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| Panorama view from Waldorf Astoria over Berlin - here the common references to NY is clearly seen, almost looks like Central Park:) |
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| One of my favourite spots in the Waldorf was the library on the top floor. Don´t miss it! |
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| Our bathroom |
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| Extremely nice and soft bathrobes...if you like us spend a lot of time in the SPA these are very important... |
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| Aaaahh...the Guerlain SPA and its pool. Just gorgeous! |
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| Guerlain SPA treatment room |
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| The light and serene area with its neutral colours worked very calming and relaxing on two parents of three... |
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| The hot tub was amazing... |
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| Look how beautiful it is to incorporate a little shiny silver into the mosaic. |
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| Very important reading to do here... |
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| Showers in the SPA |
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| The part of the city called "Mitte" famous today for its culture and shopping |
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| The largest shopping street in the Mitte |
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| Well, you can´t miss that Gallery Lafayette on Friedrichstrasse is originally a French department store... |
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| Among all the newly built buildings are some old gorgeous to be found. |
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| The Schumacher flagship store located in über cool shopping mall Quartier 206, also on Friedrichstrasse |
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| Brandenburger Tor |
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| One of the coolest and most popular restaurants in Berlin is Borchardt on Fransösischer strasse in the Mitte. |
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| Me, having a very hard time deciding on what to choose from the menu at Borchardt... |
OUTER BEAUTY
I can highly recommend the Waldorf as a hotel in Berlin. We stayed there Friday-Sunday and was really, really pleased with it. We had a great corner room with magnificent view. The bathroom was fantastic, all in marble. The products in the bathroom was from Salvatore Ferragamo. I loved small details as a poem on the pillow for a good nights sleep, pillow menu to change the pillows from (which we did), late checkout on Sundays at 2 pm, SPA open until 9 pm and the breakfast buffet was also very good with lots to choose from (although this was just as expected when paying a five star rate). The SPA, it almost deserves it own post as this was truly "bliss at SPA". The environment was very tranquil and delightful in sober colours. We were almost alone all the time, much because we came early or late I guess. The pool was amazingly beautiful, and so was the hot tub. The location of the hotel is great since it has walking distance to a lot of sightseeing, KaDeWe and Kurfürstendamm's shopping.
Saturday was spent in the cool and vibrant area called Mitte, former East Berlin. Here are a number of great restaurants, hotels and shopping located. We had been recommended the restaurant Borchardt, which is super for lunch or dinner. We headed there for a long lunch with rosé in the sun. This is definitely a place for people watching. Very cool and fashionable Berliners, a place to see and be seen. The classic dishes are their famous Wienerschnitzel or Beef tartar. Asparagus is also very big in Germany this time of year so that was also delicious, and with hollandaise sauce please. Many prominent guests in this restaurant on a regular basis made the waiter discreetly approach our table to quietly but firmly ask my husband to take away his camera, this about 30 seconds after he had reached for it. The food was delicious and the staff great. Will definitely revisit. The shopping in the Mitte is great, although the area has lost some of its extremely cool appeal due to the fact that many fashion brands again are investing big in the central parts around KuDamm and KaDeWe, this is still an area to hang out in and I guess you cannot go to Berlin and don´t go to Mitte. Friedrichstrasse is
the shopping street with many stores and the eminent Gallery Lafayette, which also has a great food hall. And don´t miss the Quartier 206 which is a small exclusive mall of Etro, Prada, Bottega Veneta and many more. It was a great day in the Mitte with a fantastic lunch and a lot of culture to take in, but I would say the shopping is better around KuDamm and KaDeWe, having e g high street Uniqlo opened up recently in an enormous shop there. And all the big and bold flagship stores can be found in this area along with high street fashion. So we were happy to go back for a few hours of late afternoon shopping at KaDeWe and also eat there, again...and have some more Champagne!
I will put all the links and tips in a short Berlin guide soon. But I hope that I have given a picture of Berlin as truly interesting and great to visit for a mini break, offering (many) really great hotels with good value for money, if you e g compare to Hamburg or Copenhagen, which have older hotels that are much more worn and often even more expensive. I can´t wait to go back to the bubbly metropolis Berlin actually.
In case you missed it and are interested,
here is part 1 of Berlin weekend.
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