the way things work there, as well as in terms of far less crass tourist exploitation).
When you go there, make sure to buy the 3- or 5-day Berlin Card right at the airport which besides the convenience of free travel on all public transport has enough discounts built in to more than pay for its higher up-front price! And the best way to skip the long visitors queue in front of the Reichs-/Bundestag is to book a (quite affordable) table at the rooftop restaurant [http://www.feinkost-kaefer.de/index.php?id=berlin]. The view from Norman Foster's masterpiece of reconstruction is only rivalled by that from the bar of the Alex's Fernsehturm - where your Berlin Card will get you a nice cocktail discount ...