Berlin impressions (live) (page 3 of 3)

Hi,

The sign "LKW Tatra Motokov" is an old advertisement for this brand, specifically for its heavy-duty vehicle division (LKW). While the car division, which was very advanced and bold, has been discontinued for some time, the brand still manufactures heavy-duty trucks and off-road vehicles, like those used by firefighters. The headquarters is in Kopřivnice, in Moravia.

Michel

Thanks for the details! On that sign, there was the Tatra logo: the name inside a circle. I don’t know if the current logo is the same.

For my last day in Berlin, big snowflakes are falling—there’s already a nice layer on the ground. We’ll see if it sticks today.

Yesterday, the people I was traveling with left without any issues. We’ll see how it goes for me tomorrow morning if it’s still snowing...

Today the snow held, it snowed more or less all day—it was amazing because Berlin is at its best under snow!

I took the opportunity to wander around the city’s iconic spots.

I snapped a few photos with my tablet: Alexanderplatz with the World Clock and the TV Tower, the Brandenburg Gate, Humboldt University, which boasts around thirty Nobel Prize winners (Karl Marx studied there and Einstein taught there), and Museum Island.

More photos of Berlin under the snow—it was a great opportunity for photographers to capture some stunning shots.

Bridges, the river in historic Berlin, a Christmas pyramid, and more...

I'm heading back to France tomorrow, and I'll share a little recap of my Berlin getaway soon.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for your Berlin insights!

I only spent three days there this summer on my way back from a month-long road trip in Poland, then another three days in October—but Saturday was completely taken up by a mölkky tournament. :-)

I really loved this city and hope to go back (should be happening next year since my friends and I won the tournament and will have to defend our title!). :-))

If you get the chance for another trip, Dresden is a truly beautiful city.

Hi there,

I just got back, and I’ll post a little recap soon.

Get this—I had booked a few nights in Dresden (they say it’s the German Florence), but I canceled, thinking that if it was really cold, at least Berlin would have more indoor things to see. But I’d love to go back to Berlin in the spring and include Dresden this time.

■ SUMMARY

First off, I don’t recommend visiting Berlin in winter. It’s freezing cold, the pavement is often slippery (I saw two people slip and fall), the weather is mostly grey and foggy (out of 14 full days, I only had two or three sunny days), and the days are very short—by 4:15 PM, it’s pitch dark!

I overheard a French teenager saying, "Mom, the cold is just too much! Why do we come to cold countries in winter?" She was on the verge of tears, completely fed up with the cold.

Because of the cold, I couldn’t enjoy the outdoors as much as I’d hoped. I love street art, and Berlin is famous for it, but I didn’t have the courage to wander the streets looking for the best pieces.

Berlin has many beautiful parks and gardens, but in winter, they lose a lot of their charm and appeal (no picnics, for example).

I would’ve loved to explore some neighborhoods on foot and in more depth, like Kreuzberg, Neukölln, or Charlottenburg, but again, the cold kept me from doing so.

Sure, the Christmas markets are pretty, and I was lucky enough to see Berlin under snow, but that doesn’t make up for the downsides of the season.

The upside is there are fewer tourists, though Asians, Latin Americans, Spaniards, and Italians were still plenty.

As for end-of-year attractions, on my last day, I wanted to go to the Botanical Garden, where there are light and sound illuminations (paid), but with the snow, I didn’t go. It looked nice, though.

Luckily, Berlin has fabulous museums, some of the best in Europe, which are perfect for escaping the cold. There are art museums, but also the Natural History Museum (which I didn’t visit but is well-known), the Technical Museum (also didn’t visit), and more—there’s something for everyone.

Berlin is also worth visiting to understand European history (Berlin Wall, World War II, etc.).

BUDGET

● Museums

They’re quite expensive, but you can combine several or buy a tourist card for discounts. You’ll need to calculate based on what you want to see and how much time you have (museum visits take time).

● Transportation

It’s also pretty pricey, and fares went up by 20 cents on January 1, 2026. A subway or tram ticket now costs 4 €, and for short trips (fewer than 3 stops), it’s 2.80 €.

You have to validate your ticket before entering the subway. You can also buy one inside the tram (cash only), and it’s valid for 120 minutes.

I think there’s a weekly pass that can help reduce transportation costs.

Berlin is a sprawling city, so to save time, I recommend focusing on one neighborhood at a time for sightseeing.

● Accommodation

I stayed in a hotel from a French chain, and it was cheaper than in Madrid!

FOOD

If you don’t like German cuisine, don’t worry—you’ll find restaurants from all over the world. There’s a lot of Asian food (Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc.) and, of course, plenty of Italian restaurants. There are also many vegan options.

TRAVEL GUIDES

These days, you can find all the info online, but if you still use travel guides, I recommend the *Cartoville Berlin*—it’s very practical—and the *Lonely Planet Berlin*, a 367-page brick that’s super comprehensive. For updated prices and schedules, check the official websites.

The *Guide du Routard* is very incomplete, as is often the case for other destinations.

FINAL THOUGHTS

● I found Berliners very helpful. I think it’s the city in Europe where people, no matter their age, are most willing to give you directions in English. The same goes for shops—I rarely encountered someone who didn’t speak English. Even in German, you could tell they were happy to help. That’s worth noting because it’s not like that in every European city. I think it’s because Germans are big travelers.

