I love Berlin myself, it's a super interesting city and definitely a must see. But be aware that you will have almost no impression of Germany once you've been to Berlin. Berlin represents Germany about as much as NYC represents the US.
German here who was born in Berlin.Not true you just havent been to the right places and mostly in touristic neighbourhoods there are very german places there u have been in wrong areas
Berlin has only one Airport left. BER (Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport). Tegel was closed two years ago. I am from Berlin and it was nice to remember all the things we did as kids after the wall went down.
I emphasize along with other commentators: This video is 5 years old! Much has changed. Pergamon Museum is undergoing major reconstruction and renovation and much of it is now closed, including the Altar. Regrettable. The Ishtar Gate could be visited when I was last in Berlin, but even that was 3 years ago. Reichstag: I believe it is still possible to reserve a time slot for your visit. Book in advance, and don’t forget to take your passport with you! But do it, definitely! Depending on when exactly you come, however, you may not be able to go there at night. At the height of summer, it doesn’t really get dark here until after 10 p.m. Nefertiti: das Neue Museum. While the museum itself is worth a visit, you could spend hours and hours, days and days, but even if you buy a ticket just to see Nefertiti (you can buy these tickets with time slots on your cell), even that is worth it. The beauty of this bust is breathtaking! Pictures do not do it justice. You could start your trip to Berlin by taking the Bus 100. It is known as a site-seeing bus because it runs past all the big attractions (and you can hop on and off) for the price of a regular bus ticket. Buy day passes (or multiple day passes). Important: It is not enough to buy your ticket (which can also be purchased at kiosks, by the way) - it must be validated before use. Look for these little machines at the entrance to train and subway stations and stamp your ticket. Go to Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center, have breakfast at one of the restaurants there (if the weather is good, sit outside under the canopy), then walk from there to the Reichstag. It will take you past the Brandenburg Gate and the Holocaust Memorial, and it is also one of the most prominent places where there are the brick lines showing where the Wall was located. Potsdam: Sans Souci is a good day trip, but it really is a day trip. The Sans Souci Palace itself is lovely, and the New Palace is worth the visit, but the two sites are at opposite ends of the park and it is HUGE. There are various other little sites in the park (China Pavilion, for instance). The best and greatest band in Berlin is the Berlin Philharmonic! 😃 I will acquiesce to my fellow commentators for tips on the night life. I’ve been out of that scene for a few years now (actually, a lot of years!). By the way: there is a shop on Unter den Linden that sells all kinds of memorabilia featuring the traffic light figures (Ampelmännchen). Distinctly Berlin.
@@ichbinbluna3504 Yes, for those 4 years it will be completely closed. But I had a look at the website, and unless I completely misread something, most is closed even now. The Altar was already closed 3 years ago. The Gate and Marketplace may still be accessible, but I would hesitate to recommend to Joel that he go there for those two exhibits. After all, the Altar is the jewel of the museum, and his time wijj be so limited.
@@michaelmedlinger6399 it was closed for some years and then last summer it was open and renovated and I was happy to visit again. Would they renovate AGAIN now…?
@@vickydebr The information on the website was not really very clear to me. My impression is that from October it will be completely closed down. They will be adding a new wing, connecting the museum to other buildings (I think!) and who knows what else. Someone from Berlin could go there and find out for sure (or call). I seem to recall that three years ago, the information was that the Altar would not be accessible until the end of the complete renovation. Apparently, however, that is not the case. And then there is the question: Will Joel really be interested? He is a naturally curious person who would no doubt go at some point, but with only a week, he will have to make some hard choices. But it will be good for him to have some solid information before he goes.
As he won't visit Berlin only, now since 1st of June he should get the Deutschland-Ticket for 49€. Actually when going to any other city in Germany he could take the standard not high speed trains. It's a great way to see and experience Germany and saves you a lot of money. Sure, it take like at least double the time than taking a high-speed train, but you see more as well.
@@ichbinbluna3504 I visisted the museum 3 weeks ago. I didn't noticed that some parts were closed, cause it was my first time there. And it's still beautiful and interesting.
Hey Joel, in the video you mentioned that you do not necessarily want to walk through the Holocaust memorial. I recommend you do walk through, because that is part of the experience: Everything starts shallow and fairly unexciting. Then, the further you go, you may or may not notice people around you disappearing. Finally, you will find yourself almost completely alone (it is quite possible you will have lost your friend who was next to you all the time), several feet under the surface and much deeper in than you would have thought was possible when you entered. This is meant to resemble what people in the Third Reich experienced, and is imo a very powerful part of the art work. Cheers! P.S.: I hope you are not going to skip Hamburg. That would be a massive mistake!
12:20 An important fact he didn't mention: There were two different styles of the traffic light man in East and West. After reunification everyone thought the eastern one looks cuter, so it was decided to use that one from now on. It's a piece of East German culture that survived and is popular in both former parts. This symbolism is what it makes significant.
I was born and raised in West Germany ( way down south in the Stuttgart Area) I personally like the Ampelmännchen from the West better.... There were also two Sandmann, the eastern one survived the western one died,which is a shame
@@SouthernBelle888 Tastes differ and that's good. About the sandman television show though, there's a popular misconception. The West German sandman show was withdrawn in 1988, one year before the wall came down, for reasons completely unrelated to reunification or the Eastern sandman.
If you grew up like me in West Germany at the zone border, then you'd rather see the East Sandman anyway. Especially the very old stories (Pünktchen or Frau Puppendoktor Pille) I liked very much.
@@anunearthlychild8569 i grew up in West Germany, way down south in Stuttgart and only grew up with the west Sandmann und Ampelmännchen...and prefer the West Ampelmännchen they look nicer
I think that is true for any major city. If you weren't born in Amsterdam, you can't call yourself an 'Amsterdammer', period, exclamation mark 🙂 I know it's weird, but I can go on Google Earth and show a close shot of the exact room where I was born in. And yes, I can boast about being an 'Amsterdammer' 🙂
actually you are a "Berliner" when you drop your suitcase on the Floor of the Train Station. this City is quit open to its new residents - well it gets 40.000 each year - what else could we do🙂
@@joecoolblnyou can call yourself that, but it won't mean you will be accepted by real Berliners as such. Often even being born and raised there doesn't mean, that you will be accepted as a Berliner. To be honest, the fact that the majorities come from other cities and countries just slightly changed that, in the sense that those new people who happen to be the majority, accept everyone that was born and raised here as a Berliner. The Berliners that are here since generations never accepted us as such. Just now its like: "Well at least you were born and raised here."
@@Winona493 Wirklich. Mittlerweile ist es schon so, dass man als jemand der hier geboren wurde als Berliner akzeptiert wird, aber das ist eher neu. In den 90er und 2000 ern mussten mindestens deine Eltern, eigentlich sogar deine Großeltern schon hier geboren sein. Also drei Generationen Berliner. Sonst galt man als zugezogen. Das war nicht böse gemeint. Jemand dessen Urgroßeltern schon in Lübars begraben sind, sieht sich vielleicht berechtigterweise mehr als Berliner als jemand anderer. Aber wie gesagt, die meisten sind ja zugezogen und somit werden die Regeln neu gemacht 😜
One thing I can HIGHLY recommend to check out is getting a tour in the "Berlin Hohenschönhausen Memorial", a prison used by the STASI (the GDR's political secret police). The Tour guides are people that were imprisoned in there and you get a remarkable (and disturbing) insight in how the GDR treated those they deemed political enemies. The "Checkpoint Charlie museum" is also a great place to learn more about the Berlin Wall and the city's general division. They have exhibitions like an original car that was used to smuggle people across the border where you get to see (or not) how difficult it was to try and get through the checkpoints into the West. There's also the "Berliner Unterwelten" tour which brings you through old bunker complexes (both WW2 bunkers and Cold War bunkers meant in case of nuclear war) aswell as escape tunnels from East to West Berlin, etc.. Really, you can spend years in Berlin going through museums and alike tours. I absolutely recommend that you take a thorough inventory of possible museums you can check out at the time (some are closed for renovations and some tours are seasonal) and double check of any of that is something that interests you because I can guarantee you'll find something for you and it'd be a shame if you didn't check it out when you can, especially for international visitors that won't be visiting berlin anytime soon, if ever, again.
Nah he got it a little wrong there. The Jewish memorial isn’t about being integrated into life in the city, but about walking through it to feel what the Jews felt the moments before their murder (and in the camps). It’s kinda scary, disturbing and oppressive. So to really understand the memorial pls walk through it 🙏🏼
When I visited the Holocaust memorial shortly after it was erected, there were American tourists who thought it was a good idea to immortalize themselves on it with a felt pen. When I asked them if they would do that in a cemetery or at the Washington Memorial, they were very ashamed because they didn't think about the meaning at all. I am always shocked that many (also Germans) think it is just a cool photo background or smear it.
As I am from Berlin I definitely agree on the Pergamon Museum, those reconstructed Walls of Babylon are extremely impressive (though if you plan on going to a museum do it in the middle of the week or book it before because otherwise you might have to wait like 4 hours to be let in-) and also visiting Potsdam! It's very close and a very very beautiful city!
Looking forward to the Videos from germany 😁 love your reactions. And trough that i started to Look at my Country with different eyes. As a native german, who lives his hole Life in Germany (35 Years 👴🏻), you forget to see the good things. Thanks for that ✌🏻 and dont worry, we germans in General are realy Nice guys to foreignars 😎
Going to Berlin I recommend the bus line 100. It is basicaly a tourist tour in the center. Starts at zoo and ends there to. You will drive by most of the sights, but it does not cost more, cause its a regular bus line.
