Finally, the final segment of my journey.
I love Berlin.
It's another big city, but the architecture and museums are first rate. The only unfortunate thing is that most charge an entry fee unlike museums in London that only request a donation.
If any of you are planning to visit Berlin, I would recommend the following itinerary, but it would depend on how many days you have available for this magical city.
To really get an overview of Berlin, go to Alexanderplatz and go up on the TV tower. Take your city map with you, and coordinate your map against the signs all around the platform that identifies all the major areas and buildings of Berlin. After you have completed your 360-degree tour, go upstairs to the revolving restaurant and have a snack/coffee/bier and enjoy the scene for at least one rotation. I stayed in the Metti section between Oranienburger Str S-bahn station and Ornienburger Tor U-bahn station, because most of the museums are located within walking distance or by taking the train. Since I love to walk, it would give me that much more exposure to what used to be East Berlin. Get a 48-hour pass to ride the train; it really makes travel in Berlin convenient and easy. You can also get a ?'free' 3.5 hour walking tour of Berlin at Zoologischer Garten (in front of the main train station) at Dunkin' Donuts at 10:30am & 12:30pm or at Brandenburg Gate in front of Starbucks at 11:00am & 1:00pm. They work for tips.
Go to
www.newberlintours.com for more information.
Any Berlin guide book or web-link will suggest all the major site-seeing "should" or "don't miss." I particularly enjoyed my visit to Unter den Linden with several major museums and Brandenburger Tor (gate). I walked the whole way from the TV tower to the gate, and stopped in-between for lunch. I also enjoyed Potsdamer Platz, spending time at the shopping mall, Sony Center, and the tech museum. Went to see an IMAX show on the Grand Canyon which I really enjoyed - even though I've been to the Grand Canyon a couple of times, and the audio is in German.
On my first full day, I took the train to Alexanderplatz, walked to the international clock, and then went over to the TV tower. After arriving on the observation deck, I did a slow walk, counter-clockwise to view the city by matching the picture-signs displayed at regular intervals against the view to get a sense of the lay of the land. I recognized Brandenburger Tor easily, and took several pictures of it with my telephoto camera. It was easy to see the area where most of the museums are, and some of the major buildings surrounding the tower area. I also recognized the Friedrichstr train station, which is the first major station from my hotel that connects the S-bahn and U-bahn all around Berlin.
After my coffee in the revolving restaurant, I walked on Liebknecht-Sur, which connects, to Unter den Linden towards Brandenburger Tor. On the way, I stopped at several museums including the Atles Museum, Deutsches Historisches Museum (highly recommend), Alte Nationalgalerie, and Neue Wache. There are several souvenier shops along Unter den Linden, and I bought a couple of small shopping bags with BERLIN written in rainbow colors on it for my wife and her friend. There are also several nice restaurants along the way, so I stopped at one of them and had lunch. I passed through Brandeburger Tor, and then headed south towards Postdamerplatz. I remember walking past the Philharmonie Theater and arriving at this amazing open mall surrounded by tall buildings with some kind of awning that somewhat protects the pedestrians from the sun or rain. Movie theaters, the film museum, IMAX Theater, a Sony Store, and several restaurants occupied the first level known as Sony Center. Not far is a huge shopping mall with four levels of shops and restaurants. What is unique about his shopping mall are the statues all around that memics human activity such as eating a meal, taking pictures of a group of people, or just sitting on a bench. They are colorful, and roly-poly people representing characters with smiling faces.
On the second day, I took the train to Zoologischer Garten to walk around a little to become familiar with the area. I noticed that the Dunkin Donuts across the street from the train station had an internet café, so I spent about 90 minutes on the computer sending messages to the wife, friends, and a2k. This is where I learned about the 3.5-hour free walking tour of Berlin.
