Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
€6/3; garden 9am-dusk, museum 10am-6pm; Dahlem-Dorf, Botanischer Garten)
Berlin's vast botanical garden boasts 20,000 plant species and is a fragrant spot to reconnect
with nature. Especially enchanting is the Grosse Tropenhaus greenhouse, the muggy home
of an entire bamboo forest. Exhibits in the museum are rather academic. Enter from Unter
den Eichen or Königin-Luise-Platz.
TRACKS OF DEATH
The Holocaust Memorial in central Berlin may be more prominent and artistic, but
there is another commemorative site that is at least as poignant:
Gleis 17
(Platform 17;
Am Bahnhof Grunewald; Grunewald)
(Track 17), next to S-Bahn station Grunewald (S7). It
was from these tracks that 186 trains left for Theresienstadt, Riga, Lodz and
Auschwitz, carrying their Jewish cargo like cattle to the slaughter. More than 50,000
Berliners were deported between 1941 and 1945. Weathered iron plaques recording
the number of people and destination by date along the platform edge honour their
memory. It's quiet here, with only the trees rustling in the breeze, but the silence
speaks loudly.
EATING & DRINKING
The Botanischer Garten and the Museen Dahlem both have nice cafes for a post-sightseeing
pick-me-up.
INTERNATIONAL
LUISE
( 030-841 8880;
www.luise-dahlem.de
;
Königin-Luise-Strasse 40-42; pizza €6-12, mains €13-18;
10am-1am; Dahlem-Dorf)
This cafe-restaurant-beer-garden combo is a Dahlem institution with a long menu likely to
please everyone from salad heads to schnitzel fiends to pizza punters. Scrumptious break-
fasts are served until 2pm and there are six beers on tap to enjoy beneath the chestnut trees.
ITALIAN
GALILEO
(
030-831 2377;
www.ristorantegalileo.de
;
Otto-von-Simson-Strasse 26; mains €7-22;
10am-10pm
Mon-Fri; Dahlem-Dorf)
Overlooking the Free University campus, Galileo has plied students, faculty and locals with
authentic southern Italian fare for around 25 years. If homemade pasta and pizza don't do it
