Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [83]
Across the plaza, the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints & Drawings; Map; 266 2951; Matthäikirchplatz; adult/concession €8/4; 10am-6pm Tue-Fri, 11am-6pm Sat & Sun) has one of the world’s largest and finest collections of art on paper, including exceptional works by Dürer, Rembrandt, Picasso and other top practitioners.
The honey-coloured building east of here is Scharoun’s famous Berliner Philharmonie (Map). Its auditorium feels like the inside of a finely crafted instrument and boasts supreme acoustics and excellent sightlines thanks to a clever terraced vineyard design. Scharoun also provided the blueprint for the adjacent 1987 Kammermusiksaal (Chamber Music Hall; Map), the 1978 Neue Staatsbibliothek (New National Library; Map; 2660; Potsdamer Strasse 33; 9am-9pm Mon-Fri, 9am-7pm Sat) across Potsdamer Strasse, and the Musikinstrumenten-Museum (Musical Instruments Museum; Map; 2548 1178; Tiergartenstrasse 1; adult/concession incl audioguide €4/2; 9am-5pm Tue, Wed & Fri, 9am-10pm Thu, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun). The last can be fun even if the only instrument you play is the triangle. Look for a glass harmonica invented by Ben Franklin, a flute played by Frederick the Great, and Johann Sebastian Bach’s cembalo. The Mighty Wurlitzer organ is cranked up at noon on Saturdays.
TIERGARTEN PARK
Berlin’s rulers used to hunt boar and pheasants in the rambling Tiergarten until Peter Lenné got to landscape the grounds in the 18th century. Today, Berlin’s more charming equivalent of New York’s Central Park is a popular place for strolling, jogging, picnicking, Frisbee tossing, grill parties and, yes, gay cruising (especially around the Löwenbrücke). Walking across the entire park takes about an hour, but even a shorter stroll has its rewards. The most idyllic spots include the Rousseauinsel (Map), a memorial to the 18th-century French philosopher, and the flowery Luiseninsel (Map). The largest lake is the Neuer See (Map) where you can rent boats to take your sweetie for a spin or quaff a cold one in the Café am Neuen Click here.
Tiergarten is bisected east–west by Strasse des 17 Juni, home to a Soviet WWII memorial and the Flohmarkt Strasse des 17 Juni. Big festivals and the annual Christopher Street Day parade Click here are staged along here, usually culminating at the landmark Siegessäule (Victory Column; Map; 391 2961; adult/concession €2.20/1.50; 9.30am-6.30pm Mon-Fri, 9.30am-7pm Sat & Sun Apr-Oct, 10am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5.30pm Sat & Sun Nov-Mar), a triumphal column envisioned as a monument to Prussian military exploits. The gilded lady on top represents the goddess of victory, but locals irreverently call her ‘Gold-Else’. The so-so views from below her skirt take in mostly Tiergarten park.
North of the column, Schloss Bellevue (Map), a white neoclassical palace from 1785, is the official residence of the German president.
DIPLOMATENVIERTEL
South of Tiergarten park, the Diplomatic Quarter is home to several striking embassy buildings. Standouts include the Nordic embassies (Map; Rauchstrasse 1), with their cantilevered turquoise facades, the temple-like Egyptian Embassy (Map; Stauffenbergstrasse 6-7) and the Austrian Embassy (Map; Stauffenberg-strasse 1), a three-part symphony in copper and terracotta.
A few doors down from the last is the Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (Map; 2699 5000; Stauffenbergstrasse 13-14; admission free; 9am-6pm Mon-Wed & Fri, 9am-8pm Thu, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun) which deals with German Nazi resistance. Exhibits are in the very rooms where high-ranking officers led by Claus Graf von Stauffenberg plotted the ill-fated assassination attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944. He and his co-conspirators were shot in the courtyard right after the failed coup. The 2008 movie Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise, is based on the story.
Architecture buffs,