Sights in Germany
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Reichstag
The quarter's historical anchor is the 1894 Reichstag, where the German parliament, the Bundestag, has been hammering out its policies since 1999. This followed a total makeover by Lord Norman Foster who preserved only the building's historical shell while adding the striking glass dome. It's well worth queuing for the lift ride to the top to take in the knock-out panorama and close-ups of the dome and the mirror-clad funnel at its centre. Queues are shortest early morning and at night. You can skip 'em altogether if you're disabled, happen to have a kid in a stroller, are on an organised tour or have reservations for the pricey restaurant on top. In these cases, proceed …
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Ddr Museum
Below the hotel, the DDR Museum teaches the rest of us about daily life behind the Iron Curtain. You'll learn that East German kids were put through collective potty training, engineers earned little more than farmers and everyone, it seems, went on nudist holidays. A must for Good Bye, Lenin! fans. The entrance is on the Spree bank, opposite the Berliner Dom.
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Kölner Dom
Cologne's geographical and spiritual heart - and its single-biggest tourist draw - is the magnificent Kölner Dom. With its soaring twin spires, this is the Mt Everest of cathedrals, jam-packed with art and treasures. Its loftiness and dignified ambience leave only the most jaded of visitors untouched.
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Kunsthaus Tacheles
The ‘Sistine Chapel of Graffiti’, the Tacheles may look scary-ass but it is actually a beloved-as-a-puppy-dog collective art and culture space born during the heady post-reunification days. Inside you’ll find a warren of studios, galleries, a cinema and a cafe-bar. In summer quaff a cold one among the surreal installations in the backyard beer garden. Alas, its future is uncertain and it may soon fall victim to development. Stay tuned.
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Documentation Centre
Cologne's Third Reich history is poignantly documented in the Documentation Centre. In the basement of the building was the local Gestapo prison where scores of people were interrogated, tortured and killed. Inscriptions on the basement cell walls offer a gut-wrenching record of the emotional and physical pain endured by inmates.
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Brandenburg Gate
A symbol of division during the Cold War, this landmark now epitomises German reunification. The 1791 structure by Carl Gotthard Langhans is the only surviving one of 18 city gates and is crowned by the Quadriga sculpture, a horse-drawn chariot piloted by the winged goddess of victory.
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Deutsches Museum
You could spend days exploring the Deutsches Museum, said to be the world's largest science and technology collection. This vast museum occupies its own island southeast of Isartor (Isar Gate) and features just about anything ever invented. Interactive displays (including glass blowing and paper making), model coal and salt mines, and wonderful sections on musical instruments, caves, geodesy, micro-electronics and astronomy are just some of the delights on offer. Demonstrations take place throughout the day; a popular one is in the power hall where a staff member is raised in the insulated Faraday Cage and zapped with a 220,000V bolt of lightning. There is also a fascinat…
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Berliner Dom
Pompous yet majestic, the 1905 neo-Renaissance Berliner Dom was once the royal court church and now does triple duty as house of worship, museum and concert hall. Take a spin around the sombre crypt where dozens of royals are buried in elaborate tombs, then climb up to the outside viewing gallery for glorious city views. The 7269-pipe Sauer organ and the elaborate sarcophagi made for the Great Elector and King Friedrich I and their wives are top draws in the main church hall.
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Grosse Freiheit
Just north of the S-Bahn station is the Grosse Freiheit . Grosse Freiheit literally means 'great freedom' street, an apt name with its bright lights, dark doorways and live sex nightclubs. Smarmy doormen try to lure the passing crowd into clubs; if you're interested, ask about the conditions of entry.
Admission tends to be fairly low, but it's the mandatory drink minimum that drives up the cost. Ask at the bar how much drinks cost; we've heard reports of people being charged nearly €100 for a couple of watery cocktails.
As for Reeperbahn itself, even those not interested in strip shows usually pay a quick trip to Hamburg's vast red-light thoroughfare of the Reeperbahn ju…
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East Side Gallery
The East Side Gallery is the longest, best-preserved and most interesting stretch of the Berlin Wall and the one to see if you have little time. Running parallel with the Spree between Ostbahnhof and Oberbaumbrücke, the 1300m-section was turned into the world’s largest open-air gallery after the fall of the Wall. Dozens of international artists translated the era’s global euphoria and optimism into a mix of political statements, drug-induced musings and truly artistic visions.
Time, weather, taggers and tourists insisting on signing the thing have not been kind to the murals, which were touched up in 2009. Although a protected monument, a 40m section of the Wall was …
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Süllberg Hill
Once, a former fishing village and haven for cut-throats, the suburb Blankenese now boasts some of the finest and most expensive houses in Germany. For visitors, the area's attraction lies in its hillside labyrinth of narrow, cobbled streets, with a network of 58 stairways (4864 steps in total!) connecting them.
