alright, if you don't have to run to the embassy for one document or another, Berlin "behaves" just like London, Paris or Madrid: it's busy, it wants to consume you and it takes you from A to B at the speed of light because of its great public transportation system. of course, alexanderplatz or kurfuersten damm are very well known, but nothing compares to the brandenburger gate as far as sights to see are concerned. you feel that this is the place where history was written and you remember vividly everything you've seen about the german reunion when you walk through the gate - i always get shivers because if it wasn't for the reunion, you couldn't walk this way.

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The Reichstag not only offers visiters an amazing history of this facinating city, it also offers one of the best views and is one of the best sites. The glass dome on the top of the Reichstag is a contemporary twist on a beautiful historical feature that unfortunatly didn't survive World War 2. Russian graffiti covered the walls after the wall and little of the origional dome was left. What was built in its place is an amazing feat of engineering and artistic beauty, the Reichstags glass dome. Well worth a visit and the spiraling walk to the top, a truely unique site

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Alexanderplatz is like the heart of Berlin Mitte - you won´t find much traffic there, just trams, trains and pedestrians. It´s bustling with people! I´ve never seen such a busy place before (which might be because I´m a country bumpkin ;) ) but so many people feel the same. The history goes back to the 13th century when a hospital was built exactly where temain plaza is today. Some famous germans like Lessing or Heinrich von Kleist lived at this place for a while :) In World War II it was badly destroyed. Today you can find everything there - discos, bars, cafes, shops and so on. Defenately worth a visit!

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What a fascinating city - Berlin. We stayed at the Marriot Hotel which is only a 5 minute walk from the Kollhoff-Building. Our main aim was to see how has Berlin changed after 'the wall' fell if at all. Let me put it this way - I fell in love with Berlin. Reasons, well - it has become so cosmopolitan. Signs of that is mainly in Potsdamer Platz which is the business (city) district. There were hardly any old buildings left (probably flattened during the 2nd world war) so you see mainly new glass sky skrapers everywhere. If you look closely or rather on the floor at your feet there is long line marking where the wall was throughout the whole city - where it started and where it ends. The irony of it was it appeared that half of our hotel was originally in the West and the other half in the East. Strange as it may seem but we found out that the split of East and West was not actually a direction of East and West but more the indication that the West meant belonging to USA and East - the Russian side. A few meters away from our hotel was a small portion of what is left of 'The Wall' with grafitti drawn on it which had strong politican connotations (still left there as a reminder to us all). That felt rather eerie. Although the whole city is trying hard to rebuild and struggling slightly by the looks of it probably due to lack of funding there is a hint of a need to hide their past... We took to the city tour and there was no mention of the war. It was as if they are ashamed of it. My husband and I went to Albert Strasse (the old Gestapo HQ) which is flattened but there are pictures and explanations wrtten on the walls (all open air as the building no longer exists but the site is still preserved), of victims/prisoners and what happened there (by the way you will need at least 5hrs if you read through them all). Naively we asked where is the site of Hitler's last 'resting place' which they refused to even acknowledge... So we had to track the place ourselves and I believe we found it... a non-descript empty space that had been demolised and filled over. Anyway back to modern time look for an Australian bar in Potsdamer Platz which advertises 'Happy Hour'. The happy hour starts at 7pm and finishes at 2am. The first time we noticed it was on our walk back from the U-Bahn station (underground trains) multi-coloured neon lights flashing with English words... Like moths to light we headed straight for it at 9pm. A shriek of delight upon reading the cocktail menu (which had about 150 different types of cocktails) mainly priced between £2.50 - £5 per drink. Hooray!!! we thought what a good end to the night and only 5minutes stagger to our hotel. 5hrs later we staggered past the Sony Building and the Kolhoff Building - completely empty streets - to our hotel. Happy Days!!! The next morning nurse a hang over at Dunkin Donuts with you know what and lovely hot cup of coffee and that did the trick. Berlin really is very hip but we did not have much time to do everything we wanted to do... so we are heading back there again. It is a must go place for everything, e.g. countryside, shows (by the way whilst we were The Blue Men Group were performing), culture, history, food (German pubs are excellent) and the Steins are lovely.

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Hop off the train (S- or U-Bahn) at Warschauer Strasse and stroll down to the river. There you will find the start of the last mile long section of Berlin Wall to still stand. Stretching the length of Muehlenstrasse on the east bank of the Spree River, the Wall is a sombre reminder of the East/West division at the height of the cold war. The artwork that remains has been graffitied in many places, but I could still feel the emotions embedded in each symbolic picture. Walking along that cold mile of Wall is something that I will recommend to everyone. Give yourself time to walk it at your own pace, to be burdened with the emotions of the past, and to respect those that have lost in times of history's less honorable moments. Feel your freedom, and hope that it is never lost the way it was in that time, that place.

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honestly...it's nice up there but it is way to expensive and there is usually a long, long line in front of the elevator! not to be recommended.

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The old access point which allied troops used to move between West Berlin and East Germany . It is here that their vehicles were scanned and searched for stow-aways from East Berlin . The museum here contains photos, relics and history on this check point and the people involved and is a must! Open Daily (9am -10 pm) the closest metro stop is stadtmitte.

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Berliner Zoo can be a great starting point to fetch public Bus #100 or #200 that will enable you to hop on/off Berlin main attraction points for EUR 2.5 only that is valid for two hours. The route covers Reichstag, Berliner Dome, Brandenburger Tor, Sony Center, KuDam, and the main surroundings around the city center. There is also an hourly bike rental if you would like to explore the city this way, as a good alternative to DB rental in Postdamer Platz.

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a very speciall building wich was built in the year 2000. With his couple it symbols the holy mountain of Japan, the Fujian. In this building complex, you would find a lot of restaurants, shops and a little LEGO-Land. Have Fun

More user reviews for Sony Centre

Stunning Street, foreign embassies to boot, a bank designed by Frank Gehry, meeting point for various tours and Number one stop for all travellers going to Berlin, so be wary of pickpockets and avoid giving beggars who approach you money as they may follow you for up to an hour.

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