Does anyone live in Berlin?

[StrawberryJamPlease]

I have a question about transport that I want to ask a "local"?

Thanks!

[anzu66]

I'm in Berlin.
What is the question?

[StrawberryJamPlease]

Fab, thanks so much. I'm very envious that you live there!

I'm debating whether I should get a Welcome Card or buy individual tickets ? And any advice on what order to do things would be gratefully appreciated. I have been to Berlin a few times but the last time was in 2003!

We (Ds, aged 9, and I) will be at a hotel near BODDINSTRASSE. On Thursday we have a free day in Berlin. I was thinking as the weather forecast says rain, maybe we'll do the KaDaWe and the Ku'damm (I want to scout out some streets ancestors lived in near there). So, we will travel to and from there. On Friday and Saturday, we need to go to Paradestrasse U-bahn. There is a chance that on Friday afternoon we can go into the city again. Then on Sunday, we are going back to the Ku'damm and a hotel around there. I think we will go to the zoo in the afternoon.

Monday is our last day in the city and I thought we could do the main sites - Brandenburg Tor, Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie etc.

Originally I thought we'd get a 6 day Welcome card (Thursday - Tuesday as we need to get to Tegel on Tuesday), but now I'm not sure if hop-on, hop-off buses might be better. But I guess I can only do that on Monday.

Thankfully my 9 year old is a good walker and is happy to schlep around anywhere!

Argghh. Please help me

[StrawberryJamPlease]

Gosh, that was long. Sorry

[anzu66]

In your situation I wouldn't get individual tickets but go for the welcome card.

The disadvantage with individual tickets for U-Bahn and bus is that each ticket lasts for two hours after validation, and each journey must be in one direction only. That starts getting tricky when you are going to a whole bunch of different places. For example , are you conceivably going in a direction that could be considered going back in the original direction you came from? That is enough to get you a fine.

With the welcome card you will have transport covered, and discounts on entry to the other places you are thinking of going to.

Brandenburger Tor and Reichstag are right next to one another, so walking distance.

A couple of suggestions:
IMO, Checkpoint Charlie nowadays does not have all that much to see
(though the actual checkpoint building that used to be there, and various other interesting items concerning Berlin such as one of the Berlin airlift planes, an East German Berlin Wall watch tower, and so on, can be seen for free at the Alliierten Museum a short walk from Oskar-Helene Heim station on the U-3 U-Bahn. This is open every day but Monday).

Rather than Checkpoint Charlie, maybe walk south a bit from Brandenburger Tor, past the Holocaust Memorial (BTW, just left from there is the location where Hitler's bunker was located and where he committed suicide. There is NOT a memorial there, and the location is now a car park there).

Continue past the Holocaust Memorial to Potsdamer Platz. There are a few sections of the Berlin Wall there, and pictures of how it looked in the past.

Near Potstdamer Platz is a spy museum, if you are interested, or continue slightly further south, to Niederkirchenerstrasse (the Berlin Wall used to run along here, and Checkpoint Charlie is actually further along this street) and look at the "Topography of Terror", which is located on top of former Gestapo headquarters. It is in the open air, so there is no entry fee, but do be warned it ends up fairly chilling if you read too many of the displays.

Yes, I am very lucky to be living in Berlin. The weight of history here sometimes feels very strong though!

[StrawberryJamPlease]

Thanks. I think you're right, and worth having it for the security that I only need to remember to stamp it once. Is there a cheaper ticket without the tourist discounts? I've looked at the BVG website and can't see anything.

Typical that the Alliierten Museum is closed on Monday. Maybe we'll have to try to get there on Thursday afternoon? Have you been to the Tränenpalast? I was wondering if that was worth it. We went in 1978 and I remember as a young girl going across to see relatives in the east and it all being grey and awful. Would my son get a sense of that?

I am also meeting some long lost family (from the east!) on Sunday. They suggested the zoo because of my 9 year old. Can you think of anywhere better?

Thanks for your help!

[anzu66]

Maybe the Berlin CityTourCard would be better for you?

I have never gone into the Tränenpalast, so don't know how good the display inside is.
But from the outside, IMO, you really do not get any sense at all of how the divisions were earlier, everything around has been modernised and spruced up and it really is very different compared to how things were earlier.

The zoo is not bad, particularly if you include the Aquarium - they have not just fish, but also crocodiles, jellyfish, and so on.

