Berlin with Jeremy Minsberg

Berlin with Jeremy Minsberg

[Music] guten a minofa unville kman to Monday night travel This evening we are going to whisk ourselves off to the German capital Berlin for a walk in the historic center and then we are going to a hidden neighborhood Princeburg Okay I’m very happy to say as you saw in the intro and maybe other places that we are not going to Berlin alone We have a veteran guide that we have been recommending for many years joining us His enthusiasm and knowledge of Berlin are immense Please join me in welcoming Jeremy Minsburg Hi Jeremy and welcome to Monday Night Travel Guten A from Berlin There you are Guten Aend How are you doing and what time is it there it is 3:00 in the morning here in Berlin Incredible Well thank you Jeremy for getting up and tuning in with us Now I detect you’re not a native German Is that true i’m actually American I’m from St Paul Minnesota And um I’ve been coming to Berlin since 1981 the first time I came My cousin was stationed in the US military here And so I kept on coming back to Berlin and coming back to Berlin after all these years And finally in 2000 I made the jump and moved to Germany So I’ve been here for 25 years And um I’ve been a private tour guide for almost 20 years here in Germany Incredible And Jeremy what do you like or what do you love about Berlin why are why did how did it become your city i love Berlin because for the first five years I was here I didn’t have a work visa So I did volunteer work for all these different organizations And my favorite volunteer work was in in an old Jewish home for the aged And what I used to do is I used to bring pictures of what Berlin looked like before the war And I would basically talk to the people about bringing pictures of what they Berlin was like before the war And I’d say “Tell me what it was.” And so that’s where I got the best stories that I had was from eyewitness accounts because it was a saying in Berlin before the war If you couldn’t read the street signs you couldn’t tell if you were in Paris or Berlin This city was so beautiful before the war And you’ve lived in the same neighborhood for quite a while haven’t you i’ve been in the same apartment for almost 24 years And Germans don’t move very often because there’s very strict rent control here So I rented my apartment in the dumpiest neighbor in the city 24 years ago and now it’s become the trendiest neighbor in the city and I’ve not had a rent increase in 24 years No rent increase in 24 years Well maybe I should make an investment and move to a nice neighborhood in Berlin Germans don’t move very often Amazing Now I understand that you have a few treats to share with us Is that right yes I do I have for first of all what when you come to Germany the things you should be eating you should be eating pretzels This is something that it’s very very very very yummy this time of the year They eat them with cheese sauce and they eat them with all these different types of things And they come in different many different shapes and sizes They come in long ones They come in traditional sizes And people come to Germany because Germans want to have bread and Germans There are over two different 2,000 different kinds of bread in Germany So there’s all these different kinds of bread here And especially the the thing that people want to come to Germany this time of the year for is white asparagus This is something that is only in season for 8 weeks a year from April 20th until June 20th And they serve this with Holland sauce and potatoes and sometimes with meat on the side of it But this is a treat This is something that people come to Germany my clients come to Germany often just to eat this It’s very unusual And my favorite highlight this time of the year are strawberries This is the strawberries that people want to come to Germany for The strawberries are unbelievable this time of the year My niece was just here She came I think just for the just for the strawberries Yeah strawberries here are unbelievable So the food here in Germany is a whole part of the experience of coming to the city and coming to coming to Berlin And we actually can present here I’m just going to go back on this We can share what the strawberries actually look like or the stand where you buy them actually looks like Let’s see I’m just going to Yeah there we are Now this is like it’s like a yellow submarine No it’s a red submarine So this is the traditional strawberry stand Is that correct right There’s hundreds of these all over northern Germany and they sell them and there are lines as soon as they come out There are lines of them because these are so so everyone is so excited to have them And the quality of strawberries is absolutely amazing I love strawberries It’s actually the strawberry season here but I don’t have strawberries I have a version of a kebab So I’ve been waiting to eat this for two hours because the kebab is popular in Berlin as well isn’t it Jeremy kebabs and duners They have all sorts of different kinds of kebabs different kinds of ones If you’re going to the Turkish neighborhoods or the Arab neighborhoods everyone has a different kind of a kebab with different kinds of meat or vegetarian they have all sorts of different versions of the kebabs that for everyone to to to eat Well I’m going to get us started then and also find a moment to dig into that a little bit Shall we start our walking tour Jeremy so why don’t you orient us with the plan Jeremy we’re starting in the historic center We’re going to walk down the main drag visit Museum Island and then visit your neighborhood Is that right correct When people first arrive they arrive to the main train station on the upper left hand of the of the station is called the Ha Bonhof It’s the main train station of Berlin And then they come into the government quarter called the Rich Doto area and the Chancellor’s office And then they go to the Brandenburgg Gate area and the memorial for the murdered Jews And then they walk up the street to the Uniden Lyndon the famous Royal Boulevard of Germany all the way up to the museum island And it’s this whole this is the old gorgeous center part of the city where the buildings are beautiful Everything is four or five stories tall and many of the buildings did survive the war So they’re in original condition and that really beautiful buildings in this area here This is what people think of European city should look like is what you find in this area And this is a form of a walking tour This is actually a map of our central Berlin citywalk from the Berlin guide book Uh and yes it it covers just one section of the city because Berlin is very large That’s true Jeremy you said it was what 36 miles from one end to another each direction In 1920 after World War I all the suburbs got together and said “Why are we fighting for duplication of police fire sewer water?” So they incorporated the entire county Berlin is 30 miles in each direction Um and it’s a basically an east west city It’s not a north south city and it’s an it’s a very very large city and it’s 28% green And just like most European cities the wealthy live on the west sides of many European cities The poor live on the east historically because they have sewer systems So that the smells on the east eastern side of the cities were horrible And everyone’s everyone’s burning everything to heat their homes and to cook their food So the wealthy side of the city where in the lower left he says city west that’s historically where the west the wealthy people lived and the north and the northeast that’s where the poor people were living historically before the war And here again we see that we’re focusing on the historic core before going to Princeburg in the north Correct Right And that’s neighborhood The population of Berlin is it two or three million something like this Four million today Oh incredible Wow Yeah very large And we talked a bit about what’s special about visiting Berlin at this