Germany: Berlin
Berlin is wonderful, large, crowded, touristy, fun and you won't find as many English speakers as you will in western Germany. Here are our favorite sites and facts...
Berliner Weissbier: a white beer, known for its bitterness -- ask for it with a shot of raspberry liquor. The raspberries sweeten the beer and you get an extra shot... the best of both worlds.
The Little Green Men on the pedestrian traffic lights with the cute little hats. They're unique to Berlin and caused quite a controversy within the EU. The EU wants to spend a ridiculous amount of money to standardize them and make them look like every other European pedestrian traffic light. Apparently the crosswalks are confusing people... people who don't understand that green means go.
Berlin Things to Do
Bus 100 beginning at Zoologisher Garten will take you on a tour of the city. It is not a tourist bus, so no guy speaking eight languages tells you what you're looking at. The route is key though -- it passes all the major sights, including the Brandenburger Tor, the Reichstag and the Angel.
Checkpoint Charlie (U-Bahn: KochstraBe) Commemorates the reunification of Germany and other world wide peaceful protests. Shows interesting means of escape over the wall.
Neue Nationalgalerie (U-Bahn: Potsdamer Platz) One of the coolest modern art museums we've seen. Well worth a visit.
Guggenheim (U-Bahn: Unter den Linden 13-15) Visiting the Guggenheim sounds like a very cool cultural experience, doesn't it? Well, it's one of the biggest rip offs in the city. The museum is actually just one room with white walls and a few arbitrary words written in black. The best part is the gift shop. If you're dying to go and don't want to listen to us, Mondays are free.
S-Bahn: Charlottenburg has several different museums, including: Charlottenburgh SchloB, Galerie der Romantik, and the Aegyptischen Museum.
Berlin Night Life
Oranienburger StraBe has a wide variety of coffeehouses and trendy bars. You can either exit at U-Bahn stops: Oranienburger StraBe and Oranienburger Tor. (Both are in walking distance of Hackescher Markt.)
S-Bahn stops Savigny Platz and Charlottenburg also have an upbeat nightlife.
Berlin Shopping
The long street between Kurfuerstendamm and Zoologisher Garten is our favorite and is lined with stores. There are three H&Ms scattered about. (!!!)
There are malls located at Potsdammer Platz and Hohenschoenhausen.
FreidrichstraBe is a popular place to shop, but is priced for tourists.
Berlin Extra Things to Do
Potsdammer Platz offers a hot air balloon ride that overlooks the city for 30,00 euros. There's also a cinema in the vicinity featuring both English and German films.
