1/29/2016 – 1/31/2016
Day 1
- Dinner at the TV Tower in Alexanderplatz
- 360 revolving restaurant with pretty good food at pretty decent prices, note that you do have to pay to go up the tower though (unlike most revolving restaurants, e.g. Space Needle, CN Tower)
- Walk around Alexanderplatz, Galeria
Day 2
- Brandenburg Gate
- Reichstag and Chancellor’s Office
- Walk around Unter den Linden, which is the main street in Berlin
- Ampelmann store
- There are different green/red men on the pedestrian crossing lights in east/west Berlin and the little dude is called Ampelmann in the east – very cute and very well done consumerist symbol of the city
- Volkswagen (and Porsche and Lamborghini) showroom
- Berlin Dome
- Museum island
- Old Berlin city centre
- Lots of small cafes and cheaper souvenir stores here since area is generally less visited
- Gendarmenmarkt with Konzerthaus
- Rausch Schokoladenhaus
- Supposedly largest chocolaterie in the world, amazing chocolate cakes and other desserts in the cafe/restaurant upstairs
- Charlottenburg Palace
- Where the king once wanted to make his second summer home – lots of nice rooms to walk through, reminded me of Versailles but obviously smaller and less grand
- Very manageable in an hour or two
- They’re very particular about the order in which you walk through the rooms though
- Late night döner at Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap and then currywurst at Curry 36 in Kreuzberg
Day 3
- Mercedes Benz showroom
- Hauptbahnhof
- Huge multi-layer train station. Quite a spectacle to see and walk through
- East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall
- Cold and windy since it’s near the water but quite fascinating to see the urban art, reminiscent of the Mission
- Burger Meister
- Incredibly cheap, delicious, and hole in the wall feel – less than 10 euros to feed two if you don’t get drinks
- Under a subway station, standing room only
3/3/2016 – 3/6/2016
Day 1
- Settling in (late flight in)
Day 2
- Lunch at Facil (near Alexanderplatz) – incredible restaurant with two Michelin stars
- Walk around Alexanderplatz – small Uniqlo and a few embassies (including Canadian!)
- Museum Insel
- All four museums in one afternoon (two hours, really) is quite the mad rush
- Nefertiti’s Bust is kinda cool, I guess…
- All four require you to leave coats in lockers, so have a 1 or 2 euro piece and be prepared to spend a few minutes at each dealing with coat/bag logistics
- Small concert at Art Stalker
- Small venue that hangs art on the walls, can be a bar and can be a venue for concerts, depending on the day apparently
- Great service and cute space
Day 3
- Ritter Sport World
- You can make your own chocolate here for a fairly affordable cost but the line takes awhile and you have to wait 30 minutes for the chocolate to be made
- There is a nice cafe upstairs with some pretty good cakes
- The hot chocolate isn’t as rich and creamy as one would expect of a chocolate store
- Reichstag (Bundestag) Tour
- You can book these in advance by emailing them (Google info) if your travel dates coincide with when Parliament isn’t meeting
- You can also go up the dome, which is quite fascinating and with good views. Free admission but I think you have to book times (and not always open since it’s weather dependent)
- Opera (Rienzi by Wagner)
- Arrive on time as they start punctually
- Tickets are not too bad
- If you want English subs, they are on the top left corner of the stage (German on top right) so try to avoid sitting too far left where you may have an obstructed view
- Döner at Mustafa’s again, though this time by fate – and it tasted different than the first time (although still lovely!)
Day 4
- Wannsee Villa (where the conference was held)
- This is a bit farther out of the city and inconvenient to get to
- It’s the sort of place that’d be beautiful in the summer as it’s waterfront and surrounded by boat clubs
- Free exhibits (recommended 2 euro donation) that take about 1-2 hours to peruse
- Mauerpark Flea Market
- Even in the rain, was amazing
- Lots of food choices, ranging from Korean to Turkish to German. Sort of reminiscent of Off the Grid SF or Smorgasburg NY
3/24/2016 – 3/26/2016
Day 1
- Check out Freie Universität
- Kaufhaus des Westens and Wittenbergplatz
- Great restaurant with weighed buffet on top floor, along with great cake selection
- Fascinating gourmet food options both for eating and bringing home on second to top floor
- Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
- Fun to walk around
- Under construction right now so hard to appreciate fully
Day 2
- Nothing is open on Good Friday
- Ended up at Tegel since we went to a closed Easter fair nearby
- Cool observation deck at airport along with nap booths on higher floors in the towers
- Alexanderplatz Easter Market
- Not bad, but crowded with line ups for most things, though lots of affordable food options
- Hauptbahnhof
- If you need to use the bathroom, go before you buy anything to eat since the bathroom payment of 1 euro gives you a 50 cent coupon for most food retailers in the station
Day 3
- Straight to Schoenefeld and to Amsterdam