- Duration
- 3 hours
- Location
- Berlin
Life in Divided Berlin
"The Wall in the Head"
FAQ
We will make arrangements for bike rentals for your group. Payment for the rental is due on-site and a damage security will be required. Please advise in the Notes section during booking if you will be supplying bikes personally. Also, please note that helmet rentals are limited at many European bike rental facilities; please advise if you would like us to make inquiries in advance about helmets.
Berlin is generally flat terrain, so biking in the city is not physically strenuous. Guests should be of average physical fitness and stamina for a leisurely few hours of urban bicycling.
In any weather, make sure to have good shoes (no flip-flops). In the spring and fall, wear a warm jacket and bring gloves. In the winter, we recommend dressing warmly, including warm shoes, gloves, and a hat.
The pace of the tour is relaxed and breaks for discussion, conversation, and rest are certainly available. The comfort and safety of our guests are of top importance.
The starting point of the two tours is the same, but, naturally, traveling by bike offers the chance to cover more ground within the 3-hour time frame.
Further excursions and tours are forthcoming; in the meantime, we would be happy to arrange custom bike itineraries on a private basis.

Heribert is a native Berliner whose family history can be traced as far back as the founding of the city. An expert in urban history, for more than twenty years he has been guiding interested crowds through the German capital and the surrounding Mark Brandenburg, letting the stone witnesses of passing time tell their stories while he enthusiastically revives old lifestyles and tastes. He studied sociology, history, and cultural anthropology at the Freie Universität Berlin. His professional experience is varied and far-ranging, including working as a freelance trainer for communication and intercultural education since 1982, and guiding tours since 1986. In the West Berlin borough of Wannsee he runs with his wife two fine cafés (including at the Max Liebermann Villa Museum) and a gourmet delicatessen, and he is well-versed in fine cuisine. With an anecdote for just about every historical detail, Heribert is the consummate companion for any and all learning adventures in this city.

Raised in New York City, Jan graduated from Williams College in 1985 with honors in the history of ideas and later went to the Harvard University Graduate School of Design to receive his MA in architecture in 1990. He has worked as an architect in Berlin since 1994. He has been a regular contributor to a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, the Harvard Design Magazine, the International Herald Tribune, Places Magazine, and the Architectural Record, writing chiefly about European architecture and urbanism. He teaches urban studies and sustainability at the IES Berlin Metropolitan Studies Program, and has served as an invited guest critic or lecturer at the Technische Universität in Berlin, the University of Warsaw Architecture School, and the Architectural Association in London. Jan is the Academic Director of the Northeastern University School of Architecture Berlin Program, where he also teaches two required seminars.

Robert grew up in East Berlin during the 1980s and went on to study at the University of Florence, Italy. He received his PhD in cultural studies from Humboldt University of Berlin where his dissertation focused on sexual violence in the Nazi concentration camps. He recently worked as a researcher for the BBC and as a historian for the Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück concentration camp memorials. His interests range from the history of art and architecture to modern European history and WWII. Robert worked for Hampshire College and has given guest lectures at both Boston University and Brown University. He has been working as a tour guide for more than ten years.
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