time of year When would you suggest that a traveler visit your city berlin is a great time to visit any time of the year Um because if you come in the winter months um if you’re coming for museums and inside things it’s a great time to come in the winter months because there’s no lines for anything It’s cold but it’s cozy and the Christmas markets are taking place Um in springtime the weather is lovely the plants are blooming Um there’s fewer crowds In summertime the days are incredibly long because in summertime is we’re 52 degrees north here So the summertime here it’s only dark here four or five hours a night here Um the parks are beautiful and it’s but it’s peak tourist season And in the fall there’s lots of cultural events and it’s golden leaves and it’s crisp air It’s the Germans say there’s no bad weather There’s just wrong clothing So it’s it’s a great time to visit Berlin any time of the year depending on what you’d like to do And now what’s the story with the Berlin airport because of course Frankfurt I associate as being like the biggest airport in Germany but the Berlin airport was going to be redone Is that right berlin used to have three airports when I arrived here in Berlin Then they closed one and went to two airports Now they’ve closed that one and now we’re at one major airport And the Berlin airport was supposed to open 10 years ago but with lots of confusion and delays it opened about 5 years ago Um it’s souththeast of the city Um it’s a it’s a beautiful new airport Um but it does take about an hour to get to the airport from the center of the city You can either take a train there you can take a bus there you can have a rental car there Um it’s very very e convenient to get in and out of the airport It’s just a little bit of a distance from the city And a taxi is about $75 to get to the airport from the center of the city And in terms of what to book ahead now this is there aren’t as many things that need to be reserved ahead as in Rome or Venice for example but there are a couple of uh sites that should be reserved ahead um the Reichto and Museum Island Is that is that true as well correct If you’d like to go to the the Reich Dome is one of the most important things in Berlin with a beautiful view of the entire city Architecturally it’s one of the most beautiful pieces in the entire city Um that is something you have to book in advance and sometimes it’s not available So you have to really hopefully it’s available um that is worthwhile and some of the museums on Museum Island during high season are worthwhile to book in advance also so you can make sure you get a ticket for the day you’d want to go Um so there’s a few things that are worthwhile to book in advance but certainly the rich dog because the rich dog is the equivalent of going to the US capital So you do need to have a little bit of security check before you go in So you have to advance have to apply in advance you just can’t show up to the building And it is the best my opinion it’s one of the best pieces of architecture in the entire city And we’re going to see more of it later And uh there is a pass for museums in Berlin And I believe it’s a good value if you’re seeing more than a few museums on the museum island Would you agree right There’s there’s the there’s the museum pass They have it for 24 48 72 hours It’s great if you’re planning on going to many museums It doesn’t offer free entrance to museums It only offers a discount So it’s great if you’re planning on visiting a lot of museums Um if you’re only visiting a few it probably isn’t worth it And it also depends on where you stay because the the pass gives you free transit So if you’re staying in the center of the city this is a walking city so you don’t really need to take you might need not need to take the public transportation you’re able to walk everywhere So it’s just if it depends on where you’re staying and how many museums you’d like to visit In terms of paying uh for things during your stay I was surprised when you shared that cash is preferred in many places in Berlin Is that true as well Jeremy because so many places in central western northern Europe are switching to card In Europe ca in Germany cash is king still Um the only thing that ger Germans most Germans only use credit cards when they travel It’s an age thing Younger Germans are beginning to use credit cards and ATM and debit cards Older Germans do not So really the only places that accept credit cards in Germany are for tourists So when you’re coming to let’s say my neighborhood or other neighborhoods in the city you have to have cash You have to have euros cash It’s best to use ATMs that are attached to a bank Try not to bring actual cash because the exchange banks in in the city charge a great deal of money to change the money So an ATM is always best and let your bank know that you’re coming to Germany And in terms of where to stay you can be in the center but there are other great neighborhoods like yours that are very accessible and we’ve listed a few of them here Right there It’s it depends on what people are looking for Um if you’re interested in staying in the old historic district of the city where all the history and the most walking area in the city that’s the middle section of the city the meta section of the city Um it’s more like a downtown area but it’s where again all the history is and all the beautiful buildings are There’s Pralabaric that is the neighborhood in which I live in That’s more of a cultural neighborhood lots of old buildings in the city Uh if you’re looking for night life Kitsburg and Friedristeine that’s where the young people like to stay That’s where all the night life is And if you’re into the shopping side it’s that’s Charlottenburg on the west side In Berlin you stay on the west side of the city if you want to go shopping If you want to stay on the east or the center of the city if you’re more here for history Uhhuh Very good advice Thank you Jeremy And being such a large city sometimes you may not want to walk to every place that you’re interested in visiting So there is solid and reliable public transit via bus tram and train And do you can you use one ticket for all forms of transit or do you need different tickets public transportation here is one of the beautiful things in Berlin They have buses trains trams fairies They have everything You can buy a day pass for approximately €10 about $10 Um the trains go almost everywhere in the city And the easiest way to tell when you’re in the former east or in West Berlin is West Berlin has buses East Berlin has street cars the trams Ah okay Ticket one ticket passes is in the center of the city The A and B ticket is valid for the entire center of the city It’s an incredible value You can use it for 24 hours and it’s only $10 and you take as much public transportation as you want If you are coming from the airport you do have to buy an A B and C ticket which is a little bit different ticket But the most important thing about buying tickets for trains in Germany and in Berlin is you have to buy them and then validate them It’s a two-step system So just because you bought it it’s not valid So you have to buy it and then stamp it Mhm Okay Yeah validation is very important to remember And you know the history in Berlin is so dramatic and and powerful I’m going to let you take us through this section of the presentation Jeremy Would you please one of my favorite maps in the city because you’re able to see um for those of you who don’t speak German black is almost 100% destruction red is 50% destruction So starting in 1942 the this is it from southwest to northeast You can see exactly how the planes were flying from southwest over the center of the city They were aiming for the whole center of the city where the Nazi government was in the center of the city They were aiming for those buildings in the center of the city Um so 80 to 90% of the center city was destroyed And there’s one part just near