A Lesser Known Berlin Gem

One thing about staying in a city for more than a few days is the luxury of being able to visit some less touristy areas.  After our nearly 5 hour walking tour Saturday where we saw many of Berlin's famous sights (or is that sites?), Sunday we eschewed places like Potsdamerplatz, the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag and, instead, wandered in another direction. This decision was also driven somewhat by the bitterly cold wind and a desire to avoid the inevitable Sunday crowds.  So, we spent our day visiting a few open shops along a main street where Nawal did her best to drive up the Germany economy, walking to the base of the Fernsehturm (TV tower and a sort of Communist Space Needle) to get information about a visit there, walking by the city hall (which at least for Berlin's Communist period, is fittingly red-coloured) and ending up in a neighbourhood called Nikolaiviertel (Nicholas' Quarter). Aside from the inevitable construction projects which seem to be all over Berlin, this part of the city is quaint, charming and less crowded. It is situated around the Nicolas Church and some of the buildings date from the 1400s.  Poststrasse is a cobble-stoned pedestrian street with lovely shops and old traditional German restaurants. We ate at Gerichtslaube and both of our meals were delicious but could have fed a family rather than one person!  In addition to the restaurants tucked into little squares, there are others right on the River Spree. We went back to one, Le Provençal, on Monday evening to celebrate Nawal's birthday. The food was amazing and we cannot recommend it enough. The rack of lamb with green beans and Potatoes Dauphin was one of the best dinners ever - although that might be because I prefer French food to German.   Anyway, if you want to go to a quieter, charming and very old part of Berlin, this is the place to head.