There's a colossal amount to do - and a lot of historical perspective to absorb - in Berlin, writes Carol Coulter
OUR SON NOTICED them first: the little men on the pedestrian-crossing lights were different. The green one, with his peaked hat, strode purposefully forward, arms swinging. The red one had his feet planted firmly apart and arms outstretched to stop anyone crossing the road.
We had just emerged from the U-Bahn station at Alexanderplatz, the central square in what had been East Berlin, and were searching for the apartment we had rented for the weekend. Many of the streets in this part of Berlin have stately buildings from the turn of the last century that are being refurbished into spacious apartments.
The jaunty traffic-light men, known as Ampelmännchen, were peculiar to East Germany. In 1989 a proposal to replace them with western European pedestrian lights was thwarted by a popular campaign to save them from the homogenising power of Brussels bureaucrats. You can now find Ampelmännchen at some crossings in west Berlin, too, and they have become an emblem of the city. A souvenir shop on the grand boulevard Unter den Linden had more than 50 products based on them.
In a way they symbolise the attempt of this city to find a unified identity after almost 50 years split in two. This history means that instead of having one centre it has several distinct neighbourhoods, each with its own centre. It was also built to cater for about six million people but contains only three and a half, so it has a slightly empty feeling.
The three of us, our 14-year-old son included, were staying in the Prenzlauer Berg neighbourhood, in East Berlin, within walking distance of Alexanderplatz. The area is being gentrified and has plenty of cafes, boutiques and ethnic shops.
Getting around is easy and cheap. A ticket for up to five people on Berlin's public transport for the whole day costs €15.40; it includes unlimited travel on the U-Bahn underground, the S-Bahn local railway, buses and trams. All are frequent, fast and on time, criss-crossing the city in all directions.
Berlin International Film Festival was on while we were there, but there isn't a month that does not have some festival or other. Clubbers are well catered for, but families with children will also find lots to do.
History is hard to avoid in Berlin, most of it sad. You can visit Hitler's bunker, the remnants of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Reichstag, the Holocaust memorial, the memorial to the politicians who opposed Hitler and paid the price . . . the list goes on. You can also be reminded of 100 films as you walk down Unter den Linden, to the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, or through the Tiergarten, one of the world's largest city parks, in which the famous zoo is to be found.
We were catatonic with lack of sleep on our first day, having got up at 4am to catch our Ryanair flight, so we wandered around the Alexanderplatz and Prenzlauer Berg areas, stopping off at a pub for a lunch of local sausage and fried potatoes (for the teenager) and gargantuan salads (for us). Unable to face a restaurant in our exhausted state, we bought food in the organic supermarket on Schoenhauser Allee and collapsed early, swearing never to travel at that hour again.
The next day we felt able to face some proper sightseeing, so we went to the TV tower erected as a symbol of East German technology, which now houses a restaurant that rotates 360 degrees every half-hour. "Absolutely fantastic," said the 14-year-old. We sipped our coffee and watched the city slide gently by, then walked down Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate and from there to the Reichstag. You can spend nearly a day in the Tiergarten if you take in the zoo.
Berliners are friendly and helpful but not intrusive, so if you peer in a bewildered way at a map you can be sure to find a sympathetic face nearby just waiting to be asked for help.
There are more sights in Berlin than you will likely be able to see, plus a wealth of museums for wet days, and areas such as Scheunenviertel and the Bergmannstrasse are worth an hour or two of strolling. The problem is that a weekend is just not long enough.5 places to stay
Where to stay, where to eat and where to go
5 places to stay
1 Splash out on the Hotel Adlon, near the Brandenburg Gate (Unter den Linden 77, 00-49-30-22610, www.hotel-adlon.de), where double rooms start at €450 a night. The hotel, which was built with the support of Kaiser Wilhelm II, describes itself as one of the world's most beautiful and luxurious hotels.
2Propeller Island hotel (Albrecht-Achilles Strasse 58, 00-49-30-8919016, www.propeller-island.de) is worth a visit to the website if nothing else. Click through all the themed rooms, where every fantasy can be indulged, at prices from €89 a night.
3The Honigmond Hotel (Tieckstrasse 12/Ecke Borsigstrasse 28, 00-49-30- 2844550, www.honigmond-berlin.de), a former hub of East German dissident activity, is now a small but pretty hotel in the eastern city centre. There are two hotels here, the cheaper of which is the Garden Hotel. A double room starts at €109.
4The cheap and cheerful Die Fabrik (Schlesische Strasse 18, 00-49-30-6117116, www.diefabrik.com) is housed in a former factory in the popular western part of Kreuzberg. Private rooms start at €38 without a bathroom. Men's and women's showers and toilets stand on each corridor.
5Rent an apartment with one of the firms that have taken over refurbished apartments in the former East Berlin. OTA Berlin (00-49-30-54713890, www.ota-berlin.de) rents apartments ranging from studios to large properties for up to eight people. Prices start at €69 a night.