the center of the city where there are no bombs That’s Berlin Central Park there were no buildings there Um so and just like most European cities and many European cities again the wealthy live on the west sides the poor live on the east sides So by looking at this map you can see there was more destruction on the west side than on the east side So the neighborhood in which I live in in called Prince Barrack is north of the city So my neighborhood survived the war almost completely intact This map shows how the city was divided during World War II where they were divided into four pieces The French had two districts the British three districts the Americans four districts and the Soviets seven districts So the eastern part of the city went to the Soviets the western parts part of the city went to the the Commonwealth allies And when you get to meet older people in Berlin you’ll notice people who are living in the former East will speak Russian or people in the former West will speak English or French depending on where you were raised So and history this history is the star here in Berlin Um Berlin has the best and the worst of everything in the last 100 years Um the city is not the prettiest city but it’s the heart of Berlin’s darkest moments where Europe was and it was to rebuild the cities after the war The city it’s a city of ruins and rebirth The Berlin has been destroyed divided rebuilt again and again And each version of the city lives in the streets The city is not a pretty city like when you go to Paris or or Prague Those are beautiful cities Berlin is not pretty Here the history is the star You’re coming to Berlin to see the history because you don’t just visit museums You come to see the bullet holes preserved ruins and the memorials built into the buildings And this shows a map of Germany what it looked like before World War II At the end of World War II the yellowish piece on the east side was taken away That was given to Poland And the northeast part was given to the Soviet Union So Germany lost 25% of its land at the end of World War II and Berlin used to be in the center of the country Now it’s in the eastern part of the country and you can see how the country was divided So Berlin was divided into four pieces and Germany was divided into four pieces at the end of World War II Yeah I was just going to say something very similar Jeremy that Berlin is almost a microcosm of Germany that the country was divided and the capital city was divided as well Exactly Exactly And this lasted until the 1990s or 40 45 years after the war Yeah So this is this is recent history Correct Yeah That’s the one thing that’s fun about coming to Berlin because all the history in Berlin is basically it’s a place that’s it feels unfinished Um because there’s so much history in every single corner and everything is basically that was done with video that there’s movies and it’s been in the last hundred years and it’s the best and there the city is an onion because you come to one neighborhood you look at something you peel off an onion there’s 14 more layers underneath it and even on my day off when I get together with colleagues and we do exploring in the city because even though I’ve been a guide for 20 years I’m exp finding new things every single day in this city And that’s why this city is so interesting If people are history buffs love coming to Berlin because history is the again the star here And we’re going to see history around every corner when we visit your neighborhood shortly as well Right Correct Right Well Jeremy let’s go uh to our walking tour now And we’ll start where many people arrive in the city center the Hul Bonhof which is just an incredible building What I think Rick calls it a postmodern temple of slick transportation Correct It’s it’s located on the former death strip where the Berlin wall used to stand Um it’s five levels of tracks Um it’s a vertical city of movement And in Germany there are still blue laws on Sundays All stores are closed on Sundays In Germany train stations are exempt So it’s looks like a it’s a basically a train station attached to a shopping mall Berlin used to be like Paris or London before the war where it had five or six different train stations And when Berlin became a unified city in the 1990s they built one central train station So it’s the it’s an enormous facility It’s all glass And the whole concept is is it’s designed to bring in natural light and about being transparent And you arrive to the train station and it’s transparent The moment you arrive 300,000 people use the station every day And right outside the front of the station are remnants of the wall usually in different places right there because it was built right where the Berlin Wall used to be And you’ve provided us with uh once we’ll move on from the strawberries you’ve provided us with a look a short video of the interior because Oh and here see you can go to Warsaw direct [Music] hundreds and hundreds of of trains a day That’s one of the great things about Berlin and Germany that transportation system in the station All the east west trains are upstairs All the north south trains are in the basement and there’s eight sets of tracks upstairs eight sets of tracks in the basement And it’s and it’s very very user friendly friendly people don’t have to get worried when they come to the station because it’s so easy to understand and the signage is excellent and there’s pe there’s there’s helpful stands everywhere and there’s helpful people everywhere in the station in the airport also there’s plenty of people everywhere to help you if you’re not sure what you’re supposed to be going and what where you’re doing and nearby this is the rich dog which we mentioned earlier is benefiting from a reservation because you can go up to the dome and have a great view correct the rich dog is the house of the German upper house of the German parliament The name of the building is called the rich dog The name of the organization that meets inside of it is called the Bundist Doto That’s like saying Congress meets in the capital The Bundust Dog meets in the c in the in the build in the in the Reichdog The building was bombed during World War II very very heavily damaged and it was left a derelch building during the Cold War Um it was rebuilt with a stunning glass dorm by Norman Foster That’s why it’s one of my favorite things for I recommend to people to do in the city The view upstairs and the ramp It’s like going up to the Guggenheim It’s a beautiful ramp up to the and it’s a lovely view And it’s it’s free You don’t have to pay to even go inside of it but you just have to pre-register And there’s two types of you can just visit the roof of the building to get the view or you can take a tour of the of the inside of the building And the tour of the inside of the building if you’re a history buff is totally worthwhile That the views the the tour inside’s spectacular because the building is talks about the history of the good and the bad history of what was going on in Berlin The exterior of it is dramatic as well What are we looking at here Jeremy we’re looking at the chancellor’s office In the government quarter you have all three forms of government You have the executive branch the parliamentary branch So it’s all right there And that’s the chancellor’s office We have a new chancellor in Germany named Merittz Um his office is on the top right floor of the building Germans nickname a lot of their buildings So they refer to this building as the federal washing machine because it looks like a front loading washing machine The Berliners nickname all their buildings here Um and that’s where the chancellor of Germany is And right across is where the member of parliaments have their offices and then the Reichdog And all these buildings have been redone and they’re all glass because the entire buzzword in the German government is transparency Transparency Transparency The only solid walls in any of these buildings