Chapters meeting 2009/Practical information

See wikitravel:Berlin for a detailed presentation and the detailed interactive map for Wikimedia Conferences 2009.

Accommodation

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Planned accommodation (hostel): Apartmenthaus am Potsdamer Platz [1]

Rooms contain 3 or 4 beds. People will be assigned by gender beforehand (switching will be possible).

Location
Schöneberger Schöneberger Ufer 75-77, close to Potsdamer Platz and the Zoo
  • Car park is available (5 € / day)
  • U-bahn (underground): "Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Platz", lines U2
  • bus station: "Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand", lines M29
  • Checkin from 2pm
  • Checkout until 11am
  • Breakfast 7:30 - 9:00 (included)
  • bring your own towels!

Venue

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Venue for the meeting: Deutsche Telekom Laboratories [2]

Location
Deutsche Telekom AG
Laboratories
Ernst-Reuter-Platz 7
D-10587 Berlin
  • U-bahn (underground): "Ernst-Reuter-Platz", line U2
  • See the map

Transportation

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Berlin has an excellent public transportation system (i.e. buses, trams, underground, rail) that runs day and night. Transportation between conference sites, as in between hostel, T-Labs, and c-base will all be by public transportation.

You will receive public transportation tickets at check-in for all three conference days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). Please don't buy single or multiple day tickets on your own for those days.

Arriving in Berlin

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by plane at Tegel airport

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If you arrive on Thursday, there will be volunteers at the airport welcoming you. They will give you a single ticket for the bus and directions for how to get to the hostel.

If you cannot find a volunteer or you arrive before or after Thursday, please use the instructions below:

Tegel airport (TXL) → hostel
Buy a single ticket "Berlin AB" (€ 2,10) when entering the bus
# board at line direction get off at travel time
1 Tegel Airport   109 S+U Zoologischer Garten U Uhlandstraße 25 min
2 U Uhlandstraße   M29 U Hermannplatz Gedenkstätte deutscher Widerstand 8 min

by plane at Schönefeld airport

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If you arrive on Thursday, there will be volunteers at the airport welcoming you. They will give you a single ticket for the bus and directions for how to get to the hostel.

If you cannot find a volunteer or you arrive before or after Thursday, please walk to the train station (a few hundred meters from the terminal), buy a ticket and take a train:

Schönefeld airport (SXF) → hostel
Buy a single ticket "Berlin ABC" (€ 2,80) at a ticket machine and stamp it using one of these devices
# board at line direction get off at travel time
1 Flughafen Schönefeld Terminal
Platform 3 or 4
  RE 7 or RB 24
leaves every hour at XX:25 and XX:55
Nauen or Dessau Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) 28 min
2 Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Central Station)   M85 S Lichterfelde Süd Potsdamer Brücke 16min
3 Potsdamer Brücke   M29 U Wittenbergplatz Gedenkstätte Dt. Widerstand 1 min

by train at Hauptbahnhof (Central Station)

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Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) → hostel
Buy a single ticket "Berlin AB" (€ 2,10) when entering the bus
# board at line direction get off at travel time
1 Hauptbahnhof bus station (street level)   M85 S Lichterfelde Süd Potsdamer Brücke 16 min
2 Potsdamer Brücke   M29 U Wittenbergplatz Gedenkstätte Dt. Widerstand 1 min

Getting around within Berlin

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to T-Labs

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hostel → T-Labs
# board at line direction get off at travel time
1 Gedenkstätte deutscher Widerstand   M29 U Hermannplatz U Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park (street level) 2 min
2 Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park (aboveground)   Ruhleben or Theodor-Heuss-Platz Ernst-Reuter-Platz (underground) 11 min
c-base → T-Labs
# board at line direction get off at travel time
1 walk to Jannowitzbrücke station
2 Jannowitzbrücke (aboveground)   5, 7, 75 or 9 Westkreuz, Potsdam, or Spandau Zoologischer Garten (aboveground) 15 min
3 Zoologischer Garten (underground)   Ruhleben or Theodor-Heuss-Platz Ernst-Reuter-Platz (underground) 2 min

to c-base

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hostel → c-base
# board at line direction get off at travel time
1 Gedenkstätte deutscher Widerstand   M29 U Hermannplatz U Moritzplatz (street level) 15 min
2 Moritzplatz (underground)   Wittenau Heinrich-Heine-Straße 1 min
T-Labs → c-base
# board at line direction get off at travel time
1 Ernst-Reuter-Platz (underground)   Pankow Zoologischer Garten (underground) 2 min
2 Zoologischer Garten
(aboveground, follow  -Signs)
  5, 7, 75 or 9
Strausberg, Ahrensfelde, Wartenberg, Flughafen Schönefeld Jannowitzbrücke 15 min
3 walk to c-base

to hostel

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T-Labs → hostel
# board at line direction get off at travel time
1 Ernst-Reuter-Platz (underground)   Pankow Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park (aboveground) 11 min
2 U Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park (street level)   M29 U Hermannplatz Gedenkstätte deutscher Widerstand 2 min
c-base → hostel
# start line direction get off at travel time
1 walk to Jannowitzbrücke station (underground)
2 Jannowitzbrücke (underground)   Hermannstraße Moritzplatz (underground) 1 min
3 U Moritzplatz (street level)   M29 U Hermannplatz Gedenkstätte deutscher Widerstand 15 min

Information for car-drivers: Environmental Zone in Berlin

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On 1st January 2008 the city of Berlin established an Environmental Zone. You need to have a special sticker (costs: 5-6€) to be able to drive in the inner-city (conference, accommodation, etc is here!), which marks your car to be classified in a certain exhaust emission standard. Please keep all documents providing any information on your car with you. Get a sticker before you enter the inner-circle.

  • Information and addresses needed to get a sticker de/ en/ fr/ it/ tr/ ru/ po

Other itineraries

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Weather

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Forecast looks like mixed spring weather, not too cold, mostly dry.

Money

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Bring cash, Germany is not credit-card-friendly at all.