Things to do, Berlin

The Mauerpark Flea Market is located in Prenzlauer Berg.

Vendors vary from artists selling paintings and prints to antique dealers to people selling random junk. This large outdoor Flea Market is only open on Sundays. I would recommend at least 2 hours to visit the different vendors, grab a beer and currywurst and maybe listen to some music in the park.

I wish we had spent more time here. I'm not a big shopper, but I enjoyed looking at the varied booths (we bought a couple of photography prints, t-shirts, and an old coffee grinder that my husband just had to have).

on the cold cold winter nights it's nice to spend a ladie's day bathing in the hamam in Kreuzberg. The steambath is my favorite, with small bowls of hot water and fountains and splashing. Hot delicious tea and fruits and chocolates can be consumed in the tea room, while you dry off your feet in the thick rugs and chat and gossip. It's in the basement of a women's collective and one of the nicest ways to spend winter evenings with your lady friends.

Berlin has the reputation of being a dense metropolis, conspiring an uneasy blend of former Soviet 'syeriy' (grey - "monotony") & western modernism. It came as a realisation then, to find what an open, airy, major city it actually is, especially considering, my arrival was in the much maligned, eastern sector...
The most pleasant surprise was to discover the variety of green spaces of all shapes & sizes, dotted throughout the sprawl of buildings & autobahns. Like London, you're never more than a walk away from a park or public garden, where, despite the vicinity of heavy traffic, the noise dissolves & it is possible to delude yourself you are not even in an urban area...
0n a sunny day, Berlin is truly a beautiful capital to be - & I say that as somebody who is about as non-urban as any traveller on this site! If I had to choose a city park bench to spend a spring day, just folk-watching, then Berlin is where I'd choose to go...

It is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810.
Many of the world famous personalities have been professor or lecturers here, including Engels, Marx and Einstein.

Walking passed it on the way to Unter den Linden I was intrigued to enter...!

Karl Marx's words in the entrance translate to:

"Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways, but now it is a matter of changing it"

4 more images

We passed the Siegessäule on the bus although we did not get to actually visit. It was designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War. By the time it was inaugurated on 2 September 1873, Prussia had also defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). These were called the "Unification Wars". The statue of the bronze Victoria designed by Friedrich Drake is on the top.

According to internet sites: Built on a base of polished red granite, the column sits on a hall of pillars with a glass mosaic designed by Anton von Werner.

The column itself consists of four solid blocks of sandstone, three of which are decorated by cannon barrels captured from the enemies of the Unification Wars. The fourth ring was added by Hitler after the Battle of France ended.

..In 1939, the Nazis relocated the column to its present site at the Großer Stern (Great Star), a large intersection on the city axis that leads from the former Berliner Stadtschloss (Berlin City Palace) through the Brandenburg Gate to the western parts of the city. The place it originally stood was heavily bombed by the Allies so it probably would not have survived.

The relief decoration (photo 2) was removed at the request of the French forces in 1945, and without a British-American veto, the French would have dynamited the monument after the war. It was restored for the 750th anniversary of Berlin in 1987 by the French president at that time, François Mitterrand. However, several sections remain in France.

You can visit by walking through one of four tunnels under the heavily trafficked circle, built in 1941 according to the plans of Albert Speer. For a small fee you can climb a steep spiral staircase of 285 steps almost to the top of the column, to just under the statue. From this perspective you can look over the Tiergarten including the Soviet War Memorial, 1946, in line with the Nazi proposed north-south triumphal way by Speer and Hitler.

The Victory Column is open daily: 9:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (April – October), and 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. (November – March).

1 more image

this site tries to collect and display information of various "hidden places" all over Berlin.
It is a city guide for hidden art and points of natural beauty, unusual places of entertainment, secret corners of contemplation and selected shopping tips.

Discover as many as you can by district or theme/interest !

2 more images

Tempelhof is one of the oldest civilian airports and it was designed by the Nazi architect Albert Speer.
It is located inside the city, just next to buildings - which is by itself very funny. It's a tiny airport and it's a pleasure to fly from or to, but even if not - you can just go inside and get impressed by the architecture and the grandeur - and Nazi architecture. It's easy to imagine how it was full of swastikas.
An airport with style.

This is where the west also flew in supply to the sieged Berlin after World War II (Luftbrücke). A monument with explanations are just outside of the airport

U6 to Platz der Luftbrücke and you are just there.

Berlin is full of lakes.
My favorite one is Flughafensee (Airport lake). It's very close to Tegel Airport and you can see airplanes landing and taking off while you're relaxing on the shore of a great lake, or while taking a swim there.
The lake is inside a forest and is absolutely beautiful and not very toured. During the week you'll be here alone more or less.

How to get there? Take U6 to Otisstraße, from which it is a short walk (you go down the station, turn left, cross the big street and you are inside the forest, a short walk and you reach the lake).

Absolutely great.

there are plenty of reasons to visit berlin and its environs. for whichever one of these you have in mind, unwrapping history can offer you just the right tour. group- or individualtours, tours with basic information or customized for special wishes - unwrapping history can make you an offer for all these requests. there is no wish they cannot grant. just try them.

We had our own guide in Martin who met us at the hotel.
Contact Martin on martin at unwrapping history

in this are of Berlin there were all the embassies after the First World War,and was one of the most luxurious of the city. but during the Second they were at most destroyed and most of them left to Bonn. After the unit of Germany with the Wall’s fall, the embassies were rebuild( and very important architects were called ) ,and some of them take the original position of the Start of XX century.
so, this one of the best path i’ ve ever done in my life. Starting from Grossern Stern , in the heart of Tiegarten, in which there is la Siegessaule( Victory’s column ), you have to go straight on Hofjagerallee and see the first of the Nordic counties’ embassy, in blue. I suggest to visit it in late day, so you can see it a crystal, thanks to the faboulous lights’ playing. It ’s really suggestive. Next , exactly near this embassy ,you will find the Mexican embassy, even wonderful, with two thin colomn on the both sides of the glass entrance. Turn left on Von der Heydt strasse ( at the corner you will seen the CDU house- one of the most important party of Germany, it seems as big boat) and then turn again left to Hiroshimastrasse , when there is of course the Japanese embassy and the Italian ones (it’s PINK!!) ,both with features of Nazism’s architecture.
At the end of Hiroshimastrasse, turn right to Tiegartenstrasse and check the Southern Africa embassy, the Austrian( one of the best )and the Egyptian( with some pictures from ancient Egypt) .
Then reach easily the Kulturforum or go to the near Potsdamer Platz.