Berlin fusion: Energy, art and nightlife
Berlin's landmark Brandenburg Gate Credit: AP File, 2007
A funny thing happened on the way to 21st century: Berlin became cool.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the German capital has been rebuilt with an extraordinary mix of modern architecture, frankness about its past and an abundance of artistic energy.
Once neglected, war-damaged areas in the heart of Berlin have sprouted new museums, art galleries and design houses. Art and film festivals attract droves of young creatives -- making this Europe's cultural hot spot. In the city's hippest areas, there's a palpable vibe; think New York's SoHo 30 years ago.
Hotels and restaurants -- with lots of Asian, vegetarian and fusion influences -- remain cheap by the standards of New York or most European capitals. Getting around is easy, thanks to an efficient subway system (which operates on the honor system, without turnstiles) and bicycle lanes on the city's wide sidewalks. (Bike rentals are easy to find at about $15 a day.)
Seeing Berlin means exploring its diverse patchwork of neighborhoods, which often blend stately prewar buildings and monuments with dreary 1960s housing blocks, sleek new glass-and-steel structures with funky graffiti-covered art houses, and pastoral parks with a hefty dose of rock culture, cafes and nightlife. Here's a guide to some unexpected attractions in the new Berlin:
POTSDAMER PLATZ
Once Berlin's answer to Times Square, Potsdamer Platz was, in the decades following World War II, a vast, vacant wasteland straddling the border of East and West. Since reunification, it's become the sleek new center of the city, with restaurants, cafes, shopping centers and soaring glass towers. At Potsdamer's core is the Sony Center -- a high-tech urban square covered by a floating steel-and-glass roof. The center's chief cultural attraction is the Film Museum (Potsdamer Strasse 2, deutsche-kinemathek.de), which documents German cinema's early pioneers, Hollywood emigres, Nazi propaganda and postwar renaissance. The museum houses the Marlene Dietrich collection, with original photographic prints by Cecil Beaton and Edward Steichen, films, letters, costumes and Dietrich's vast collection of hats. You'll also find an IMAX Theater and an outpost of Legoland.
EAST SIDE GALLERY: INTERNATIONAL MEMORIAL FOR FREEDOM
Mühlenstrasse, between Warschauer Strasse and Ostbanhof metro stations
Free; open 7 days 24 hours
The world's largest open-air art gallery is actually the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall. In 1990, 118 artists from 21 countries gathered to paint stretches of the wall with visual messages about war, peace and freedom. The cheap paint quickly weathered, and the wall underwent a complete renovation in 2009. The East Side Gallery runs along a busy road at the edge of town, attracting young tourists who came of age after the wall's fall.
MITTE FASHION DISTRICT
The Mitte, once hemmed in on three sides by the Wall as part of East Berlin, is now the city's most fashionable area. The Northern Mitte is a magnet for local designers; the streets southwest of Rosa-Luxemburg Platz are lined with boutiques selling clothes and accessories by Berlin designers.
La La Berlin (Mulackstrasse 7, lalaberlin.com) is one of Berlin's most attractive original women's boutiques, featuring flowing knitwear and scarves designed by former MTV director Leyla Piedayesh. For daring men's and women's clothes, see Butterflysoulfire (Mulackstrasse 11, btfsf.com). For locally handmade sunglasses and eyeglasses, check out Ic! Berlin (Max-Beer Strasse 17, ic-berlin.de). For trendy men's and women's shoes visit Trippen Gallery (Alte Schönhausser Strasse 45, trippen.com).
THE NEUES MUSEUM
Museum Island, Bodestrasse 1-3
Open daily; about $14
The recently reopened Neues Museum is one of five palatial art and antiquities museums on Museum Island, an island in the Spree river. Severely damaged during World War II, the Neues remained a ruin for half a century, until its decade-long, $270 million restoration.
The museum houses prehistoric relics, classical antiquities and an Egyptian collection, including the iconic painted limestone bust of Nefertiti (1340 BC). The ornate neoclassical building alone is worth the price of admission: restoration has left some war-damaged stone and brick and peeling frescoes.
Other attractions on the island include the 15th-century Berlin Cathedral, the Old National Gallery and the Pergamon Museum.
SO36
Oranienstrasse 190
Berlin's legendary alt-rock club began as a beer garden 150 years ago, and in the 1970s and '80s it became an East Berlin artists' squat and punk haven. Today, S036 hosts live concerts, dance nights, roller disco and a monthly flea market.
