Four days in Berlin, the famous historical capital of Germany

For about ten years my friend Ross has decided to move to Berlin (and in the meantime has also become tourist guide) and always invites us to visit her, taking the opportunity to see the city, a true museum of contemporary European history ..

Finally we decide to go!

We travel with Ryanair, but the city is well served (from Milan) with Easy Jet and Air Berlin (scheduled). Strangely there are no direct connections between Milan and Berlin with companies such as Alitalia-Lufthansa nor Heron (which lately has been very active as proposed).

To get around the city, we recommend the Berlin Welcome Card, which includes liaison with the Berlin Schönefeld airport (just choose the fare zones ABC). And to understand better the links, you can use the page of the "journey planner" of the Berlin transport company (BVG): http://www.fahrinfo-Berlin.de/Fahrinfo/bin/query.bin/en?ld & = 0.1.

Many tourist information can be recovered on the site www.visitberlin.de

 

First day in Berlin

Here we are ready to go!! This time to Berlin, hosted by my friend Ross who lives there for a decade. The fall trip to the brush as celebration in our first ten years together.

In Italy it seems that spring has finally arrived and the sky is clear again today, but in Berlin the temperature will be more rigid, so we dusted off giubbottoni golf and wool.

The Ryan Air flight from Orio (scheduled for 10.15) and 'delayed by 10 minutes. The thing that always amazes Ryan Air (as well as the cunning to pay ALL) is the horrible color "yellow emergency" use for the back, and that strikes like a punch in the eye!

We arrive in Berlin after baggage claim meet my friend Ross, who kindly came to pick us and give us the first indications of Berlin.

We buy in the airport Berlin Welcome Card (5 days, the area ABC - www.visitberlin.de / Italian / it_welcomecard.php) to have free access to all means of transport (including airport link) and the discount for some periods and monuments agreement.

We leave the trolley in the apartment of Rossella (loooong cute) and go immediately to lunch at Thai Red Dragon in Danzigerstrasse 29 (EUR 5.50 The full menu, including Mangole drink that I adore).

Taking the bus, then descend in Heckescher Markt to start the tour of East Berlin, which has prepared for us.

We head for the Friedrich Brücke to see the island of museums and the Duomo (which we visit, dome and steps included), drive along the side of the avenue Unter den Linden to Bebelplatz (site notorious for the burning of books, the work of National students) and the Catholic Cathedral of St. Hedwig (visitors).

In the area worth going to look at building Neue Wache (new guard), a memorial to the victims of war and tyranny. Here you can see the famous Pieta of Kathe Kollwitz, depicting a mother and child died.

Cut to the Gendarmenmarkt (with the elegant twin churches) and then, along the great chocolate Fassbender & Rausch (www.fassbender-rausch.de), and then arrive in Frierdichstrasse at Checkpoint Charlie (the obligatory photos with the fake American soldier !!!).

Going back to the Brandenburg Gate we see some remains (in poor condition) of the famous wall, and some memories of the recent past: the historical Trabi, the current Ministry of Finance (one of the few buildings National salvatisi bombing), the site of the bunker of Hitler and the Holocaust monument, designed by Peter Eisenmann, 2711 consists of rectangular blocks of concrete, arranged in a grid to look like graves. Here is definitely worth somewhere between the blocks, feeling a sense of "uncertainty" made it through the floor rolling.

We arrive at the Brandenburg Gate and the cross with a certain effect (among other things, I still expect more slender, wider than my husband !!!!). Peered through the glass doors of the lobby of the DZ Bank on Pariser Plats (we will come back during opening hours) and then look back to Alexander Platz Unter den Linden, eyeing the various buildings of embassies (Russia's elegant, minimalist American, the militaristic French ...).

We are really exhausted, but Ross still has a suggestion: dinner in the restaurant "East Berlin" Zum Schusterjunge (Danziger Straße 9): we taste a Schnitzel (veal cutlet) and a typical stew and Berlin decide that the former approach has been very good and intense: we can do is to devote a good night's sleep to face the day tomorrow.

