Berlin in 94 hours, an Experience Tour of the Future? Ruud Tompot |
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Berlin is ‘a breathtaking experience’, a city in which current developments and history go hand in hand. An E-Tour to Berlin is not only changing your way of thinking but also saying goodbye to former days without turning your back to past emotions.
German cities aren’t his most popular destinations for city trips, Berlin is different. Just like New York comparing to the rest of the United States, Berlin has another dimension than the other parts of Germany. Berlin is ‘a breathtaking experience’, a city in which current developments and history go hand in hand. An Exp-Tour to Berlin is not only changing your way of thinking but also saying goodbye to former days without turning your back to past emotions. After 4 days of Berlin you realize that things happened there in the past, which you knew of, but not fully impressed you as it did once you visited several museums and experienced it on the streets.
Berlin is history and future and visiting the latest innovations does not make sense when you do not know what happened in its past.
Berlin is new, renewing and always moving. Berlin is cheap and German, which is nice in its own kind of way. When you did not visit Berlin before the fall of the wall you can feel ‘death sorry’ for yourself, because you cannot see how much the city has changed.
Berlin is an ‘every year must see’ experience, a thrilling visit where you can experience the German people at best. They are willing to innovate in order to change their past and are developing a ‘creative economy’, which you cannot understand in 94 hours. The question I always asks myself while visiting big cities: can I live here? In case of Berlin, the answer is definitely yes.
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Berlin just like I see it, read about my personal “berlin experience” below…
Berlin. Reborn after years of standstill the city is more living and exiting than ever. The ongoing restructuring of especially the formal East makes the city one of Europe’s biggest construction sites but still a city to like and even like more. Without putting history aside the city breathes the young and dynamic in an unpretentious yet progressive way. To be able to experience the city to its full potential is not that difficult. You don’t have to search for your ultimate city experience, on every corner it is waiting for you…
Understand more of Berlin and its history by hiring a guide and make a walk through the city. While starting at the Berliner Dom, down one of Berlins most famous streets Unter den Linden right towards the Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag Gebäude you get a feeling of what kind of city Berlin was over the last centuries. Finishing with visiting the controversial holocaust memorial by Peter Eisenman (2711 concrete blocks which cover a total surface as big as three football fields…impressive) you know Berlin is a city coping with his history everyday.
Go for a beer in the Lindebrau brewery situated in the Sony Center at the Potzdammer Platz. Sony initiated the construction of this big complex after the fall of the wall when Potzdammer Platz was nothing but a big empty place. Nowadays Potzdammer Platz is one of the modern hot spots in town where big companies settle important offices.
Visit the formal West Berlin by walking through the Kurfürstendamm and discover the old charm and the differences compared to the formal East. Take some streets on your left hand and right hand side and uncover hidden shops and beautiful patio gardens.
Gather information about the Berlin Wall and its history start with a walk through the Freiderich Strasse with a lot of (international) shops and flagship stores. Walk straightforward and you will find the famous Checkpoint Charlie with Das Haus am Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall Museum. While being in the neighbourhood visit the Jüdisch Museum situated in a surprising building designed by Daniel Liebeskind.
Experience the ‘old raw East’ in the area between the Scheunen Viertel and the Prenzlauer Berg together with the young and creative. Have a great coffee at Lois (Linienstrasse 60), only a few square meters to enjoy the best Italian coffee in all its varieties. The interior first seems to be designish and new. But when you have a better look it is just concrete combined with second hand (?) furniture. On the other side of the street you find a huge graveyard surrounded by large walls, Berlin contradicts on every corner.
Shop in and near the Hackesche Höfe. You have to visit the Neue Schönhauserstrasse, with lots of fashionable stores and nice restaurants.
For the ultimate shopping experience visit the Hugo Boss store in the Max-Beer-Strasse (don’t confuse the store with another Hugo Boss store just one street away in the Rosentahlstrasse). On the outside no Hugo Boss logo can be found, the white painted piles of tires and a demolished car in the window attracted me to go in. Firstly the changing rooms really took my attention. The first was covered in flowerpots with the sound of birds in a peacefull surrounding. The second was just decorated like the sitting room my grandmother use to have her tea in and the last looked like an oldfashioned bathroom complete with the sound of someone brushing his teeth. At this point I already loved the shop but the best was yet to come. While walking the stairs to the basement I entered what seems to be a “private changing area�, complete with nice carpet, couches and changing room. In another basement some art was presented: two jackets were hugging (!) each other in the middle of the room with 12 pictures around them of the same jackets in different poses. To recover your breath, have a nice drink at the bar, called 2BO-Bare ‘Style Food’, in the middle of the store.
Eat: you are in the right place in Berlin too. Food is cheap and good. Eat with the tourists at the Kartoffel Keller (Potatoes Basement) and get surprise by the menu on which every dish contains potatoes (yes, deserts and even some drinks too!). For a dinner in the alternative Berlin go to Keyser Soze, good food in a relax and friendly atmosphere. To meet some younger crowd visit the Lola Lounge, one of Berlins most famous clubs with a simple menu for Asian style food in a lounge setting.
The impressions above are just an example of the things Berlin has to offer…Experience the city and get addicted…
Berlin lives…