Am having a long weekend in Berlin, fly out on Thursday afternoon.

I'm meeting my boyfriend there as he's got a conference. He'll still be at the conference on Friday morning so I'm going to toddle about by myself and see a couple of things near Alexanderplatz as that's where we're staying. I really want to see the TV tower (I assume there's a lift :thumbsup: ) and get some breakfast in a place called Alex's which is near there? Has anyone eaten here?

Also I thought about walking to Checkpoint Charlie from there but mum reckons it's bloomin miles away. :confused: It looks to be one big long road all the way there (Leipziger Strasse) but since I'm entirely rubbish with maps and directions I can't really gauge how far it is. Is it walkable?

Any tips or recommendations for Berlin would be great.

I've been to Berlin a couple of times. Very cool city.

Personally I thought the TV tower was a bit too expensive and not all that much to see. The city is much more impressive from the streets than from above.
But if you go there you can walk down to Alexanderplatz, and on the way look for decorated houses with courtyards, some of them are beautifull and filled with very impressive decorations.
"Behind" Alexanderplatz is a huge park that has a monument to Sovjet soliders that I can recomend taking a look at.

At that point you could go back to Alexanderplatz and take a tram to Checkpoint Charlie I think (maybe you can walk, but I've always gone by tram). At CC just beware of all the "official museums" and stuff, nothing rally worth checking out. But the area itself is nice.
When I last went there we actually asked a man in the tram for directions to CC, turns out he lived right there dring WWII, and he actually went with us there and told us how it was (very emotional, he started crying several times and told us lots of horrible stories).
From CC I think you can walk to a part of the Berlin Wall that's still intact, and near that poin is a large tram station that should be able to take you anywhere.

As you walk around town, be sure to stop for a drink as often as you can. There are a lot of really awesome bars and cafés around town, especially in the backstreets where not as many tourists are. You should also avoid any major street restaurants as they're quite expensive and don't have as tasty food as the backstreets. Altthough this is just common tourist sense.

Uhm, other than that, I can't really remember what there is to visit. I rarely aim to visit all the sights. Also try not to stay out of east Berlin (some do, becase they think it's worse or something). East Berlin has a huge indie/undergroud/arts scene and there are a lot of shops, cafés and bars that really stand out.

I hope that was of some help at least, I'm trying to remember what I've seen and done there, but I'm terrible with names.

Thats excellent hon - I really appreciate it.

I know CC is quite touristy and stuff but do want to see it. Just to take photos of all the kitsch I think.

My Berlin senses are tingling. :shifty:

The tower isn't all that great, but if you're one of those have-to-see-from-above kind of people, it's probably nice. Just make sure you really don't eat anything in the café at the bulb, that's some friggin' insane prices up there of course.
The ALEX (yeah, all capitals!) on the other hand is nice. Got nothing to do with the Alexanderplatz at all, they just found it funny to put a restaurant of their franchise there. ^_^
Getting to CC is easy from the Alex. Follow Karl-Liebknecht-Stra?e (northern side of the Alex), which turns into Unter den Linden once you're past the Museum isle (nice sightseeing on the way, Berlin Cathedral and all), once you reach Friedrichstra?e you just go south. Should be easy, and takes about half an hour of normal strud. That's the route so many of our Asian exchange students wanted to go, I can probably walk it down in my sleep.


Anyway, if you want to hit some bars later, try the Kreuzberg area. Lots of establishments of different flavours there, all grand in their own way. My favourite café in all Berlin though is way west, the Schwarzes Café (Black Café - not really affiliated with any underground scene, despite the name), at Savignyplatz. Lovely cake and a great assortment of beverages.
And trust me with drinks, I'm Irish. ^^

Thank you honey that's great. It looks as though there's quite a lot of stuff to see on Karl-Liebknecht Strasse anyway so even if it took me a little over half an hour to walk along it would totally be worth it. Is the ALEX place a chain then? It is normal German food though, right? Don't really wanna be hitting a TGI Fridays type place while in Berlin.

:D Sooo excited.

It's a chain, and no, sadly, this isn't really any kind of local German food. Except, being Berlin, they do have Currywurst it would seem. But it would be fatal not to, at such a tourist place.
Having "normal German food" is like saying "normal British food" though. Serve a haggis to a Londoner, see what he thinks. :biggrin:

BUT you're in luck, as there's the Brauhaus Mitte right north of Alex, Karl-Liebknecht-Stra?e 13, which serves food from many regions of Germany. Northern fish dishes and country food, Bavarian gammon, Svabian Spaetzle, Berlin's meat balls - the other specialty, apart from Currywurst... All there.
And, in my humble opinion, much better and more satisfying stuff than what you would get in the modern, trendy restaurants here. Mediterranean food everywhere. Bleh.

Dang. Oh well! One of my reasons for choosing there was quite a few people said they did a breakfast buffet so figured I'd gorge myself before heading about sightseeing. Was sort of hoping fora traditional European breakfast with cheese and meat and stuff. The hotel one is about 30euros for breakfast which is insane. I'll look into the Brauhaus Mitte place. I'd really prefer to eat proper local food if I can.

Oh and there ain't nowt wrong with haggis. :thumbsup:

Yeah, Brauhaus is way cheaper than that. I had a quick look at the menu of the ALEX at the Alex, and Brauhaus is cheaper than that, too. Don't know why the complete menu isn't available in English on their site as well, they just have http://www.brauhaus-mitte.de/images/stories/pdf/bm_menus_2011_english.pdf of assorted dishes, which is rather meh in diversity compared to http://www.brauhaus-mitte.de/images/stories/pdf/bm_2010_deutsch.pdf.