Berlin

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

So i'm heading to Berlin in a few weeks, staying for a few days near Mitte. Any suggestions for pubs, bars, food, cool places to check out?

I went to Berlin 5 years ago but didn't stray too much from basic touristy stuff and general wandering around. Would be interested to find some cooler things this time round.

Suggestions?

[RedWorker]

Check out the Marx statues ofc.

[The Feral Underclass]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Berghain.jpg

[Futility Personified]

That's a lot nicer than my town hall.

[The Feral Underclass]

That, sir, is Berghain.

[Art Vandelay]

I'd check out the Marx & Engels forum, the Luxemburg memorial and maybe the DDR museum if your interested in seeing some leftist stuff. Grunewald forest is absolutely beautiful and a great place for a picnic. There is also some really good stand up comedy (in English) if that's your type of thing. There is a bar that I particularly liked on Karl Liebknecht strabe, although I can't remember the name, that has happy hour for like 14 hours a day.

[Illegalitarian]

Karl Liebknecht strabe is a must-visit.

Lots of vendors in the area trying to cash in on the growing Ostalgie over the years sell a lot of neat little goods and whatnot if you're looking for some choice souvenirs.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

i already fell foul of some wessies in Alexanderplatz selling ostalgie vendor shit a few years ago. Not gonna bother with that again.

already going to the stasi museum, might try and head to the DDR museum too.

What sort of music is on at berghain, FU?

[The Feral Underclass]

i already fell foul of some wessies in Alexanderplatz selling ostalgie vendor shit a few years ago. Not gonna bother with that again.

already going to the stasi museum, might try and head to the DDR museum too.

What sort of music is on at berghain, FU?

"Berghain is a nightclub in Berlin, Germany, named after its location near the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain.[1] Philip Sherburne described it in 2007 as "quite possibly the current world capital of techno"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berghain

[brigadista]

Is the Russian memorial at Treptower park still there?

[Rosa Partizan]

you should mention that it's not easy to pass the bouncers. They prefer attractive non-tourists, neither over-nor underdressed and sometimes their choice seems completely arbitrary. Yeah, everyone knows people who ALWAYS pass the bouncers and who said "Didn't have problems with that", but that's hardly useful when you've been standing in line for an hour or so and the bouncer says "sorry, we don't have parties with everyone" (cause this is what they really say). I don't have personal experience with it, it's not the kind of club I'd like to spend my time at.

[The Feral Underclass]

Is the Russian memorial at Treptower park still there?

It is.

[The Feral Underclass]

you should mention that it's not easy to pass the bouncers. They prefer attractive non-tourists, neither over-nor underdressed and sometimes their choice seems completely arbitrary. Yeah, everyone knows people who ALWAYS pass the bouncers and who said "Didn't have problems with that", but that's hardly useful when you've been standing in line for an hour or so and the bouncer says "sorry, we don't have parties with everyone" (cause this is what they really say). I don't have personal experience with it, it's not the kind of club I'd like to spend my time at.

I'm not sure that it's reasonable to expect people who are able to get in the club without a problem to have explanations and advice on how the bouncers choose.

I didn't have a problem getting in, but some Spanish people in front of us who were wearing cagoules and carrying large backpacks didn't. I think "don't look like a vanilla tourist" is about as much advice as any one can give. Unless you have a working knowledge of the bouncers' psyches...

And also, I think it's perfectly reasonable to not have parties with everyone. Why would anyone expect that to be a thing? If you had a house party would it be for everyone? Berghain caters to a specific group of people, many of whom are gay and participating in group sex events there, there is a duty of care for the staff to ensure the space is safe and not inhabited by lots of tourists who are just going to Berghain to look at it because it's Berghain.

[The Feral Underclass]

If you're interested in holocaust history, there is the holocaust memorial and museum at Brandenburg bridge. There is the Jewish museum and there is Topography of Terror, which is at the site of the former Gestapo headquarters, both of which are in the city. There is also Sachsenhausen concentration camp museum and the Wannsee museum (you can go into the room where they had the meeting). The last two are both quite a trek out of Berlin centre, but if you enjoy riding the S-Bahn, it's good fun and a nice way to see the city.

[Palmares]

Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain are pretty cool. With radical housing projects, bars, and social centres, etc. And general bohemia of course.

For something.... interesting, there's the Berlin museum of medical oddities... :scared:

[Rosa Partizan]

The only ones who say that Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain are cool are tourists. If you ask people living there or being there very frequently, doesn't matter if leftist or not, they roll their eyes. I guess it's because both of them have been gentrified heavily, and many artsy fartsy-organic food-northface jackets-(upper) middle class-green party voters moved there.

[Palmares]

You got me. I don't live in either of those suburbs. But you know, what you said is the story of every suburb of similar ilk, unfortunate as it is.

But since the OP is a tourist, I don't think it hurts for them to go to places where there at least was, in my previous experience, some accessible places for (tourist) political engagement.

