DEL.ICIO.USThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/30/08
Berlin — Berlin is often referred to as one of Europe's hippest cities, a capital pulsing with trendy galleries, nightclubs and restaurants.
So what was I doing taking my three children, ages 7, 9 and 13?
 Scott Norvell / COX | ||
| People tour the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, a maze of 2,711 concrete blocks that is designed to make visitors feel as lost and scared as the murdered Jews did. | ||
 Scott Norvell / COX | ||
| Ancient Egyptian artifacts can be seen at the Altes Museum, such as the 3,400-year-old bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. | ||
 Scott Norvell / COX | ||
| Emling's children Olivia, Chris and Ben, in front of the 200-year-old Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. | ||
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Within hours of arriving, a matronly restroom attendant at a department store bellowed at my daughter in German for not flushing the toilet properly. A day later, a gruff employee at the Berlin Zoo began wagging his finger in my children's faces after they ran on the grass.
But one can overlook the surly attitudes considering the sheer multitude of interesting things to see and do in Berlin — even for children.
Nearly two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, this once-divided city of 3.5 million people has successfully reinvented itself as a single entity that embraces its turbulent history.
And after decades of playing the dour stepsister to the more dazzling West Berlin, it's the old East Berlin that's the hippest side of town.
For Atlanta residents, the old East Berlin is more like Little Five Points and the old West Berlin more like Buckhead.
It's not likely children will be captivated by the exploding bar and club scene in the East's Mitte district. But they will enjoy window shopping at some of the city's funkiest boutiques.
They'll also like the food. There are trendy cafes serving spicy Asian noodles as well as down-home joints serving scrumptious sausages. My children loved the Wiener schnitzel with apple sauce and other local fare.
We spent hours meandering through this district, stopping once in a while at toy shops sporting an amazing assortment of wooden items and metal wind-up toys. Few countries do doll houses as well as Germany.
In general, the media often compare Berlin to New York City in the 1980s because of its cheap rents and prices, ubiquitous graffiti and outpouring of creativity.
And like New York City, Berlin has certain must-see monuments.
A glass dome designed by architect Norman Foster atop the reconstructed Reichstag building offers an amazing view of Berlin — for free — that even children will be awed by. (Go first thing in the morning, as often there are waits of an hour or longer to get in.)
A nice stroll with children starts at the Reichstag, continues along the edge of the Tiergarten — the central park that was originally the hunting ground of Prussian kings — and winds up at the 200-year-old Brandenburg Gate, where thousands gathered to cheer the breakdown of the Berlin Wall.
And certainly the Berlin Zoo is worth a visit, if for no other reason than to see the nocturnal animals in the basement of the predators house. My kids sat mesmerized for a good 15 minutes as they watched a fox chow down on a mouse.
The zoo's most famous inhabitant is the polar bear Knut, born in December 2006. A documentary that premiered at the zoo in March tells the story of this abandoned cub who has been hand-reared by zookeepers.
On a more somber note, Berlin's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, opened in May 2005, is a labyrinth of narrow, undulating pathways running between 2,711 tombstonelike concrete blocks of all sizes on a site near the Brandenburg Gate.
The memorial, designed by American architect Peter Eisenman, is supposed to make visitors feel the fright and confusion of the murdered Jews — and certainly that's the way I felt. But my kids laughed loudly as they tried to get lost in the maze, much to my dismay. And mine weren't the only ones.
The underground Holocaust museum is one of the few where children are not welcome because of the graphic nature of the exhibits.
Indeed, Berlin is nothing if not a city of museums, housing more than 170 of them.
The cluster of museums on Museum Island — between the Spree River and the Kupfergraben Canal — is excellent, especially the Pergamon Museum with
its second-century B.C.
altar from the Greek city of Pergamon.
Also not to be missed is the nearby Altes Museum, with its 3,400-year-old bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti.
For more recent history, the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie offers an exhibition dedicated to the Berlin Wall. It's easy to beguile children with tales of escape attempts at this famous locale, which divided the U.S. and Soviet sectors in Berlin.
Unfortunately, nearly all the former 97-mile reinforced concrete barrier that split Berlin between 1961 and 1989 has been torn down. A new survey of Berlin tourists found that most visitors wished there were more of the wall to see.
In the end, the re-created Berlin enthralls adults with its cafes, lounges, shopping and restaurants. But it will also rivet children with its playgrounds, chocolatiers and intriguing war stories.
IF YOU GO
Getting there
• Expect to pay about $1,200 or more round trip to Berlin during the summer. Fly on Delta Air Lines through New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. Or fly to London's Gatwick or Heathrow airports from Atlanta for about $1,100, then transfer to London's Stansted airport for an Air Berlin flight to Berlin's Tegel airport for about $114 round trip. Once you're there, ride the U-bahn, or subway; it's easy and cheap.
Where to stay
• Hotel am Forum Steglitz, just across the street from a playground and a short walk to restaurants and shops and the subway. www.hotel-am-fs.de
Information
• Berlin Tourism Board: www.visitberlin.de.
• Museum Island: www.smb.spk-berlin.de.
• Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe: www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en
• Special tours for children: www.kids-tours-berlin.de.
• Daily guided bike tours in English: www.berlinonbike.de.
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