are closets or toilets Beautiful stunning buildings And especially even at night time they’re much more beautiful to even see them at night time And this is a picture of the rich dog at the at the end of the war This is a picture I took inside the rich dog because in 1945 when you take the behindthescenes tour of the building the Russians wrote graffiti the Soviets wrote graffiti all over the inside of the building in 1945 when they c when they conquered Berlin And you can imagine it’s not very nice what they wrote And during the renovation of the building in the 1990s they left all the graffiti on the building So this is on almost every wall behind the scenes And to see this is very very very dramatic And a good tour guide who run inside the building can explain to you what what is written by these people because yeah as you mentioned the Reichard was built in the 1890s and then it burned in 1993 and then it was redone in 1999 I believe Burned in 33 and then it was redone in 1999 Right And they brought a British architect They had a worldwide design competition and Norman Foster won the design for the building So and it’s one of the you can stand at the front door and see who’s speaking at the podium because because again they take they the whole idea of transparency is super important to to the German government Everything has to be transparent here in Berlin And again all of these sites are within walking distance including the symbol of Berlin the Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate was built in the 1790s It was the royal gate The royal family went in and out of the city That’s why when you look at the picture the middle part of the gate is wider than the rest of that because it was reserved for the royal family until 1918 So when you walk through the gate you should only walk through the middle of it because you can because until 1918 you couldn’t do that It was reserved for the royal family And Berlin was a walled city It was most European cities were walled but Berlin was walled not for protection It was it was this was a toll gate You had to pay a tax to go in and out of the city This is the symbol of the Germany because from 1961 to 1989 no one walked through the Brandenburgg gate because it was in the middle of no man’s land This was the place you could not walk And when you look at European coins they’re all the same on the front Country specific on the back on the back of all the German coins has the brand on the gold ones And you’ve given us two looks here One during the day is beautiful And then you talk you’ll explain what this is to us in a minute The Brandenburg gate at night Wow So what is this is is this light show all year round Jeremy is it just at certain times is the festival of lights they have in October when it starts getting dark earlier they they take most of the most beautiful buildings in Berlin and they have light artists from around the world come and they shine the lights on all the different structures in Berlin and the Brandon Brigade is usually the center point of it and it lasts it starts at like 5 6:00 in the evening and goes to 11:00 at night and there the lighting designs are spectacular and they’re different every year and many times they have music attached to it So this is spectacular They have It is one of the most fun times to be in Berlin is for the lighting festival in October I love it It’s beautiful And now we’re going to walk just a little bit further on our tour to a very powerful memorial the memorial of the murdered Jews of Europe We’re going to hear about this from Rick because he does a very nice job of uh explaining this site So let’s let’s go to hear from Rick now In their attempt to exterminate the Jewish race the Nazis killed 6 million Jews Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial is a touching and evocative field of gravestone-like pillars Called the Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe it was the first formal German government sponsored Holocaust memorial When Germany called this a memorial to the murdered Jews it was a big step They admitted to a crime they did it The design of this memorial has no explicit meaning It’s hoped that each visitor will find their own There’s no central gathering point It’s for individuals like death Once you enter the memorial people seem to appear and then disappear Is it a labyrinth a symbolic cemetery intentionally disorienting It’s entirely up to you to derive the meaning while pondering this horrible chapter in human history [Music] Jeremy do you have an interpretation of the design of the memorial i’m just curious I was actually very lucky I got to meet the architect at one point Um and he said exactly what Rick said He wanted everyone to feel disorientation walking through that because that’s what the Jews felt It starts small It gets very very deep very quickly It overwhelms you And this is one of the only memorials in the world where you walk through You don’t walk to you become a part of it And you can walk through it during the It’s open 24 hours I encourage people to walk through it during daylight hours in the evening on a snowy day a rainy day You’ll feel something if different every time you walk through this memorial Um and the shadowing the lighting is amazing Um it’s current location is right next door to the Brandenburg gate It’s a documentation center is also underneath it which is very important to visit There’s museum underneath it which takes about a half an hour to go through It’s free And instead of the stones coming up from the ground up they hang from the ceiling down It’s very very very dramatic Um I think that’s an a museum to visit in Berlin And what’s interesting about this there’s no names on anything And it’s everyone is designed to interpret this by their own So it’s it’s it’s a very unique memorial because everyone feels something different but disorientation is the most important thing you’re supposed to feel Yeah You mentioned feeling overwhelmed as it get as you go deeper into it and I remember feeling ex exactly the same Really good is when and when when I when groups of people are walking through that they should walk through it separately not together Okay And oh we have a a little bit more Brandenburg here This is this is you and is it was it Lily your dog yeah My dog Laya Sometimes I bring my dog Laya on my tours with me also She’s a she’s she’s a little miniature doc wirehair dachshund And everything we’ve just talked about is very fairly close together in the historic center We’re going to move east now along the main drag It’s called Un Lindon Jeremy London What does that mean it’s under the London trees London The London Trees is the former Royal Boulevard It was originally designed for troops marching up and down um walking down one side to the gate then turning around and walking back up But these trees are called lynen trees And during starting about now until let’s say late July the trees have an odor that smells like lilac bushes And it is unbelievably fragrant And it’s this it’s basically the smell of Berlin And it’s absolutely the most beautiful boulevard in the entire city It’s gorgeous beautiful And my understanding is that a lot of the trees were cut down uh in the early part of the 20th century so they’re not very old Well the Nazis cut them down um at the in 1938 or 39 for a visit of someone Um and the builders are not happy about that but they just recently built a subway line from the Brandenburg gate to the tall TV tower And they had to cut many of the trees down to to build the subway line and they’re being replanted now again But it’s um it’s almost every tree in the city was cut down and used for firewood at the end of World War II This is one of the subway lines underneath the the London Boulevard and they’ve renamed it It the old name was Unitan London The new name is called the Brandenburgg Gate Tour is the German word for gate And I remember hearing correct me if I’m wrong