Restaurants: Savoie Rire (http://www.berlin-hidden-places.de/yuba_web3/sachindex_en/bars_rest/charl_tybreizh_en.htm)--a marvelous French bisto with a lot of character. Florian (http://www.restaurant-florian.de/), in Savignyplat, where there are a dozen or more restaurants in a few blocks.
Things to see: The Pergamon Museum--one of the great archeological museums in the world. The Ishtar Gate is...it's amazing and beautiful and interesting.
The East Side Gallery (http://www.eastsidegallery.com/), a long section of the Berlin Wall that's been painted by various artist. The art isn't the reason to go--some of the bits are interesting, but it's in poor condition--but I found it the best exposure to the idea of The Wall.
The Gemäldegalerie and the Bauhaus Archiv, depending on where your interest in art lies.
I'd also highly recommend getting on the S-Bahn out to Potsdam for a day to see the several different palaces and gardens there.
The Berlin Zoo was fun, if you like that sort of thing. We find that going to the zoo the day we arrive works well for jetlag--it's interesting, but not demanding, gets you outside in the sunshine, etc.
In general, we found Berlin to be an excellent walking city. One of our favorite routes was walking through the Tiergarten and down Unter den Linden. There's also very easy public transportation.
Stuff we enjoyed
Savoie Rire (http://www.berlin-hidden-places.de/yuba_web3/sachindex_en/bars_rest/charl_tybreizh_en.htm)--a marvelous French bisto with a lot of character.
Florian (http://www.restaurant-florian.de/), in Savignyplat, where there are a dozen or more restaurants in a few blocks.
Things to see:
The Pergamon Museum--one of the great archeological museums in the world. The Ishtar Gate is...it's amazing and beautiful and interesting.
The East Side Gallery (http://www.eastsidegallery.com/), a long section of the Berlin Wall that's been painted by various artist. The art isn't the reason to go--some of the bits are interesting, but it's in poor condition--but I found it the best exposure to the idea of The Wall.
The Gemäldegalerie and the Bauhaus Archiv, depending on where your interest in art lies.
I'd also highly recommend getting on the S-Bahn out to Potsdam for a day to see the several different palaces and gardens there.
The Berlin Zoo was fun, if you like that sort of thing. We find that going to the zoo the day we arrive works well for jetlag--it's interesting, but not demanding, gets you outside in the sunshine, etc.
In general, we found Berlin to be an excellent walking city. One of our favorite routes was walking through the Tiergarten and down Unter den Linden. There's also very easy public transportation.