Eight nights in Berlin in November!

Verify that your Capital One card will still allow no-fee access to ATMs. I recently received a notification that mine soon will not. I do not have the "360" account, which may still be OK. I need to call to verify, but I think I can switch accounts and continue to avoid fees. I tried to get information about this change at the Capital One storefront here in DC yesterday, but the folks there were totally clueless. It would be safer to call; you may need to push to be sure you're talking to someone with accurate information. If he/she doesn't know some Capital One accounts will soon be charging ATM fees, you haven't yet found a reliable source.

Berlin has lots of excellent (large, time-consuming) museums as well as lots of excellent (interesting, time-consuming) historical sites, especially those related to WW II and the Cold War. The city is large and spread out. Even with judicious use of public transportation, you'll spend a good bit of time traveling back and forth. Prioritize your sites to be sure you get to see the ones that are most important to you.

I'm currently looking for inspiration for a single city winter season trip (dates tbd) next year and I really like the look of what your planning. Seems active enough but relaxed and flexible. I haven't been to Berlin yet so I can't give you any advice. I hope you post a report on how your trip went!

acraven -- thanks for the warning! I called Capitol One and they assured me that my account has been "grandfathered" and would not be "migrated." In case this changes in the future, I would receive a letter with a 45-day warning. So I think I'm okay, but I certainly appreciate the heads-up.

wanderbug -- yes, relaxed and flexible is what we're hoping for! I started out considering multi-city trips, and realized that taking time to get comfortable in one city would be much more our speed. And rather than checking a million sights off a checklist, I'd much rather have a limited list of priorities and see what else fits around them.

Little background for the grocery fan.

Supermarket chains: In Berlin we had the local high-end grocery chain Reichelt which was taken over by Edeka but still today the old Reichelt markets have their own private owners with special sortiment. So it is worth to visit more than one. Rewe and Edeka took over old chain Kaiser's - personally I hate the new self-service cashiers from Rewe, absolute no-go.

Discounters:: the price advantages of Lidl and Aldi are no longer existing. But they have some hidden own brands, e.g. the Moser-Roth Premium Chocolate from Aldi is really good.

Bio (organic) groceries: New chains are Denn's and Bio Company, they were coming up in this decade but the regular supermarkets expanded their bio sortiment.

Saturday week markets: The most beloved "supermarkets" in Berlin are the Saturday week markets. I like mine at Boxhagener Platz. You can start with a wonderful breakfast at KuchenRausch (if you like sweet coffee try a Cortado) and after that just walk over to the market. You will find little stands with special food you will find in no market. Also some nice stores in the side streets of the market.

Specialised deli shops: A bakery is not a bakery - especially not in Germany. Kamps (high-class franchise chain) with a shop 50 metres near your hotel has started selling seasona Walnut Bread (Wallnuss-Brot). Amazing tasty. Buy salted butter from deli-chain Butter Lindner (3 blocks away) and Haselnuss-Roséwein-Schinken (a very delicious cooked ham). These three things combined are close to my personal breakfast heaven. Also worth a visit for foodies is deli Rogacki in western center.

Cakes and Christmas sweets: The ultimate Baumkuchen you will get at Konditorei Buchwald - one of the oldest addresses of Berlin near station S Bellevue (direct connection from Hackescher Markt). Also in town you will find different shops of Leysieffer which has a huge variety of Lebkuchen, Christmas cookies etc.. A must-bring is Niederegger Marzipan (originally in Lübeck).

Have a good and delicious time.

German history museum was pretty amazing for me. Also enjoyed the area around where we stayed near krumme lanke u bahn station in Zehlendorf, just in terms of nice villas in a green setting. Beautiful place for a neighborhood walk.

I agree the German History Museum is amazing and well-organized. Also, the Jewish Museum is also excellent. I enjoyed both - you already have a long list of sights for 8 days. You may not see everything which means you will have to return.

I’m returning to Berlin next year albeit not for as long as I would like. A little time is better than none!
Enjoy!

Plenty of ideas on this thread, including my thoughts on things to do:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/what-not-to-miss-in-berlin

I did a quick search on the Bundestag (one of my suggestions) and there are plenty of tours available in mid-November (but that won't last long, act quickly if this is of interest).