Yea, buy a day ticket or a week ticket. (AB zone for inner Berlin). Take the Bus 100 and hop on and off at all the sites. Thats what I do with friends who want to see Berlin.
If you are staying for a week, Potsdam is definitely worth a trip. It has more of the old German, Prussian vibe of architecture and Sanssouci (the summer residence of the Prussian kings/later the Kaiser) is a beautiful place. Also, there is a tiny Russian colony nearby called Alexandrowka. Don't be surprised if you get there by train that the area around the train station is ugly as sin as is often the case in Germany. You have to walk just five minutes down to the Havel, where the historic old town starts. In Berlin, I really would stress visiting the individual quarters, eg Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg, Charlottenburg, Kreuzberg, Wedding...it is a city of cities, more or less, not only due to the East-West divide. Have great fun!
I second that. Potsdam is really worth the detour for the beautiful Park Sanssouci and the architecture. It's also not that far away. The very inexpensive regional train gets you from Zoologische Garten / Kudam to Park Sanssouci in half an hour and it is just 5 walking minutes from the train station.
@@vomm such nonsense. Age got nothing to do with it. I have done Potsdam with several out of town friends on a chill day after heavy clubbing - all under 30 and everyone enjoyed it a lot.
Hey bro, i live in Potsdam wich is about 30min away from berlin. It is a beautiful little city with a huge amount of History wich made germany the country it is today. From the spliting of germany after WW2 or the church in wich hitler got promotetd to the chancellor of Germany, we have all of that here. We have many really big and beautiful Parks with even more castles and Pallais. I would be thrille if youre here at some point. And i would be mre than happy to show around this little city :)
People coming to visit Germany and then overemphazising Berlin is almost like going to the states and spend two weeks in Washington to get to know the country. But still have fun :)
For a first visit in Germany Berlin and Munich is not a bad choice. As a tourist you visit the big tourist spots at first and if you like them, come back and discover the "real Germany". I personally give a f*ck about any "big city"! I love the black forest as one of the most beautiful regions in the entire world and there are basically only cute small towns and villages 😊
As a Berlin citizen I would like to explain, that Berlin has districts and each of them is different. There are posh ones and poor. Regarding the Ampelmännchen: there is a Berlin special. We have 2 different types. One from the former east Berlin and the other one, that's in all over the rest of Germany.
Well, at least it seems he knows a bit more of Berlin than the video of Spain (2 right from a lot of false affirmations/assumptions only tourists believe). BTW I liked Berlin a lot (although I fell in love withFreistaat Bayern and Baden-Württemberg areas many years ago)
Hello Joel, I'm from Munich, but I'm often in Berlin to visit friends and I would advise you to plan more time for Berlin than just 1 week. Try to get in touch with the locals (Berliners) and ask for special sights, the people here are usually very helpful (by the way, this applies to all cities in Germany).
Last time I was in Berlin the Wall was still up and the Cold War was hot. West Berlin was wonderful, and East Berlin was depressing. Would I ever like to explore it now!!! Great idea Joel making your exploration base for a week. Best, John in Canada
@@ichbinbluna3504 Unter anderem ja aber ich denke dass die meisten Amerikaner sich tatsächlich einfach nicht für andere Kulturen interessieren.( Nicht jeder natürlich aber die meisten).
This traffic light rhyme ("Bei Rot bleibe stehn, bei Grün darfst du gehn") is actually a kindergarten song, with which many generations were raised. This is why even old people will say it to you. Full text is: Bei Rot bleibe stehn, bei Grün darfst du gehn Bei Rot musst du warten, bei Grün darfst du starten Das merke dir gut und sei auf der Hut. At red (light) you must stand, at green (light) you may go At red you must wait, at green you may start walking Remember this well and watch out
another don't - don't think Berlin is Germany. You can spend weeks (or years) in Berlin and not miss a thing, but Berlin is a multicultural Megacity and the real Germany is about the small towns and cities, the landscape, the culture and history.
I personally think the jaywalking thing is such a big misconception about Germany. I am jaywalking here for all of my life and I never got yelled at for doing it. Usually it’s even like this, that as soon the first person jaywalks, all other people around will follow. I don’t know where this miss conception comes from but almost everyone I know here in Germany will jaywalk if there are no cars and kid’s around. The only time I would never jay walk is when kids are around. Since you as an adult are being an example and kids might not be able to judge yet if it’s safe to walk or if it’s better to stay and maybe bring them selfs in danger. I think that also comes from that kids here in Germany are very independent from a young age on and kids in elementary school are already walking or riding their bike on their own to school and you don’t want a kid to get into a dangerous situation because they are following your example. So yeah if you jay walk when there are kids around I definitely see people yelling at you but other than that I really wonder where it comes from that people think it’s a dead sinn to jaywalking here in Germany or where people are jaywalking and get yelled at since it never happened to me in 26 years of living in Germany.
When planning a trip to any city you will want to try and keep the reviews you watch/read within , at least, a year old. Cities are in a constant state of flux and German cities are no different. Things close, things are being refurbished, areas change, and amazing things open. There is always something new in the city and I think that's what city people love (one of the things).
Hey Joel, I live in Spain near Malaga (YOU MUST VISIT) My best friend lives in Berlin so I have been lucky to have a full tour. I must say that you need varios days to see even half of it. I stayed near the TV tower and just walking around the area there are a tousand things to see. The prgamon museo needs a whole day asi its huge ans sooooo worth the 15 euors it cost (includes free audio guide which is excelent. I have been back 3 times now and never get tired of it. You will love Berlin of that I am 100€% sure regards, Michael
I love Berlin and am looking forward to going back again - My favourite places to visit are - TV Tower (you can go up for fantastic views, but book first), Neue Nationalgalerie (for 20th Century Art - incl German Expressionism), The Brücke Museum (Out of town Art Gallery specialising in German Expressionism), Deutsche Kinemathek - Museum for Film and Television (at Potsdamer Platz), DDR Museum (re-creation of typical East Germany apartment, really interesting), East Side Gallery (stretch of the Berlin Wall painted by artists), Berlin Wall Museum at Checkpoint Charlie
Make sure you take a bus tour or a city tour with a bus. There are many, including the Big Bus Berlin. It's a bit expensive for over 30 euros, but it's worth it. I think the tour lasts an hour or so. When I was in Berlin in 2018, we had a cool guide. He was very cool and funny. Of course, it's also bilingual in English. They are spread out in the city centre.
Best thing to start off a visit to any city and getting in touch with the sights, the distances and learning about the different locations. And then you plan the rest of the days of your visit to what interests you the most.
Currywurst Soße: 10 g Olivenöl 120 g Tomatenketschup 60 g Wasser 2 table spoons Curry 1/2 Teespoons Cayennepepper, grained broth, Salt 2 table spoons Sugar Some Pepper possibly vinegar Mix oil, tomato ketchup and water in a pot and mix for about 1 min. let cook in the heat. Add the remaining ingredients and 3 min. keep simmering. Optionally, 1 TL of vinegar can be added. For people who like it sharper, you can partially replace the tomato ketchup with sharp curry/chili ketchup. Go fix and tastes delicious to a curry sausage.
The most important thing is, don't use any cheap curry from the grocery store! Get a good one from a spice shop or even a good curry paste from an asian store.
4:40 The Currywurst Museum has unfortunately disappeared since, there's now a McDonald's in its former place (really). It used to be close to Checkpoint Charlie, where you'll likely end up anyway. When trying a Currywurst, make sure not to get just any one, as quality varies. Recommendable stands are "Curry36" (actually a chain), "Krasselts" and "Zur Bratpfanne" if you happen to roam about the southwestern suburbs, "Curry & Chili" in the district of Wedding which allows you to spice it up in 10 levels (beware), or "Konopke" who cultivate the East Berlin style Currywurst which is slightly different. There are others, too many to mention, but try to Google the recommendable ones instead trying around randomly. PS the same goes for Döner stands. PS2: True German style is to have your Currywurst with fries (chips, Pommes Frites) with mayonnaise.
@@ichbinbluna3504 Er kann die Standort der genannten Currywust-Stände googeln und dann dort essen und wird sicher nicht enttäuscht. Und er vermeidet die vergebliche Suche nach dem Currywurst-Museum :)
The best was to travel within Berlin is the bus 100, starting at Bahnhof Zoo. You will get to see something special at every stop. With a day pass you can just hop off and back on any time you want.
If you're planning to stay for a few day's in Berlin, you can buy a card for all the public transport you need in Berlin during that time (train, metro, bus, etc.) No checking in, or whatever, just step in. This card also gives you free entrance or reduced prices to musea. When going to the Reichstag, reserve your ticket with a timelock prior to your visit. So you won't be dissapointed when you're there and you can not enter. Entrance is free btw. As an alternative to your trip, take in consideration that you can take a train from Amsterdam (the Netherlands) straight to Berlin. It takes you 6 hours. Buy a ticket prior, for a reserved seating.