Jeremy that at the subway lines where East Germany meets West Germany they just like block them off Do you know if that’s true they had was called ghost stations where people the only people would be on these platforms because the trains went from one part of East Berlin excuse me one part of West Berlin underneath East Berlin to other part of West Berlin And the only people on these platforms were East German guards with machine guns to make sure the trains did not stop at these stations I was very lucky I was here in 1981 and I went through I took these stations and I went through Checkpoint Charlie in 1981 Um and I remember the difference between West Berlin and East Berlin because it was West Berlin looks like it does today East Berlin looked like World War II ended 15 minutes ago Wow Wow And also on Ben Lindon is the largest embassy in Europe was the Soviet embassy but it’s the Russian embassy now It’s one of the only embassies you can still see the hammer and the sickle on it I’ve been inside the embassy twice with our tour association The embassy is gorgeous on the inside It’s not open to the public right now Um the building is one of the pre-minent locations on the London Boulevard and anybody who’s seen the movie British Spies a good port there’s few scenes in the movie are supposed to take place in this building but it’s it’s definitely worthwhile to see this building along the way This is the famous Jean Diamond Mark the famous plaza where there is the German cathedral and then the French cathedral and this plaza was all built for religious tolerance There’s one church on one side one church on the other side and in the middle the most beautiful concert hall in the city and this is where during the winter time this is where the nicest Christmas market is The most beautiful Christmas market in the city And during the summertime they have concerts here most evenings It is spectacular to visit this plaza This is what old Europe looks like We’re gradually moving east and we’re running into Museum Island there that second circular area So let’s talk a bit about that because as the capital of Germany of course Berlin has top rate museums do you what there are five museums correct Jeremy associated with museum yeah there were originally five museums on museum island it’s one of the only things it’s actually UNESCO heritage protection from the United Nations the German government is spending enormous amount of money to renovate these buildings because the buildings were heavily destroyed during World War II and they need an enormous amount of money to rebuild them and put them together And they’ve also just rebuilt a former royal palace called the Humboldt Forum And so that’s on Museum Island also So previously there were five museums on Museum Island Today there are 10 And Berlin has 200 museums over 200 museums in the city If there’s museum for someone for everyone in the city it’s the collections here are spectacular And this is the National Gallery which houses some of the most important German uh Correct German romantic collections are in that Correct And it also has European pieces For example this is a Manet French impression piece Exactly It has some lovely lovely con collections Berlin has some of the best art collections Uh they’re comparable what you find in Paris and New York Amazing museums in the city here Yeah that’s a really important point Jeremy because I I know that Berlin as the capital of Germany has some great museums but I I don’t think of it as a museum city but in fact it is Is Oh it definitely definitely is Yeah absolutely And this is the m This is the cathedral on Museum Island designed and built by the last Kaiser of Germany Um and it’s a gorgeous gorgeous church extremely ornate on the inside It’s a Protestant cathedral right on the museum island and it stands right next to the former royal palace and the building you see in front of us that was built as the first freestanding museum in the world in 1828 and that’s where the royal German family northern German family used to keep their their art collections and that’s on the museum island and museum island is about a mile long and about three or four blocks wide and this is that’s also the plaza where Hitler gave his speeches in Berlin when he gave his speeches in Berlin and then the view of the Berlin Cathedral You pay I believe it’s €10 if I’m not mistaken last time I checked maybe it’s gone up but that includes the 270 odd stairs to an excellent platform right it’s another lovely viewpoint of the city is to go into the the cathedral It’s a lovely lovely view from the top of there There’s many there’s seven or eight different places you can go for a wonderful view over Berlin This is a be if you like church architecture this is spectacular From the view on top is spectacular And the domes are new domes They’re not the original domes The original domes were again destroyed during the war And this is the German German history museum This is special exhibits of the German history museum and IMP building Um this is one of my personal favorite buildings in the city They have great exhibits in this building The German History Museum is my favorite museum in the city It’s going to be closed for about one more year for renovation They’re putting all new exhibits in the building Um and these buildings connected together are spectac some of my favorite collections in the city for people who really want to dive more into German history And they’ve have fun things in the German museum also It’s not just all serious They do have fun things in these museums So I mean they have things that Germany’s famous for like Volkswagens and they have history of all these different kinds of crazy products that Germany has created over the years and really wonderful design products that have come from this country over the years And next up we have something very important this is the most famous piece of art in the city It’s over 2500 years old It’s from Egypt Um she’s not very big She’s about this tall is not very big But when you see her and you think the technology they had at that time how they could make something so beautiful and so realistic it’s breathtaking This is a mustsee This is a this is an A+ for people who are coming to Berlin They must see her She is it’s it’s it’s a center point of of design and art for Berlin I think it might be the most important Egyptian art piece in all of Europe In fact I think you’re probably right The collection here the the collections and museums here are spectacular Well that was Museum Island So you see we’ve gone from Brandenburgg the Reich and the memorial across Un Lindon to Museum Island And now we’re going to hop over to your neighborhood Jeremy So you can give us a local tour And how would we get to your neighborhood in fact you can see it’s in the direction of the the northeast off the screen The neighborhood is easy to get to because it’s easy to get to because you can just walk there Um it’s either walking there or you can take an underground line Berlin has two different underground systems Um one of the underground lines goes right to the neighborhood The U2 subway line goes right to the neighborhood or one of the tram lines go right to the neighborhood The M M2 line goes to the neighborhood And it’s very very easily accessible Everything in this part of the city is walkable And Berlin there are no natural hills in Berlin That’s why Berlin is such an easy city to be in Um because there are no hills in the city very very easily to walk or bike A lot of times people rent bicycles The total bike friend There are more bicycles in Berlin than cars And we’re actually going to take a walking tour in your neighborhood as well So we’ll visit some of the the most interesting sites in your area And this is also a walking tour in the Berlin guide book because you know not every city in Europe has its own guide book from Rick Steves but the Berlin book does A very comprehensive one And we