Anyone been to Berlin?

[mike.mckenzie]

I'm away to Berlin for five nights on Monday and was wondering if any of my cosmopolitan fellow Caithnessians have any recommendations of pubs / places to go when I'm there!

Cannae wait!

Es gibt nur eine Problem, mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut wie es war! Ich kann es sprechen aber nicht so gut wenn ich es hoeren muss!

[golach]

Mike,
all the Deutch you need is " Abent Ein beer Bitte Danke" = roughly "Good day one beer please Thank you". if you like dark beer ask for "Alt" = Old as against pilsner
Golach

[rich]

www.insidertour.com

If you'd like to stand above the site of Hitler's Bunker or see what's left of Checkpoint Charlie this is the tour for you - from the First World War to the fall of the wall!

[mike.mckenzie]

Vielen dank fur ihre hilfe!

Any more?!

[monkey]

You should ask FrauK auf caithness.org for help. I'm sure she will be happy dir hilfen.

[Stormblast]

Mitte in East Berlins (bang beside the Brandenburg Gate) no bad plenty of pubs but a few had shut just before I got there and it was due to the lack of tourists and the owners converting the price intae Euros from DMs and ripping everybody off but its still fairly cheap

The Silver Fish if you can find it is no bad and open til about 4am and full of weird and wonderful characters as is Bar Zapata further up the road if my mind serves me right it was up Friedichstraisse and take a right turn ( go past the train station over the River Spree (theres an Irish boozer there just ask in there as the staff and owner where spot on when I was there)

There was also a place Tagleus or someit like that which is beyond belief, basically a squat in a tenement block turned into a boozer/club playing music selling beer and showing films its like something from Sarajevo its so destroyed (as I was at 3am)

Theres a few good pubs doon by Zoo Station too basically its a good place to go

Best touristee bit is probably the Wall or the Topography of Terror absolutely sickening but worth seeing makes u glad to be alive and that Adolf got his comeupenance along with his sidekicks.The TV tower is cool too

East Berlins certainly better than the West for my pfennings

have a blast

[lois17]

So, how did your trip to Berlin go? Did you manage to find all the places that were recommended to you?.......mostly eating and drinking places I note!
There is certainly plenty to see there, and I'd say the East has just as many places of interest as the West.
I was there back in '87-'91, so also saw 'the fall of the Wall' in '89.Quite amazing that was, whoever dreamed that would happen? I still have my peice of Berlin Wall, knocked out with my own fair hands and not bought off a souvenir stall, freshly painted!! I hope to return one day to see the changes that have occured over the last 15 years.
Hope you enjoyed your trip anyway!

[mike.mckenzie]

I managed to get round to everything on the list above, so thanks for the recommendations! Went to Zapata...what a place, the fire breathing metal dragon and paying a 5 Euro deposit for your glasses was unique! There was another pub at the other end of Oranieren Strasse I loved as well, began with an "A", it sold all manner of beer from everywhere including the belgian flavoured beers I took a liking to in Brussels!

I walked until my feet were sore and blistered trying to see as much as I could, FernsehTurm, Checkpoint Charlie, the Topography (so much info, needs more than one visit..), SiegeSaule....East Berlin was definitley my favourite though. Very charismatic and dripping with history. I could talk all day about Berlin, one of the most fantastic places ever.

Oh and if you do go, go up to the top of the Reichstag just as it closes at 10pm, the view is immense and it isn't so busy.

Lois, the changes are amazing, everywhere is being rebuilt and the investment is amazing. If you haven't been back since 89, I couldn't recommend more a visit to see it now. You'll be amazed by the Potsdamer Platz, Alexander Platz and the area around Friedrichstrasse.

They're closing the Zoo though...