gavino200 Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 (edited) I'm visiting Germany this March for about two weeks. I haven't made a final itinerary, but I have a general list of things to do and some daytrips. If any of you know Germany, can you give your opinion. What things would you add? Is there anything on the list you think is not so good. Also, if you could recommend any outstanding restaurants (fancy, ordinary, or hole-in-the-wall). Can you recommend some train related things? We like a range of things - art, culture, history, factory tours, odd and bizarre things. We're staying in Prenzlauer (Berlin) and Otzenstraße (Hamburg) (technically St. Pauli but far enough from the Reeperbahn, I hope) Berlin (in no particular order) Museum of Technology / Deutsches Technikmuseum (definite) Spymuseum (probably) Hackesche Höfe (probably) Charlottenburg Palace (Maybe) KaDeWe Bundestag DDR Museum (definite) Walk the wall, and Mauermuseum Berlin Museum of Medical History at the Charité (definite) Extavium Alexanderplatz, Fernsehtürum, and Siegesaule. Trainstores to buy a souvenir german n scale train. Would like to see a show too but haven't researched this yet. Berlin daytrips (Definitely one - maybe two) Wolkswagen factory tour in Wolfsburg (definite) Quedlinburg, - Castle and steam train Hamburg things to do Planten un Blomen/ Stadtpark (might be too cold but we'll play it by ear) Miniature Wunderland (of course) Harbor boat tour Chocoversum by Hachez (chocolate museum) definite Museum of arts and crafts Hochbahn Bunker Maritime museum Train stores - probably just looking Speicherstadt/ Hafen city Hamburg daytrips Lübeck (train there and a friend will drive me back to H on the Autobahn) Bremerhaven - Klimahaus (definite) Edited February 17, 2018 by gavino200 Link to comment
Khaul Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 Try a currywurst from a kiosk under the U-bahn tracks! And well, other than that peculiar snack you can find nice affordable food in Berlin. Vietnamese is particularly good. A visit to Sachsenhausen concentration camp is a bleak but interesting thing to do. Link to comment
gavino200 Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 Yes, I'll definitely grab a Currywurst, and some Vietnamese, and Turkish food. Also, my wife is a vegetarian and is excited about how many vegetarian restaurants there are in Berlin. Regarding SH, I'll give it a miss. I visited Dachau when I was a kid, which is much better preserved. But, mainly, it's years since I stopped associating Germany with all that. It's an amazing country with awesome culture and people. I'd rather focus on that. Link to comment
gavino200 Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 (edited) I think I found the perfect little German steam train adventure :) https://www.hsb-wr.de/en/experience-more/ Question: Is there a website (with reviews maybe) that Germans use to find restaurants? I see that Yelp covers Germany but appears to be all in English, so I'm guessing it's used but expats and tourists. Anyone know of a local equivalent? Edited January 16, 2018 by gavino200 Link to comment
Khaul Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Oh, the Harz railway looks fantastic! You may also want to consider the small railways in the Frisian islands, http://www.4rail.net/reference_germany_nsrails1.php, a few other here https://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/the-german-east-frisian-islands-railways-interurbans-all-the-same/. There is also the Molli railway not that far from Berlin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molli_railway. Link to comment
gavino200 Posted February 16, 2018 Author Share Posted February 16, 2018 This should be fun. I don't think I've ever been on a "full-size" steam train before. http://www.hamburg-heide-harz.de/fotoalben/harz/brockenbahn.shtml I also, just bought our tickets for Miniatur Wunderland today!! Link to comment
Suica Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 (edited) On 16.1.2018 at 5:45 AM, gavino200 said: Question: Is there a website (with reviews maybe) that Germans use to find restaurants? I see that Yelp covers Germany but appears to be all in English, so I'm guessing it's used but expats and tourists. Anyone know of a local equivalent? Tripadvisor Edited February 16, 2018 by Suica 1 Link to comment
Yavianice Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 My advice: Skip Charlottenburg and go to Potsdam instead as a daytrip. Also in Berlin is a nice japanese Tempura restaurant (with actual japanese staff) if you are interested (near S-Bahn Savignyplatz): http://www.kushinoya.de/ Link to comment
