enviroian

I'm thinking of heading to Berlin over thanksgiving. I've never been but love history, beer, and sausage. I was thinking of flying in my mom for a few days. Do you think there is enough there that would interest her or are all the museums war related?

Are there any fights from Gatwick to Germany?

FliesWay2Much

I was just there for four days in June. There are tons of things to do that focus on 20th century history. If she's of my generation (60+ Boomer) she has lived through the divided Germany era and might be really into that part of Germany's history. There are some excellent theme-based walking tours that leave from the Starbuck's near Brandenberg Gate. There is a fairly new DDR Museum that interactively displays life in Communist East Germany. There is the Stasi Museum at the former HQ complex. And then, of course, there is the wall. There is a private Checkpoint Charlie Museum that documents, among other things, daring stories of successful and failed escape attempts. There is an entire floor dedicated to Kennedy and an entire floor dedicated to Reagan. On each floor is a television continuously playing their speeches. We only hear the famous sound bytes today, but the speeches in their entirety were nothing short of brilliant. For me, having lived through and participated in the Cold War in the USAF, being there was nothing short of incredible and humbling.

There are art museums and concerts as well, but those weren't my main interest this time around. Frankly, it's very hard to escape either the Nazi or the Communist history in Berlin, because both of them combined with WWI lasted about 100 years in total.

I forgot to mention that TXL is a terribly old and overcrowded airport for a national capital city.

tom911

Visit the Technikmuseum- everything from locomotives to photography to airplanes. They have a pretty large maritime exhibit but left that for another date.









More photos: https://tom911.smugmug.com/Travel-Eu...museum-Berlin/

You can also visit the East Side Gallery:



Berlin is just one of those places I never run out of new things to do.

Yahillwe

Berlin is a fun city, and even if she doesn't like doing whatever, being with her son is enough for a mother.

AlienInTheFatherland

easyjet and Norwegian both fly to SXF ex LGW

csufabel

Ian loves to use OMNI as his personal blog...again.

Why is this one OMNI material since flying to Berlin (& such activities) were specifically asked about?

Yahillwe

So Ian, why Berlin and not Paris?

She'd love it here, I can give you a 101 things that she could do and enjoy.

VivoPerLei

Maybe he wanted to solicit opinions from posters he regularly converses with and trusts? Let's be honest, some of those destination forums are where good threads go to die.

enviroian

You hit the nail on the head in both counts. Yes since I converse with many well traveled world travelers on OMNI I thought to seek advice there. There are some forums that threads get moved to that well, die from lack of getting attention.

kerflumexed

Seems to me this thread fit the omni raisan dru extra. Made me think about good times, good food there before the wall came down, and flying on pan am igs service restricted to 10,000 feet. I remember having the pilots point out the Sam sites as we flew along the corridor (I was in the jump seat up front).

tcook052

Maybe if more members used them they wouldn't.

I quite enjoyed a visit to Museumsinsel (Museum Island) and especially the Pergamon Museum. So much to see and do in this city for a short visit.

Ber2dca

People tend to focus too much on the 20th century with Berlin. Of course it is a paradise for a 'fan' of that era and noteworthy to those who lived through it. But Berlin was founded in 1237 and has more to offer than Nazi and Commie stuff.

Anyone into 18th century architecture has to be intrigued by Berlin, there's great museums (above mentioned Museum Island is a European treasure) and great galleries. The Gemaeldegallerie has a great collection of old masters.

The only people who I've found to not be impressed by Berlin are those who come to Germany thinking Disney Castle and the Sound of Music, because it's not *that* Germany (and yes I'm aware the Sound of Music was set in Austria and thus not within the boundaries of modern Germany).

aztimm

The Hamburger Bahnhof was definitely a hidden gem.

Tons of different artwork, and don't even attempt to see everything in one visit. We went late one afternoon (they were open until 8pm on Thursdays) and must have spent at least 3 hours there. Almost got lost at one point, the museum goes back into some old train tunnels.
http://www.smb.museum/en/museums-and...nhof/home.html

The main Berlin station is worth looking at also. Quite impressive.

Tanya934

We enjoyed visiting Museum Insel as it gave us a choice of what to see. A must, as a previous post has said, is the Pergamon Museum. We also found the film museum fascinating and you can rent audioguides in English to help you enjoy your visit. Although there is a lot of focus on 20th century history, it is not the be all and end all of the city and you will find something to suit most tastes, including a relaxing trip on the river if the weather is nice.

DavidDTW

I haven't heard of any further delays lately, so unless that happens, BER is supposed to open in 2017. (Only 5 years behind schedule!)