Berlin Marathon

This coming weekend will see the 2006 Berlin Marathon, a traditional event dating from 1974 and – since 1990 – encompassing part of the former East Berlin. A description of the route as well as links to maps and further information can be found here: Berlin Marathon.

Free stuff in Berlin

Useful list of free services and stuff available in Berlin: Berlin for free.

Berlin Train Timetables

The Deutsche Bahn has an excellent train information site at bahn.de, though it’s a little difficult to find general timetables for individual stations. For a convenient list of Berlin train timetables see this page Berlin train stations.

Maps of Berlin

A useful overview of maps of Berlin, including an explanation of the famous Falk map.

Wittenbergplatz’s London Underground sign

Wittenbergplatz station on Berlin’s U-Bahn features an unusual London Underground-style station sign.

Internationale Funkausstellung – history

An historical timeline of the Internationale Funkausstellung which opens today at Berlin’s Messe.

The IFA dates from 1923 and has witnessed the launch of many technologies, including the start of colour TV broadcasting in Germany in 1967.

Berlin’s elephants

Berlin is zoo city: of its two zoos, one (Zoologischer Garten) has the largest number of species of any zoo worldwide, and the other (Tierpark) is the largest in Europe by area. One area they’ve been especially successful in is elephant breeding, and currently the Tierpark has four little elephants: three Asian ones born last year, and one African one born in March 2006.

More on Berlin and Germany’s zoo elephants: http://www.zooelefant.de/. Here’s a report on a trip to the Tierpark.

Berlin neighborhoods

A list of the current 12 Berlin neighborhoods (Bezirke).