This epicenter of "alternative" Berlin is in Kreuzberg, an old Jewish quarter populated by postwar immigrants and, more recently, generations of pierced and tattooed rockers. The neighborhood is full of vintage shops, funky cafes, ethnic restaurants and clubs such as Watergate, featuring DJs on the Spree riverfront (Falckensteinstrasse 49a; water-gate.de), and the live rock venue Wild at Heart (Wiener Strasse 20; wildatheartberlin.de).
BOND BERLIN
Knesebeckstrasse 16
Open evenings
Get nostalgic for the Cold War at this high-design restaurant and bar inspired by early 007 films. Lounge music lays down a relaxed groove in a dining room decorated with Bond-style graphics.
Located in comfortably upscale Charlottenburg on the city's west side, Bond Berlin serves well-executed dishes from places as far flung as a Bond itinerary: sushi, pastas, couscous, sandwiches and a selection of grilled meats and seafood (entrees about $10-$48). Order "Bond's martini" (about $14) -- shaken, not stirred, of course.
JEWISH MUSEUM BERLIN
Lindenstrasse 9-14
Open daily; about $7
A captivating landmark both for its architecture and its contents, this decade-old museum tells the story of Jews in Germany since the 10th century.
The building, by Polish-born architect Daniel Libeskind, is sheathed in gray zinc with geometric slashes for windows. Inside, the exhibit begins in a maze of diagonally intersecting corridors with window boxes showing mementos of emigrants and Holocaust victims.
Powerful memorials include the "Memory Void," featuring Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman's "Fallen Leaves": 10,000 iron plates with faces cut into them and piled on the gallery floor, all screeching as visitors walk on them.
KUNSTHAUS TACHELES
Oranienburger Strasse 54-56
Open daily; free
This bombed-out, century-old department store was a ruin set for demolition before a group of international artists moved in
in 1990, turning it into the "Sistine Chapel of graffiti."
Climb the five-story staircase coated with layers of street art to the workshops and exhibit spaces of artists from across Europe and Latin America. Expect provocative installations, silk-screened souvenir canvasses and jewelry made from unlikely materials like silverware. Rock music wafts through the halls from the top floor, where Belarusian painter Alexander Rodin shows his exhibition "Global Warning."
THE RAMONES MUSEUM
Krausnickstrasse 23
Open daily; about $5
Memories of the New York punk band that recorded such songs as "Born to Die in Berlin" and "Blitzkrieg Bop" are preserved in this small museum in the Mitte created by fan Florian Hayler. More than 500 piece of memorabilia -- including posters, records, photos and stage-worn jeans -- plus news clippings, documentary video and music document the Ramones.
PROPELLER ISLAND CITY LODGE
Albrecht-Achilles-Strasse 58
Propeller Island is not just another design hotel, but rather German multimedia artist and electronic composer Lars Stroschen's "vision machine."
Located in chic Charlottenburg, rooms are art installations on different themes, such as "Flying Bed," "Mirror Room," "Padded Cell," "Grandma's." Not surprisingly, the rooms also rent for photo and video shoots. "Two Lions" has a couple of elevated cages for the kids to sleep in; "Freedom" is described as a "friendly prison cell with a hole in the wall. . . . What's different: You really want to stay here. It's extremely comfortable." Doubles from about $108.
DDR MUSEUM
Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 1
Open daily; about $8
Relive daily life behind the Iron Curtain at this interactive museum dedicated to the former communist East Germany. It features hands-on displays on themes such as home life and work, commerce, leisure, cars, media, fashion and culture as well as East Germany's secret police, the Stasi.
You can explore a typical apartment, sit behind the wheel of a state-produced Trabi automobile and get a firsthand experience of being spied on or spying on others. The tastefully modern DDR-Restaurant features waterfront views, communist-era recipes and a selection of beer, wine and cocktails.
READERS' PICKS
Be sure to get a City Tour Card (citytourcard.com) if you are going for a few days -- it is valid for public transportation and includes admission to many museums (check the list before you buy it). I went to the Jewish Museum and the Museum Berggruen, which had an amazing Picasso collection along with works by Cézanne, Braque, Klee and Van Gogh. What a find! -- Susan Sparago, Hauppauge
My daughter and I spent almost four hours at the Jewish Museum. It was an emotional experience to learn the history of the Jewish people in Germany for the past thousand years, culminating with the atrocities of the Holocaust. The museum exhibits many letters and personal items of Holocaust victims, so you feel the pain and anguish that these victims suffered on a more personal level. -- Tim Quinn, East Northport
