I never knew this neighbourhood existed and went to visit a friend and was instantly transported out of Berlin into some sort of 50's utopia.
"The Hansaviertel is a prime example of modern architecture and urban planning in the fifties in Berlin.
36 individual buildings or ensembles still form the model of modern architecture and urban planning of the 1950s. The southern part of the war-damaged Hansaviertel, which lies between the S-Bahn line and Tiergarten, was chosen as the central demonstration area of the International Building Exhibition in order to present the "city of tomorrow" - in deliberate contrast to the East Berlin Stalinallee and the restored tenement barracks." - berlin.de
Also visit The Akademie der Künste, if not for the art then the architecture alone.
The central ‘Mitte’ area of Berlin is packed tight with galleries and museums, which means you can cram a lot into a short amount of time, if that’s what you want.
The best of the lot is the Me Collectors Room, which shows off large chunks of the Thomas Olbricht collection alongside other contemporary private artworks. The permanent ‘Wunderkammer’ display offers over 200 pieces from the Renaissance and the Baroque periods, with a solid focus on the strange and macabre. There’s even a Mark Ryden original that fits in nicely.
My favourite bar of the many around kreuzkölln is Bellman. After its sudden closure and reopening it underwent some changes and is boycotted by some of its former patronage, but for the less principled like myself it’s still a good place to go and they do pull the best Jever in Berlin.