5 places to eat
1Dachgarten Restaurant, in the Reichstag building (Platz der Republik, 00-49-30-22629933), serves very good German food and wine, but it is the view over the heart of old Berlin that makes a visit really memorable. It has a wonderful outside terrace for a fine day.
2The Telecafe, on the top of the TV tower in the Alexanderplatz (00-49-30-2423333), again for the view. The cafe-restaurant gently rotates, making a total revolution every 30 minutes, and you can enjoy either coffee and cakes or a full meal, reasonably priced, with main courses such as wild boar costing €16 with vegetables.
3Vino e Libri (Torstrasse 99, Scheunenviertel area, 00-49-30-44058471) is an Italian restaurant that was so good and so reasonably priced that we ate there twice. Creamy cauliflower soup, mixed fish on an ultra-thin pizza base, excellent pizzas, home-made pasta . . . What you would expect at an Italian, but better than most. The three of us had dinner there, including two glasses of wine, for under €50.
4Sarah Weiner im Hamburger Bahnhof (Invalidenstrasse 50-51, 00-49-30-70713650, http://sarahwiener.com/html/?show=sarah.wiener) is the domain of celebrity chef Sarah Weiner. Splash out in this upmarket restaurant, serving such staples as veal snitzel and classic Austrian cakes in a high-ceilinged room.
5Go to one of the organic markets or supermarkets and get food for a picnic or to eat in. Kollwitzplatzmarkt, Wörther Strasse, Prenzlauer Berg or the organic supermarket on Schoenhauser Allee have everything you could want.
5 places to visit
1The Reichstag (Platz der Republik, 00-49-30-22730027, www.bundestag.de) is a must. Built in the latter half of the 19th century as a symbol of German unity, it was burned by the Nazis to force its closure in 1933, bombed and shot up by the Allies in the second World War and left in disrepair for decades between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. It has been restored as a symbol of the new Germany.
2The TV tower, or Fernsehturm (Alexanderplatz, 00-49-30-2423333, www.berlinerfernsehturm.de), was built as a symbol of East German technology in the 1960s, and it dominated the skyline. At 368m it is the highest building in Germany, and it has unparalleled views of the city. Arrive early to beat the queues or you may not get in.
3The Wall and Checkpoint Charlie (Bolmholmer Strasse/ Brandenburg Gate/Potsdamer Platz, www.die-berliner- mauer.de). Just over a kilometre of the old wall is left, and what was the checkpoint has been reduced to a dismal little hut. The area is worth a visit, not least for the East Side Gallery, a wall of murals and photographs recording the wall's history and various escape attempts.
4Pergamon Museum (Am Kupfergraben 5, 00-49-30-20905577) is one of the best museums in a city packed with them. It is full of artefacts from Greece, Rome, Babylon and the Middle East. The highlight is the Pergamon altar, from the ancient Greek metropolis of the same name (now Bergama in Turkey).
5Charlottenburg Palace (Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf area, www.spsg.de), a baroque castle, is one of the few surviving reminders of the grandeur of the German monarchy. You can travel to it by boat along the River Spree, and the gardens are a peaceful oasis in the middle of the city.
Coffee break
Cafe Wintergarten im Literaturhaus (Fasanenstrasse 23, 00-49-30-8825414) is near the main shopping area, the Kurfurstendamm, but you would never think it as you sip coffee or tea and sample fantastic cherry cake in its art-nouveau rooms or in the garden. Head next door to the Kathy Kollwitz museum to see the heart-rending work of this chronicler of the ravages of poverty and war.
Shopping
Kurfurstendamm and Tauentzienstrasse and the main shopping streets; the enormous KaDeWe department store is one of the biggest in the world, with all major brands, for those who can face such stores. Berlin is replete with small designer shops, especially in the Scheunenviertel and Prenzlauer Berg areas.
Hot spot
Berlin has a great reputation for cabaret, going back to the 1920s, memorably evoked by Liza Minnelli in the film Cabaret. Recent years have seen a revival, and cabaret plays to sell-out audiences every night in the Bar Jeder Vernunft (Schaperstrasse 24, in the Charlottenburg area, 00-49-30-8831582, www.bar-jeder-vernunft.de).
What to avoid
The street vendors around Checkpoint Charlie will attempt to sell you apparent relics of the Cold War era, including Soviet-style hats, badges and the like. They are mostly fake.
Connect with home
If you are bored waiting for a bus, access the internet free at a number of bus stops. At one on Kurfurstendamm we picked up the latest Irish news.
Before you go
For some interwar Berlin atmosphere, read Christopher Isherwood's Christopher and His Kind or The Berlin Stories.
Go there
Aer Lingus and Ryanair fly to Berlin Schonefeld. Having travelled out on an early flight with Ryanair, I would not recommend it, as it requires being at the airport before 5am, and you are good for nothing that day.