Berlin in December

dunworth1

So a couple of weeks ago I pulled the trigger and decided to book my first trip away on my own.

For some reason i picked Berlin think I always wanted to go there so I said hey why not.
I'm heading the week of the 7th.

Getting a small bit nervous about it now as I've just thought to myself that I actually have no idea what to do once I arrived.

I've looked a bit on how to get to the hotel.
But after that I haven't the foggiest

I really excited about going to Berlin but I don't know what I'll actually do once I'm there.

I would assume that guide books are a waste?
Maybe not i dunno.

I did have an inkling that I'd just grab a map In the hotel and head off.

I think the greatest thing I feel about going alone is that I will be able to do exactly what I want when I want to.

Has anyone any tips on the best places to see while I'm staying in Berlin.

Aenaes

First thing I would do is start googling. Decide on the things you want to see and prioritise. The first time I went to Berlin, I didn't have a real plan but I lost some time since I was travelling ground I had already covered so to speak and deciding what I wanted to do next. A list will make it easier to choose.

Where are you staying and for how long?

The main thing you will need when arriving is a ticket for public transportation. A ticket if valid for all forms of public transport: S-Bahn, U-Bahn, buses, trams and ferries. Just remember to validate the ticket in a machine before starting your journey (yellow box on S-Bahn platform and a red box on U-Bahn platform). Your main mode of transport will probably be the U-Bahn (subway).
You can read more about it here: https://www.berlin.de/en/public-transportation/1772016-2913840-tickets-fares-and-route-maps.en.html

An option is to get a Berlin Welcome Card. "The Berlin WelcomeCard offers unlimited travel within the public transport network for 48 hours, 72 hours or 5 days in Berlin or Berlin and Potsdam and allows discounts of up to 50% on more than 200 tourist attractions and cultural highlights."
Read more about it here: http://www.berlin.de/en/tourism/1895467-2975548-berlin-welcomecard.en.html

When getting yourself a map, make sure it also has one of the U-Bahn and S-Bahn routes and stops.

A good idea is to go on a walking tour on one of your first days. It helps you to get accustomed to the city and you can ask the guide for directions to where you want to go next. It can help make you a little less nervous on your first full day. You can google Berlin tours or walking tours, there's different ones (Third Reich sites, Cold War Berlin, etc.) so you can choose what you're most interested in.

A good tour group is Berlin Unterwelten (Berlin Underground). Their tours may not help you much at giving you landmarks since it's mostly underground. I've done two and they were great. Check them out and see if they interest you: http://berliner-unterwelten.de/tour-1.13.1.html

Some of the things that I did: Brandenburger Tor, iconic landmark and site of historic occasions. Did you know only the royal family and their guests could pass through the central archway?

Reichstag, German parliament building.

Soviet Memorial, mass grave and memorial to the Soviet soldiers who died capturing Berlin. I believe it was formally a part of the USSR, similiar to how embassies are.

Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe.

Memorial to the murdered Sinti and Roma of Europe.

Victory Column (Siegessäule), designed to celebrate the victory of the Prussian-Danish war in 1864. Before it was finished, Prussia had also defeated Austria and France in the unification wars (some boys those Prussians!) so it was re-designed to commemorate those aswell. It has a large bronze sculpture of Victoria on top, the oncoming Soviet soldiers saw her in the distance and nicknamed her "the Golden Lady".
You can see damage around the base from bombs and artillery.
The column was originally sited in front of the Reichstag but the Nazis moved it since it was in the way of their plans of re-designing Berlin so it was moved to an intersection in the Tiergarten.
You can climb to the top, it's a long but worth it. Cheap enough too, €3 I think.

Statues around the Victory Column of Bismarck, Roon and Moltke.

It's also nice to take a little stroll through the Tiergarten. It's so peaceful compared to the usual bustle of the city.

Berlin Cathedral is impressive.

Take a nice long walk up and down Unter den Linden.

Friedrichstrasse is the traditional shopping street.

Neue Wache (New Guardhouse) serves as the "Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Dictatorship".

Checkpoint Charlie and Checkpoint Charlie Museum which shows devices and tricks people used to try get across the Berlin Wall.

Museum Island is interesting and is a World Heritage site.

