Berlin Friedrichshain

Volkspark, Volkspark is the second-largest park in Berlin and its oldest. This 52-hectare park is too big to feel crowded, even with masses of dog-walkers and suntanners filling the paths and grassy lawns. Since opening in 1840, monuments and memorials have been added here and there around the green spaces. In 1913 the Fairy Fountain was added, representing 10 characters from the book The Brothers Grimm. The rubble from two bunkers that were bombed and destroyed in World War II was piled into a war monument in 1950, now called Mont Klemont, and is sometimes used as a platform for open-air concerts and movie screenings in the summer. Statues that commemorate the Polish soldiers and German anti-fascists were built in 1972. S8 or S10: Landsberger Allee. Alternatively, U5: Strausbgr. Pl. Bounded by Am Friedrichshain to the north, Danziger Str. to the east, Landsberger Allee to the south, and Friedenstr. Str. to the south.
East Side Gallery, Along Mühlenstr. (www.eastsidegallery.com), The longest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall, this 1.3km stretch of cement slabs has been converted into the world's largest open-air art gallery. The Cold War graffiti wasn't preserved; instead, the current murals were painted by an international group of artists who gathered in 1989 to celebrate the end of the city's division. One of the most famous contributors is artist Dmitri Wrubel, who depicted a wet kiss between Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Eric Honecker. The stretch of street remains unsupervised and, on the Warschauer Str. side, open at all hours, but vandalism is surprisingly rare. U1, U15, S3, S5, S6, S7, S9, or S75: Warschauer Str. Alternatively, S5, S7, S9, or S75: Ostbahnhof. From the stops, walk back toward the river. Free.
Stasi Museum, Ruschestr. 103, Haus 1 (www.stasimuseum.de), The Lichetenberg suburb harbors perhaps the most hated and feared building of the DDR regime: the headquarters of the East German secret police, the Staatssicherheit or Stasi. During the Cold War, the Stasi kept dossiers on some six million of East Germany's own citizens, an amazing feat and a testament to the huge number of civilian informers in a country of only 16 million people. On January 15, 1990, a crowd of 100,000 Berliners stormed and vandalized the building to celebrate the demise of the police state. Since a 1991 law made the records public, the “Horror Files” have rocked Germany, exposing millions of informants and wrecking careers, marriages, and friendships at every level of German society. Officially known today as the Forschungs-und Gedenkstätte Normannenstrasse, the building retains its oppressive Orwellian gloom and much of its worn 1970s aesthetic. The exhibit displays the extensive offices of Erich Mielke, the loathed Minister U5: Magdalenenstr. €4, students €3. Exhibits in German; English information booklet €3. Open M-F 11am-6pm, Sa-Su 2-6pm.
Karl-Marx-Allee, Formerly known as Stalinallee, this was the main drag of the East German Potempkin Village, where party members staged elaborate military parades. Built in the early 1950s, it is flanked by hideous gray pre-fab buildings and wedding-cake style “people's palaces” at Strausberger Pl. Covered in gleaming white plastic tiles and aluminum railings dyed gold, these “palaces” were clearly designed to impress. At the end of Strausberger Pl., the two Stalin-styled Frankenfurter Tors flank the street. U5: Strausbgr. Pl. or Frankfurter Tor. Starting at the intersection of Karl-Marx-Allee and Litchtenbergger Str., and running to the intersection of Karl-Marx-Allee and Petersburger Str.