do have this excellent walking tour of Yeah this is this walking tour is excellent Yeah this is this is a wonderful walking tour where you you see most of the highlights of of the major sites in this neighborhood because this this neighborhood survived almost completely intact from before the war because it was outside the bombing range So 95% of the buildings in this neighborhood are original And when I moved in this neighborhood this is where I live I moved here 24 years ago The neighborhood was horrible 80% of the buildings were burning coal It was like Mary Poppins and today it’s the trendiest neighborhood in the city So there beautiful markets cute stores it’s it’s a one of the most charming neighborhoods in the city Absolutely And I would say it’s a quintessentially Berlin neighborhood in many ways Yes Because before the war these were actually tenementss They looked like charming buildings today Before the war this neighborhood had one of the highest population densities per capita of any place in Europe Um and many times you didn’t have your own bathrooms You might have 500 foot apartment 15 people living in it Um but today the it’s completely changed and it’s become again just regentfrified and an incredibly charming neighborhood Well let’s get started then and see a bit of what’s in your area This is a water tower This is a water tower This neighborhood had the first underground sewer and water system in Berlin That’s why it was so famous It had clean sewers clean water Um and this is this is the old water tower which has been converted into apartments And this is where I take my dog and we take our dog and we we play on the playground there And this is also in the neighborhood This was predominantly a Jewish neighborhood before the war This the largest synagogue in Berlin which survived World War II And one of the largest in Germany is in this neighborhood It was not touched on the night of broken glass in 1938 Crystalna because it was in a courtyard of a building So this synagogue was not burned because if you would have burned this synagogue all the surrounding buildings would have caught fire So it is a if you go and you can go here for services Friday night depending on the time of the year it’s between 6:00 and 7:00 in the evening Just have to bring your passports Um this facility is spectacular to go see and to see how beautiful the synagogue was before the war Yeah incredible interior And you have a video of just in front of the synagogue I believe And you can tell us a bit more as we play This is the street that the synagogue is on This is a winter scene of it And you can see how charming this neighborhood Again if you close your eyes you couldn’t tell if you were in Paris or Berlin This is what this entire city used to look like before the war This is the front of the synagogue There’s a school there And in the courtyard of the building is where the synagogue um it was a synagogue that was during East German times also And it’s still it it’s a symbol of Jewish endurance in Berlin Um and it’s in a peaceful courtyard right off off the main square in Berlin One thing Berlin is famous for is courtyards after courtyards after courtyards That’s why when you’re in Berlin I strongly recommend just if you’re not sure just walk into the courtyard and see what’s inside of it because this is a city that’s completely wonderful to explore And you can no people might say “What are you doing here?” But you just it’s totally okay to be in them Yeah Speaking of courtyards this looks Well it’s not quite a courtyard It’s a It’s either a garden or a park would you say correct This is a park called Kulitz Plots This is a a neighborhood in Pensburg And Katie Kovitz was a very famous artist whose son was killed in World War I She became a pacifist So the Nazis banned her art Much of her art is very kind of sad and depressing ma very imaginative art Um and she and her husband lived in this neighborhood That’s why the known neighbor is named in her honor today And there’s a museum with her art Is that true yes there is There’s a museum It’s moved several times The current location is I believe a temporary location They’re looking for a permanent home again And nearby are these stolen stolen you can correct me Uh stones Can you tell us a bit about those yes these were originally designed by an artist called Gunther Deming Um and there’s over 100 thousand of these in continental Europe now And these are the places where originally they were just for Jews but now they’re for all the groups of people whether they be homosexuals or disabled or handicapped or Cintian Roma It where they were living Um it says each one has a name on it and it said here live this person Joseph Mandel It has the date of his birth and where he was deported and murdered All the memorials in Germany talk about people being dragged and murdered Um this is a society which really talks a great deal about its past and memorialization Um each barracks commemorates a place where they lived It says deported murdered of their found throughout Berlin There’s 9,000 of them installed in Berlin 40,000 in Germany And it’s considered the world’s largest decentralized memorial of its kind in in the world And the nice thing about them is you walk with history because you’re paying attention to what’s under your feet Something missing here This is something you see throughout Europe This is these are memorials are called tripping stones or stumbling stones and they’re everywhere Everywhere you walk around in Berlin and in Germany you’re going to find these in most European countries Yeah You never know what you’re gonna find when you look down That’s for sure And it’s are at your feet when you’re not when you’re not looking Yeah Yeah Exactly And just around the corner is an orphanage What is the story behind the hourbach orphanage that we’ll see next Jeremy in your neighborhood it’s this former site of a Jewish orphanage in Berlin Um Shelder were here um until 1942 This is one of my offbeat favorite memorials in the city Um because it includes a haunting metal sculpture with children’s faces on it Um it’s small plaque explains the history of it and it’s a place where passers by can come in They can read about it It’s in English and in German because this talks about what happened in the neighborhood and it talks about how engaged Berliners are in dealing with their past and it integrates memory into everyday life and you see the names of the children on it and what their ages were and all these children were deported in 1942 and mur murdered Um so none of them surv only a few of them survived Um but it’s again it’s a hidden memorial in one of the courtyards directly across from where the um Jewish cemetery is in my neighborhood Thank you for explaining that Jeremy Very powerful Moving on This is a former brewery that’s now a cultural center Can you pronounce it cultur braay Is that right rai This is the culture brewery This was one of the largest breweries in Berlin before the war Um this neighborhood was famous because Prince Bareric Berg G is the German word for hill This is one of the only small little hills in Berlin That’s why this neighborhood had so many breweries in it before the war because Berlin has a very high water table and you couldn’t build basement in most parts of the city You could in my neighborhood So brewer breweries were here because they could build basements to keep the beer cold So before the war Berlin really was a brewery city of Germany Um there almost 10 breweries in my neighborhood alone And this one has a fabulous museum today and fabulous nighttime events And it’s a huge cultural facility plus one of the best museums from the DDR from East Germany Museums One of the best ones in the city And after visiting here if you get hungry is this where you get your curry worst it’s one of the most famous curry worst stands in the city Kopkas This is is this is an institution This is actually from East German times This