The word "jaywalking" is not known in Germany. Important for pedestrians is only not to go at red light. If there is no traffic light and you think you can cross a street safely you are allowed to do so at your own risk. Also good to know is, there is normaly no right, to turn right on red for cars. Airport in Tegel is closed for ever. Berlin is policentric, and has more than 3 centers. In the south west is another center in the Schlossstraße. Center in the west in the Wilmersdorfer Straße is a pedestrians only zone. And there are many more center and shopping areas. The top-selling area is the Schlossstraße in south west. Extreme important to know is that we have many street names used doubled ore tripled in Berlin. So you need to know the street name and the name of the district. For example there are 3 Schlossstraße in Berlin. One in district Stegliz-Zehlendorf, one in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and one in district Reinickendorf. A street named Berliner Straße you can find in district Pankow and also in district Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Make sure you have the correct destination. 😉
If youre into the international food in berlin: you absolutely have to try some vietnamese places. Specially in the eastern part there are plenty of them because of the foreign vietnamese workers that immigrated in the DDR. You'll find really authentic viet food that not that much adapted to European taste. Oh and you absolutely have to visit the Berlin Thai Park. On weekends in summer there're dozens of thai and viet food stalls with great snacks and meals.
If you would like to visit the dome in the Reichstag, you should definitely go to the website weeks in advance to see whether appointments are available. Because there are so many tourists there that you sometimes have to book appointments 2 - 3 months in advance.
Just a heads up regarding the Pergamon Museum: The Pergamon Museum on Berlin's Museum Island will completely close for three and half years for a long-term renovation project starting this October. Renovations are already underway in the northern and central part of the museum, however its southern wing will not reopen until 2037.
TXL Tegel are Close , SXF Schönefeld also Close.. but now is the new Airport BER, same Place as Schönefeld SXF. Transport to Berlin by Bus, S-Bahn Terminal or Taxi
I specifically recommend going to the Pergamon Museum as it is about to close its doors for renovations. You need to book tickets online though. That's new and I learnt the hard way last weekend. Also the Berliner Schloss has a collection that will go back to Africa in the near future, so there's a last opportunity.
JPS, it´s Potsdam, Capital of the state of Brandenburg, former residence of the prussian kings and just next to Berlin. A very beautiful town with lots and lots of historic buildings, gorgeous parks and palaces, with wonderful lakes and waterways. And a peaceful, stress-free athosphere.
First of all, I am grateful to you for your videos that you put on youtube. they make me really proud of my country, i think you can't see all of berlin in 2 days. such an assessment of me. berlin is a beautiful city that has only one problem for me (i speak for myself and not for other people) and that is the landscape. every time i'm in berlin i think what a beautiful city. but i also see the landscape in germany, usually everything is green if the weather cooperates and we don't have winter right now....but i miss that a bit in berlin. but when it comes to history, i think berlin is the best place to start...i hope you can forgive my bad english....greetings from germany
The first time I heard someone pronounce it that way it was on tik tok.. I thought they were joking. haha But I won't complain too much, I'm happy the guy knew gyros at all. Usually they only know kebab 😅
I live in Berlin, jaywalk all the time & never ever have been yelled at by anyone. I'm sure some people didn't like it and maybe I didn't notice some looks, but it's really not that bad. Yes, when kids are around, maybe try to lead by example, but if you're running after the bus or tram, nobody will judge you. ;)
@Morejps: i am probably the 1000th person to say: get the 49 euro ticket and you will be covered on all public transport for a month. Not high speed trains. But any bus any subway any city. I am so excited you‘re finally coming. Ciao from Hamburg.
I was in Berlin last year during the summer. And the park he is standing in in the video is a bustling meeting area during the summer nights. I would definitely recommend that too, had a great time there!
Alexanderplatz was NOT the center of East Berlin, on the contrary, “ALEX” used to be very close to the border with Berlin Wedding (West). Today the Alex is once again the center of all of Berlin. And the restaurant in the TV tower at ALEX rotates on its axis in exactly 1 hour, so you have a great panoramic view of Berlin. Berlin also has a second television tower (Lulatsch length), which is located in Berlin-Charlottenburg.
The classic "Ampelmännchen" is an invention of the GDR. The western "Ampelmännchen" was a boring sign so they took the sign from the GDR to the most parts of (West) Germany priority Berlin.
I can confirm the budget thing. I'm Bavarian and on our class trip to Berlin, we only spent about half of our daily food budget and spend the rest on a shopping spree in the city center. We would have gone broke doing the same in Munich.
Honestly, jaywalking isn't that big of a deal in Berlin. Obviously, you shouldn't do it when cops are around, but people in Berlin are much more laissez-faire than in other parts of Germany. Berlin really is a decentralised city. Each district has it's own style and even within the district there are different social communities called "kiez" (the closest translation would be "hood", but it is not only the people but also the infrastructure). I would recommend the "Futurium", which is a place where you can explore different possibilities of a possible future, fields of innovative technologies, research, visions, etc. super interesting.
He said Potsdam^^ Which happens to be my hometown. It's basically directly connected to Berlin, and if you buy a Day Ticket for Berlin that same ticket also allows you to ride any train or bus in Potsdam as well at no extra cost, so just come and check it out. Unlike Berlin there's a lot of oldtown vibes in Potsdam, lots of parks and castles, well worth a visit^^ It's also the capital city of Brandenburg, one of the 16 states.
If you want to see old parts of Berlin, you have to visit the subburbs "Lichterfelde West" (West-Berlin), or "old town of Spandau" (West-Berlin) or "Nikolaiviertel" in Mitte (Eastberlin). Or the town "Weimar" in Thüringen... About public trans: you not only have to buy your public trans ticket, this ticket must be stamped (validated)! Without stamp the ticket is not in usage, so you would ride the public trans without valid ticket! Some tickets may have already a stamp on it, so please take a close look at your public trans ticket and if needed, stamp your ticket at the ticket stamp machines. The common ticket is good for 2h for one way, no roundtrips, no longer breaks. So better get a Tagesfahrkarte, a day ticket.
I wish you much fun in Berlin. I often visit the city, it's like a second home to me. I'm going to watch your videos when you are there. I'm very curious what impressions and vibes the city gives you.
Others have also commented on only the BER airport being in operation after Tegel was closed some three years ago but another thing to complete what Wolters advised: Yes, buy the ticket, but don't forget to stamp it the first time you use it, it isn't valid until you stamp it, and if you go to Potsdam on the S Bahn, you will need to get a one day additional because the normal ticket is only for the A and B zones (normally you don't need more than that to move around in the city) but Potsdam is in the C zone. You will have some fun!
As museum I can highly recommend the "underground museum" called "Berliner Unterwelten". They provide multiple tours and you see Berlin from a very different perspective. VERY nice is tour 2 because it's a tour through one of the 3 old big flak towers/bunkers. Two got entirely destroyed after WW2 but the last couldn't be destroyed entirely because it was to close to important railways. So in this tour you can go through the remains and FEEL how the the residents must felt in WW2, crammed that up in big rooms, bombs falling, etc. The half destroyed Flak tower got surrounded by debris of the destroyed Berlin after war. So much it became one of the big hills in Berlin (many hills in Berlins are debris from WW2) and is a park now and parts of the flak towers on top spike out and you can WALK onto them and have a nice (free) view over Berlin, too. Something different: Could you add a link of the videos you react to? For multiple reasons: 1. you show respect to the creator of that video 2. viewers can rewatch parts there (e.g. when you wanna see something bigger to read) 3. viewers can check stuff like the age of the video 4. most german creators that does reactions does that, too … it's common here ;-) cya
A few things to add would be that there are no longer two airports - as already stated, only BER (Berlin-Brandenburg International) is open. The J-walking part is a bit exaggerated; I do it all the time since I refuse to wait for a green light when the road is empty and I am not hindering anyone and even though some people /might/ look at you funnily they will not tell you to do anything let alone get physical. Be advised though that if caught you could be fined EUR 5 for it... For the public transportation stuff I recommend using apps, they will make it much easier to figure out which mode of transportation to use. There are several options available. I would also recommend to maybe just get a bike instead. You can rent them on the street in the central areas of Berlin, drive to where you nee to go and just leave it standing there again. That way you can do some sightseeing while getting from A to B. One thing for the sightseeing "DOs" that are a bit lesser known: The little church you see to the left of the "TV-Tower" at the beginning of his vid, the "Marienkirche" is not only 730+ years old but also one that Martin Luther King once preached here in 1964. Another one would be the old Knight's Templar garrison in Berlin-Tempelhof.
Hey, I really like to watch your videos on TH-cam. Ist’s very interesting to see your view on our country 🤗 I heard you wanna visit Germany in this summer. I hole you have a great trip with a lot of unforgettable moments. P.s. You have to visit Baden-Württemberg, the best State 😍😂 Regards Daniel
I was completely against this memorial, but when I walked into the stones with my heart on the Shoa, it was an immense resonating chamber for my thoughts, I found the effect was really strong on my emotions. Just go in alone. It‘s like a battlefield, you go there to think and remember, not to look at anything specifically.
Do the Pergamon Museum it's cool. The Holocaust memorial is meant to be walked through, the columns get bigger the further you walk in and you feel kinda lost. Every time I visited I really chocked up in there.
The special thing about Berlin is that it is constantly changing. Yes, there are key "attractions" and there always will be, but apart from that it's a fast-paced city. Things disappear and new things appear. You'll probably see things I've never heard of. I left Berlin shortly after the government moved in with the whole media circus. It dramatically changed the atmosphere of this once unique and rustic city.
