In Berlin the GDR can be experienced in many places. Since GDR history has its very own charm, I have written a travel guide on the traces of the GDR in cooperation with the DDR Museum Berlin. Now we also created a GDR Walk in my app BertaWalks (there is a German and English version). You can download the app and discover daily life behind the Berlin Wall!
The walk starts with a wonderful 'GDR' breakfast in the restaurant of the Berlin Fernsehturm. Afterwards, you can explore the GDR in a authentic apartment in the DDR Museum. More culinary spots and historical highlights can be found in the walk of the app.
Let's explore all aspects of daily life behind the Berlin Wall together!
Fernsehturm
Lovely breakfast with a view: The 368m-tall tower has a observation deck at 203m and a revolving restaurant at 207m. If you have reserved a table for breakfast, you can buy the entrance ticket to the tower in the gift shop, and avoid the queue at the ticket office. After the security check there is a queue for the elevator. Sometimes the line for the restaurant is not so long, but ask to make sure.
Panoramastraße 1A, 10178 Berlin, www.tv-turm.de, Station: U2, U8, U5, S3, S5, S7, S9 Alexanderplatz, pic by Ydo Sol
DDR Museum
The second spot of the BertaWalk of the GDR is the DDR Museum. Do you ever wish you could just live in the past? In the DDR Museum you can visit an authentic GDR apartment and get a feeling of everyday life in the former Soviet satellite state. It displays i.e. an exact copy of the couch I grew up on. Here you can experience the everyday life in the former East Germany. I especially like that covering a range of topics the Berlin Wall, the Stasi and much more the museum encourages its visitors to touch, feel and interact.
Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 1, 10178 Berlin, +49 30 84 71 23 731, www.ddr-museum.de, Station: S3, S5, S7, S9 Hackescher Markt, daily 9:00–21:00
Motorbike exhibition by DDR Museum
With over 300,000 objects, the DDR Museum owns the world's largest collection about the DDR. In the location at Rochstraße 14 between Hackescher Markt and Alexanderplatz, on 800 squared metres, you can expect an exclusive insight into the collection of the DDR Museum: On display are more than 130 restored motorbikes, scooters, mopeds and trailers spanning 40 years of DDR two-wheeler production. In 2008, the private house opened as Berlin's 1st GDR Motorbike Museum in the historic viaduct arches and is now part of the DDR Museum. The machines and many other thematic exhibits take you on a journey through time, through the technical and design history of DDR motorbikes, which begins with the predecessors from the 1930s and ends with the closure of the manufacturer MZ in 2008.
Rochstraße 14, 10178 Berlin, www.ddr-museum.de, +49 30 24 04 57 25, Station: S3, S5, S7, S9 Hackescher Markt, daily 9:00–21:00
Volksbühne Berlin
The Volksbühne was originally designed 1914 by Oskar Kaufmann. Erwin Piscator, artistic director in the 1920s, was renowned for his controversial productions. His approach to theater was also an important influence on Bertolt Brecht. In East Germany, the Volksbühne developed into a modern director’s theater, staging plays by prestigious writers such as Heiner Müller, and noted for its provocative productions by Benno Besson and Fritz Marquardt.
Linienstraße 227, 10178 Berlin, +49 30 24 06 57 77, besucherservice@volksbuehne-berlin.de, www.volksbuehne.berlin, Station: U2 Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, pic by Tobias Kruse
Gaststätte W. Prassnik
And the last spot of the BertaWalk in my app is this real German bar. One of the authentic corner pubs of Berlin Mitte which offers a Gin Tonic for under 5 €, not to mention real beer. Here you experience the charm of a German pub with flair.
Torstraße 65, 10119 Berlin, www.mangelwirtschaft.de, Station: U2 Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
If you want to find hidden gems of Berlin, check out my folding maps BertaBerlin and QueerBerlin. They are available in well-chosen locations all over Charlottenburg, Neukölln, Kreuzberg, Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin and online. But for those of you, who want to stay up to date, feel free to follow me on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK or register for my NEWSLETTER BertaNews.
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