Sandeman FREE Walking Tours

Reader Contribution…

Check out the following website for specific cities:  http://www.neweuropetours.eu/

Sandeman offers free, English-speaking walking tours in major cities around Europe.  My father and I took their tour of Amsterdam, and it was incredibly informative and entertaining!  Our guide was very
engaging and was a wealth of information on the history and culture of Amsterdam.  The three-hour tour flew by, and it really was FREE!  Sandeman guides are friendly, insightful and fun!  The guides work for
tips only, so they ensure that their guests have a great time.  We had people of all ages on our tour, and the guide ensured that the pace was appropriate for everyone.  The tours run every day of the year,
rain, snow, or shine.  Of course, you get the obligatory pitch at the end of the tour for some of Sandeman’s specialized paid excursions, but the guides were not pushy about these.  These tours are a great alternative to walking around a city with your nose stuck in a guide book or listening to a recording on a bus as the landmarks whiz by. 

Bike Tours

Reader Recommendation…

One reader enjoyed her bike tour of Versaille so much that she was kind enough to pass along her recommendation for Fat Tire Bike Tours! An American owned and run company with tours in English, these bike tours are available in Paris, London, Berlin, and Barcelona! What a great way to see a city!

Child friendly, Fat Tire Bike tours have child seats, child trailers, and helmets available at no extra charge and have a discounted youth rate for children big enough to ride on their own!

http://fattirebiketours.com
http://fattirebiketours.com/paris

http://fattirebiketours.com/barcelona
http://fattirebiketours.com/berlin
http://fattirebiketours.com/london

Berlin Shopping

Ku’Damm – THE exclusive shopping area of Berlin. Home to the highest end shops. But, follow it towards Tauentzienstrasse and you’ll find things that are more affordable. Nike Town is here. Many more. The website will show you everything here and their location and open hours. www.kurfuerstendamm.de

KaDeWe
Tauentzienstrasse 21-24
10789 Berlin
Tel: 030-2121-0
Web: http://www.kadewe.de/
Open: M-Th 1000-2000; Fri 1000-2100; Sat 0930 – 2000 (December Sat’s open until 2100)
* KaDeWe is the Harrod’s of Berlin, a beautiful high end shopping center that has been around over 100 years. If you see something tempting, they do take credit cards. There is a souvenir shop on one level (but there are better places for souvenirs), and a fabulous chocolate/gourmet food store upstairs and a delicious food court. Yeah, things are high end, but not overly inflated. Pandora charms will cost the same at KaDeWe as they do at the Natex and KaDeWe will probably have every single on in stock.

Kastanienallee: A street full of outdoor cafes, fun shops, and the famous Prater beer garden. This is real Berlin away from the tourists in the center. A quick U bahn ride north, it’s easy to get to. Take the U Bahn to Schoenhauser Allee and walk down. In this area you will also find Berlin’s oldest and most famous brewery which is now a concert venue, a Jewish cemetery and synagogue, and a few other pretty churches. Artsy and fun. This is where you kick back and relax and just soak up the atmosphere. If you walk all the way down, you’ll run into the Hackeschen Hof, a maze of shops and restaurants hid neatly behind beautiful old buildings in courtyards within. Shopping and restaurants. Cinema and art studios. It’s ALL at Hackescher Hof.

Mr. and Mrs. Peppers
Kastanienallee 91-92; 10435 Berlin
Tel: 030-448-1121
*Cute fashions for women and men designed by a couple local fashion designers and produced both in Poland and Berlin. Fun designs, great fit, pure local Berlin. And the prices aren’t horrible either. Not everyday that you can buy an outfit from the guy who created it! Yes! They take credit cards!!!

OptiKing – vintage glasses
Eberswalder Strasse 34
10437 Berlin
Tel: 030-4737 24 88
Web: www.optiking.com
Mo-Sat 1200-2000
* Love this place!!! Found my favorite Berlin souvenir here – a pair of uber cool vintage sunglasses made in Germany. Cash only, but so worth it.

Unter den Linden – A beautiful wide street leading up to the Brandenburg Gate full of restaurants and shops, historical buildings and hotels. It’s a nice street to walk on. Full of life. http://www.unterdenlinden.de/berlin/shopping/

Berlin Story
Unter den Linden 40
Berlin 10117
Tel: 30 20 45 38 42
* My favorite souvenir shop – if you want a traditional souvenir, really, this one has everything. All the usual tacky stuff, plus nice metal street signs, art, books, historical stuff, t-shirts and purses, photographs. Everything. Plus they have an old car downstairs and free (clean) bathrooms.

Apollo-Optik
Unter den Linden 32-34
10117 Berlin
* fun place for some brille – cool sunglasses

Berlin Food

Add your picks please… 4 days traveling with 4 kids is not the ideal way to test out a wide variety of restaurants… still, we hit some good ones. The Focaccia place is still my favorite. Such a great local find! Basically, where ever you are, you will never starve in Berlin. There are restaurants in all price ranges pretty much everywhere. And a ton of “American” places in prominent places and even in the larger Ubahn stations.