has been around for many many many years They they have a secret formula and most people think it’s one of the best curry worst in the city And a curry worst is basically they take a broughtw worst they chop it up into small pieces put ketchup on top of it and put curry powder on top of it They now also make vegetarian vegan versions chicken versions of it So it’s something for for everyone and the French fries are amazing This is this absolutely you heard it here first Go to Prince Lowerberg for your curry worst in Berlin And then some of the buildings in the neighborhood not all buildings have been renovated The picture on the left you can see buildings are still looks like the war ended 15 minutes ago There are still buildings in this neighborhood that have not been touched yet That’s why this neighborhood is still interesting There are still a few examples you can find And also on the right one of the largest pieces of Berlin wall left in the city is in this neighborhood also And Mau Park where on Sunday they have one of the best flea markets in the city is in this neighborhood also And the Berlin Wall Memorial is near here too right Jeremy wall memorial is on M on on Bernau Strasa also Very totally worthwhile seeing It’s one of the only places in the city that shows both the inside and the outside wall of the Berlin Wall Well Jeremy this is the end of our walking tour of your neighborhood Thank you so much for guiding us through the area where you live Are you very far right now from where we’ve been walking i’m I’m about two blocks from where the synagogue is and about one block from the water tower and where the Mau Park is I’m about four or five blocks away Okay Incredible Yeah Thank you very much Next we will go to some Berlin experiences because I think that’s a wonderful way to think about travel is what experiences do you want to have or if you are interested in Berlin what kind of experiences can you enjoy there and here we see river cruise on the is it the spree river correct highly recommended the spree river cruises are fabulous um they have them in German and English in several different languages when the weather is nice it’s a delightful place because you can order something to drink on them Um they have them for range of lengths and sizes for everyone Um I even do it every year This is this is one of my favorite things to do in Berlin because you see a city from the river side of the city It’s a completely different view Great thing to do late in the afternoon The Rich Dogs it’s a mustsee You have to go visit the rich dog That’s the front of the building And of course you can hire a tour guide You can either join a tour you can hire a tour guide such as Jeremy and we’ve put his link to his website the Berlinexpert.com in the chat and it will be in the follow-up email as well So that is a fine Berlin experience to enjoy also Yeah I love what I do I’m very very very lucky I don’t I don’t likes this job as much as I like mine And biking you mentioned it earlier Berlin is flat so rent a bike And now is there a good bike rental service through the city or would you go to a bike rental shop there are bike rental stores all throughout the city if you want to just rent the bike and do it yourself There are bike tours you can also take Um they’re organized You can find those online Um but Berlin is a complete bike friendly city Many people don’t wear helmets in the city So if you want to have a helmet you’d probably have to ask extra or bring your own Um I wear one but most people don’t Um but it’s there more bicycles here than cars And it’s a complete white friendly city And we should talk about food because there are some Berlin specialties like this Berliner These are donuts correct these are jellyfilled donuts And this is this is this is what this is a mustave When you come to Berlin you have to be extremely careful when you’re eating them because they inject the jelly on one side of them So if you bite the wrong side you get it all over yourself But they’re delicious and they they have them all around the and they’re called fauken or Berliners But you can find these basically throughout the entire city all the time Very very totally fun to eat And of course beer is a must if you drink at least right beer in Germany is delightful because most beer in Germany does not have preservatives in it Very it tastes you Most people who come to Germany say “Wow it tastes different here than it does other places.” Um and they have all sorts of non-alcoholic beers They have beers that have lemon in it They mix with Sprite They have all sorts of different types of way to drink beer And it’s really really delightful on a warm day Highly recommended to go to a beer garden here There’s there’s many beer gardens in town Many places to sit down and eat as well And oh this must be the well either a hot dog or a curry worst Very popular This is what Germans think when you come Americans think when you come to Germany you have to eat it a hot dog or a broughtwurst or something like that This is what everyone expects to find here in Germany Absolutely And this is is this curry worst here curry worst That’s exactly what it what should what it should look like And there’s different forms and eating to eat it and to buy it And most people eat it standing up And there’s some that are listed on social websites that say are the must places Everyone this is like saying who it’s everyone has their favorite curryware stand Um I think that every neighborhood has good ones I don’t think you need to run across town for to find it You just have to ask the locals where do you get your curry war or go to the recommendation you provided in your neighborhood Exactly And then modern German cuisine modern cuisine in Berlin is quite delicious as well The cuisine in Germany is changing because Berlin has become a foodie city Unbelievably and it’s there’s food for everyone here Um and the quality of food is excellent The selection is amazing And what people find when they come to Berlin is you can do the food here is wonderful and much much less expensive than you find in other European cities comparatively Ah and we must mention our friend here the Ample man What is the story of of the man on the and they had different crosswalk men that don’t walk walk signs in East Berlin than they did in West Berlin He’s the former East Berlin He was a short supposed to be a short fat little policeman and people they did psychological studies that people were less likely to jaywalk if there was a policeman standing there So he became the crosswalk guy from East Berlin When the wall fell they started replacing everything in the east with what they had in the west It even came down to the ample man So he is now considered the symbol of Berlin because he has gone from east to west and he is the symbol walk don’t walk So when you want to buy t-shirts or something to when you buy want to buy gifts this is the only thing you’ll find in Berlin that you won’t find anywhere else This is this definitely the symbol of Berlin And you know Berlin is a fun vibrant city for young people as well And that’s something that has really come about in recent years Wouldn’t you say Jeremy berlin is become one of the nightlife capitals of Europe because there’s no closing hours in bars and restaurants So it’s you can basically go out almost any time of the night or day Some bars open up some discos and techno clubs open Thursday and don’t close till Monday or Tuesday Um they’re open the entire time So this is this is a very very big nightlife city Um and it’s it’s there’s there’s something to do for every of every age group and there’s something to do Thank you Jeremy for taking us through a few of the extra mustnos and things to do and experiences in Berlin Let’s get to a few questions Gabe has been busy sending me uh some of the questions submitted in the Q&A Thank you everyone for asking them and Gabe for sending them to me I would like to start with a