BERLIN
GERMANY’S capital, all optimism, energy, and excitement, is buzzing, a generation after the Wall came down in 1989. This mix of parks, power bikes, pop-up shops and bold architecture next to restored landmarks is Europe’s third-most visited city, after London and Paris.
DAY ONE MORNING
Unified Berlin has no obvious centre. But anywhere is within easy reach with a Berlin Welcome
Card for travel on buses and trains costing €19.90 for 48 hours for an adult and three children. You can buy at home and print it out (visitberlin.de/en). Another option is to hire an electric bike.
The Reederei Riedel boat tour (one hour, reederei-riedel.de) on the river Spree gives a introductory close-up of many of the city’s buildings.
No other European metropolis offers such an uncluttered view into its heart.
Berlin, ravaged by World War and Cold War, has been a blank canvas for architects and designers. Two landmarks proclaim the born-again city. The main railway station, the Hauptbahnhof, is a five-level thrill, under a vast arch of soaring steel and glass. And it’s a short stroll to the rebuilt
Reichstag (Parliament Building), under Norman Foster’s sparkling glass dome. Stop for coffee at the rooftop Käfer garden restaurant. (feinkost-kaefer.de/berlin). Then on to the heart of Berlin’s elegant, restored Prussian heritage, anchored around the monumental Brandenburg Gate, and along Unter den Linden. There’s a musical gem here, the old opera house, Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Wonderfully restored, it reopened late last year.
AFTERNOON
It’s a short walk to the Neues
Museum, rebuilt to the plans of architect David Copperfield. Star exhibit is the 3,300-year-old bust of Nefertiti, the only ancient Egyptian relic worthy of compare to Tutankhamun’s mask (smb. museum). It is one of a rich clutch of collections on Museum Island. Checkpoint Charlie was too much the theme park for my taste. East
Side Gallery on Mühlenstrasse is the better divided-city memorial. A surviving stretch of the despised Berlin Wall is festooned with the work of many artists. It’s not far to 19grams at Schlesische Strasse 38, a good example of the city’s ‘third wave’ coffee shops. The
3 Schwestern (Three Sisters) on Mariannenplatz serves hearty and not too pricey regional fare.
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra’s splendid Symphonie Hall, all vivid yellow cladding, is another pinnacle of the arts (berlinerphilharmoniker.de).
DAY TWO MORNING
Berlin faces up to its past in a series of impressive monuments and museums. The Holocaust
Memorial in Cora-Berliner Strasse is stark and shocking, a claustrophobic grid of 2,711 grey slabs, one for each page of the Talmud, the book of Jewish law. A searing reminder of Nazi mind-control is the Book Burning Memorial on Bebelplatz. Beneath a glass panel is a bare room full of empty shelves, space for the 20,000 books burnt here on May 10, 1933.
Lift your mood in one of the city’s many fine parks. Closest to the centre is the Tiergarten, with its gleaming Victory Column. The baroque Charlottenburg Palace Gardens are more formal, while the biggest is the former airport, Tempelhofer Feld.
AFTERNOON
Berlin’s newest attraction is the
Futurium on Alexanderufer. This (almost) zero-energy building looks, with vision and hope, to all our futures (futurium.de).
Then it is time for some retail therapy with a difference. Bikini
Berlin on Budapester Strasse (bikiniberlin.de) is an airy shopping centre, its theme good taste, design and exhibitions.
Short tenancies ensure a flow of fresh projects and products, from small German studios and workshops.
There is a free view from the café on the roof into the adjoining
Berlin Zoo. Nearby is Kurfürstendamm (‘Ku’Damm’), one of Europe’s premier shopping streets, two miles long and 55 yards wide. Just off it is LiteraturHaus restaurant at Fasanenstrasse 23, combining good food and books.
Berlin’s club and bar scene is legendary. A good place for a highup, late evening drink (and city views) is the Monkey Bar on the tenth floor of Bikini Berlin.