Furren Dopers: Berlin & Copenhagen

In My Humble Opinion
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The Ujest Family Trip will be next month from August 19th arrival into Hamburg to September 7th.

We are based out of a little town south of Hamburg and we have plans to spend 2-4 days during the week doing Berlin/Potsdam (sans souci) and other couple of Days doing Copenhagen and south Denmark. Weekends will be in Schneverdingen.

We did a Bus tour of Berlin when we were there for a few hours in 1997. I would like to do museums and possibly the zoo. Since I will have my kids and possibly an inlaw or two stuffed into our car with us, I am open to anything that isn’t bars, drinking. Language won’t be a problem, Mr. Ujest speaks german and I point and grunt.

I have a copy of Rick Steve’s Germany ( and austria & Switzerland) which is very useful. We like the local color.

Copenhagen we are really open to anything. We might even fob the kids off on the inlaws.

Things that we like to do: art museums, smaller local places, consignment/resale/thrift stores. Music stores (and if they have english books, Book stores.) Historical must sees. Castles and mansion are always an interest to me.

I am also torn about going to see a concentration camp. I have a feeling that it will be a singularly riveting, soul sucking moment and a buzzkill for the kids.

We need recommendations for accomodations. Clean and cheap. Doesn’t have to be centrally located and can be a pension. Must be something you can put your children in, so no red light districts.

Any links and advice are appreciated.

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::::bump::::for the morning Yurp dopers.

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Of course you are going to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen…I believe Walt Disney got his idea for Disneyland by going there. It is certainly no Disneyland, but charming and depending on the ages of your kids, they should either find it a lot of fun, or at least more interesting than a Concentration Camp.

Speaking of which, I went to Dachau (near Munich) and was somewhat depressed that it didn’t effect me as much as I thought it would…I donno…it just seemed so sanitized and parts of it were like a movie lot…that is horrible to say, but that was my own experience. Some people were deeply moved. To be honest, I found the film Schindler’s List more real than actually being there.

There is so much to do in Berlin, time will fly. The Zoo and neighboring Aquarium are great for the kids, plus if the weather is decent, it is right there in Tiergarten…a beautiful park. However, don’t be shocked as you wander through the park and suddenly see a whole bunch of nude folks laying in the sun…it’s a German thing and not the precurser to an orgy. You have to see the department store KaDeWe! It makes Bloomingales look like Walmart. And don’t miss the top two floors - only food! You can sample all sorts of goodies. There are great boat trips through the lakes and canals…everything from short two hour tours, to week long trips to Prague. The Pergamon (sp?) Museum island (in what used to be East Berlin) is very cool…even the kids will like that. Postdam has some great places of interest that every guide book will point out. Plus you have to try a Berlin Currywurst (ask a local for the best imbiss in the neighborhood and they will all have an opinion). I personally haven’t seen it, but the new Sony center is the modern highlight…with shops and movie theaters and ultra modern. Check out the flea markets…lots of interesting things for sale. Avoid Eisbein…a truly wretched Berlin specialty that only a born Berliner can stand to eat. The Berliners are a lot like New Yorkers…they might appear gruff and rude, but in reality, they simply don’t suffer fools well. Basically, they are the most open and fun people in all of Germany…and the cafes, music kneipen and ethnic restaurants are all full of interesting people. Have fun!

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In Copenhagen:
The David Collection
National art museum

In Berlin (if you are interested in art and achitecture):
Bröhan-Museum (Art Nouveau and Art Deco), opposite Charlottenburg
Bauhaus-Archiv (Bauhaus design and architecture)

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Thank you , thank you, thank you.

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I quite liked the museum at Checkpoint Charlie which shows things related to the Berlin wall.

If you visit the Reichstag, note that the cupola is open at the top, so it’s rather drafty and cold if it’s raining (which it might be even in August).

For some really yummy hot chocolate, visit Café Einstein. It’s a chain that’s found at a couple of places in Berlin; I went to the one close to the Brandenburg Gate, combining sightseeing with chocolate-drinking pleasure :slight_smile: .

If you’re interested in film, you might like to visit the Babelsberg Film Studios - that’s where they shot Metropolis and Enemy at the Gates. The place is a little bit run down but they still have some fun exhibits to wander through even if you don’t know most of the movies; plus, the stunt show is quite spectacular.