In Berlin you don't have to order a Eisbein. Please, please, please, do not eat typical southern German food (such as pretzels, spaetzle, Eisbein, Weißwurst, etc.) in Berlin. Especially if you want to go to Munich anyway. Google for restaurants with typical Berlin cuisine or typical "GDR cuisine", also very tasty. I'm from North Rhine-Westphalia and I love the regional differences in German cuisine and I'm always sad when I see videos of tourists who then only order Bavarian food and then think they've eaten typically German food. No, you haven't! You ate typically Bavarian. And I can only agree with the tip about international restaurants. In general, German restaurants are very clean, good quality and not so high prices. There are actually no tourist traps if you are willing to walk a few steps and don't want to be directly at the tourist hotspot. It doesn't matter what you would like to eat, in Berlin you will find a suitable restaurant. Whether Indian, Chinese, Ethiopian, Caribbean, whether all the different European cuisines, everything is possible. Tegel Airport is closed, there is only BER. By the way, the traffic light man (Ampelmännchen) is the traffic light signal from the former GDR. It should have been abolished after reunification, since the traffic sign West traffic light man is described in the law. However, the East Germans successfully complained and now the East traffic light man can be found all over Germany. It was immediately marketed in Berlin - it also looks cute. I'm already looking forward to Joel's travel vlog. Who is actually your travel companion, since you are talking about we/us?
Hello Joel. I missed out on Berlin when your age as that wall was still there. My memories are from the old West Germany. I look forward to seeing what I missed in your future videos.
When we were working in a Hamburg Shipyard we bought a 7 seat station wagon for $500. Took it to Berlin for the weekend-ish. We got so drunk, none of us could remember where we parked, so just handed the keys to a Cop and took the train home.
I have good friends who were born and raised in Berlin. And my neighbors where I live now, just moved permanently to Berlin. I have visited the city frequently. I especially like to stay in 'Mitte' or 'Friedrichshain'. Given your age, I would recommend staying in Friedrichshain. It's a great place with lots of nightclubs, bars, etc. Sure, you can do the international food/restaurants, but you would be remiss not to go to a German restaurant that serves Eisbein (a very large hamhock) and typical German side dishes. Definitely spend a couple days on Museum Island. Unbelievable. As for some of the history, just north of Berlin is Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp from the Holocaust. It's devastating, but it's important to experience. Yes, go to Potsdam and Magdeburg. If you're going to Munich, you have to take a day trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, if you can. I lived there for a while and it's amazing. It's an old medieval town that wasn't completely destroyed in WWII. The drugstore where I shopped was founded as a drugstore in the 15th century. And of course, the Bavarian Alps are more than worth seeing. In spite of the fact, you can get around with English very well, it would be a plus for you to take a class in survival German before you go. Also, you have to have cash with you. Most places do not take credit or debit cards! This is extremely important! Create a separate travel account at your bank, get a separate debit card for it, put your budgeted trip money in that account, and have the bank exchange about $500 into Euros for the trip. When you're there, if you need cash, just go to an ATM and get some. But don't try to use the bank card or credit card at restaurants, etc. They usually don't accept them. I speak fluent German and spend a lot of time there...or used to...I'm 73 now and since the pandemic, I haven't traveled much, and probably won't be traveling too much in the future. But I wish you a great trip and I hope you love Germany as much as I do.
Hey, great video my friend, and welcome to Berlin :D. Just wanted to mention that Tegel Airport is NO MORE there is now BER as the new airport, don't get confused when you come here :D
Ich habe heute ca 8 Stunden ein video nach dem anderen Video von dir angesehen ,da ich durch Zufall auf deinen TH-cam Kanal gestolpert bin und die einzelnen Themen teils lustig,schlimm aber auch schockierend gefunden habe und mich jetzt dazu entschlossen habe dir ein paar Zeilen (auf deutsch,leider zu schreiben denn mein englisch dafür nicht gut genug wäre)um dir zu sagen das du das ganz toll machst und mir mal wieder zeigt in was für einen tollen Land ich doch lebe,und als typisch deutscher dazu neige mich nicht über diese kleinen und großen Errungenschaften in meinem Heimatland zu freuen und sie zu schätzen sondern zu oft mich über Kleinigkeiten aufzuregen oder zu beschweren. Ich habe mich schon so oft gefragt warum ihr Amerikaner bei solchen Sachen wie eine Krankenversicherung für jeden Bürger in eurem Land oder Schulbildung für jedes Kind euch nicht einigen oder verständigen könnt da es doch für jeden etwas positives wäre.dann ist mir erzählt worden das viele das als Eingriff in eure persönliche Freiheit empfinden würdet und das das für euch schon als Kommunismus empfunden wird.aber da ihr doch auch alle Steuern zahlt wenn ihr arbeiten geht oder einkaufen müßt ist es doch das selbstverständlicheste für ein hochindustrieland und eines der reichsten Länder der Welt das der Staat für seine Bürger gewisse Pflichten seinen Bürgern gegenüber wahrnehmen muß die für das allgemeinwohl wichtig sind so wie Straßen bauen oder Schulen bauen,oder auch den militärischen Schutz übernehmen muß die sich die eine oder andere Einzelperson nicht leisten kann.Denn wenn der Staat der bei euch ca 800 Billionen Dollar jährlichen in euer Militär reinstecket dann sollte es doch kein Problem sein den Bürgern die dieses Geld über Steuern zahlen doch auch als mindeststandard gesehen werden auf das jeder Bürger ein Recht darauf hat und nicht als Kommunismus verstanden zu wird.Ich bin mir sicher wenn du deinen Besuch in Deutschland machst und du einen deutschen fragst ob wir das als Kommunismus empfinden glaube ich das du keinen findest der das so sieht sondern das als staatspflicht gesehen wird das wir durch unsere Steuern ja selber finanzieren.denn der Staat bist ja auch du und jeder einzelne Steuerzahler. Ich hoffe du kannst mein schreiben verstehen und wünsche dir alles Gute und viel Spaß wenn du nach Deutschland kommst
Hi, you are reacting to a video that is 5 years old. At that time, the large international airport of Berlin (BER) was still under construction, and the two other airports mentioned in the video (Tegel and Schöneberg) were in operation. Today, however, all air traffic runs via the new capital airport BER.
I'd love to say hello to you when you are in Germany. When going to the memorial, walk quietly to the area where the columns are the heighest and touch them. I strongly recommend that. And observe what you feel. I won't tell you more on that, but I'd love to hear about your impressions. Germany has two kinds of Ampelmännchen. The fatter ones are from east Germany. Those made it onto T-Shirts and bags. Döner (Kebap) was invented in Berlin.
Berlin is called the multi cultural city, because it is very international . There are also many dishes offered, such as Greek, India, Turkish, Italian, etc. You should also try the Arabic food there it should also taste very good and is not too expensive.
Berlin is a big City...yes. The beauty of Germany is in other parts...the differences and interesting people. See Hamburg...the Arena around Frankfurt called RHEINGAU with all the vine outdoor setting....the alles and the lakes and sea!
I visited Berlin a few times and my favourite activity was the spy museum. Lots of things to interact or try plus many facts about cold war I never heard about.
Sure, if you wan't to have the least German experience stay in Berlin. Even Germans get a culture shock when visiting Berlin for the first time or if they haven't been there in a long while. It's not what you expect Germany to be, especially if you're not in the tourist areas.
I love Berlin myself, it's a super interesting city and definitely a must see. But be aware that you will have almost no impression of Germany once you've been to Berlin. Berlin represents Germany about as much as NYC represents the US.
As a Berliner i must say it`s true! Berlin is International!
German here who was born in Berlin.Not true you just havent been to the right places and mostly in touristic neighbourhoods there are very german places there u have been in wrong areas
Berlin has only one Airport left. BER (Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport). Tegel was closed two years ago. I am from Berlin and it was nice to remember all the things we did as kids after the wall went down.
Yes, I was in Berlin last year, I thought that was out of date! :)
geh wieder nach drüben!
I emphasize along with other commentators: This video is 5 years old! Much has changed.
Pergamon Museum is undergoing major reconstruction and renovation and much of it is now closed, including the Altar. Regrettable. The Ishtar Gate could be visited when I was last in Berlin, but even that was 3 years ago.
Reichstag: I believe it is still possible to reserve a time slot for your visit. Book in advance, and don’t forget to take your passport with you! But do it, definitely! Depending on when exactly you come, however, you may not be able to go there at night. At the height of summer, it doesn’t really get dark here until after 10 p.m.
Nefertiti: das Neue Museum. While the museum itself is worth a visit, you could spend hours and hours, days and days, but even if you buy a ticket just to see Nefertiti (you can buy these tickets with time slots on your cell), even that is worth it. The beauty of this bust is breathtaking! Pictures do not do it justice.
You could start your trip to Berlin by taking the Bus 100. It is known as a site-seeing bus because it runs past all the big attractions (and you can hop on and off) for the price of a regular bus ticket. Buy day passes (or multiple day passes). Important: It is not enough to buy your ticket (which can also be purchased at kiosks, by the way) - it must be validated before use. Look for these little machines at the entrance to train and subway stations and stamp your ticket.
Go to Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center, have breakfast at one of the restaurants there (if the weather is good, sit outside under the canopy), then walk from there to the Reichstag. It will take you past the Brandenburg Gate and the Holocaust Memorial, and it is also one of the most prominent places where there are the brick lines showing where the Wall was located.
Potsdam: Sans Souci is a good day trip, but it really is a day trip. The Sans Souci Palace itself is lovely, and the New Palace is worth the visit, but the two sites are at opposite ends of the park and it is HUGE. There are various other little sites in the park (China Pavilion, for instance).
The best and greatest band in Berlin is the Berlin Philharmonic! 😃
I will acquiesce to my fellow commentators for tips on the night life. I’ve been out of that scene for a few years now (actually, a lot of years!).
