Berlin Beckons
Germany's biggest city is packed with attractions for the weekender.
Next year Berlin celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the infamous wall which separated East from West. With the most successful World Cup in the history of the tournament behind it, this thrusting modern city has entered the 21st century with renewed pride and optimism.
SIGHTSEEING
A symbol of Berlin's rebirth is the ultra-modern Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz, with its glass-fronted cinemas, restaurants and offices stacked high around an oval inner courtyard set under a soaring, canopy-like, suspended roof. (Look out for one of the few traces of old Berlin, the elegant inner wall of the Breakfast Room of the Grand Hotel Esplanade, now protected behind glass to form part of the outside facade of a new apartment building.)
Across the street, Daimler City is a sleek, urban village where Berliners and visitors flock to shop, eat or catch a live show or movie. The IMAX Cinema on Marlene-Dietrich-Platz sells more tickets than any other in the world.
A few hundred metres north of Potsdamer Platz is the renovated Reichstag, once again the seat of German government, redesigned by the English architect Lord Norman Foster. Visitors to the glass rooftop dome are rewarded by superb, panoramic views of the city from the ramped walkway which leads up and around to the roof cafe. In the centre of the dome, a mirrored, typhoon-shaped funnel reflects daylight down into the debating chamber, where a huge German eagle hangs behind the speaker's podium. A free 360° photo map identifies all the major landmarks, including new Government buildings such as the Chancellery, dubbed by locals “the washing machine” for its square, white design and huge, round windows.
Nearby stands the restored Brandenburg Gate, modelled after the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens and topped, appropriately, by a statue of Irene, the Greek goddess of peace. It was here that US President John F. Kennedy voiced his solidarity with the island of freedom in a red sea of Communism by declaring “Ich bin ein Berliner,” and where President Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” Directly in front of the Gate, look for a discreet double row of bricks along the ground marking where the Wall used to stand.
Stretching east from the Brandenburg Gate is the wide shopping boulevard of Unter den Linden (Under the Lime Tees), which runs into Alexanderplatz , the bustling centre of pre-WWII Berlin. Here stands the TV tower, the second highest structure in Europe after the Eiffel Tower and known to locals as the 'Tele Asparagus,' for obvious reasons. From the top you can appreciate why Berlin is Germany's 'greenest' metropolis, with over thirty per cent of its land area covered by parks, woodlands and waterways.
Beyond Alexanderplatz is Karl-Marx-Allee, a long, broad boulevard lined by monumental, eight-storey buildings. East Germany's flagship reconstruction programme after WWII, it was formerly used for May Day parades.
For a look into the dark days when Berlin was split into East and West, head over to the intersection of Friedrichstrasse and Zimmerstrasse, where Checkpoint Charlie was once the main link between the two Berlins. A sand-bagged sentry-box marks the spot, and a fascinating museum, Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, details many of the successful - and otherwise - escape bids. In all, 80 people died trying to escape, of whom 60 were shot by border guards.
A block west, along Niederkirchnerstrasse, a 160-metre long remnant of the Berlin Wall eerily borders the former site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters. Surviving sections of the Wall can also be seen at several other sites. The longest, a 1,300-metre long section at Mühlenstrasse, has been painted by international artists and named the East Side Gallery.
For a glimpse of what old Berlin might have looked like, check out the Nikolaiviertel (Nikolai Quarter), a group of 100 or so rebuilt shops and restaurants beside the River Spree at Mühlendamm.
On the western side of the city is the bustling Kurfürstendamm (or 'Ku-damm' to the locals). Modelled after the Champs-Elysées in Paris, at 3.5 kilometres it is one of the world's longest boulevards. This is also where you'll find the Gedächtnisskirche (Memorial Church), left a ruined shell (or 'hollow tooth', as the Berliners call it) as an anti-war statement.
THE ARTS
As well having more theatres and orchestra than any other city in Germany, Berin is the site of Europe's biggest cultural development, a €1.5 billion project on Museum Island on the River Spree, where an ensemble of five monumental buildings is undergoing refurbishment. The complex has already been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition, the main railway station has been reborn as the New Museum of Contemporary Art, while the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin hosts blockbusters exhibitions by the likes of Paul Klee and Jeff Koons.
SHOPPING
The Hackeshe Höfe off Rosenthaler Strasse is a labyrinth of alleys and courtyards now revitalised as a complex of galleries and boutiques.
Souvenir-hunters should head for Berlinstory (10 Unter den Linden), a memento-stuffed emporium where you can pick up a remnant of the Berlin Wall in the form of a paper weight, clock or wall plaque.
Off Unter den Linden is the revitalised Friedrichstrasse, the pre-WWII heart of Berlin's entertainment scene and now back on track as retail heaven.
Just off the Kurfürstendamm is Europe's biggest department store, Kaufhaus des Westens, or KDW, (pronounced 'Ka-Day-Vay'. It includes the continent's largest food hall, with 400 different types of bread, 1,300 cheeses and 1,200 types of sausage, bacon and ham.
HOW TO GET THERE
Ryanair flies direct from Edinburgh to Berlin on Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday. Fares from £10. Book online at www.ryanair.com.
WHERE TO STAY
Follow the trend of saving money on budget flights and upgrading your hotel. The Hilton Berlin is centrally located on the Baroque Gendarmenmarkt. www.hilton.co.uk/berlin
