What to do In Berlin?

[amyklai]

Berlin = Döner Kebab, Clubs & Museums. The only thing you need to figure out is in which order to do those. The preferrable sequence may also depend on the type of museum, for example cold war stuff is best after a full night of clubbing and a breakfast of 2-3 Döners with a few beers. The tired alcoholic digestive mood helps a lot when trying to resurrect a mental image of early 80s Berlin inside your mind. The ancient history stuff works better before the clubbing.

Also if you really want to get in touch with modern Berlin, don't forget to visit bakeries in Kreuzberg / Prenzlauer Berg and ask for their specialty "Weckle" or ask some nativs about their "Kehrwoche" habit and where you can get the best "Linsen mit Spätzle" and a good bottle of Trollinger wine.

 

[GTaudiophile]

As a connoisseur, the best Döner in Berlin (if not the world) is located off the beaten path:

Civan's Imbiss
Clayallee 352
14169 Berlin-Zehlendorf

This little hole in the wall has been serving up Döners since like the early 1980s!

 

[CycloWizard]

I spent five days there last summer and did just about exactly what GTaudiophile mentioned. The only additions I have to add are:
-ride one of the beer bikes around the city. It's a bar with wheels and pedals. I didn't actually have time to do this but wish I had - looked awesome.
-take a hike on the Oranienbergstraße after dark...

edit: I'll also add that I think the Mauer Museum was the most worthwhile thing I did while I was there.

 

[el-Capitan]

Hofbräuhaus

Are you serious? That like saying :

- "Going to NY, where to go?"

- "Bubba Gump Shrimp co"

a. The 'culture' on display at the Hofbraeu is not that of Berlin, or even that of the majority of Germany.
b. The food is shit.
c. It's a tourist trap.

 

[biostud]

Restaurants are cheap and have long opening hours, specially in eastern Berlin.

I've been there twice and this area has lots of nice bars and good cheap restaurants.

https://maps.google.dk/maps?q=berli...refox-a&hnear=Berlin,+Tyskland&gl=dk&t=m&z=16

I don't speak German either, but most speak very well english.

(Don't mention the war )

 

[Broheim]

Restaurants are cheap and have long opening hours, specially in eastern Berlin.

I've been there twice and this area has lots of nice bars and good cheap restaurants.

https://maps.google.dk/maps?q=berli...refox-a&hnear=Berlin,+Tyskland&gl=dk&t=m&z=16

I don't speak German either, but most speak very well english.

(Don't mention the war )

someone didn't pay attention in school

but Berlin is one of the few places in germany where you can actually find english speaking germans "readily available".

oh and if you stop by a bar, see if the have flammkuchen. It's the wrong part of Germany but they might have it. (it isn't actually german but it is quite popular in the Rheinland-Pfalz area where I lived for a short while). it's kind of like a pizza except the crust is really thin and on top there is creme fraiche instead of tomato sauce and it's topped with bacon and onions. When I lived there we'd go down to the local kneipe (tavern) every night and order a round of beer and flammkuchen that we'd share ( we would repeat the process quite a few times usually), it's a great salty snack to accompany your beer.

(I actually miss living in a small southern german town, nothing ever happened but the scenery and the culture just made it a pleasent place to live)

 

[biostud]

someone didn't pay attention in school

Mais, je ne sais pas.....

(I had french)

 

[Broheim]

Mais, je ne sais pas.....

(I had french)

you're the first person I've heard of who was actually offered french instead of german from 7th to the 9th grade, I know that the schools can technically teach french instead but I've never actaully seen it in real life

 

[slayernine]

I don't think anyone mentioned the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium. I quite enjoyed going there.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I don't think anyone mentioned the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium. I quite enjoyed going there.

True. The Berlin Zoo was perhaps the world's largest and most famous at the turn of the 19th Century. I personally dislike caged animals and feel that a zoo is a zoo is a zoo.

The Berlin Zoo is located near the famous Kurfürstendamm or Ku'Damm. Once hailed as the "Champs-Élysées" of West Germany, this area has sadly become a "dead zone" of sorts since the fall of the Berlin Wall. All of the cool stuff now happens in the former Eastern side of the city. The pendulum is swinging back so I have heard. Besides the famous KaDeWe shopping center with its 5th floor of international culinary delight, there is little to see in that area. Perhaps the Gedenkniskirche?

One thing I forgot to mention before in regards to Holocaust Remembrance is the series of many Stolpersteine or Tripstones that can be found on cobblestone streets throughout Germany (besides Bavaria). NPR did a story on these about a year ago if you want to know more about their significance.

 

[biostud]

you're the first person I've heard of who was actually offered french instead of german from 7th to the 9th grade, I know that the schools can technically teach french instead but I've never actaully seen it in real life

It's also ~20 years ago, and the school was in Gentofte

 

[cation555]

All excellent ideas ATOT, keeping 'em coming!
I'm trying to figure out the U-Bahn system in the meantime and prepping for the long-ass flight.

 

[Zunhs]

A friend of mine really liked club Artemis. All you can eat buffet for 80 euro if you don't mind eating while only wearing a bathrobe. He also mentioned there were lots of lightly dressed women there.

 

[amyklai]

but Berlin is one of the few places in germany where you can actually find english speaking germans "readily available".

What? If you'd have talked abour turkish or suabian, I'd have agreed, but the percentage of English speakers in Berlin is probably lower than in most places of Western Germany (because of the Ossis who primarily learned Russian at school).

 

[GTaudiophile]

All excellent ideas ATOT, keeping 'em coming!
I'm trying to figure out the U-Bahn system in the meantime and prepping for the long-ass flight.

It's a simple system.

Once you purchase AND validate your ticket (say Tageskarte) you simply ride as much as you need to. (Validation is accomplished by getting your ticket date-stamped via a little machine that looks like red or yellow box.) It is an honor-based system with no turnstiles etc. A lot of things in Germany are based on the presupposition that people are law (and rule) abiding. But what does happen is that you'll be riding a bus or train, the doors will close, and then the non-uniformed transit police will start checking tickets. If you're caught as a Schwarzfahrer, then you'll be fined starting at like 50,00 EUR.

As for riding the U-Bahn (or S-Bahn) itself, it is quite easy:

1. Know your start location. Find the line you're on via its color and code (U8, S1, etc.)
2. Find your destination.
3. Simply move towards your destination using the line(s) based on their end-destination.

For example, say your local stop is Hermannplatz and you want to get to Friedrichstrasse. You could take the U7 in the direction of Rathaus-Spandau 3 stops to Mehringdamm, switch to the U6 line in the direction of Alt-Tegel and travel another 4 stops and you're there. Easy!

3.

 

[cation555]

Yeah I've been looking at the U-Bahn lines, the system seems to be similar to the London tube system in the UK which I have already traveled on.

 

[aayush]

Watch football