Charlottenburg Palace. You can see parts of the interior for an admission charge, I didn't.

DDR Museum was an interesting look into everyday life in East Germany.

German Resistance Museum at the Bendler Block. Used as an Army Staff building, it was where Stauffenberg and the other conspirators tried to gain control of Germany in July 1944. You can enter the courtyard where some of the conspirators were shot.

There's the statue of Marx and Engels which was installed by the GDR.

Kaiser Wilhelm Church and Anhalter Bahnhof train station are two examples of badly damaged buildings during Allied bombing during WW2 that have been preserved.

There are brass plaques set into the footpaths around the city. They are in front of buildings where Jewish people lived/worked. It gives you their names, when they were taken away and where/when they died if such information is available. Powerful messages that can quite literally stop you in your tracks.

Topography of Terror, on the site of what formerly was No. 8 Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, the headquarters of the Reich Security Main Office, Gestapo, SD and SS. People were regularly hauled in there at all hours of the night and thrown into dungeon cells. Almost all were beaten and quite a number of people were killed.

The huge Soviet memorial at Treptower Park celebrating the victory over the Nazis.

The Rathaus (seat of local government) are usually impressive, old buildings and there's a few of them in different areas of Berlin.

The Gendarmenmarkt is a historical market square. It contains a statue of Schiller, the concert house and the French and German churces which are all nice buildings.

There's the Berlin Wall of course. The longest remaining stretch is at East Side Gallery. The Berlin Wall Memorial is at Bernauer Strasse. T here is remnants of the steel reinforcing bars, guard towers and plaques with information. It was an area where alot of escapes were made, successfully and unsuccessfully.

Keep an eye out for cobblestones set into the tarmac of some roads, they travel the route that the Wall followed.

Alexanderplatz with it's cool fountain and Potsdamer Platz are pretty popular places to go.

There is Ernst Thalmann park with a large bronze monument of the Communist party leader. It's a protected landmark and an interesting look at Communist architecture and their glorification.

Volkspark Friedrichshain (public park) is a nice place with some interesting stuff. There's an memorial for those who fought for the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, some nice statues and fountains. It's also the former site of a huge anti-aircraft bunker built during WW2. The bunker was demolished after the war.

The anti-aircraft bunker at Volkspark Humboldthain is still partially standing however, the only one left of the three originally built and is huge. The park is right across from the Berlin Underground tours and one of the tours you can enter the bunker. During the Battle of Berlin the 128mm anti-aircraft guns were aimed at the ground rather than the sky to fire at the Red Army.

I found the Berlin Story Bunker intersting: http://www.berlinstory-bunker.de/english

Tempelhofer Park is pretty cool. Was one of the world's first airports now it's used by Berliners as a jogging ground, dog run and cycling track.

If your trip is long enough you can travel further out of the middle of the city. A day-trip to Saschenhausen concentration camp with one of the tour groups.

Postdam with it's historic palaces and summer residences of Prussian royalty.

Spandau with it's citadel, one of the best-preserved Renaissance military structures of Europe.

Plotzensee Prison, an ordinary prison which was then used by the Nazis as a main site for executions and is now a memorial site.

Wannsee Conference House where Heydrich chaired a meeting of Nazis to discuss the "Jewish problem" and decided on the Final Solution. The house is still there and is also a memorial site/museum.



I didn't visit the Olympiastadion, site of the 1936 Olympics.

There's also the Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Museum of Techology), it has an airplane on top of it. Looked interesting but I didn't get a chance to enter it.

There's a lot more. Berlin is fantastic. Enjoy the sights, food and beer. Don't forget to try a Currywurst.

dunworth1

wow what a great reply sorry i took so long to respond.

the welcome card sounds great i'll pick one of them up in tegal in the morning for sure.

off now to get some sleep before the journey to dublin

asteroids over berlin

dunworth1 wrote: »

wow what a great reply sorry i took so long to respond.

the welcome card sounds great i'll pick one of them up in tegal in the morning for sure.

off now to get some sleep before the journey to dublin

Get an open bus tour, great way to suss out where you might like to go

Mr rebel

Berlin is super. As listed above, there is so much to see and do there that repeated trips are necessary.