After walking down Charlottenstrasse, past the Four Seasons and myriad chic restaurants, I looped back up towards the Friedrichstrasse S-Bahn on Friedrichstrasse. I was pleasantly surprised to find a bustling, upscale shopping street.
It was quite nice slowly making my way up the street on a Friday afternoon, as it was just getting dark and stores were beginning to light up. There are two H&M’s, multiple shoe stores, an Audi showroom complete with gasping Germans peering in from the sidewalk, a shopping mall, and lots of funky German clothing stores.
The Galleries Lafayette, while not as large as the behemoth in Paris, has an impressive modern version of that famous Parisian Art Nouveau glass dome--this one is a hyper-modern glass cone that extends up into the store; a mirror hangs opposite and extends down several levels--one can see diners at the Galleries Lafayette restaurant below, reflected in the glass.
Stores in Berlin are closed on Sunday, and they close early on Saturdays (by 5 or 6pm), so Friday seems to be the evening for window-shopping and strolling.