Exploring the old Berlin in Charlottenburg, from Sophia Charlotte of Hanover. In this part of former West Berlin located near Tiergarden park, you can combine Palace or museum visits with shopping and alternative places.

When I moved to Berlin I stayed for two months here, in former West Berlin, while looking for a permanent place, and explored daily this sophisticated burgeos part of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf or Schöneberg quarters, feeling a local and tourist in my own city.

Charlottenburg Palace

First things. Castle Charlottenburg, named of the queen Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, next to Museum Berggruen for classic modern art and Museum Scharf-Gerstenberg for surrealism.

Charlottenburg is home also to Deutsche Oper Berlin on Bismarckstrasse, musical theatre Theater des Westens, Zoo Palast and of the ruins from Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

Moments

• Visits at Museum of Photography and famous Helmut Newton Foundation, next to the Zoo Garden train station
• The square Savignyplatz near Goethe street, that I always admired when heading to Yoga Spirit studio, in a backyard that made me think of Brooklyn
• Literatushaus Café. Fasaden street is a dream with Literature house, cafés and small galleries that seem a maze until you learn a city so well you can walk with your eyes closed and write about streets from memory
• Persian lunch at „rocket + basil“ of two sisters (Lützowstraße 22) and many coffees at the Viennese café Einstein
• The Nordic Embassies in Berlin are a cultural center for 5 Scandinavian countries, an unexpected vernissage location and hidden spot for lunch
• Going to Preußenpark another secret spot, also known as Thai Park in Wilmersdorf, for traditional home made Thai food cooked by the local community of Berlin
• Speaking of Thai food, Kantstrasse is the address for authentic asian restaurants – Chinese, Thai, Korean.

Shopping = Kaufen

• I would head to Suarezstrasse for vintage and antique shopping after a stop in Leopoldviertel, where I had for lunch the Piadina of my life
• Bikini Mall is a urban hub and it hosts concept stores and a pop up mall. Plus a very big food canteen, Concierge café, Einstein café, Voo Store vintage, a sneak peak at the Berlin Zoological Garden and the 25Hours Hotel rooftop, all in one complex.
• Ku’Damm or Kurfürstendamm is more than a shopping boulevard with luxury boutiques. Is the signature avenue of former “upper” West Berlin
• Art Deco, symmetry and fashion at KaDeWe or Kaufhaus des Westens on Tauentzienstraße 21-24 is a classic for a reason. Is one of the biggest department store in Europe, with an amazing Gourmet section
• KaDeWe is technically located in Schöneberg in Wittenbergplatz, an architectural monument: most beautiful Art Deco metro station in Berlin and one of the oldest opened in 1902. I just noticed KaDeWe models the style

Je ne sais

You need to experience and remember your Berlin when you visit. Is great to say you got to pass by the house David Bowie lived and the one Marlene Dietrich was born, both in former West.

Kreuzberg and Neuköln are other two neighborhoods also part of former West, but we will go in detail in another post.