If they were to be moving there, probably a different story.

[Rosa Partizan]

It's nice for some days, that's true. I find it just interesting how perceptions can differ widely, depending upon how often you visit Berlin. Many tourists like Prenzlauer Berg, too, but even as a person not living there, it's too much, too hipsterish, too everything. If the OP is interested in veggie food places, I could write an essay on that.

[Palmares]

Totally. I guess I should add I have not been to Berlin for quite a few years now, so I'm sure gentrification has come a long way since my previous visits. But you're right, if someone was visiting somewhere where I lived, and they asked me about certain popular bohemian areas, I would respond exactly like you did.

My friends in Berlin are probably hipsters. :lol:

[Futility Personified]

Goes to show appearances can be deceptive. I thought that'd be the stasi cafeteria or something. Nice to see that they're still going and doing what they do.

[bcbm]

fischladen on riegerstrasse is cool, palmares and i hung out there.;)

kopi has a bar open sometimes if youre into the squatter thing.

just wander around and enjoy the graffiti.

eat a turkish pizza

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

^^yeah, i'm more a fan of just wandering around tbh. Wouldn't mind grabbing a beer or two in a local bar but i'm not massively into pretending i'm not a tourist.

Think that i'm gonna have access to a load of museum including the German Historical Museum, Jewish Museum, Stasi Museum and apparently the foreign office and reichstag too.

Gonna be rad. :cool:

[bcbm]

do some bicycling if you can, berlin is a really pleasant city to bike in

[Os Cangaceiros]

The DDR Museum was one of only two museums I visited when I was in Europe (the other being the obligatory Louvre). It's kind of interesting.

[Art Vandelay]

The DDR Museum was one of only two museums I visited when I was in Europe (the other being the obligatory Louvre). It's kind of interesting.

I could be alone here, but am I the only one who felt the Louvre kinda sucked? It was one of things I was most looking forward to when I went to Europe and also probably the biggest disappointment.

[Sasha]

I could be alone here, but am I the only who felt the Louvre kinda sucked?


louvre is huge and there are really nice bits but yeah, the main atractions suck and are way to crowded. there are far better musea in paris than the louvre.
the deckchairs in the garden are great to get over a serious hangover though.

[PhoenixAsh]

Check Berlin Unterwelten or something. They organize tours. Some of the WWII defenses and others having to do with the Berlin Wall and Cols War period. Some of not most is underground. The Cold War one was the most fun but the most informative was the one about the escape tunnels and how the DDR guarded the separation.

I never knew people tried to escape into the DDR. Not often...but it happened. And those weren't smugglers btw.

[The Feral Underclass]

Go to Yellow Sunshine. It's a vegan fast food place. Get the lapland burger. It's one of the best places in Berlin. It's on Wienerstrasse and is basically across the road and down a bit from U-Gorlitzer Bahnhoff.

Edit: http://www.yellow-sunshine.com/

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

My programme finishes on the Friday. Spending an extra night - anybody know any cheap hostels where one might make friends quickly/party the night away?

I've been to some hostels with lively bars in Austria and Italy, think when I was in Berlin last time I was in a CityHostel in Alexanderplatz and it was dead.

[Art Vandelay]

Wombats City Hostel. The price isn't too bad (although I'm sure there are cheaper ones), has a decent bar and is in a pretty good area of the city.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

^^yeah i've stayed in a couple of other wombats hostels before, they're aite.

Luckily for me the german embassy is putting me up in one of their places at no extra cost. Life's goooooooooood.

[The Feral Underclass]

The German embassy in Berlin? :unsure:

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

they're funding a program for british history teachers in berlin every year, they don't actually run it.

I don't really care who ran it tbh, free flights, accomodation full board, din dins and beer every night and special access to exhibitions in the German Historical Museum and others - golddust to a history teacher.

Berlin was beautiful. :wub:

[The Feral Underclass]

My confusion was with the idea of Germany having an Embassy in Berlin...

Glad you enjoyed it.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

yeah it wasn't fully clear because the program was run by a non-profit in Berlin, but the funding came from official channels. Think it was funded by the foreign office but advertised by the german embassy in london.

Anyone ever looked into studying in Berlin as an international grad student? It has come to my attention that you don't pay tuition fees, but the 3 main Berlin universities' websites are massively unhelpful.

[The Feral Underclass]

Anyone ever looked into studying in Berlin as an international grad student? It has come to my attention that you don't pay tuition fees, but the 3 main Berlin universities' websites are massively unhelpful.

I have considered it. The problem I had at the time was that a) you did have to pay then if you're a foreign student, although I think it's recently just changed thanks to Merkel and b) I am not fluent enough to speak the level of German required to do a university degree and of all the English speaking degree courses, I couldn't find one that appealed to me.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

^^^yeah similar problem, which is a shame because Humboldt university for example is absolutely beautiful and in such a wonderful location. Being a student in Berlin for a year would be incred.