● I’d really like to go back to Berlin in the spring because I feel like I missed out and would love to enjoy the outdoors more. If I do go back, I’ll combine it with another city, probably Dresden, which I’d already planned to visit during this trip.

Have a great time in Berlin!

I followed this long live account with great interest—bravo for the writing (those long evenings in the hotel really do come in handy!). My Berlin adventures date back to 1979 and 1980, when the city was divided. So I was doubly interested in this update, which made me want to ‘rediscover’ a city that’s barely recognizable now… even though my visits were also in winter!

Hi there,

I’m more of a fan of Southern European countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy), and I was worried I wouldn’t click with Berlin because last spring I didn’t really connect with Warsaw—I found it depressing (plus I had snow in April!). I was afraid Berlin would be the same.

But I ended up liking Berlin—there’s just something about the city that grabs you, even if you can’t say it’s as beautiful as Paris or Rome, for example. Anyway, I’d love to go back.

If you haven’t been back since 1980, I don’t know if you’d even recognize the city...

These days, some "historic" spots have become super touristy, like the Wall.

At Checkpoint Charlie, I’d read that you can take photos (for a fee) with people dressed as soldiers, but I didn’t see any of those "soldiers"—though tourists were still crowded there taking pictures.

And of course, there are tourist shops everywhere. Some even sell pieces of the Wall—Berlin’s history is pretty "commercialized" now. If communism is gone, capitalism is definitely still around...

Hi there,

In my summary, I forgot to mention the Boros Collection, a private collection of avant-garde contemporary art housed in a bunker. I wanted to go, but you have to book the guided tour in advance, and it was fully booked several weeks ahead.

So, if you're really interested in this visit, you’ll need to plan well ahead.

Otherwise, for the other museums I visited and mentioned in this travel journal, no reservation is needed.

who bear this name, I didn’t know there were any in Germany too, that’s great, I hope young Germans study and read Neruda.

Hello Madam,

Pablo Neruda’s name is far more present in today’s Federal Republic of Germany than you might think, which is certainly linked to the former GDR, but not exclusively. He’s also remembered in the West... today.

And don’t forget that after the 1973 military coup, a vast solidarity movement for Chile emerged, lasting until the early 1980s. And this happened in both the West and the East. Of course, Neruda was long overlooked in the West (he was a communist, after all, and the Cold War was still in full swing), but the rise of Latin American literature that began then (García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Antonio Skarmeta, Isabel Allende, Julio Cortázar, etc.) did the rest, allowing Neruda to be recognized in the West as well. By the way, on the campus of the University of Bremen (Bremen), there’s still a statue honoring him today. But there’s no doubt his name is primarily associated with the former GDR: he even stayed there, notably to attend the World Festival of Youth and Students in East Berlin in the 1950s (photo: on the right, the Neruda couple; on the left, the man without glasses, Erich Honecker), and the University of Leipzig awarded him an honorary doctorate during the GDR era. It was also in the GDR that the first books of Neruda translated into German were published. The GDR, of course, didn’t miss the opportunity to appropriate the name of a Nobel Prize in Literature laureate for its unhealthy personality cult. Oh, and Neruda’s famous poem cycle, Canto General, which Mikis Theodorakis later set to music as an oratorio, wasn’t premiered in its entirety in Athens, Paris, or... but in East Berlin in 1981. So it’s no surprise that today, it’s mainly in the territory of the former GDR that you find streets and schools named after him—in Berlin-Köpenick, Rostock, Magdeburg, Leipzig (an elementary school), and Zittau...

You hope young Germans read Neruda?! I’m afraid you might be the only one with that hope. Why read Neruda when they don’t even know Goethe and Schiller anymore? To them, those names might as well refer to Swiss cheeses or Kyrgyz sheep breeds. The other question, of course, is whether Neruda should still be read today... I highly doubt it.

Schupfnudeln

Thank you so much for mentioning Schupfnudeln. I’ll forgive you for finding them only “edible,” since you clearly haven’t tasted handmade Schupfnudeln...

As for Berlin’s cold, I completely understand: as a young student, I spent two winters there myself, and I still have bad memories, especially of the wind that mercilessly howled through the wide streets. For the rest, I loved and still love Berlin... Just like this travel journal (it’s rare for me to read one on this forum).

hgb

Hello,

Yes, there was a huge wave of solidarity toward Chile at the university. My best friends were the sons and daughters of Chilean refugees who had fled Pinochet’s dictatorship.

I honestly didn’t realize Neruda’s name was still so present in Germany today—I’m more used to seeing it in Hispanic countries.

As for whether Neruda is still worth reading, I don’t quite agree with you. *Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair* is still one of the best-selling books in Spain today, and I also really love *Spain in the Heart* about the Spanish Civil War.

Beyond that, there have been other connections between Chile and Germany. Did you know the new Chilean president, José Antonio Kast, is the son of Michael Kast, a Nazi Party member and Wehrmacht officer who emigrated to Chile? Kast’s older brother was also a minister under Pinochet’s dictatorship.