Berlin

[H1MM73R]

Amazing city.

[welshbairn]

2 hours ago, H1MM73R said:

Amazing city.

It was before your lot turned up.

[MeadowArab]

Thanks to you both for your answers. [emoji106][emoji846]

[Stevo Fife]

Heading to Berlin in September for a stag weekend. Been before for New Year 2003 which is a bit of a blur but loved the city. We're staying at NH Collection Berlin Mitte at Checkpoint Charlie. 4* and looks really nice. Anyone familiar with this hotel and area? Looking for tips on good bars, places to eat and things to do. 

[Elixir]

There was a mix of young lassies wanting photos with the 'guards' and auld American codgers cutting about the military-themed souvenir shops when we went past Checkpoint Charlie. Can still appreciate the significance of the place, though.

[Waspy]

Heading to Berlin for a few days in July. Hoping to get to a pre-season friendly or two, visiting Sachsenhausen concentration camp and Museum Island and probably revisit the zoo. 
As the forum knows all too well, I'm into my craft beer, so does anyone have any bar recommendations? I'll probably be happy just drinking proper German beer, but if there's anywhere that stands out I'm happy to hear about it!

[Waspy]

Kilkenny Irish pub at hackescher markt shows Scottish football most weekends and will definitely have the game on.

[welshbairn]

On 09/02/2022 at 16:10, Craig the Hunter said:

Heading to Berlin for a few days in July. Hoping to get to a pre-season friendly or two, visiting Sachsenhausen concentration camp and Museum Island and probably revisit the zoo. 

This is why I've yet to visit a concentration camp. As a kind of morose pilgrimage, maybe, but not fitting it in between football and the zoo. Maybe I'm being too precious about it but the brochures for guided bus tours to Auschwitz from Krakow really put me off.

[Lofarl]

On 01/04/2022 at 03:25, welshbairn said:

This is why I've yet to visit a concentration camp. As a kind of morose pilgrimage, maybe, but not fitting it in between football and the zoo. Maybe I'm being too precious about it but the brochures for guided bus tours to Auschwitz from Krakow really put me off.

When I was in Munich a long time ago, I took a trip up to see Dachau.  Being a WW2 nerd I found it and the whole area really interesting.  At the time of visiting, the town was having some sort of galaday thing.  So you'd be wandering around a Nazi concentration camp and in the distance you could hear fairground rides, laughing and music.  Was surreal to say the least.  

The fucking waltzers were top notch.

Thats the weird thing about Nuremburg too.  Beside the old Nazi congress hall, they built a proper good amusement park.

[mozam76]

I'm heading here for a stag weekend on Friday. It might sound too precise a query, but are there any what we here would class as "auld man/traditional" boozers? I'm thinking Guildford Arms in Edinburgh if that's familiar to anyone. We're staying in Alexanderplatz (which I'm already worried about seeing as according to this thread, it seems a bit soulless).  

[Paul Kersey]

1 hour ago, mozam76 said:

I'm heading here for a stag weekend on Friday. It might sound too precise a query, but are there any what we here would class as "auld man/traditional" boozers? I'm thinking Guildford Arms in Edinburgh if that's familiar to anyone. We're staying in Alexanderplatz (which I'm already worried about seeing as according to this thread, it seems a bit soulless).  

If you head into the neighbourhoods, like Friedrichshain, there are small unpretentious pubs down the side streets that are full of old men drinking, playing darts etc. I couldn't recommend a particular one but it may be worth taking a stroll away from the main streets and just exploring if that's what you're looking for.

 

[mozam76]

45 minutes ago, Paul Kersey said:

If you head into the neighbourhoods, like Friedrichshain, there are small unpretentious pubs down the side streets that are full of old men drinking, playing darts etc. I couldn't recommend a particular one but it may be worth taking a stroll away from the main streets and just exploring if that's what you're looking for.

 

Right up my strasse, many thanks chief.

[Boo Khaki]

Aye, Friedrichshain is a good shout if you are just into unpretentious boozing and are happy to drink the mass-market German beers (there's f**k all wrong with them, they are German after all). The place is hoaching with pubs, a good few of which will happily stay open and serving you for as long as you are willing to keep spending money.  Simon-Dach Strasse is nice and leafy and full of cafes and bars, and that tends to be were most of the crowd are, but there are places selling booze down every street really.

Kreuzberg is a bit more bohemian and err.. 'eclectic', it's usually pretty lively in the area around Kottbusser and Gorlitzer U-bahn stations, but you need to have your wits about you down that bit of town 

[vikingTON]

Any tips for boozers in/around the Hermannplatz area? Heading there at the weekend and while I plan on traveling around the city a fair bit, knowing a good bar or two within short distance of the hostel is always worth knowing about. 

[Paul Kersey]

3 hours ago, virginton said:

Any tips for boozers in/around the Hermannplatz area? Heading there at the weekend and while I plan on traveling around the city a fair bit, knowing a good bar or two within short distance of the hostel is always worth knowing about. 

Das Gift isn't too far from there. Used to be owned by the bloke from Mogwai. I'm not sure what it's like now though.

You're not too far from Kottbusser Tor. Some of the side streets between there and Hermanplatz are full of pubs. 

 

 

[DMCs]

On 20/03/2022 at 22:17, MeadowArab said:

I'm off to Berlin in June and by the sounds of things, if Scotland beat Ukraine or get a bye; we'll probably play the final while I'm in Berlin.

What football pubs in Berlin are likely to be friendly to tourists and happy to put on a Scotland game?

Thanks in advance

Try this place. Great sports bar. Watched the Union Berlin game in there a couple of weeks ago. Cash only though

https://www.pub-denkmal.de/

[vikingTON]

EasyJet were a shower of useless arseholes and cancelled the outbound flight (had to get in via Gdansk and Poznan - pretty good in their own right) but I still enjoyed my limited time in Berlin last weekend.

Spent most of my time in East Berlin and took a flying visit out to the Soviet's 'Surrender Museum' in Karlshorst - the building where WW2 was ended. Full of the required pomp and GIRFUY spirit, for a museum commissioned in the 1960s GDR. 

[vikingTON]

Then went back in to town to visit Templehof because I was going to a gig across the road. It was brilliant to see an empty space in the middle of a city just being used and enjoyed by the public on a nice sunny day. In the UK, it would have been flogged for stupid apartments within 0.4 seconds. Great place for a beer and to finish the last of an unexpectedly large bottle of Polish flavoured vodka before the gig. 

[vikingTON]

(Last post) The final day was roasting so I didn't bother going out to Potsdam as planned and instead spent it in Treptow Park. The Soviet War memorial at Treptow is fucking glorious* and a few beers on the wee island on the Spree was the perfect way to round things off. 

I wasn't too keen on Berlin after the first visit in winter, but the laid-back nature of the place is much more apparent when it's not grey and baltic. Will always repay a return visit if those useless c***s at Easyjet can actually fulfil their side of the bargain. 

* I wouldn't give it too long before they start using Ukraine to try and empty the Stalin quotations and the general GIUY nature of the war memorial from Berlin altogether. It's unimaginable to have such an obvious and huge monument to your catastrophic national defeat in Paris, London, Washington etc. 

[Stellaboz]

Thats a shame as Potsdam is great for a walk in the park there. 

A beer at the Spree is always worth it though.