Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sea Life Center
, an overtly commercial aquarium that displays the fairly dreary aquatic
life of the region's rivers and the North Atlantic. But at least the species here, highlights
of which include sea horses, jellyfish, small sharks and manta rays, are elegantly
displayed, particularly in the
AquaDom
, a gigantic tubular tank, located in the lobby
of the
Radisson
, which you can rise through on a leisurely elevator. You can also sneak
a peek at it from the hotel lobby, with its swish bar and comfy chairs.
Berlin Dungeon
Spandauer Str. 2 • Daily 10am-7pm • €19, online discounts offered; despite ticket combo deals with Madame Tussauds (see p.41), the Sea
Life Centre (see p.63) and Legoland (see p.93), children under 10 are not allowed; most tours are in German, but there are regular English-
language options •
T
01805 25 55 44,
W
thedungeons.com/berlin • S-Hackescher Markt
For a populist history of some of Berlin's gorier moments, visit the
Berlin Dungeon
.
Hour-long tours visit theatre sets of several Berlin eras while costumed actors try to
scare and amuse with tales of torture, serial killings, plagues and the like. Crucially the
material comes to an end with the 1920s, when, of course much of the real horror
started, making the attraction seriously flaccid in a city where a former concentration
camp is only a suburban train-ride away.
3
Heilige-Geist-Kapelle
Northwest of the Sea Life Center, en route to Hackescher Markt (see p.71), is the
red-brick Gothic
Heilige-Geist-Kapelle
(Holy Ghost Chapel), one of Berlin's oldest
surviving buildings. A remnant of the fourteenth century, it's now quaintly
incongruous, dwarfed by a larger, newer building (part of Humboldt University) that
was grafted onto it at the start of the twentieth century. he original interior has not
survived, but it's a miracle that the chapel is still standing at all: it has endured the huge
city fire of 1380, an enormously destructive explosion of a nearby gunpowder magazine
in 1720, and, above all, wartime bombing.
DDR Museum
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1 • Mon-Fri & Sun 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-10pm • €6 •
T
030 847 12 37 31,
W
ddr-museum.de •
S-Hackescher Markt
Tucked into the banks of the Spree, opposite the Berliner Dom, the popular
DDR
Museum
is a homage to
Ostalgie
(see p.66). Using hands-on displays to reminisce on life
in the GDR, it offers memories of the school system, pioneer camps and the razzmatazz
with which the feats of model workers were celebrated. Less impressive were the GDR's
awkward attempts to rival Western fashions, as its collection of polyester clothing and
bleached jeans shows. Small wonder, perhaps, that one big GDR passion was nudism - as
one very revealing display explains - which was considered as healthy as the many sports
that the state unceasingly supported. he section devoted to travel is particularly good,
and includes the chance to sit behind the wheel of a Trabi, where you'll quickly appreciate
the “fewer parts mean less trouble” principles of the fibreglass car. he car is parked in
front of video footage of East Berlin streets; for journeys further afield you can consult an
Eastern Bloc road atlas, which clearly defines where the freedom of the open road ends.
he museum's highlight is the chance to mooch around a tiny reconstructed GDR
apartment, ablaze with retro browns and oranges, where you can nose through
cupboards and cosy up on a sofa to watch speeches by Erich Honecker: “
Vorwärts
immer, rückwärts nimmer
” (“always forwards, never backwards”). Many of the
remaining areas of the museum are gloomy but important, since they tackle the dark
sides of the GDR era - such as censorship and repression - and help properly round
off this snapshot of East German life.
FROM TOP
DDR MUSEUM
P.64
; NIKOLAIVIERTEL
P.66
>