Alternatively, there is the Technical Museum (near Gleisdreieck station).

The location itself is historical (the tracks from Anhalter Bahnhof, leading southwards, used to go through here, but they stopped using that railway due to the damage from bombing in WW2, which left a lot of vacant land where the tracks used to be. So now there is a museum there, some ruins, and a very long thin park.
The museum itself is in two parts, and a ticket gets you admission to both parts. The second part is next door, is called Spectrum, and is basically hands-on technology exhibits aimed specifically at kids. It also has a small car section with some weird and wonderful vehicles - one example is a make of cars made in Berlin which were meant to also function as a boat. As in, drive your car into a lake, and take out the paddles...Apparently they had problems with waterproofing them .

Another option would be the museum "The Story of Berlin" which is at Kurfürstendamm 207-208. This includes a tour of an actual atomic bunker which was incorporated into a car-park in the building next door when it was built in the 1970s.

[gussiefox]

The Tierpark is much nicer and less crowded than the zoo www.tierpark-berlin.de/en (but don't confuse it with the Tiergarten which is a park!)

[StrawberryJamPlease]

The City Tour Card looks like it could be just the job - if I can get a 6 day (the maximum) on Thursday morning and it's still OK for travel on Tuesday morning. We need to be at Tegel by 10.30, so it will be early morning.

The other museums you mention sound great! The Story of Berlin is a definite i think for Thursday and my son would love the Technical museum, so maybe Friday afternoon if we can sneak away.

Thank you so much for your insider knowledge

[Oblomov18]

This is fascinating. We are supposed to be going to Berlin later this year.

[StrawberryJamPlease]

Just re-read this and I think a 5 day is the longest you can get on the City Tour Card. I guess that makes my mind up!

[StrawberryJamPlease]

And anzu, would you think the family I'm meeting would expect a present from the UK from me? Or is my presence enough present . (Not sure of German / Berlin etiquette rules)

[anzu66]

Well, if you go to someone's house, you ALWAYS take something, usually wine, flowers, chocolate or food, but this is a bit of a different situation.

To be on the sage side, in your place I'd bring along some kind of UK food that is not available here, such as some type of biscuits. That's fairly easily transportable, can be shared, and wouldn't seem too big or too small a gift.

The UK has a much bigger range of biscuits than here. A few things you DON'T get here: Garibaldi biscuits, Bakewell tarts, fig rolls, millionaire's shortbread.

Regular shortbread is easily available here, so don't bring that.

Back on sight-seeing stuff:
if you go to the Allierten Museum, the whole area around there used to be housing and facilities for Allied Soldiers in the post-war period. So that you know what you are seeing as you go past things:

The Japan-Germany Center near where you cross the road once you are out of the U-Bahn used to be the officers club. The apartments opposite that used to be Allied Headquarters. Next to that is the American Consulate, which was (and allegedly still is) headquarters for the CIA as well as normal consular activities.
The shopping centre opposite all this is newly built, but used to be the site of a shopping centre catering only to American soldiers and operating only using US dollars. The apartments in the area were all housing for the army. The primary school facing the shopping centre was built by the Americans for the children of soldiers, and the actual museum itself was an American cinema.

[StrawberryJamPlease]

Cool, thanks so much! I might be back to ask for more advice when I get there!

And thanks too gussiefox. I missed it that you answered too!

[StrawberryJamPlease]

Today's panic!

Will I be able to get a 6 day Berlin Welcome pass from Boddinstrasse station? I think so reading the website but just want to make sure (so I can stop worrying about that bit!)

I guess I get it from the machine, stamp it once and then that's all I need to do (apart from not loose it!)

[anzu66]

I'd be very surprised if you could not get one.

[StrawberryJamPlease]

Thank you!

What's the weather like? I've been watching forecasts all week and they are all different (and seem to change by the hour!)

[anzu66]

Right now, warm and sunny.

This time of year is usually warm, sunny, T-shirt weather, with a likelihood of sudden heavy showers that appear almost out of nowhere, bucket down for a half hour or an hour, then disappear entirely again.

I can say this with authority because there is a big 3 day cultural festival held every year on the same long weekend, and pretty much every year there are people picknicking, eating food from stalls, enjoying the sun, listening to music, and so on. And then about every second year there is some point in the three days where it rains like mad and everyone runs for cover. And then the festival resumes again.