The best views of the Elbe (nearly 3km wide here) and the container ships putting out to sea are enjoyed from the 75m-high Süllberg hill (head through the restaurant at the summit). Getting off bus 48 at Weseberg - having passed the clutch of beachfront restaurants and cafés and reached the summit of the following hill - you'll see a sign pointing to the nearby Sü…
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Schloss Colditz
High on a crag above the sleepy town of Colditz, some 46km southeast of Leipzig, is the imposing Schloss Colditz, a Renaissance palace that's seen stints as a hunting lodge, a poorhouse and a mental hospital. Mostly, though, it's famous as Oflag IVC, a WWII-era high-security prison for Allied officers, including a nephew of Winston Churchill. Most astounding, perhaps, is a 44m-long tunnel below the chapel that French officers dug in 1941-42, before the Germans caught them. You can see some of these contraptions, along with lots of photographs, in the small but fascinating Fluchtmuseum (Escape Museum) within the palace. Several inmates wrote down their experiences later, o…
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Olympic Stadium
Even though it was put through a total modernisation for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, it’s hard not to remember the Nazi legacy when visiting the Olympic Stadium. The bombastic bulk of the Colosseum-like structure undoubtedly remains, although it’s now softened by the addition of a spidery oval roof. These days, the more than 74,000 seats are often filled with fans cheering on the local Hertha BSC football (soccer) team, the Pope or Madonna. Call ahead to make sure the stadium is open for touring. Multilingual audioguides are available for an additional €2.50.
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Port of Hamburg
Each year about 12,000 ships deliver and take on millions of tonnes of goods here. The port accounts for 12 percent of Hamburg's entire surface area. Two vessels that aren't going anywhere are the 1896 windjammer Rickmer Rickmers, which now serves as a museum and restaurant, and the Cap San Diego, a behemoth built in Hamburg during the 1960s.
To the west of St Pauli, a sturdy grey structure is topped by a giant copper cupola. This striking piece of architecture is the entrance to the St Pauli Elbtunnel, a 426m (1400ft) passage under the river, built in 1911.
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Deutsches Historisches Museum
If you're wondering what the Germans have been up to for the past 2000 years, pop into the excellent Deutsches Historisches Museum. A startling highlight is the big globe that originally stood in the Nazi Foreign Office with bullet holes where Germany should be. In the courtyard, Andreas Schlüter's baroque mask sculptures of dying soldiers make a strong case against war. High-calibre temporary exhibits take up a strikingly geometrical annexe, called IM Pei Bau, named for the architect that designed it.
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Rheinuferpromenade
Burgplatz marks the beginning of the Rheinuferpromenade, whose cafés and benches fill with people in fine weather, creating an almost Mediterranean flair. It follows the Rhine all the way to the Rheinpark and the 240m Rheinturm (Rhine Tower) with a viewing platform and revolving restaurant at 172m. Just beyond are the Landtag (the state parliament) and the old harbour, which has been redeveloped into the Medienhafen (Media Harbour), a spectacular showcase of contemporary architecture.
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Stasi Museum
The former head office of the Ministry of State Security is now the Stasi Museum, where you can marvel at cunningly low-tech surveillance devices (hidden in watering cans, rocks, even neckties), a prisoner transport van with teensy, lightless cells and the obsessively neat offices of Stasi chief Erich Mielke. Panelling is in German only and exhibits are not always self-explanatory, so you may want to invest a few euros in the English-language booklet.
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Tierpark Hagenbeck
Hamburgers prefer not to call Tierpark Hagenbeck a zoo. That's because its 2500 animals live in very open enclosures over 27 hectares. In addition to elephants, tigers, orang-utans, toucans and other creatures, you'll find a replica Nepalese temple, Japanese garden, art-deco gate and other similar attractions. A petting zoo, pony rides, a miniature railway and playground mean you'll have to drag the kids away at the end of the day.
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Neues Museum
After 10 years and €200 million, the reconstructed Neues Museum finally opened in October 2009. David Chipperfield harmoniously incorporated remnants of the war-damaged structure into the new building, which presents the Egyptian Museum (including the famous bust of Queen Nefertiti) and the Papyrus Collection.These are joined by the Museum of Pre- and Early History and works from the Collection of Classical Antiquities.
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Einstein Fountain & Monument
About 750m northeast of the Münster in front of the 16th-century Zeughaus (arsenal), at the northern end of Zeughausgasse, stands a fiendishly funny fountain dedicated to Albert Einstein, who was born in Ulm but left aged one year. The nearby health administration building, at Zeughaus 14, bears a single stone attached to the wall with the inscription Ein Stein (One Stone).
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Verkehrsmuseum
Nuremberg's Verkehrsmuseum combines two major exhibits under one roof: the Deutsche Bahn Museum (German Railway Museum) and the Museum für Kommunikation (Museum of Telecommunications). The former explores the origins and history of Germany's legendary railway system; the latter showcases development in telecommunications, including historic telephones dating back over 100 years.
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Neues Museum
The Neues Museum houses works of contemporary art in Weimar. The complex was built in 1863, as a gallery exclusively for works relating to Homer's Odyssey, but another odyssey occurred after it was used as a Halle der Volksgemeinschaft (literally 'people's solidarity hall') by the Nazis, and was then renamed Karl-Marx-Platz under the GDR.
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Nuremberg Trials Courthouse
Nazis were tried for crimes against peace and humanity in the Schwurgerichtssaal 600 (Courtroom 600). The Allies chose Nuremberg for obvious symbolic reasons. The building was also easily accessible and one of few such complexes to survive the war intact. Held between 1945 and 1946, 22 leaders and 150 underlings were convicted; dozens were executed.
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Krämerbrücke
The 18m-wide and 120m-long medieval Krämerbrücke is Europe's longest bridge with houses. It was originally constructed from wood but rebuilt in stone in 1325 and adorned with churches at each end. Today the only church building remaining is the deconsecrated Aegideuskirche remains, now part of the Sorat Hotel.
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Konstantinbasilika
The brick Konstantinbasilika was constructed in AD 310 as Constantine's throne hall. Its dimensions (67m long and 36m high) are truly mind-blowing considering that it was built by the Romans. Later part of the residence of Trier's prince-electors, it is now a typically austere Protestant church.
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