Jean-Pierre Andreae
                               www.premiumguideberlin.com
                             
                              Raabestraße 10
                              D- 10405 Berlin
                              e-Mail : andreae@premiumguideberlin.com
                              phone: +49 30 21 11 555   fax: +49 30 44 30 83 04
                              mobile: +49 151 25 37 37 37

What has the Quadriga got to do with the term ‘tit for tat’?
Why was the Berlin saying ‘Du kriegst die Motten!’ (an expression of disbelief that talks of ‘catching moths’) particularly justified in Prenzlauer Berg at the start of the last century?
Why was King Frederick William IV of Prussia important for Cologne Cathedral?

I will gladly answer these questions and more for you and your friends, relatives, guests or business partners over the course of my guided tours – whether you were born here, have moved to the city (like me) or are simply visiting Berlin.

Look forward to exciting forays through the city’s history and architecture, plus a look at the latest developments in Berlin and Potsdam.

The themed tours have been designed as guided walks of around two hours and are available in German and English. Depending on time and budget, the topics can also be combined in any way you wish.

I would be delighted to welcome you as my guest on a tour in the near future.

Your personal host in Berlin, Jean-Pierre Andreae

I will accompany you on the guided tours you book, be they on foot, by road or by boat, and give you structured and comprehensive information on the respective theme. I will also use an iPad to show you numerous pictures and sometimes videos as well. In addition, you will benefit from my personal assessments and views gained in the course of my own Berlin experience, now stretching back over twenty years.

If you need any help, I am also very happy to assist you ahead of your visit with the planning of your Berlin trip. Making the right choice of accommodation, restaurants, events, etc. from a distance can often be difficult. And only a well-conceived itinerary (tour of the city by road, lunch, coffee break, etc.) will lead to a round, unforgettable Berlin experience.

About me : I grew up on a country estate by the Danube and could have been considered a typical provincial boy. After finishing secondary school in the town of Neuburg an der Donau, I went on to study in Munich, the capital of the state of Bavaria, becoming a state-certified translator and interpreter of business English. I would probably have remained in Munich if the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 hadn’t thoroughly shaken up my own life plans with it. In any case, I was so enthralled by the different and exciting prospects on offer in the new German capital that I moved to Berlin shortly after reunification to study for an additional degree in journalism. I was already well familiar with the city from previous visits. I therefore have first-hand experience both of the divided city and of the whole period of development since reunification – something I’m now very pleased to have experienced.

While I was working for the 2000 Olympic Games bid organisation, I very quickly got to know the city extremely well. My ongoing interest in Berlin’s history and the development of the city was also aroused at that time. Today, I work as a professional host and guide for the numerous new Berliners and Berlin visitors and it would be a pleasure to meet you.

HISTORICAL BERLIN - A walk through 775 years of the city’s history, from the Nikolaiviertel to the Brandenburg Gate.

The German art historian and publicist Karl Scheffler (1869-1951) made the following observation in his book ‘Berlin – ein Stadtschicksal’ (Berlin – A City Destiny) published in 1910 (freely translated): “Berlin doesn’t want love from its residents. While deep down the soul of the city is not national, it is also not sentimental. As if with a witty word of self-irony this toughly determined one-off city helps itself to get over the hidden tragedy of its existence (…) over the tragedy of a destiny, which makes Berlin (…) a city condemned forever to becoming and never being.”

Try over the course of this approximately three-hour guided tour from Alexanderplatz to the Brandenburg Gate to form your own impression. The route through the historic centre of the German capital leads us past the top ten places associated very closely with the city’s long history, which compared with that of other major cities has without doubt been especially full of change: Alexanderplatz, Nikolaiviertel, the Berlin City Palace construction site, Museum Island, Unter den Linden, Gendarmenmarkt, Wilhelmstrasse, Brandenburg Gate and more. The tour’s time line stretches from the first mention of the adjacent twin town of Cölln in the year 1237 to the present day.

Meeting point : World Time Clock on Alexanderplatz

To book your guided tour:
Please make your reservation by telephone (+49 30 21 11 555) or by e-mail andreae@premiumguideberlin.com

WORLD HERITAGE MUSEUM ISLAND and the future Humboldt Forum. From Schinkel via Chipperfield all the way to Stella. Development and evolution of a unique museum landscape.

Over the course of this approximately two-hour walk on Berlin’s Museum Island, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999, I will explain to you how you can trace the different socio-political developments from the architecture of the individual buildings and indeed also the attitude of the respective rulers. The walk, therefore, looks at architecture as a mirror of social realities and change. The tour begins with an explanation of the reconstruction and intended use of the Berlin City Palace as the future Humboldt-Forum. There then follow two short talks as an aside – on columns (development since ancient Greek / Roman times, including the function of classical order attributed to them) and on the creation of the museum genre (the purpose of such establishments up to the present day). This provides the background to the tour’s main areas of emphasis outlined above. The main focus of the guided tour is then a walk passing the individual buildings in the order in which they were built to illustrate the architecture as a mirror of social realities and developments.

Meeting point : Granite basin in front of the Altes Museum at the side of the Lustgarten

To book your guided tour:
Please make your reservation by telephone (+49 30 21 11 555) or by e-mail andreae@premiumguideberlin.com

PRENZLAUER BERG - From the prototype of living conditions unfit for humans via hip and trendy district to gentrified oasis of prosperity. The meteoric career of a legendary area.

Rising rents, the fact that even people on average salaries are being forced to move out of the city centre, the constantly growing need for affordable homes – these are hotly debated topics in Berlin politics and society. Prenzlauer Berg, on the one hand almost mythically romanticised as the epitome of a hip and trendy district, on the other the target of mockery and derision (e.g. about Swabian ‘Block Wardens’, who would ideally like to introduce obligatory cleaning of hallways and pavements here as well), is the prime example of a development that is known as ‘gentrification’. We go in search of evidence from Senefelder Platz to the ‘Kulturbrauerei’ listed events complex on a walk of around two and a half hours around Germany’s largest contiguous district of the late 19th century period known as the ‘Gründerzeit’.

Meeting point : Statue of Alois Senefelder on Senefelder Platz (U2 line)

To book your guided tour:
Please make your reservation by telephone (+49 30 21 11 555) or by e-mail andreae@premiumguideberlin.com

THE GRÜNDERZEIT (THE ‘FOUNDING ERA’), TAKE TWO - Berlin since the fall of the Wall in 1989. Discover the ‘New Berlin’ on a stroll from Potsdamer Platz to the main railway station, walking along the join between East and West.

HITLER, SPEER & GERMANIA - Kindred spirits with architectural delusions of grandeur. A walk themed on the legacies of the Third Reich around the old and new government districts. The guided tour can also be extended into a half-day excursion by adding a road trip, taking in the Olympic Stadium, the trade fair centre, Fehrbelliner Platz and former Tempelhof airport (vehicle must be provided or hired).

THE CENTRAL CORRIDORS OF POWER IN THE BERLIN REPUBLIC - from Wilhelmstrasse via the ‘Band des Bundes’ government strip to the Reichstag building. The government district from its beginnings in the middle of the 19th century to the era of German division and on to the present day. A potted history of around 150 years of Prussia and Germany – past and present.
With or without a visit to the Reichstag building (seat of the German Bundestag).
Please also refer to our separate information.


Combined guided tours in Berlin and Potsdam, city tours by road, group arrangements, travel planning: on request

Please make your reservation by telephone (+49 30 21 11 555) or by e-mail andreae@premiumguideberlin.com       Web: www.premiumguideberlin.com