By the way: there is a shop on Unter den Linden that sells all kinds of memorabilia featuring the traffic light figures (Ampelmännchen). Distinctly Berlin.
@@ichbinbluna3504 Yes, for those 4 years it will be completely closed. But I had a look at the website, and unless I completely misread something, most is closed even now. The Altar was already closed 3 years ago. The Gate and Marketplace may still be accessible, but I would hesitate to recommend to Joel that he go there for those two exhibits. After all, the Altar is the jewel of the museum, and his time wijj be so limited.
@@michaelmedlinger6399 it was closed for some years and then last summer it was open and renovated and I was happy to visit again. Would they renovate AGAIN now…?
@@vickydebr The information on the website was not really very clear to me. My impression is that from October it will be completely closed down. They will be adding a new wing, connecting the museum to other buildings (I think!) and who knows what else. Someone from Berlin could go there and find out for sure (or call). I seem to recall that three years ago, the information was that the Altar would not be accessible until the end of the complete renovation. Apparently, however, that is not the case.
And then there is the question: Will Joel really be interested? He is a naturally curious person who would no doubt go at some point, but with only a week, he will have to make some hard choices. But it will be good for him to have some solid information before he goes.
As he won't visit Berlin only, now since 1st of June he should get the Deutschland-Ticket for 49€. Actually when going to any other city in Germany he could take the standard not high speed trains. It's a great way to see and experience Germany and saves you a lot of money. Sure, it take like at least double the time than taking a high-speed train, but you see more as well.
@@ichbinbluna3504 I visisted the museum 3 weeks ago. I didn't noticed that some parts were closed, cause it was my first time there. And it's still beautiful and interesting.
Hey Joel, in the video you mentioned that you do not necessarily want to walk through the Holocaust memorial. I recommend you do walk through, because that is part of the experience: Everything starts shallow and fairly unexciting. Then, the further you go, you may or may not notice people around you disappearing. Finally, you will find yourself almost completely alone (it is quite possible you will have lost your friend who was next to you all the time), several feet under the surface and much deeper in than you would have thought was possible when you entered. This is meant to resemble what people in the Third Reich experienced, and is imo a very powerful part of the art work. Cheers!
P.S.: I hope you are not going to skip Hamburg. That would be a massive mistake!
This, walk through it. Experienced it myself and that is definitely the intended effect and way to experience the memorial.
wow did not know that. I have only been to Berlin one time. Hope I can go back.
A must see for sure.
Go there it is so big, but from the outside it doesn't look like it.
To skip Hamburg would be the WORST!!!! 😂 No kidding.
12:20 An important fact he didn't mention: There were two different styles of the traffic light man in East and West. After reunification everyone thought the eastern one looks cuter, so it was decided to use that one from now on. It's a piece of East German culture that survived and is popular in both former parts. This symbolism is what it makes significant.
and the "Rechtsabbiegerpfeil" (Right turn Arrow - Sign)
I was born and raised in West Germany ( way down south in the Stuttgart Area) I personally like the Ampelmännchen from the West better.... There were also two Sandmann, the eastern one survived the western one died,which is a shame
@@SouthernBelle888 Tastes differ and that's good. About the sandman television show though, there's a popular misconception. The West German sandman show was withdrawn in 1988, one year before the wall came down, for reasons completely unrelated to reunification or the Eastern sandman.
If you grew up like me in West Germany at the zone border, then you'd rather see the East Sandman anyway.
Especially the very old stories (Pünktchen or Frau Puppendoktor Pille) I liked very much.
@@anunearthlychild8569 i grew up in West Germany, way down south in Stuttgart and only grew up with the west Sandmann und Ampelmännchen...and prefer the West Ampelmännchen they look nicer
“Being as much of a Berliner as possible”… you can live in Berlin for 15 years and still won’t be accepted as a Berliner 😉
I think that is true for any major city. If you weren't born in Amsterdam, you can't call yourself an 'Amsterdammer', period, exclamation mark 🙂 I know it's weird, but I can go on Google Earth and show a close shot of the exact room where I was born in. And yes, I can boast about being an 'Amsterdammer' 🙂
actually you are a "Berliner" when you drop your suitcase on the Floor of the Train Station. this City is quit open to its new residents - well it gets 40.000 each year - what else could we do🙂
@@joecoolblnyou can call yourself that, but it won't mean you will be accepted by real Berliners as such.
Often even being born and raised there doesn't mean, that you will be accepted as a Berliner.
To be honest, the fact that the majorities come from other cities and countries just slightly changed that, in the sense that those new people who happen to be the majority, accept everyone that was born and raised here as a Berliner.
The Berliners that are here since generations never accepted us as such. Just now its like: "Well at least you were born and raised here."
@@ElamandaKava Wirklich??? Kann das gar nicht glauben. 😢
@@Winona493 Wirklich. Mittlerweile ist es schon so, dass man als jemand der hier geboren wurde als Berliner akzeptiert wird, aber das ist eher neu. In den 90er und 2000 ern mussten mindestens deine Eltern, eigentlich sogar deine Großeltern schon hier geboren sein. Also drei Generationen Berliner. Sonst galt man als zugezogen.
Das war nicht böse gemeint. Jemand dessen Urgroßeltern schon in Lübars begraben sind, sieht sich vielleicht berechtigterweise mehr als Berliner als jemand anderer.
Aber wie gesagt, die meisten sind ja zugezogen und somit werden die Regeln neu gemacht 😜
One thing I can HIGHLY recommend to check out is getting a tour in the "Berlin Hohenschönhausen Memorial", a prison used by the STASI (the GDR's political secret police). The Tour guides are people that were imprisoned in there and you get a remarkable (and disturbing) insight in how the GDR treated those they deemed political enemies.
The "Checkpoint Charlie museum" is also a great place to learn more about the Berlin Wall and the city's general division. They have exhibitions like an original car that was used to smuggle people across the border where you get to see (or not) how difficult it was to try and get through the checkpoints into the West.
There's also the "Berliner Unterwelten" tour which brings you through old bunker complexes (both WW2 bunkers and Cold War bunkers meant in case of nuclear war) aswell as escape tunnels from East to West Berlin, etc..
Really, you can spend years in Berlin going through museums and alike tours. I absolutely recommend that you take a thorough inventory of possible museums you can check out at the time (some are closed for renovations and some tours are seasonal) and double check of any of that is something that interests you because I can guarantee you'll find something for you and it'd be a shame if you didn't check it out when you can, especially for international visitors that won't be visiting berlin anytime soon, if ever, again.
+1 for Berliner Unterwelten.
Nah he got it a little wrong there. The Jewish memorial isn’t about being integrated into life in the city, but about walking through it to feel what the Jews felt the moments before their murder (and in the camps). It’s kinda scary, disturbing and oppressive.
So to really understand the memorial pls walk through it 🙏🏼
When I visited the Holocaust memorial shortly after it was erected, there were American tourists who thought it was a good idea to immortalize themselves on it with a felt pen.
When I asked them if they would do that in a cemetery or at the Washington Memorial, they were very ashamed because they didn't think about the meaning at all.
I am always shocked that many (also Germans) think it is just a cool photo background or smear it.
As I am from Berlin I definitely agree on the Pergamon Museum, those reconstructed Walls of Babylon are extremely impressive (though if you plan on going to a museum do it in the middle of the week or book it before because otherwise you might have to wait like 4 hours to be let in-) and also visiting Potsdam! It's very close and a very very beautiful city!
When you lucky and you are here in the first Week of the Month at Sunday Museums are free but only in the first Week of the Month at Sunday
Looking forward to the Videos from germany 😁 love your reactions. And trough that i started to Look at my Country with different eyes. As a native german, who lives his hole Life in Germany (35 Years 👴🏻), you forget to see the good things. Thanks for that ✌🏻 and dont worry, we germans in General are realy Nice guys to foreignars 😎
Going to Berlin I recommend the bus line 100. It is basicaly a tourist tour in the center. Starts at zoo and ends there to.
You will drive by most of the sights, but it does not cost more, cause its a regular bus line.
Yea, buy a day ticket or a week ticket. (AB zone for inner Berlin). Take the Bus 100 and hop on and off at all the sites.
Thats what I do with friends who want to see Berlin.
If you are staying for a week, Potsdam is definitely worth a trip. It has more of the old German, Prussian vibe of architecture and Sanssouci (the summer residence of the Prussian kings/later the Kaiser) is a beautiful place. Also, there is a tiny Russian colony nearby called Alexandrowka. Don't be surprised if you get there by train that the area around the train station is ugly as sin as is often the case in Germany. You have to walk just five minutes down to the Havel, where the historic old town starts.
In Berlin, I really would stress visiting the individual quarters, eg Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg, Charlottenburg, Kreuzberg, Wedding...it is a city of cities, more or less, not only due to the East-West divide. Have great fun!
I second that. Potsdam is really worth the detour for the beautiful Park Sanssouci and the architecture. It's also not that far away. The very inexpensive regional train gets you from Zoologische Garten / Kudam to Park Sanssouci in half an hour and it is just 5 walking minutes from the train station.
Yeah if you're 60+ Potsdam is a great visit but if you're younger and only have a few days you should definetly stay in Berlin
@@vomm such nonsense. Age got nothing to do with it. I have done Potsdam with several out of town friends on a chill day after heavy clubbing - all under 30 and everyone enjoyed it a lot.
I visited for the first time last year and loved it, so much history. I really enjoyed the Museums and galleries. So easy to get around, people great.