So much good information, thank you all! I will definitely study the "What Not to Miss in Berlin" thread. My husband always tells me I have way too many things do see on my list, but I don't expect to do everything -- just to have suggestions that might work out depending on what neighborhood we find ourselves in.

MarkK -- KuchenRausche and Butter Lindner both look amazing! I think I gained weight just looking at their websites!

So some Rewes and Edekas now have self-service check-out? That sounds like an improvement over what I've read in Americans' descriptions of German grocery stores (essentially that everyone is in a hurry and impatient if you take too long). Why don't you like them?

Is the Boxhanger weekly market only on Saturday, or also Sunday?

There are 2 major Stasi-related museums in Berlin. The first is the Stasi Museum located in the old Stasi Headquarters. The second is the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial located in the former Stasi remand prison. I found the latter more interesting than the former (though RS dedicates much more copy in his guide book to the former). It should be noted, though, that I had previously been to the Stasi Museum in Leipzig, so I didn't get a lot of new information out of the Berlin Stasi Museum.

The Stasi Museum takes you through the history of the Stasi and tells the story of its leaders/members and their surveillance tactics (with some reference to the experience of its victims). I took the English tour and found it worthwhile. The most interesting thing to me in the Stasi Museum was a painting in the conference room by (East) German artist Wolfgang Frankenstein that showed German troops building/guarding the Berlin Wall while some played with children. The same artist has a 20-panel display in the nearby Magdalenenstraße U station consisting of 20 abstract paintings showing major historical events relevant to the DDR (East Germany). I really like that display because it gives insight into the DDR's perception of history (and the historical events it wanted to highlight in art intended for mass consumption by its people).

The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial is more focused on the victims of the Stasi. It provides an opportunity to see Stasi prison cells and interrogation rooms (including the interrogation rooms shown in The Lives of Others). The English tour there was also quite worthwhile. It's deeper into old East Berlin and is reached by bus followed by a short walk from the bus stop. This museum pairs nicely with a visit to the Deutsch-Russisches Museum Berlin-Karlshorst, which was the site in Berlin where German generals signed the unconditional surrender at the end of WWII (the room is still set up as it was for the signing). You already know the US/UK/France victor version of the history of WWII; this museum gives the Soviet/Russian victor version of the history of WWII. Almost no US Americans visit the museum -- the front desk guy was quite delighted when I identified myself as a US American in response to his question of where I live. If you go, get the audio guide.

So some Rewes and Edekas now have self-service check-out? That sounds
like an improvement over what I've read in Americans' descriptions of
German grocery stores (essentially that everyone is in a hurry and
impatient if you take too long). Why don't you like them?

The concept of the Rewe self-service cashiers is bringing a human being back into 1850s in which a human was becoming part of a machine. There is a certain procedure you have to follow, e.g. placing your bag or scanning everything single (even if I have 10 items), putting something onto the right place after scanning that the weight can be counted, ... it is somehow "digital slavery". Works well if I have two items out of my hand.

I worked as a product design director for a DAX company, won a few design awards with excllent teams but such a machine would never come out. A much better way I practice at Metro which is a huge B2B grocery. I place all products in shopping cart with barcode up. Therefore the cashier needs less than 10 seconds to beep everything by handscanner. Just do that by an autmated cam system above the carts and you will have it.

Is the Boxhanger weekly market only on Saturday, or also Sunday?

Food market on Boxhagener is every Saturday, flea market every Sunday. We have several week(ly) markets in Berlin.

Is Metro another Berlin grocery chain? What is a B2B grocery?

We found the displays in the below-ground museum at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe to be excellent -- powerful and disturbing, but excellent
Highly recommend.

Metro and Hambacher are huge national wholesale "groceries" with branches all over Germany, in northern Germany also Citti for example. To get in you need to be a registered business customer. This is where business owners (restaurants, cafés and offices) are buying their stuff in huge amounts. They have departments with living fishes in it and another one with meat humidors real big pieces. The alcohol selection is huge - especially in my are Friedrichshain / Kreuzberg. The diary department is completely cooled down, not only the cupboards. In summer they offer jackets for customers to avoid freezing. Inside these are very funcional / plain, not much decorated.