Brandenburg Gate:

Starbucks
Pariser Platz 3-5
* So conveniently located near the Brandenburg Gate. A quick treat on a hot day and you can get a cute souvenier Starbucks mug there with the Berlin bear on it.


Alexanderplatz:

Starbucks
Panoramastrasse 1a
*Reliable. In the building under the huge radio tower. Open until 9.

Solino
Poststrasse 13-14; Nikolaiviertel
Tel: 030-24726041
*Delicious italian food, resonable prices, wide variety on the menu. Kid pizza for only 1Euro. Huge portions. Great location near the Nikolaikirche.

Ku’Dam area:

KFC
*Yep, it’s good ol’ American style KFC. Decent food. Great for the kiddos. In the open space just next to the Kaiser Wilhem church. There’s a lot of outdoor area there to sit and enjoy the sun if it’s shining.

KaDaWe
Le Buffet – Food Court on the top floor
*Amazing, delicious, great, great food. All there ready to eat. It’s a buffet. So you grab what you want and pay by weight on things like salads and pastas. VERY pricey. Not a place for a bargain, but if you’re there and you need something fast, it is good and quick and easy.

The Berlin Zoo
http://www.schuler-gastronomie.de/

Oraniumburger Strasse

Oranium
Oraniumburger Strasse 33
* Delicious food, good service, beautiful place. Right on the corner across from the old post office and on the same block as the Neue Synagogue. Yum. Had the Flamkuchen – thin like a tortilla almost. The gyros one is excellent. The sandwiches and salads were great too! Ubahn (U6) purple line exit Oranienburger Tor just one stop from Friedrickstrasse.

North: – Brunnenstrasse/Torstrasse: Not touristy, but local and beautiful. A nice green area, a lot of art galleries on Brunnenstrasse, a huge park with a wine bar/restaurant in the center where a vineyard once stood, and great shopping. A fun area to roam if time allows.

La Focacceria
Fehrbelliner Strasse 24
10119 Berlin
Tel: 030-44-032-71
*Delicious!!! What a treat! Delicious focaccia pizzas for only 1.50 a slice. Choose from at least 8 flavors and they’ll heat up your slices and bring them on a nice wooden board. I could have eaten here every day. Friendly people, beautiful place, and right across from a huge playground and large park (Volkspark am Weinberg), so the kids will be happy. Take out is an option. Ubahn exit: Rosenthalerstrasse – blue line north from Alexanderplatz (U8)

Berlin Apartment – Bernauer Strasse

I stayed at this apartment in Berlin recently for 4 nights with 2 adults and 4 children. It was in a great location – on the former East side, but just 3 blocks (200 meters) from a U-Bahn stop and minutes via U-bahn from Alexanderplatz. In an area of many large apartment complexes with a narrow green space that runs between them. Close to nice restaurants, a lot of art galleries, and a great park just west along Bernauer strasse with a huge playground.

Clean. Price includes linens. The beds were comfortable and it wasn’t overly loud with neighbors. We felt safe. 4th floor apartment without an elevator – not recommended for older folks or those who may have difficulty managing the stairs.

The bathroom is smallish and the water pressure isn’t great (but this is Europe), but the hot water was good.

Kitchen includes Wasserkocher, Coffeepot, Stove, and a small refrigerator. Pots and pans, some pantry items, and dishes are available as well.

There is plenty of free parking available on the narrow cul de sac that the apartment is on. We left our car for those 4 days with no problem.

The landlord sends instructions with your reservation. No deposit was required. Two sets of keys were provided. There is a key to the building door and another one to the apartment. Payment is made when you arrive and get the keys. We called when we arrived and the man showed up with keys within 5 minutes. The entrance is at the end of the building around the corner.

Actual Address: Wolgaster Str. 13;Berlin
Web: http://picasaweb.google.de/marc.minhoff/Apartment1BerlinMitte#
Web: http://www.vacationvillas.net/p500762

Price at posting: Price for one overnight stay is 74 € for 3 guests (an additional 10 € per guest 4-6). There is a one-time fee for final cleaning (25 €). Towels and bedding are included.

Contact info: Marc Minhoff at marc.minhoff@gmx.de or 0049 (0)172/3857400

Berlin Apartments:

Reader Recommendation…

Good search site to get started! Apartments can be a BIG cost saver when you’re traveling for larger groups or more than a couple days.

http://www.ferienwohnung-zimmer-berlin.de/Unterkuenfte-eng/suche.php

Pups – Kid Friendly Restaurant in Berlin

Reader Recommendation…

If you’re visiting Berlin, Pups is a great place to end a long day of sight seeing with kids. It’s near Checkpoint Charlie. It serves okay pizza, has a long drink list (alcoholic and non), a relaxed intimate atmosphere, an indoor playground (toddler area, slide, ball pit, etc), and bobby cars. They don’t speak English, but they are very nice and patient.

Pups – Playcenter and Bistro
Kochstr. 73
10969 Berlin
Tel:030/ 25 94 2910
http://www.pups.de/site/home.htm
Open: 1000-2000 everyday including Sundays and holidays