After a short walk around the "Zoo," I took the train to Schloss Carlottenburg; the Carlottenburg Castle is an excellent example of Royal Prussian Architecture. It dates back to the year 1695 and was the summer residence of Sophie Charlotte, the spouse of King Frederick I, but I didn't go inside. Just took a couple of pictures and proceeded to the Egyptian Museum across the street. As luck would have it, the Egyptian Museum was closed - until August 2005, and I wanted to see the limestone sculpture of Queen Nefertiti, found in 1912, considered the most beautiful and powerful.
Essentially nothing is known about Nefertiti before she became co-regent of Egypt with her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled from 1352 B.C. to 1336 B.C. Egyptologists do not know whether she came from a royal family or a high ranking official.
I had lunch at an Italian Restaurant of pizza and red wine. I walked to the Ernst-Reuter-Platz U-bahn station and took the train to the Tech Museum (Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin), and spent most of the afternoon there. It was interesting enough; they have trains on display from the 1800's to present the time. They also have a boat section and an airplane section with some real ones and models. The boat section has a u-boat on display, and the airplane section has a crashed Misserschmidt. They even have a brewery on site that still makes beer to show the process, but it was not in operation when I visited. They also have displays about textile technology, Zuse computer, papermaking, setting and printing, energy and lighting, film technology, and several other things. This museum is worth a visit, but expect to spend at least half a day here. I sat down at the museum café and had a beer.
I don't remember where I ate dinner that evening, but I'm sure I went to bed early.
My last day in Berlin. Well, I've been on "the go" for so many days, I thought it would be nice to take it easy for a day, so I thought it would be a good idea to go back to Potsdamerplatz to enjoy the shops, theaters, and restaurants.
I took the S-bahn Nordbahnhof to Friedrichstr, and then from Friedrichstr to Zoologischer Garten to check my train routes to make sure I wait at the right gates at each station for tomorrow morning's trains to Brussels.
I wrote it down on a piece of paper to make sure I won't forget. I stopped at Dunkin Donuts again for some internet time, and then took the train to Potsdamerplatz. I walked through the shopping mall - all four floors, and then had lunch at a sushi bar. With so many varieties of foods available, it was interesting to see that the sushi bar was full of patrons. I walked to Sony Center through the new station they're building. It's huge and beautiful, and I wouldn't mind seeing it when they complete it. The trains aren't running through this part of the station yet, but they let pedestrians use it.
I decided to see the Film Museum where they house mostly Marlene Dietrich memorabilia, Berlin, Hollywood and Germany film objects, props, photos, documents, film prizes, film excerpts, technical instruments, and other exhibits. The entry fee here is 6 Euro (about US$8). It was worth $8 bucks.
After I finished with the Film Museum, I went to the IMAX theater and selected Grand Canyon from the three or four playing that day. It was a good choice, because the scenery was magnificent from places I have never seen before. The river rafting scenes were exciting; how they filmed them will remain a mystery. The camera looked steady while the rafts were driven by waves that hid the rafts and all the people in them.
For my last site, I visited Checkpoint Charlie. It was a rather disappointment to see so much development in this area, because the feel of the 1940s is completely lost now.
For dinner that night, I just went to Friedrichstr station, and ate a sausage meal with beer.
I returned to my room rather early to repack my clothes, and went to bed early after a shower.
The trip from Berlin to Koln to Brussels to London was really an easy trip, but I got into Waterloo Station about 10pm. I took the underground to Paddington, and walked a block where I found a room available for one night. I already had a room reserved for the following night, because I thought I would spend one night in Brussels. Steve and Serso said on a2k we might have a chance to get-together, so I arrived in London one day early, but learned the following day that Serso had to work till late.
I had a chance to revisit Covent Gardens, V&A Museum, the special exhibit of the Scott Expedition of Antarctica at the Royal Geographic Society, and a tour of the Royal Albert Hall. But this is where I started with my first London segment of this journey.
From Malta to London to Amsterdam to Lippstadt to Munster to Berlin and then back to London in 30-days was a grand trip. I'll post some pictures of Berlin later on. Thanks for reading this rather long travelogue.