Hey bro, i live in Potsdam wich is about 30min away from berlin. It is a beautiful little city with a huge amount of History wich made germany the country it is today. From the spliting of germany after WW2 or the church in wich hitler got promotetd to the chancellor of Germany, we have all of that here. We have many really big and beautiful Parks with even more castles and Pallais. I would be thrille if youre here at some point. And i would be mre than happy to show around this little city :)
People coming to visit Germany and then overemphazising Berlin is almost like going to the states and spend two weeks in Washington to get to know the country. But still have fun :)
More like overemphasising New York. Both are the largest cities in their countries, but very non-typical.
@@nonnoyobisnis8705 You listed only western cities. Any tourist should visit one or two East German cities. Of course there are other options.
Either Berlin or Munich... mostly only those 2 cities. Its sad, but as someone who is not from those 2 cities you have to accept it.
@@xaverlustig3581western cities and a place even further west that is not part of the country we are talking about 🤔😊
For a first visit in Germany Berlin and Munich is not a bad choice. As a tourist you visit the big tourist spots at first and if you like them, come back and discover the "real Germany".
I personally give a f*ck about any "big city"! I love the black forest as one of the most beautiful regions in the entire world and there are basically only cute small towns and villages 😊
As a Berlin citizen I would like to explain, that Berlin has districts and each of them is different. There are posh ones and poor. Regarding the Ampelmännchen: there is a Berlin special. We have 2 different types. One from the former east Berlin and the other one, that's in all over the rest of Germany.
Well, at least it seems he knows a bit more of Berlin than the video of Spain (2 right from a lot of false affirmations/assumptions only tourists believe). BTW I liked Berlin a lot (although I fell in love withFreistaat Bayern and Baden-Württemberg areas many years ago)
Hello Joel, I'm from Munich, but I'm often in Berlin to visit friends and I would advise you to plan more time for Berlin than just 1 week. Try to get in touch with the locals (Berliners) and ask for special sights, the people here are usually very helpful (by the way, this applies to all cities in Germany).
Please keep in mind: the video is from 2018.
Last time I was in Berlin the Wall was still up and the Cold War was hot. West Berlin was wonderful, and East Berlin was depressing. Would I ever like to explore it now!!! Great idea Joel making your exploration base for a week. Best, John in Canada
Joel! Professor Wolter’s Don’ts! and my beloved Berlin!!! In one video! This is all I need! 🇺🇸🇩🇪🇺🇸❤🎉
Im glad to see that some americans like you are interested in the rest of the World. It needs more Americans like you.
@@ichbinbluna3504 Unter anderem ja aber ich denke dass die meisten Amerikaner sich tatsächlich einfach nicht für andere Kulturen interessieren.( Nicht jeder natürlich aber die meisten).
This traffic light rhyme ("Bei Rot bleibe stehn, bei Grün darfst du gehn") is actually a kindergarten song, with which many generations were raised. This is why even old people will say it to you. Full text is:
Bei Rot bleibe stehn, bei Grün darfst du gehn
Bei Rot musst du warten, bei Grün darfst du starten
Das merke dir gut und sei auf der Hut.
At red (light) you must stand, at green (light) you may go
At red you must wait, at green you may start walking
Remember this well and watch out
another don't - don't think Berlin is Germany. You can spend weeks (or years) in Berlin and not miss a thing, but Berlin is a multicultural Megacity and the real Germany is about the small towns and cities, the landscape, the culture and history.
@@ichbinbluna3504 yes, I viewed the video smartass.
I personally think the jaywalking thing is such a big misconception about Germany. I am jaywalking here for all of my life and I never got yelled at for doing it. Usually it’s even like this, that as soon the first person jaywalks, all other people around will follow. I don’t know where this miss conception comes from but almost everyone I know here in Germany will jaywalk if there are no cars and kid’s around. The only time I would never jay walk is when kids are around. Since you as an adult are being an example and kids might not be able to judge yet if it’s safe to walk or if it’s better to stay and maybe bring them selfs in danger. I think that also comes from that kids here in Germany are very independent from a young age on and kids in elementary school are already walking or riding their bike on their own to school and you don’t want a kid to get into a dangerous situation because they are following your example. So yeah if you jay walk when there are kids around I definitely see people yelling at you but other than that I really wonder where it comes from that people think it’s a dead sinn to jaywalking here in Germany or where people are jaywalking and get yelled at since it never happened to me in 26 years of living in Germany.
When planning a trip to any city you will want to try and keep the reviews you watch/read within , at least, a year old. Cities are in a constant state of flux and German cities are no different. Things close, things are being refurbished, areas change, and amazing things open. There is always something new in the city and I think that's what city people love (one of the things).
Hey Joel, I live in Spain near Malaga (YOU MUST VISIT) My best friend lives in Berlin so I have been lucky to have a full tour. I must say that you need varios days to see even half of it. I stayed near the TV tower and just walking around the area there are a tousand things to see. The prgamon museo needs a whole day asi its huge ans sooooo worth the 15 euors it cost (includes free audio guide which is excelent. I have been back 3 times now and never get tired of it. You will love Berlin of that I am 100€% sure
regards, Michael
I lived in Málaga for three years and loved it 🙂 Don't sell yourself short on your own heritage 😁😄
I love Berlin and am looking forward to going back again - My favourite places to visit are - TV Tower (you can go up for fantastic views, but book first), Neue Nationalgalerie (for 20th Century Art - incl German Expressionism), The Brücke Museum (Out of town Art Gallery specialising in German Expressionism), Deutsche Kinemathek - Museum for Film and Television (at Potsdamer Platz), DDR Museum (re-creation of typical East Germany apartment, really interesting), East Side Gallery (stretch of the Berlin Wall painted by artists), Berlin Wall Museum at Checkpoint Charlie
Feeling excited for you Joel! Hope you have a great trip!👍🏼
Make sure you take a bus tour or a city tour with a bus. There are many, including the Big Bus Berlin. It's a bit expensive for over 30 euros, but it's worth it. I think the tour lasts an hour or so. When I was in Berlin in 2018, we had a cool guide. He was very cool and funny. Of course, it's also bilingual in English.
They are spread out in the city centre.
Best thing to start off a visit to any city and getting in touch with the sights, the distances and learning about the different locations. And then you plan the rest of the days of your visit to what interests you the most.
Currywurst Soße:
10 g Olivenöl
120 g Tomatenketschup
60 g Wasser
2 table spoons Curry
1/2 Teespoons Cayennepepper, grained broth, Salt
2 table spoons Sugar
Some Pepper
possibly vinegar
Mix oil, tomato ketchup and water in a pot and mix for about 1 min. let cook in the heat. Add the remaining ingredients and 3 min. keep simmering. Optionally, 1 TL of vinegar can be added.
For people who like it sharper, you can partially replace the tomato ketchup with sharp curry/chili ketchup. Go fix and tastes delicious to a curry sausage.
The most important thing is, don't use any cheap curry from the grocery store! Get a good one from a spice shop or even a good curry paste from an asian store.
I'm so excited to see your own reactions to Berlin and Germany at all. I hope you'll have a great time
Love Berlin. Great video bud. Look forward to seeing your vlogs from Germany!!.
Take the BVG Bus Number 100 to visit the whole City. It’s the cheapest way.
4:40 The Currywurst Museum has unfortunately disappeared since, there's now a McDonald's in its former place (really). It used to be close to Checkpoint Charlie, where you'll likely end up anyway.
When trying a Currywurst, make sure not to get just any one, as quality varies. Recommendable stands are "Curry36" (actually a chain), "Krasselts" and "Zur Bratpfanne" if you happen to roam about the southwestern suburbs, "Curry & Chili" in the district of Wedding which allows you to spice it up in 10 levels (beware), or "Konopke" who cultivate the East Berlin style Currywurst which is slightly different. There are others, too many to mention, but try to Google the recommendable ones instead trying around randomly.
PS the same goes for Döner stands.
PS2: True German style is to have your Currywurst with fries (chips, Pommes Frites) with mayonnaise.
@@ichbinbluna3504 Er kann die Standort der genannten Currywust-Stände googeln und dann dort essen und wird sicher nicht enttäuscht. Und er vermeidet die vergebliche Suche nach dem Currywurst-Museum :)
The best was to travel within Berlin is the bus 100, starting at Bahnhof Zoo. You will get to see something special at every stop. With a day pass you can just hop off and back on any time you want.
Bus 100 takes you through a lot of inner city places.
Joles you are right. I spent a week in Berlin and never was bored.
If you're planning to stay for a few day's in Berlin, you can buy a card for all the public transport you need in Berlin during that time (train, metro, bus, etc.) No checking in, or whatever, just step in. This card also gives you free entrance or reduced prices to musea. When going to the Reichstag, reserve your ticket with a timelock prior to your visit. So you won't be dissapointed when you're there and you can not enter. Entrance is free btw.
As an alternative to your trip, take in consideration that you can take a train from Amsterdam (the Netherlands) straight to Berlin. It takes you 6 hours. Buy a ticket prior, for a reserved seating.
The word "jaywalking" is not known in Germany. Important for pedestrians is only not to go at red light. If there is no traffic light and you think you can cross a street safely you are allowed to do so at your own risk. Also good to know is, there is normaly no right, to turn right on red for cars.
Airport in Tegel is closed for ever.
Berlin is policentric, and has more than 3 centers. In the south west is another center in the Schlossstraße. Center in the west in the Wilmersdorfer Straße is a pedestrians only zone. And there are many more center and shopping areas.