Second day in Berlin

Today Ross works and then let us explore Berlin as our desires and even the turns of the weather, because forecasts are worsening. When we wake up and she 'already out, but there' s his big cat Dracula (a Siamese from very prominent canines), which immediately gives us so many happy meows and purrs.

After a quick breakfast we take the metro in the direction of Potsdamer Platz to see the great square designed (among others) by Renzo Piano and especially the Sony Centre, but above all the Lego Discovery Centre (to the delight of my husband). We decide not appended to small families with children and we are satisfied that there photograph the big giraffe 'entrance.

We return to the Brandenburg Gate and enter the palace of DZ Bank to see the large "whale" in metal and glass in the atrium, the work of Frank O. Gehry.

Travel over a part of Unter der Linden (so named because of the linden trees that flank) and Friedrichstrasse to reach the Check Point Charlie Museum. We decide to visit it, but I was disappointed overcrowded small rooms (and visitors) of written (and translations), photos, articles .... I expected much more orderly.

Let's go to the Jewish Museum (greatly recommended by Ross), but we need a break to rest your legs and put something in the stomach. Not finding anything in the area, we take the underground to Nikolai, where there are Gerichtslaube by Zur (www.gerichtslaube.de).

After lunch, we visit the Nikolaikirche (5 euro 2 euro entry and audio guide to take photos), the oldest church in Berlin, just reopened after the last restoration.

Starts to drizzle, but we are directed to the Pergamon Museum (10 euro including the audio guide in Italian). Following the path of major works (30 minutes) we see the Pergamon Altar, the ruins of Miletus and the Great Gate of Babylon. We also add a round in the Islamic art section where among other things, and 'kept the room of Aleppo.

Take the "pass-through" to the zoo, but our destination in reality and 'the Gedachtniskirche (www.gedaechtniskirche-Berlin.de). Before you decide to try to get another specialty of Berlin: the Currywurst.

The old church and the adjoining prayer room are a nice contrast of architecture, but the interior of new construction and 'far better than outside: the windows blue make the almost surreal atmosphere and the great golden Christ seems to float .

We leave the church with a visit to the famous KaDeWe, but on the road there is a temptation irresistible to my husband, a Lego store with lots of places to play! We head to the KaDeWe (www.kadewe.de), which reminds us of our Rinascente, although much larger, orderly and peaceful. The sixth floor is dedicated to food, and 'a real treat for all tastes and also for the eyes and throat.

Fatigue, however, you definitely feel and we head to the last stop of the day: the Hard Rock Cafe, where you can buy the sticks for Luke and dinner.

Let's go home and look back to Scarlett that an evening at the theater. The latest gossip about their days, a look at the weather before you agree on what to do tomorrow ... and then a good moisturizing and rejuvenating sleep!

Third day in Berlin

We woke up early to do everything with the convenient and have breakfast together and then start a new round: between the notes that I still lack a few things, but around the city and 'still pleasant and you can discover things that are not reflected in the guides officers.

With Ross we look at the East Side Gallery (www.eastsidegallery-Berlin.de), a series of murals on one kilometer of wall is not demolished. Unfortunately, and 'up the wind and very cold, but still managed to run over all and recognize the most famous: the Trabant that breaks through the wall, the kiss between Honecker and Brezhnev ...

Resume the resources and go to lunch Freischwimmer (www.freischwimmer-Berlin.de), a small restaurant built on stilts along the Spree. The place is' spartan, alternative, and especially in good weather offers a nice river view. The food (a sort of brunch) is not 'bad, but the portions are a bit' low, considering the price (20-30 euro in two).

Let Ross and head to the Jewish Museum (www.jmberlin.de), dedicated to the history of Jews in Germany, in the course of several centuries until the present day. We also took the audio tour (2 euro, also available in Italian), but I needed only if you do not know English or German, because captions are written and quite comprehensive. The show could be fun for the kids, why, and 'very interactive (toys, drawers to be discovered, movies, recordings). To go straight you can take up to 2-3 hours, but without really getting bored. Very striking is the so-called Holocaust Tower, a dark and narrow room, where you can hear the muffled sounds of passersby, but at the same time feeling cut off from the world, forgotten, feeling anxious, especially if you're lucky enough to enter it without too many people.

