Colourful past ... the East Side Gallery section of the Berlin Wall.
In the shadow of the wall, Leisa Tyler sleeps in former KGB offices and discovers cafes, galleries and museums.
November 9 marks 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Still trying to piece itself together, Berlin is a city in the middle of an accelerated transition. From the headquarters of the Holocaust and then Western division between communism and capitalism, the German capital is now throwing off last century's scars and emerging in an entirely different stratum: Berlin the cool.
The most profound of these changes have centred in Mitte, the heart of former Russian-controlled Berlin. Littered with graffiti and bullet-scarred buildings, this eclectic neighbourhood fanning out from Alexanderplatz is also home to a swirl of bohemian art enclaves, an island brimming with mind-blowing museums and some of the finest shopping in Europe.
9am
Berlin is a city of the night, not morning. Wake at Lux 11, a peachy 72-room apart-hotel with minimalist white interiors and peek-a-boo showers in a building that used to be inhabited by the KGB. The rooms are small but the location couldn't be better: skirting Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse – named after the socialist revolutionary credited with forming the Communist Party of Germany – now the heart of Berlin's uber-coolness.
Layer up (Berlin's weather can be temperamental), don your best walking shoes and head down to Munzstrasse and Oliv, the local breakfast haunt, for coffee, pastries, fruit and muesli on outside benches to watch the passing parade.
Lux 11: 9-13 Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse, see lux-eleven.com. Munzstrasse 8, open Monday-Friday 8am-7pm, Sat 9am-7pm.
10am
Follow your eyes to the soccer ball-atop-a-pin Soviet-style television tower, the Fernsehturm, Berlin's iconic bearing setter, in the middle of Alexanderplatz. Soar the 203 metres to the observation deck (€10/$16.50) and get your bearings of this city of 3.5 million people with swooping 360-degree views.
Open 9am-midnight March-October, 10am-midnight November-February; see berlinerfernsehturm.de.
10.30am
Berlin is a great walking city but bicycles rule the footpaths here (be aware of them if you do walk, or prepare for some German austerity). Get a two-wheeler from the Fat Tire Bike Rentals under the TV tower (€7 for four hours; see berlinfahrradverleih.com) and pedal up Unter den Linden, the city's fabulous grand boulevard, lined with a collection of old grand dames that have been carefully restored since World War II.
At the end of this decadent drive is the Brandenburg Gate – the divide between East and West during the Cold War. Recently restored, it's now a symbol of German reunification and a favoured spot for tourists to have their pictures taken with pseudo soldiers from opposing sides.
11am
Turn left at the gate and head straight for the Holocaust Memorial (corner of Ebertstrasse and Behrenstrasse), American architect Peter Eisenman's eerie grid-like monument paying respect to the victims of the Nazi-led genocide of Jews during World War II. Head downstairs to the museum (free, 10am-8pm, closed Mondays) for a harrowing glimpse into the madness that descended on Berlin in the early 1940s, or sit on as block watching the play of light and shadow while contemplating how honest Berliners are about their past. See www.stiftung-denkmal.de/en.
Midday
The history lesson isn't over just yet. Weave your way down to Checkpoint Charlie, the gateway between Cold War East and West. This is where Russian and US forces faced off in 1961. The checkpoint has since gone but an installation tells the story of the city from the end of the war to the end of the wall.
For those with wheels, there is a 1.3-kilometre intact stretch of Berlin Wall called East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain, a 10- to 15-minute ride away. An international memorial for freedom, the wall has recently been restored, featuring works by 106 international artists and reviving many of the classics such as "Communist Kiss", which pictures comrades Erich Honecker and Leonid Brezhnev smooching. See eastsidegallery.com.
1.30pm
Eyes to the sky, head back to the TV tower, drop off your bike and head back to Munzstrasse. It's time for lunch. Berlin isn't renowned for its fabulous eating places but the home-style German food and friendly service at Lebensmittel in Mitte is worth the trip. Recharge the batteries with hearty organic dishes such as Bavarian roast pork with sauerkraut and potatoes (€14.50) and a glass of German wine (from €3.50).
Rochstrasse 2; +49 (0) 30 2759 6130.
3pm
Contemporary art buffs should head to Auguststrasse, Mitte's informal art mile, where the city's young and creative have formed an art enclave. Good and free galleries along this strip include Galerie Gerken, Galerie Dittmar and DNA Galerie.
Those inclined for the classics should head to nearby Museum Island, a cluster of five world-class museums established by the Prussian royal family in the early 1900s. Recently re-opened after a nine-year restoration, the Bode Museum's collection (Byzantine art, Middle Ages sculptures) is just as mesmerising as the building itself. The Neues Museum is soon to re-open after a $400 million restoration
Open daily 10am-6pm, €8, Thursday 6-10pm, free.
5pm
Wander back to Lux 11, stopping off at Mitte's boutiques. Pick up T-shirts and sweaters at Cyroline or leather footwear at Vialis on Gormannstrasse. Swedish comfort clothes can be found at Dunderdon on Rochstrasse or exquisite designer threads at Ulf Haines on Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse.
Don't miss the quirky and whimsical Respective further up Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse, with its Soviet-inspired goodies. Yes, that's right, what was dad's loath is now little Johnny's love: Berlin's communist past is making a thunderous comeback into the world of cool.
7.30pm
Trot along the banks of the Spree River for dinner at Grill Royal, a hi-so steak house and darling of Berlin's social scene. The Argentinean chunks (from €21) win the best-value prize. Match them with the goat's cheese salad (€11) and a bottle of red from the extensive wine list. If the food doesn't tantalise, the location – beside the Spree, surrounded by twinkling lights – should.
Friedrichstrasse 105, +49 (0) 30 2887 9288, dinner only.
10pm
End the day at Kunsthaus Tacheles on Oranienburger Strasse, the former Jewish quarter, for a glimpse of Mitte's fading fringe scene. The burnt-out former department store was set for demolition before being taken over by a group of artists and squatters in the early '90s and converted into an art centre and nightclub. See super.tacheles.de.
Qatar Airways has a fare from $1604 economy class and $4602 business class low season return including tax from Melbourne and Sydney. You fly non-stop to Doha and then non-stop to Berlin.
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