The top-selling area is the Schlossstraße in south west.
Extreme important to know is that we have many street names used doubled ore tripled in Berlin. So you need to know the street name and the name of the district. For example there are 3 Schlossstraße in Berlin. One in district Stegliz-Zehlendorf, one in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and one in district Reinickendorf.
A street named Berliner Straße you can find in district Pankow and also in district Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.
Make sure you have the correct destination. 😉
If youre into the international food in berlin: you absolutely have to try some vietnamese places. Specially in the eastern part there are plenty of them because of the foreign vietnamese workers that immigrated in the DDR.
You'll find really authentic viet food that not that much adapted to European taste.
Oh and you absolutely have to visit the Berlin Thai Park. On weekends in summer there're dozens of thai and viet food stalls with great snacks and meals.
If you would like to visit the dome in the Reichstag, you should definitely go to the website weeks in advance to see whether appointments are available. Because there are so many tourists there that you sometimes have to book appointments 2 - 3 months in advance.
We need that separate vlog on International Food in Berlin for educational purposes.
Just a heads up regarding the Pergamon Museum:
The Pergamon Museum on Berlin's Museum Island will completely close for three and half years for a long-term renovation project starting this October. Renovations are already underway in the northern and central part of the museum, however its southern wing will not reopen until 2037.
TXL Tegel are Close , SXF Schönefeld also Close.. but now is the new Airport BER, same Place as Schönefeld SXF. Transport to Berlin by Bus, S-Bahn Terminal or Taxi
Attention: we just have 1 airport BER, the Tegel airport is closed now. Don't hesitate to contact me for any questions as I am a "Berliner".
JFK is it you?
No, I am not JFK. Just a normal woman from Berlin.
I specifically recommend going to the Pergamon Museum as it is about to close its doors for renovations. You need to book tickets online though. That's new and I learnt the hard way last weekend. Also the Berliner Schloss has a collection that will go back to Africa in the near future, so there's a last opportunity.
JPS, it´s Potsdam, Capital of the state of Brandenburg, former residence of the prussian kings and just next to Berlin. A very beautiful town with lots and lots of historic buildings, gorgeous parks and palaces, with wonderful lakes and waterways. And a peaceful, stress-free athosphere.
First of all, I am grateful to you for your videos that you put on youtube. they make me really proud of my country, i think you can't see all of berlin in 2 days. such an assessment of me. berlin is a beautiful city that has only one problem for me (i speak for myself and not for other people) and that is the landscape. every time i'm in berlin i think what a beautiful city. but i also see the landscape in germany, usually everything is green if the weather cooperates and we don't have winter right now....but i miss that a bit in berlin. but when it comes to history, i think berlin is the best place to start...i hope you can forgive my bad english....greetings from germany
"Gyro" 😀 it's pronounced a bit differently in Europe. And by "a bit differently" I mean it has completely different pronunciation 🤣
The first time I heard someone pronounce it that way it was on tik tok.. I thought they were joking. haha
But I won't complain too much, I'm happy the guy knew gyros at all. Usually they only know kebab 😅
07:00 The best experience of the wall is the fragment at Bernauer Straße, near S-Bahn stop Nordbahnhof.
I live in Berlin, jaywalk all the time & never ever have been yelled at by anyone. I'm sure some people didn't like it and maybe I didn't notice some looks, but it's really not that bad. Yes, when kids are around, maybe try to lead by example, but if you're running after the bus or tram, nobody will judge you. ;)
@Morejps: i am probably the 1000th person to say: get the 49 euro ticket and you will be covered on all public transport for a month. Not high speed trains. But any bus any subway any city. I am so excited you‘re finally coming. Ciao from Hamburg.
I was in Berlin last year during the summer. And the park he is standing in in the video is a bustling meeting area during the summer nights. I would definitely recommend that too, had a great time there!
Alexanderplatz was NOT the center of East Berlin, on the contrary, “ALEX” used to be very close to the border with Berlin Wedding (West). Today the Alex is once again the center of all of Berlin. And the restaurant in the TV tower at ALEX rotates on its axis in exactly 1 hour, so you have a great panoramic view of Berlin. Berlin also has a second television tower (Lulatsch length), which is located in Berlin-Charlottenburg.
I like your videos, that you try to learn something about other countries and cultures
The TXL Airport (Tegel) was closed in 2020.
Yes, and surprisingly BER has really opened. 😂
The classic "Ampelmännchen" is an invention of the GDR. The western "Ampelmännchen" was a boring sign so they took the sign from the GDR to the most parts of (West) Germany priority Berlin.
I can confirm the budget thing. I'm Bavarian and on our class trip to Berlin, we only spent about half of our daily food budget and spend the rest on a shopping spree in the city center. We would have gone broke doing the same in Munich.
Honestly, jaywalking isn't that big of a deal in Berlin. Obviously, you shouldn't do it when cops are around, but people in Berlin are much more laissez-faire than in other parts of Germany.
Berlin really is a decentralised city. Each district has it's own style and even within the district there are different social communities called "kiez" (the closest translation would be "hood", but it is not only the people but also the infrastructure).
I would recommend the "Futurium", which is a place where you can explore different possibilities of a possible future, fields of innovative technologies, research, visions, etc. super interesting.
He said Potsdam^^ Which happens to be my hometown. It's basically directly connected to Berlin, and if you buy a Day Ticket for Berlin that same ticket also allows you to ride any train or bus in Potsdam as well at no extra cost, so just come and check it out. Unlike Berlin there's a lot of oldtown vibes in Potsdam, lots of parks and castles, well worth a visit^^ It's also the capital city of Brandenburg, one of the 16 states.
If you want to see old parts of Berlin, you have to visit the subburbs "Lichterfelde West" (West-Berlin), or "old town of Spandau" (West-Berlin) or "Nikolaiviertel" in Mitte (Eastberlin).
Or the town "Weimar" in Thüringen...
About public trans: you not only have to buy your public trans ticket, this ticket must be stamped (validated)! Without stamp the ticket is not in usage, so you would ride the public trans without valid ticket!
Some tickets may have already a stamp on it, so please take a close look at your public trans ticket and if needed, stamp your ticket at the ticket stamp machines. The common ticket is good for 2h for one way, no roundtrips, no longer breaks. So better get a Tagesfahrkarte, a day ticket.
I wish you much fun in Berlin. I often visit the city, it's like a second home to me. I'm going to watch your videos when you are there. I'm very curious what impressions and vibes the city gives you.
Others have also commented on only the BER airport being in operation after Tegel was closed some three years ago but another thing to complete what Wolters advised: Yes, buy the ticket, but don't forget to stamp it the first time you use it, it isn't valid until you stamp it, and if you go to Potsdam on the S Bahn, you will need to get a one day additional because the normal ticket is only for the A and B zones (normally you don't need more than that to move around in the city) but Potsdam is in the C zone. You will have some fun!
As museum I can highly recommend the "underground museum" called "Berliner Unterwelten". They provide multiple tours and you see Berlin from a very different perspective. VERY nice is tour 2 because it's a tour through one of the 3 old big flak towers/bunkers. Two got entirely destroyed after WW2 but the last couldn't be destroyed entirely because it was to close to important railways. So in this tour you can go through the remains and FEEL how the the residents must felt in WW2, crammed that up in big rooms, bombs falling, etc. The half destroyed Flak tower got surrounded by debris of the destroyed Berlin after war. So much it became one of the big hills in Berlin (many hills in Berlins are debris from WW2) and is a park now and parts of the flak towers on top spike out and you can WALK onto them and have a nice (free) view over Berlin, too.
Something different: Could you add a link of the videos you react to?
For multiple reasons:
1. you show respect to the creator of that video
2. viewers can rewatch parts there (e.g. when you wanna see something bigger to read)
3. viewers can check stuff like the age of the video
4. most german creators that does reactions does that, too … it's common here ;-)
cya
I was stationed in (West) Berlin in the early 1970s and I love the city AND Currywurst.
Thank you for your service!
A few things to add would be that there are no longer two airports - as already stated, only BER (Berlin-Brandenburg International) is open. The J-walking part is a bit exaggerated; I do it all the time since I refuse to wait for a green light when the road is empty and I am not hindering anyone and even though some people /might/ look at you funnily they will not tell you to do anything let alone get physical. Be advised though that if caught you could be fined EUR 5 for it... For the public transportation stuff I recommend using apps, they will make it much easier to figure out which mode of transportation to use. There are several options available. I would also recommend to maybe just get a bike instead. You can rent them on the street in the central areas of Berlin, drive to where you nee to go and just leave it standing there again. That way you can do some sightseeing while getting from A to B.
One thing for the sightseeing "DOs" that are a bit lesser known: The little church you see to the left of the "TV-Tower" at the beginning of his vid, the "Marienkirche" is not only 730+ years old but also one that Martin Luther King once preached here in 1964. Another one would be the old Knight's Templar garrison in Berlin-Tempelhof.
You can take a river tour of the city. A nice restful thing to do if you're getting burnt out.
Hey,
I really like to watch your videos on TH-cam. Ist’s very interesting to see your view on our country 🤗
I heard you wanna visit Germany in this summer. I hole you have a great trip with a lot of unforgettable moments.
P.s. You have to visit Baden-Württemberg, the best State 😍😂
Regards
Daniel
I was completely against this memorial, but when I walked into the stones with my heart on the Shoa, it was an immense resonating chamber for my thoughts, I found the effect was really strong on my emotions.
