Who’s been to Berlin ?

ThorpyFX

Me and the wife went, the single best thing we did to see the city was the Segway tour. Riding around the streets on Segway’s for a couple of hours with a guide that talks you through the history at the stops. Loads of fun.

Gassage

April you say? Berlin you say?

(NSFW)

https://www.easterberlin.de/en/easter-berlin

mistercharlie

ThorpyFX said:

Me and the wife went, the single best thing we did to see the city was the Segway tour. Riding around the streets on Segway’s for a couple of hours with a guide that talks you through the history at the stops. Loads of fun.

The locals love people who ride Segways on the pavements and in the bike lanes, paying no attention to anyone around them.

viz

Get on the walking tour. Unmissable. Sets off from Brandenburg Tor every morning. If you miss it you can book yourself on the following day’s. 

mellowsun

East Berlin is amazing if you are into Soviet-era architecture. 

Back in 2009 I went on a great tour of some of the underground WW2 bunkers, not sure if they are still running that.

The GDR museum was great also. If you are into modernism and expressionism then Die Brücke Museum and the Bauhaus Archiv are a must-visit. A visit to Potsdam is worth it to see the Einsteinturm - it's like something out of Alien/HR Giger.

Must go back, so much to see there.

DLM

As @Roland says: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/121614/berlin-recommendations As an ex-resident, I've put most of what I could say into past threads like that one. Try the google search string below:
site:thefretboard.co.uk dlm berlin

DiscoStu

Berlin is still on our list, we'll get there some day. Is there a language barrier, as neither of us speaks any German?

DLM

@DiscoStu Casually, practically, for a short trip, no. Oodles of tourists yearly with no German whatsoever.

Stuckfast

You're almost as likely to hear English spoken in the streets of Berlin as German. Parts of it are like little hipster outposts of Hackney.

benmurray85

Echo most of the above. We went to Hamburg in Feb and spent a day in Berlin. 
Highlights were the Jewish Museum/Gallery, the Reichstag (you have to book the tour ahead) and the Brandenburg Gate. All pretty standard stuff. 

Theres some lovely churches but other than that we just did a mixture of wandering and catching the U-Bahn here, there and everywhere. 

We definatley want to go back for a proper stay. 

Axe_meister

BTW. There is a square named after my great grand father. Ernst Reiter Platz. Although not my favourite German city it is one close to my heart from a family history point of view (look him up on wikipedia)

HAL9000

viz said:

Get on the walking tour. Unmissable. Sets off from Brandenburg Tor every morning. If you miss it you can book yourself on the following day’s. 

^ This. Covers a lot of ground, interesting and informative. 

http://www.neweuropetours.eu/berlin/en/home?&Tour=418&date=20/03/2018

Roland

DiscoStu said:

Berlin is still on our list, we'll get there some day. 

Come Fly With Me has a lyric “there’s a bar in far Bombay”. When I lived here it gave me great pleasure to send a picture to my old band.

viz

Axe_meister said:

BTW. There is a square named after my great grand father. Ernst Reiter Platz. Although not my favourite German city it is one close to my heart from a family history point of view (look him up on wikipedia)

Reuter?

DLM

@viz I believe so, yes.

ThorpyFX

mistercharlie said:

ThorpyFX said:

Me and the wife went, the single best thing we did to see the city was the Segway tour. Riding around the streets on Segway’s for a couple of hours with a guide that talks you through the history at the stops. Loads of fun.

The locals love people who ride Segways on the pavements and in the bike lanes, paying no attention to anyone around them.

Why would you assume that? We rode on the road and as a driver, motorcyclist, cyclist and someone who doesn’t fancy getting run over.... I definitely kept my eye out for obstacles. 

mistercharlie

ThorpyFX said:

mistercharlie said:

ThorpyFX said:

Me and the wife went, the single best thing we did to see the city was the Segway tour. Riding around the streets on Segway’s for a couple of hours with a guide that talks you through the history at the stops. Loads of fun.

The locals love people who ride Segways on the pavements and in the bike lanes, paying no attention to anyone around them.

Why would you assume that? We rode on the road and as a driver, motorcyclist, cyclist and someone who doesn’t fancy getting run over.... I definitely kept my eye out for obstacles. 

Not you necessarily, but the general rule is that tourists doing touristy type stuff are paying little attention to their surroundings (other than the current tourism-board-sanctioned monument/ view they’re visiting). I’m sorry if I insulted you. Not my intention. 

joneve

Another vote for the walking tour. Covers loads of good stuff. The one we did was free (you just tip your guide if you feel it's appropriate).

Another tip would be do the Reichstag for sure, but do it in the evening. Much better views. You'll find it's busier, so you'll need to get down there to queue for half an hour or so, but it's worth it. It also used to be free, but this was 11 years ago. 

It's a great city, and I have no doubt you'll all have a blast. 

Jalapeno

We managed to go to a sleazy burlesque night - it was good, and the Mrs loved the tackiness.

Tiki Heart does good burgers, and the sleaze show was as Wild At Heart next door.

(It was tacky rather than rude)

Axe_meister

viz said:

Axe_meister said:

BTW. There is a square named after my great grand father. Ernst Reiter Platz. Although not my favourite German city it is one close to my heart from a family history point of view (look him up on wikipedia)

Reuter?

Bloody Auto Correct. Yes Reuter