railsquid Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 Lived in Berlin for 17 years and never once went inside the Charlottenburg palace. Is Udagawa (the one on Kantstr.) still there? Link to comment
disturbman Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 7 hours ago, railsquid said: Lived in Berlin for 17 years and never once went inside the Charlottenburg palace. That is quite normal, when you live somewhere you don't do the usual attractions. Many Parisians never went up the Eiffel Tower or to the Louvre. There is a lot of Japanese restaurants owned by Japanese in Berlin, and quite a lot of good ones. I can recommend a number of addresses. For example Cocolo in Kreuzberg or Mitte that produce its own ramen noodles. Or Mamecha café in Mitte. Berlin is no Düsseldorf but still, there is a big community. Link to comment
gavino200 Posted February 17, 2018 Author Share Posted February 17, 2018 On 2/16/2018 at 3:46 AM, Yavianice said: My advice: Skip Charlottenburg and go to Potsdam instead as a daytrip. Also in Berlin is a nice japanese Tempura restaurant (with actual japanese staff) if you are interested (near S-Bahn Savignyplatz): http://www.kushinoya.de/ We're going to Potsdam, but only to visit Extavium. I was interested in Sanssouci and the new palace. But my wife isn't into it. I thought I might visit Charlottenburg to get my "palace fix". But I may skip it. I'll check out the restaurant. What are some of your other favorite restaurants? Not necessarily Japanese. Link to comment
gavino200 Posted February 17, 2018 Author Share Posted February 17, 2018 22 hours ago, disturbman said: That is quite normal, when you live somewhere you don't do the usual attractions. Many Parisians never went up the Eiffel Tower or to the Louvre. There is a lot of Japanese restaurants owned by Japanese in Berlin, and quite a lot of good ones. I can recommend a number of addresses. For example Cocolo in Kreuzberg or Mitte that produce its own ramen noodles. Or Mamecha café in Mitte. Berlin is no Düsseldorf but still, there is a big community. I'll put those places on my google maps. Thanks. What other restaurants would you recommend? Not necessarily Japanese. Link to comment
disturbman Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 There is plenty. Depends what you are up for and where you will be. I mostly can recommend restaurants in and around the southeastern quadrant of the inner city. Which is not really a tourist attraction, except perhaps for the western side of Tempelhofer Feld. Which by the way, you apparently can book visits of the old Tempelhof airport. I have heard it is pretty interesting. There is also the famous "subway cabrio" if you want to travel through Berlin's subway tunnels on a passenger flatcar. Link to comment
gavino200 Posted February 22, 2018 Author Share Posted February 22, 2018 3 hours ago, disturbman said: There is also the famous "subway cabrio" if you want to travel through Berlin's subway tunnels on a passenger flatcar. That looks amazing!! I'll try to get tickets. Link to comment
gavino200 Posted February 22, 2018 Author Share Posted February 22, 2018 (edited) Unfortunately it looks like the ride is only offered from April to October. Damn! This is exactly the kind of thing we love doing. I wonder if there's something similar in Hamburg. I'll do a bit of searching. I just booked our factory tour of the VW plant by phone today. The lady was kind enough to let me stumble through the conversation in German, even though when saying goodbye it was clear that her English was perfect. Edited February 22, 2018 by gavino200 1 Link to comment
gavino200 Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 (edited) And off we go. Thanks everyone for the ideas and suggestions. I'll post some German train pictures. Edited March 3, 2018 by gavino200 3 Link to comment
chadbag Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 11 hours ago, gavino200 said: And off we go. Thanks everyone for the ideas and suggestions. I'll post some German train pictures. Bon Voyage! or maybe Gute Reise! is more apropos! I am pretty "jealous". 1 Link to comment
gavino200 Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 (edited) Some random German train pics for y'all :) Edited March 31, 2018 by gavino200 5 Link to comment
gavino200 Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 (edited) Edited March 31, 2018 by gavino200 4 Link to comment
gavino200 Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 (edited) Edited March 31, 2018 by gavino200 6 Link to comment
chadbag Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Interesting to see the narrow gauge railway. 1 Link to comment
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