Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

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This popular Berlin site deserves all its praise. A visit to Berlin would not be complete without at least a short walk through the Sony Center. Look up and around to experience the beauty of glass, steel and color in contemporary architecture. With so many huge, impersonal buildings going up in cities across the globe, it is refreshing to find a place that welcomes and is designed for pedestrian appreciation. You can take a ride up the elevator next to the Film museum for a free view of everything from high up. Or just have a coffee in one of the several cafes and soak in the atmosphere.

Although I have not visited the Legoland Discovery Centre myself, I think I should at least tell you that it exists. It opened in 2007 in the basement of the Sony Centre at Potsdamer Platz. The great thing about it is that it is open year-round, as it is indoor, and does not have to be closed over winter like open-air Legoland in Günzburg (Bavaria) which I know well because it is so close to my former home town of Ulm.

So if you travel with children, and you have to make them enjoy a rainy day, this might be the perfect place to go to. (Of course, it is also great for grown-up children like you and me...)

The Discovery Centre extends over two floors, and covers 3500 square metres. It cost 7 million Euro and was built within 6 months only.

The centre includes six so-called adventure worlds (Erlebniswelten), including a 4D cinema, miniland Berlin with the capital's most famous landmarks, an interactive Lego fabric, a big building and test centre, a jungle trail, and a roller coaster ride through a dragon castle. All animals, buildings, plants etc. are made of legos. In total they used about 5 million bricks to build this Lego wonderland.

As said, I didn't visit the Berlin site but if it is only half a good as the one in Günzburg it is still magic.

Opening hours
Daily (except Christmas Day) 10am - 7pm (last admission 5pm); retail store open until 7pm.

Admission

Adult: 14.95 €
Child: 11,95 €
Seniors: 13,95 €
Children under 3y are free.

( I do not know if they find those prices funny or if they just think people are stupid...)

How to get there

By bus: M48, 200, 357 Station Varian-Fry-Straße; M41, Station Potsdamer Platz

By train: U2, S1, S2, S25, RE3, RE4, RE5, Station Potsdamer Platz

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On Potsdamer Platz you can't miss the impressive Sony Center with its unusual dome.
The center is composed of 7 buildings made of steel and glass, each one with its own unique shape; a large plaza in their center, with a pool and fountain; and the whole structure is topped above by the spectacular roof / dome, which is made to resemble Mt. Fuji.

It is snow-white by day, and from dusk until late at night it glows in purple and blue, in a cycle that alternates every 21 seconds. The ilumination was designed to highlight the roof structure of glass, steel and fabric.
The construction of the Sony Center took place between 1996-2000.

The place is bustling with life at all times, day and night. There are apartments, shops, restaurants, cafes and also the German Filmhaus with its Film Museum and the IMAX 3D theater (open daily 10:30 AM - 9:30 PM).

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There are those who like the way Potsdamer Platz was developed, and there are those who don't. I definitely belong to the former, what about you? Go and check it out yourself and then write your own tip!

Potsdamer Platz was developed in the 19th century, and by the 1920s it is said to have been the busiest square in Europe. It was almost completely destroyed during World War II, and was re-developed and rebuilt in the 1990s.
There was a heated discussion between architects about the style (and height) of the proposed new buildings in this very central square in Berlin, where west and east meet. Those architects who favored ultra-modern, daring high-rise buildings prevailed, and the result is stunning.

Besides admiring the feats of modern architecture, you can:
- Take the elevator to the Panoramapunkt viewing platform. and see East and West Berlin from a height of 100m.
- Look at the symbolic Berlin Wall fragments with their colorful grafitti and read some information about the wall.
- Fall into a tourist trap and have your passport stamped with an East Berlin stamp by a guy dressed in a DDR uniform.
- Enter the huge shopping and entertainmemt complex of Sony Center (see my Sony Center tip).
- Use the Potsdamer Platz as a starting point to tour the many nearby attractions: Brandenburger Tor, Tiergarten, Holocaust Memorial, Reichstag, the Kulturforum, Marlene Dietrich Square with its restaurants and clubs.

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In 20 seconds the fastest elevator in Europe will take you to the viewing platform of the DaimlerChrysler Quartier. It provides a fascinating view over the entire city. The panoramapunkt on the top is located directly on the line of the former Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz. The cost is 3.50 euro. Opening hours are daily from 11am - 8pm

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Here there is Sony Center, DaimlerChrysler building, and DeutschBahn HQ. Sony Center should be your main attraction. You can enter under the giant umbrella, a Godsend on a cold day! Many fun stuff to do here, besides just gazing upward at the awe-inspiring cone. This must have been a part of west germany if i had to guess :P

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Before World War II, the Potsdamer Platz was the heart of Berlin and a very busy square. During the war it was heavily damaged, and when the Wall was built next to the square, remaining buildings were pulled down to make way for the Wall's death strip. The place was neglected for many years. After the reunification it was renovated and became back a vibrant square, full of shops, bars, cafés, restaurants and many modern buildings. If you like modern architecture, don't miss this square.

One of the modern buildings that I liked most was the Sony Center. It consists of several buildings surrounding an inner courtyard which is covered by an amazing tent-like roof made from steel and glass. Come here at night to see the impressive lighting.

The square is located about 1 km south of the Brandenburger Tor.

This glimmering and glittering square is the symbol of the new Berlin, and its new centre at the site of an historic centre. It has risen from nothing. Well, not really nothing… The area was occupied by the Wall, so was a kind of no man’s land on the western side and the death strip in the east. Incredible if you think that this square – in fact a whole quarter of about 50 hectares - had been a hub of busy city life, entertainment and culture for more than 200 years before World War II. In 1900 there were 92 restaurants, 10 distilleries, 13 cafés and 36 pubs. It attracted the rich and the famous, and became Europe’s busiest square.

To fill the after-war and Wall wasteland with life again was a big challenge, and a real prestige project. World-famous enterprises invested incredible amounts of money into innovative buildings since 1995, star-architects created 19 building complexes. The first massive high-rise inaugurated was the DaimlerChrysler complex in 1998. However, the Sony Center with its circus-like marquee has become the most photographed structure in the meantime.

Berlin’s biggest shopping centre (Arkaden), a multiplex cinema, an IMEX cinema, a musical theatre, the Philharmonie, a casino, hotels, a movie museum, and plenty of cafés and restaurants attract locals and visitors alike. Europe’s fastest lift takes people to the viewing platform of the DaimlerChrysler complex, 93 metres above the ground.

To me, Potsdamer Platz is an agglomeration of architectural masterpieces, where you admire the art of architecture, technology, and innovation. However, I did not feel the need to stay for a coffee. Ok, I would not have rejected a drink in one of the indoor-outdoor cafés of the Sony Centre but I do not feel the need to spend a lot of time in such ultra-modern atmosphere, with ultra-professional people around me, and hotel staff in tails and with stovepipe hats bowing low in front of their customers, like at the Ritz-Carlton in the art-deco Beisheim Centre. Everything seems a bit far away from real life.