I had a little time to sight-see and it was a very interesting place.  Obviously lots of Cold War history but other things as well.  A few awe-inspiring cathedrals and some pretty good beer.  All varieties of food could be had including Indain, Chinese, Thai, Greek, Italian, Mexican (!), etc.  Hell, you could probably find a BBQ place if you looked hard enough.

The Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz was cool as was the Tiergarten and all of its memorials including the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag.  The TV Tower at Alexander Platz was huge.

One Saturday a co-worker and myself drove down the A13 autobahn 175 km (109 mi) to Dresden near the Czech border.  More neat architecture and history.

My rental car was a supercharged four-cylinder Mercedes C-Class 6-speed.  I had it up to 215-220 km/h (~135 mph) a couple times and it was solid.  Definitely a good car but nothing too special over there since Mercs are fairly common and even used as taxis.

All in all a nice change from the normal grind.  I recommend it as a destination.

Is it still the "city of cranes"?

It's been a while since I have been in Berlin, but the last time I went there were a ton of cranes in the skyline.

We lived in west berlin for 2 years in the mid 80's  You didn't check out the cold war spy museum on Tufelsburg by any chance? Thats where we worked.  The Wife and I are dying to go back.
the Kudamm allways had great chow. we used to hit the China house resturant when we had time.

Quoted: One Saturday a co-worker and myself drove down the A13 autobahn 175 km (109 mi) to Dresden near the Czech border.  More neat architecture and history.

That was most likely faux (remake) architecture...we took care of the originals in '45.

Quoted: Quoted: One Saturday a co-worker and myself drove down the A13 autobahn 175 km (109 mi) to Dresden near the Czech border.  More neat architecture and history. That was most likely faux (remake) architecture...we took care of the originals in '45.

Some of it was and some of it wasn't.  They didn't try to hide the rebuilds because that's also part of the history of the buildings.  The firestorms didn't destroy all the masonry.

I travel to Stuttgart about every other month.

There is a place off the B10 that is a country western bar!  There is an American neon light 18 wheeler on the side of the building.  You should see the krauts lined up before the place opens...they are in their cowboy hats and boots!

I saw an add that "Country Willie"...(pronounced Country Villie) was performing.  

I have seen all kinds of food in Germany, but never Mexican.  I'm sure it's there just haven't seen iy yet.  One of the girls there has me bring her those Old El Paso Taco kits!

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to Berlin.  I was only there once for a quick meeting with no time for sight seeing.

Quoted: Is it still the "city of cranes"? It's been a while since I have been in Berlin, but the last time I went there were a ton of cranes in the skyline.

The construction is still going on but there's much less than there was in the mid-nineties since much of it has been completed.  Germany has poured a TON of money into rebuilding eastern Berlin and it shows.

The very reason I was working there instead of Munich is because the company got a tax break for building in the former communist part of the country.  The hope is for more economic growth.

Quoted: I travel to Stuttgart about every other month. There is a place off the B10 that is a country western bar!  There is an American neon light 18 wheeler on the side of the building.  You should see the krauts lined up before the place opens...they are in their cowboy hats and boots! I saw an add that "Country Willie"...(pronounced Country Villie) was performing.   I have seen all kinds of food in Germany, but never Mexican.  I'm sure it's there just haven't seen iy yet.  One of the girls there has me bring her those Old El Paso Taco kits! I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to Berlin.  I was only there once for a quick meeting with no time for sight seeing.

Stuttgart, eh?  Any time spent in a 911?

Yeah, the Mex place surprised me as well.  It's called Alcatraz and it's off of Bundes Allee due south of the Kaiser Willhelm Kirche.


Germans doin' country is too funny!

Quoted: We lived in west berlin for 2 years in the mid 80's  You didn't check out the cold war spy museum on Tufelsburg by any chance? Thats where we worked.  The Wife and I are dying to go back. the Kudamm allways had great chow. we used to hit the China house resturant when we had time.

Nope.  I'll have to add that to the list for next time.

Quoted: Quoted: One Saturday a co-worker and myself drove down the A13 autobahn 175 km (109 mi) to Dresden near the Czech border.  More neat architecture and history. That was most likely faux (remake) architecture...we took care of the originals in '45.

I disagree- my wife has relatives in Coswig near Dresden and we visited them in 1994- much was destroyed, but much more was damaged and restored. The majority of damage in the area was from postwar neglect. It was like somebody took Germany and locked it away from 1920 until the 1990s, with all the damage included. A very drab place filled full of drab people who didn't quite realize what a boon freedom was, dropped right in their laps. In many respects, I got the feeling they missed their grey, Cold War era East Bloc lives, in which, despite the misery, everything was taken care of for them......

Oddly enough, I met the last head of the VEB Pentacon/Zeiss/Exakta camera factory combine in Dresden that time and he was candid in saying that Germany got what it deserved in Dresden. He said there were all kinds of SS troops among the refugees in the city. He was also surprised that the Russians didn't do the bombing, since they were closer. Unlike many people of his generation, he wasn't going to complain about freedom- he was in charge of a hi-tech startup firm in a little shack next to his old factory, which was now the Technisches Museum (The whole damned country was now a museum piece, really....)

The biggest item I remembered was the remains of the Frauenkirche in Dresden, the Church of Our Lady, a massive Protestant cathedral (!) that had been reduced to a field of rubble in the raid of Feb. 1945. After the war, the Communists left the field of rubble as a Mahnmal (monument against war) but after the wall came down, the West Germans came in with high tech, money, blueprints and pics from the 1930s, made computer models of the church rubble, and last I knew were restoring it to better than new. Of course, the East Germans or "Ossis" had said it couldn't be done....

Quoted: Is it still the "city of cranes"? It's been a while since I have been in Berlin, but the last time I went there were a ton of cranes in the skyline.

When I was there in 97 I stood at a viewing platform in the Potsdammer Platz and counted 50 cranes.  There were more, but I stopped counting.  Didn't like Beriln too much, Vienna was much nicer.  Didn't like the uptight Prussian attitude, much prefer the more laid-back attitude in Austria.

I was in Berlin in Dec. 1984.  It was an oppressive place.

GunLvr