After the visit, and we decide that 'time shopping. We head back to the big chocolate Fassbender & Rausch and choose a box to take to Milan praline and some "walking" really tasty and there 'is really spoiled for choice!

We take the metro to get to see the splendid courts of Heckischer Markt, where "robbed" the store Ampelmann (www.ampelmann.de) for souvenirs of the classics of the GDR traffic lights.

Let us return then to the home of Scarlett, but only for a short break: our host leads us to the Indian dinner (Meena pipe, Lychenerstrasse 9)! In fact, Berlin is a cosmopolitan city so that there is indeed plenty of choice for anything from restaurants to theaters to concerts, shopping ... Among other things, the cuisine is traditionally poor Berlin (meat especially beef, potatoes, hardy vegetables, so much bread).
We eat really well and in great quantities, so that then we use another Berlin tradition: the so-called doggy bag with the leftovers from dinner, which will pay us back for lunch tomorrow! There is said to find out if this practice is in some sense the result of the presence of Americans, or rather daughter of the famous Berlin stinginess ...

Another day 's been hard, and we retire for a good night's sleep by dormice.

Fourth day in Berlin

The sky when we wake and 'gray and unpromising, but to cuddle we booked a table for breakfast at the bar of the Reichstag (www.feinkost-kaefer.de), known trick to avoid the queues (due to controls and metal detector, in addition to the large influx of tourists). The other trick is to book a guided tour that includes an explanation of the classroom parliament, but we have chosen to give a breakfast Scarlett, thank you for the beautiful days.

Being able to park through the entrance to the restaurant, in fact we do not do nearly the tail, despite the controls to the metal detector.
The terrace restaurant and 'elegant and requires reservation if you want to find the place. Breakfast and 'abundant and excellent service of course. The cost starts from 16 euro (coffee included).

After breakfast, we retrieve the audio guide (free of charge and available in Italian) that accompanies us along the path of ascent and descent of the beautiful glass dome, mirrors and steel, renovated by Sir Norman Foster. The work is really impressive and interesting and is, among other things, a concentrate of modernity not only on the structure, but also for the devices in terms of energy saving and reuse of water and air.

After the tour inside (actually the top of the dome and 'open for aeration and collection of snow and rain), we cover it well and make the rounds outside, going over the roofs and monuments of Berlin. The only flaw is that of audio signal using the monuments to the cardinal points, but in the absence of sunshine, our sense of direction is put to the test!

Back on the ground and given the cold, we free from the obligation to follow the last lap Ross Berlin.

With the 100 bus going to see the outside of Schloss Bellevue, the official residence of the presidents of Germany. And then we continue to see at least from outside the Victory Column, or Victory Column. He is currently under renovation and therefore we do not even attempt to climb, but in general you can visit and say there is from a beautiful view of Berlin and the broad avenue that goes to the Brandenburg Gate.
We take S-Bahn and bus to admire the huge and modern Hauptbahnhof (www.hbf-Berlin.de), including the exhibition of the famous Buddy Baer (www.buddy-baer.com), the very nice colored bears that are the states of the world.

The cold begins to become unbearable (for me) and someone starts to feel hungry (despite the abundant breakfast this morning). Inside the station are Hopfingerbräu: Luke for the last hot dogs and hot potato soup for me.

Recovered a little 'heat, we decide that it is worth taking a picture at least at the front of the Schloss Charlottenburg (www.spsg.de). We get there easily by bus and in fact, a visit could be interesting, especially on fine days, when you can enjoy long walks in the park. Unfortunately, now the sky threatened rain, and we do not have time: I Ross held a meeting with other classmates who lives in Berlin and I have not seen a decade ....

The meeting 'sympathetic Berlin and our last few hours pass quickly. But the surprises are not over: arrived at the airport, we discover that the flight is delayed for half an hour .... We camp as the other pending further instructions and announce when we rush the gate to board. At the end a little 'delay is recovered and landed in Bergamo with many new wonderful memories.