basic travel question from Clara Does Uber operate in Berlin yes it does There’s Uber There’s also another service called Bolt There’s two of them Um they’re both price competitive with each other And there’s also an app that people could download called Free Now which is a taxi service which is competitive with them And you get a fixed price on a taxi It’s just like Uber but you’re getting a taxi Elizabeth asks if Berlin has Christmas markets And you mentioned one uh earlier on the square but it must have others as well because it’s so large There’s probably 15 20 Christmas markets in the city They open the last Monday in November and they’re open for 4 weeks Um they usually they usually most of them are open until let’s say the 24th of December and they’re totally delightful They’re really they’re completely worth a visit to Germany and Berlin to see them George asks “Does Berlin have a strange smell?” Uh because he it sounds like he heard on warm moist days there can be an unusual odor Is that true sometimes because there is no downhill in Berlin So that is why the the water company here in Berlin has to pressurize the pipes and it also the water pressure in Berlin is unbelievable And they also have to flush the sewers out because there’s no downhill for everything to run out of the sewers So occasionally when it gets backlogged the sewer there is a sewer smells occasionally in the center city of Berlin It doesn’t happen often but occasionally it does And the city usually takes care of it pretty quickly but it can happen I did not experience that when I went there so it must uh it must not always occur as you said Right Exactly Not every day We have a question from Susan about hotels Do they usually have air conditioning is that even needed based on the weather there in the summertime that is a very very good question because this is a cultural thing Germans are not big fans of air conditioning Um they that’s why they like to have windows open in all the buildings here Um I would strongly recommend if you’re sensitive to warm weather you contact a hotel and make sure it has air conditioning and ask about how low can the temperature go Um because there are hotels in town where the air conditioning will only cool to let’s say 75° and sometimes people they want it 68 Um so it really depends on if you want Americanstyle air conditioning you’re probably going to be staying in a five-star hotel Jeremy what makes a Berliner different than someone in the rest of the country are there many differences even Berliners are very different because this is the most international city in the in the whole country This is like the New York of Germany Um so it’s 30 over 30% of Berliners don’t have German passports and you don’t really need to speak German in this city Most German cities you have to speak German in There’s so many international people in the city that you can really get by speaking English almost the entire time Um and it’s there’s people from completely around the world and Berlin is becoming the new startup capital of Germany So there are tons and tons of young people from all over the world in this city right now So it’s a very very young vibrant city and it’s the it’s one of the poorest of all the European capitals um because of what most business left Berlin at the end of World War II So it’s coming back now but it’s still when people you can get a five-star hotel in Berlin for the price of a three star in London or Paris Um so that’s why people like Berlin so much because it’s a completely dramatic dynamic city that’s changing and it’s very very it’s it’s it’s it’s full of green spaces and it’s not one city It’s a patchwork of networks The architecture is a mix of everything There’s things everywhere in the city and the night life is everywhere and it’s complete diverse city So LGBTQ people have no problem here in Berlin It’s communities for artists and cultural people It’s got something for it’s something for everybody in Berlin That’s one thing people love about it Thank you for mentioning how diverse and welcoming it is That’s very important And you you compared it to you compared Berlin to New York City So perhaps to provide a different perspective on Germany a visitor to Berlin may want to take at least a day trip Do you have any suggested Berlin day trips one of the things I strongly recommend is for Berliners to visit Potam Potam is the former royal summer palaces for the royal family of northern Germany So Potam to Berlin is what Versai is to Paris There are palaces beautiful gardens Um it’s a beautiful and it’s only 25 miles west of Berlin That’s a totally worth a day day trip Uh Dresden is two hours on the train That’s that’s a day trip Leipick is a beautiful day trip Um Hamburg is only an hour and a half on the day almost less than two hours on the on the train here And remember they’re speeding up all the trains in Europe now So Mu there are trains to Munich that are three and a half hours for less less than four hours to Munich now to Munich you can do even do as a day trip from Berlin now Wow Yeah since it’s so well connected there are a number of options That’s great I love those recommendations Thank you Jeremy Uh Nick would like to know “How long Jeremy did it take you to learn German?” That’s a great question because when I first came to Germany the only two words I could say were good tight and kindergarten Um and it takes a long time Um I went to German school for a long time And um I think the best way for me to learn German was I married a German man and we speak German at home That’ll do it Yeah speak German at home So occasionally I’m fumbling for English words because I speak German at home I love that Well Jeremy I will just ask you one more question Susan would like to know what you would like the visitor to Berlin to take away What is the one thing that you want a traveler visiting Berlin to remember realize learn about i would think the most important thing is that Berlin is very different People come to Berlin to experience the history It’s not a pretty city It’s an interesting city And they come away thinking “Wow most European cities don’t change at all How much is Paris or Prague going to change?” There’s no room to make changes Where Berlin is in the constant reinventing itself all the time And that’s why there’s a saying in Berlin if you haven’t been here in 5 years you wouldn’t recognize a city Um people have to come explore Berlin Other cities are easy to see This one you have to really experience You have to like like Rick says there’s a difference between being a tourist a traveler and a pilgrim This is a city you have to be a pilgrim in because the more you come here the more you’re going to explore and find how wonderful the city really is Oh that’s beautifully said And I can also agree that Berlin is worth more than one visit It has many layers Thank you so much Jeremy Pleasure Okay Well I am so grateful to you for taking all this time to join us at 3:00 a.m Now it must be what 4:’lock Is the sun coming up yet you’re so far north 52 degrees A little bit It’s getting a little bit light It’s not come up yet In about 20 minutes it’ll be light outside Well we will let you go for the evening Thanks a lot Jeremy Take care I hope that some of our viewers will see you in Berlin when they next visit Pleasure Thank you for having me Thanks so much [Music]

A forward-looking city of leafy boulevards, Neoclassical grandeur, and world-class art, the Berlin of today buzzes with an anything-goes-and-anything’s-possible energy — a sharp contrast to its tumultuous 20th century. With the help of expert guide Jeremy Minsberg, we peel back layers of history at Berlin’s most powerful sights, pick up travel tips for your next visit, and meander through Prenzlauer Berg, a thriving corner of “real Berlin” untouched by World War II bombs. Along the way, we savor the good life, Berliner style, with a döner Kebab!

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