Just go in alone. It‘s like a battlefield, you go there to think and remember, not to look at anything specifically.
Do the Pergamon Museum it's cool. The Holocaust memorial is meant to be walked through, the columns get bigger the further you walk in and you feel kinda lost. Every time I visited I really chocked up in there.
You can do a bunker tour which was quite cool.
The special thing about Berlin is that it is constantly changing. Yes, there are key "attractions" and there always will be, but apart from that it's a fast-paced city. Things disappear and new things appear. You'll probably see things I've never heard of. I left Berlin shortly after the government moved in with the whole media circus.
It dramatically changed the atmosphere of this once unique and rustic city.
In Berlin you don't have to order a Eisbein. Please, please, please, do not eat typical southern German food (such as pretzels, spaetzle, Eisbein, Weißwurst, etc.) in Berlin. Especially if you want to go to Munich anyway. Google for restaurants with typical Berlin cuisine or typical "GDR cuisine", also very tasty. I'm from North Rhine-Westphalia and I love the regional differences in German cuisine and I'm always sad when I see videos of tourists who then only order Bavarian food and then think they've eaten typically German food. No, you haven't! You ate typically Bavarian.
And I can only agree with the tip about international restaurants. In general, German restaurants are very clean, good quality and not so high prices. There are actually no tourist traps if you are willing to walk a few steps and don't want to be directly at the tourist hotspot. It doesn't matter what you would like to eat, in Berlin you will find a suitable restaurant. Whether Indian, Chinese, Ethiopian, Caribbean, whether all the different European cuisines, everything is possible.
Tegel Airport is closed, there is only BER.
By the way, the traffic light man (Ampelmännchen) is the traffic light signal from the former GDR. It should have been abolished after reunification, since the traffic sign West traffic light man is described in the law. However, the East Germans successfully complained and now the East traffic light man can be found all over Germany. It was immediately marketed in Berlin - it also looks cute.
I'm already looking forward to Joel's travel vlog. Who is actually your travel companion, since you are talking about we/us?
"Eisbein mit Erbspüree" is a traditional Berlin dish.
In the south it is mainly grilled (not cooked) and then its called "Haxen".
Hello Joel. I missed out on Berlin when your age as that wall was still there. My memories are from the old West Germany. I look forward to seeing what I missed in your future videos.
When we were working in a Hamburg Shipyard we bought a 7 seat station wagon for $500. Took it to Berlin for the weekend-ish. We got so drunk, none of us could remember where we parked, so just handed the keys to a Cop and took the train home.
I have good friends who were born and raised in Berlin. And my neighbors where I live now, just moved permanently to Berlin. I have visited the city frequently. I especially like to stay in 'Mitte' or 'Friedrichshain'. Given your age, I would recommend staying in Friedrichshain. It's a great place with lots of nightclubs, bars, etc. Sure, you can do the international food/restaurants, but you would be remiss not to go to a German restaurant that serves Eisbein (a very large hamhock) and typical German side dishes. Definitely spend a couple days on Museum Island. Unbelievable. As for some of the history, just north of Berlin is Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp from the Holocaust. It's devastating, but it's important to experience. Yes, go to Potsdam and Magdeburg.
If you're going to Munich, you have to take a day trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, if you can. I lived there for a while and it's amazing. It's an old medieval town that wasn't completely destroyed in WWII. The drugstore where I shopped was founded as a drugstore in the 15th century. And of course, the Bavarian Alps are more than worth seeing.
In spite of the fact, you can get around with English very well, it would be a plus for you to take a class in survival German before you go. Also, you have to have cash with you. Most places do not take credit or debit cards! This is extremely important! Create a separate travel account at your bank, get a separate debit card for it, put your budgeted trip money in that account, and have the bank exchange about $500 into Euros for the trip. When you're there, if you need cash, just go to an ATM and get some. But don't try to use the bank card or credit card at restaurants, etc. They usually don't accept them.
I speak fluent German and spend a lot of time there...or used to...I'm 73 now and since the pandemic, I haven't traveled much, and probably won't be traveling too much in the future. But I wish you a great trip and I hope you love Germany as much as I do.
I cant wait to see a vlog where you visit Germany
✌🏽 from 🇩🇪 bro❤
I would find it incredibly interesting which cities you have planned your upcoming visit to Germany in. Won't you make a little video about it?
Hey, great video my friend, and welcome to Berlin :D. Just wanted to mention that Tegel Airport is NO MORE there is now BER as the new airport, don't get confused when you come here :D
You have to visit the Black Forest and the city of Freiburg during your trip here 😊
Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) is now closed.
Jaywalk is NOT Illegal in Germany, but if u do it it can be expensive if it comes to an accident because u left the insured area for pedestrians.
I recently heard a may be 5y old kid shouting loud after a man "Rotgänger, Totgänger!" which literally means "Red walker, dead walker!".
Make Leipzig one your daytrips from Berlin. It's a little over 100 miles. And if you need a local guide there, just say the word. 😅😊
Ich habe heute ca 8 Stunden ein video nach dem anderen Video von dir angesehen ,da ich durch Zufall auf deinen TH-cam Kanal gestolpert bin und die einzelnen Themen teils lustig,schlimm aber auch schockierend gefunden habe und mich jetzt dazu entschlossen habe dir ein paar Zeilen (auf deutsch,leider zu schreiben denn mein englisch dafür nicht gut genug wäre)um dir zu sagen das du das ganz toll machst und mir mal wieder zeigt in was für einen tollen Land ich doch lebe,und als typisch deutscher dazu neige mich nicht über diese kleinen und großen Errungenschaften in meinem Heimatland zu freuen und sie zu schätzen sondern zu oft mich über Kleinigkeiten aufzuregen oder zu beschweren. Ich habe mich schon so oft gefragt warum ihr Amerikaner bei solchen Sachen wie eine Krankenversicherung für jeden Bürger in eurem Land oder Schulbildung für jedes Kind euch nicht einigen oder verständigen könnt da es doch für jeden etwas positives wäre.dann ist mir erzählt worden das viele das als Eingriff in eure persönliche Freiheit empfinden würdet und das das für euch schon als Kommunismus empfunden wird.aber da ihr doch auch alle Steuern zahlt wenn ihr arbeiten geht oder einkaufen müßt ist es doch das selbstverständlicheste für ein hochindustrieland und eines der reichsten Länder der Welt das der Staat für seine Bürger gewisse Pflichten seinen Bürgern gegenüber wahrnehmen muß die für das allgemeinwohl wichtig sind so wie Straßen bauen oder Schulen bauen,oder auch den militärischen Schutz übernehmen muß die sich die eine oder andere Einzelperson nicht leisten kann.Denn wenn der Staat der bei euch ca 800 Billionen Dollar jährlichen in euer Militär reinstecket dann sollte es doch kein Problem sein den Bürgern die dieses Geld über Steuern zahlen doch auch als mindeststandard gesehen werden auf das jeder Bürger ein Recht darauf hat und nicht als Kommunismus verstanden zu wird.Ich bin mir sicher wenn du deinen Besuch in Deutschland machst und du einen deutschen fragst ob wir das als Kommunismus empfinden glaube ich das du keinen findest der das so sieht sondern das als staatspflicht gesehen wird das wir durch unsere Steuern ja selber finanzieren.denn der Staat bist ja auch du und jeder einzelne Steuerzahler. Ich hoffe du kannst mein schreiben verstehen und wünsche dir alles Gute und viel Spaß wenn du nach Deutschland kommst
Hope you enjoy Germany, very easy to have fun in Berlin and Munich as well!
0:24 a nice day trip would be Potsdam.
Hi, you are reacting to a video that is 5 years old. At that time, the large international airport of Berlin (BER) was still under construction, and the two other airports mentioned in the video (Tegel and Schöneberg) were in operation. Today, however, all air traffic runs via the new capital airport BER.
I'd love to say hello to you when you are in Germany.
When going to the memorial, walk quietly to the area where the columns are the heighest and touch them.
I strongly recommend that. And observe what you feel.
I won't tell you more on that, but I'd love to hear about your impressions.
Germany has two kinds of Ampelmännchen. The fatter ones are from east Germany. Those made it onto T-Shirts and bags.
Döner (Kebap) was invented in Berlin.
I'm SOOOO looking forward to your reactions once you will be back in the US from Germany :-)
Berlin is called the multi cultural city, because it is very international . There are also many dishes offered, such as Greek, India, Turkish, Italian, etc. You should also try the Arabic food there it should also taste very good and is not too expensive.
Berlin is a big City...yes.
The beauty of Germany is in other parts...the differences and interesting people.
See Hamburg...the Arena around Frankfurt called RHEINGAU with all the vine outdoor setting....the alles and the lakes and sea!
I visited Berlin a few times and my favourite activity was the spy museum. Lots of things to interact or try plus many facts about cold war I never heard about.
The airport of Tegel is closed now - so you ONLY can arrive at the BER airport in the South of Berlin with S-Bahn connections to the city ;-)
1:49 Here are some more Details on the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Island
You definitely need to visit Cologne, another very cool city.
Get a Day Pass for the Public Transport only if you do a Day there, the BVG have tourists Tickets (Buy that), that's a Better Deal for You
Berlin actually has more than 3 centers. Most districs have their own center
Sure, if you wan't to have the least German experience stay in Berlin. Even Germans get a culture shock when visiting Berlin for the first time or if they haven't been there in a long while. It's not what you expect Germany to be, especially if you're not in the tourist areas.