Berlin...what to do? Where to try to stay (which area)

Day trip to Handorf? would be a deal cheaper I'll warrent.

Not as close to Paris as Berlin, and we are leaving for Berlin from Paris.

I'm not sure if you make a trip on barges just and only in Berlin (I doubt that), but the sightseeing on boats (some are former barges) on the Spree and Havel in Berlin are really worth spending the money for the tour (did it quite a few times - interesting before 1990 [and before 1970] due to some 'poltical' facts].

Explore Berlin by ship

Correct. But it must be a good suasage ... with an even better curry sauce (I had Currywurst in the Berlin, done by the lady who is said to have invented currywurst in the 60's)

(We even drove to Berlin just for one day to get a good currywurst - back in the 70's. But staying at the borders lasted longer than staying in Berlin ...)

What I would do by boat, is visiting the 'Pfaueninsel', something similar to Governor's Island in NY. (Well, not really, but ...)

You could than go by boat to the last Hohenzollern royal residence, the Cecilienhof Palace (built in 1913-1917 in an English manor house style for Crown Prince William and his wife Cecilie).
This palace became famous in history as the 1945 Potsdam Conference venue - and is really not one of the more "Berlin secrets" to visit but it's usually not overrun - and does have some very, very interesting showrooms (Quite interesting, how little the Americans knew about Germany when they divided it.)

Just around the corner, in an easy walking distance, there aren't only some pretty old villas but the former KGB prison as well.

No sausage talk!!!

dlowan, are you a schoolteacher in real life?

No.

My stomach's just upset by the last round of antibiotics and the sausage images make me feel sick.

A plateful of my own recipe, known in our family as "dad's sausage surprise" would have you right as a trivet in no time.

I love a good sausage.

You'll get the chance to try a variety. Of the best only, of course.

So, accommodation booked, plans finalised?

Accommodation booked.

Other plans not finalized at all...including how we are getting there! Train or plane..

And the dates are ... ? (Perhaps I could drive there ... if I'm already back from the USA by then, I mean).