I don’t know how much you want to spend, but this was a really nice hotel - it’s €90 for a double room which may not seem cheap but kids under 16 stay free in their parents’ room. It’s located in a very nice quarter close to a lot of Berlin sights and has FREE internet in your room (so you can keep us updated about your trip! :smiley: ).

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einmon I like the hotel and the cafe einstein place. I want a coffee mug from there!

Keep them coming!

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Things in Copenhagen: The Little Mermaid. The museum of the Danish Resistance. More bicycles than I’ve ever seen in one place in my life. The palace. Catching the train across the bridge to Sweden.

In Copenhagen, I stayed for free with one of the six Copenhagen hosts who were members of the Pasporta Servo hospitality exchange (I am a host in Toronto). PS might not be the best course for you at this late date though.

Speaking of kids…

Copenhagen is only an hour and a half by train from Vejle. At Vejle, you can catch a bus to… Legoland. :slight_smile: The first, the original.

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sunspace Thanks! We were toying with the idea of going to Legoland.

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Legoland is worth it, IMHO. The Legoland Hotel is quite expensive though, over 1100 kroner a night… at least, that was expensive to me, travelling on a youth-hostel budget.

I was able to do the Legoland thing in a day. I rose early, took bus 250 to the train station in Copenhagen, caught the train to Vejle, then caught bus 244 to Legoland. The bus stop is right outside the entrance of Legoland.

I seem to remember having to leave Legoland at 5PM so I could get the last direct train from Vejle back to Copenhagen… I definitely remember only having a few minutes to spare when the bus got to the train station, and then running for the train. I didn’t see all of Legoland, not even close.

The train ride was 1.5 hours, with about a twenty-minute bus ride on each end. In duration the journey was quite comparable to using two buses and a train to cross the Greater Toronto area, so to me it seemed like a local day-trip, no problem. But when I got back to my host’s apartment, he said in astonishment, “You went halfway across the country?!!”

I checked a map. It was, indeed, halfway across Denmark. :eek: The Danish intercity train was much faster than Toronto’s commuter trains, and it had further to go, crossing the Great Belt for example.

http://www.woco.dk/
Wonderful Copenhagen, the main tourist site. Note the non-obvious URL. :slight_smile:

http://www.dsb.dk/journey_planner/
Danish Rail’s journey planner. Has both bus and train info. I selected København H (H = Central railway station) to Billund, and it gave connections, what bus to take, and everything! I’m impressed.

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Looking around on the Lego site some more, I was intrigued to see the Legoland Family Hostel.

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If you are staying at Schneverdingen (with the in-laws that you mentioned?) you should plan on enjoying the Lüneburger Heide region for a few days if the weather permits. It’s a nice region to have a few day hikes in good weather, and if the weather is right the heath (calluna vulgaris) will be in bloom just in the period when you are there.

You did not mention Hamburg. Hamburg really is a must-see, with its beautiful Alster lake, the busy port (good promenade and boat tours from the Landungsbrücken) and stately inner city. (full disclosure: I am a Hamburger by birth, displaced to South Germany, and I think Berlin is a bit overrated compared to Hamburg.)

If you want to visit a concentration camp one possible site is Bergen-Belsen (in the English-speaking world usually referred to as just Belsen.) Bergen-Belsen is NW of Celle, not that far from Schneverdingen. That site is more of a memorial, though, with the original buildings not preserved - there is an exhibition building with an exhibition on the camp’s history in particular and the system of persecution in general, plus a large memorial park with monuments, sites of mass graves and some remnants of buildings. A bit off-site are the mass graves of Soviet POWs. All in all a sombre and instructive experience. If you want to see concentration camps where a lot of the structures have been preserved you probably need to travel much farther afield to the better-known sites e.g. Dachau, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück, Flossenbürg, …). If you can read German a comprehensive list of memorial sites is at http://www.ns-gedenkstaetten.de (these memorial sites range from concentration camp where much is preserved to simple memorials and exhibitions, usually at a relevant site, not necessarily with much information in English.)

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It looks like we might take a ferry ride from either Travemunde/Keil germany to Sweden or sissipark ( can’t remember at this moment) to a southern Swedish port to drive and spend the night there, before going over to Copenhagen.

Don’t we have some Swedish dopers? Koeeedadi comes to mind…

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We will be in Schneverdingen for the Heidefest. Mr. Ujest is quite excited as he has never been there for that.