After a lengthy period of never-ending bad luck, my determination and perseverance appear to gradually be paying off. From being employed by a company that refuse to pay half of it's employees, to finding a new job and being incorrectly taxed 20% for a number of months, my personal finances have been frayed and minimal, I've been kept aloof only by my amazing boyfriend/partner-in-crime,
Now, having organised my tax issues, severed all ties with my former employer after a series of angry emails, found a job with a decent wage, and successfully kicked ass (and got the job) at a trial shift at Yo! Sushi, I have a nice healthy wedge of tax refunds waiting for me in my next pay check. And I'm planning on spending the money wisely.
I want to spend my hard-earned money on a 3-day getaway for me and Luke. 3 days might not be a long time, but it's long enough to give us a welcome break from the stresses of everyday life; it's a million miles away from bills, deadlines, and work, and will hopefully be that breath of fresh air we need to refresh ourselves. I'm not sure where we'll go, but I've always found Berlin to be a place that inspires me, and that fills me with a sense of excitement even when the day is simply spent with some beer and a BBQ in one of the many parks, so it is definitely top of my list. And, to celebrate (and to selfishly build up my own excitement for a greatly-deserved escape), I've decided to dedicate today's blog to what I believe are some of the must-see locations in Berlin. I've only been to Berlin twice, but these were easily my favourite places while I was there and I highly recommend them to anyone reading this.
Mitte is my favourite borough of Berlin. It's positioned in the middle ("mitte") of Berlin, running along the Spree river, and its central square is Alexanderplatz. It encompasses one of my most-visited areas, the streets around - and attached to - Oranienburger Strasse, and I have stayed in the same hotel both times I've stayed in Berlin, the Transit Loft hotel, which is located around 20 minutes away from Alexanderplatz or 5 minutes on the tram.
The TV tower, based in Alexanderplatz, was always our point of reference in Berlin. With our hotel mere minutes away from the square, we would keep our eye out for the tower every time we got lost, knowing that we would be able to find our way back home from it. We never, surprisingly, actually went up to the top of it, but it did become a game to see how far away we could get from it with it still being visible (the furthest was Treptower, where it looked about the size of a pin). As well as the TV tower, Alexanderplatz is home to a large, central train station and a huge shopping centre. Aside from using it as our source of transportation, however, Alexanderplatz didn't do much for us. There are street performers, some nice cafes, and it's a beautiful place to stop and breathe in the sunshine - but you're much better off getting out of Alexanderplatz and seeing the full Berlin.
Oranienburger Str. 43a
I, personally, am not a fan of chips. I prefer things with a little less potato, and a little more tomato. However, I have been dragged to this chip stand by tutors and friends alike, every time I've walked down Oranienburger Str, and it's mentioned in not only the Lonely Planet guidebook but also in the Lomography city guide book, online, and by practically everyone I've gone to Berlin with. Apparently they are the best chips in the city. I can't tell you whether or not that is true, but what I can tell you is that there are fresh batches of chips being made constantly, right before your eyes, and that the beer in the fridge to the right is always ice-cold.
Pasta Deli
Oranienburger Str. 50
Pasta Deli is the perfect place to go for a serious amount of pasta on the go. I don't know if Pasta Deli is a chain of takeaways, or whether there are any in England, or whether there are even any in the rest of Germany - but I love it. While my best friend Becca always drags me to Tom's Fritten, I on the other hand pull her down the street a little bit to Pasta Deli. So quick, so fresh, and so tasty.
C|O Museum
Oranienburger Straße 35/36
The C|O Gallery is possibly one of my favourite places in Berlin. Some of the best exhibitions I have ever seen have been displayed here, from a large-scale Gregory Crewdson exhibition where the photographs scaled the height of the walls in the high-ceiling hall, to the SHOOT! exhibition where a full-sized old-style fairground shooting range was set up alongside the collection of Victorian photographs depicting the same thing. Their exhibitions are ever-changing and the gallery includes a small area for up-and-coming photographers, who have either submitted their work for exhibition or won a spot, and a tiny bookshop that stocks books from all artists who have exhibited with them. The wonderfully open space allows for random projections or films to be placed in small side-rooms or staircases, and there are always two to three different exhibitions happening at any one time. I honestly think it is the best gallery I have ever visited.
Tachelles
Oranienburger Straße 54-56A
Formerly an artists’ squat, Kunsthaus Tachelles is currently used as an exhibition space, tattoo parlour and art store. When I visited it for the first time, in March of 2011, there had been the added charm of an internally-run cafe, cinema, and sand garden filled with metal sculptures. However on the more recent visit, in August 2011, we were appalled to discover it had been half-bought out, thus eliminating half of the building in a sell-out scandal that had, consequently, clad the interior of the building with “I SUPPORT TACHELLES” stickers. Protests had taken place the week before, to save the integrity of the building and prevent it from being taken over or commercialised (
the most recent news about Tacheles can be found here, in a Guardian article describing a lock-in protest that took place in March 2012). Nevertheless, it is an extraordinarily interesting structure with a strong history. It's in every travel guide, and is therefore used to having tourists piling through the small corridors during the summer, but it still manages to retain its sense of rebellion and art.
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Outside of Oranienburger Strasse:
Rosenburger
Brunnenstrasse 196
As soon as my father saw the photo I uploaded of the burrito I bought at Rosenburger on Facebook, he wrote: "I don't believe you ate that; you must have been wasted". We headed to Rosenburger at the end of the day, after we'd done all the touristy things, gone home and gotten changed, but before we went out for the night. My sister, who had been staying in Berlin for a good month beforehand, recommended it to us. And I must say I was not disappointed. The restaurant itself may be tiny and cramped, but there is plenty of room outside and the food more than makes up for it. For super-low prices there were huge burgers and burritos available, as well as some of the cheapest beer in the city. It's also pretty central to the bars and clubs in Mitte, so is quite a good place to eat if you're planning on having a night out.
White Trash Fast Food
Schonhauser Allee 5-7
I don't have any photos of White Trash Fast Food because we never got to go. We never got to go because we didn't make a reservation and the wait for a table was over an hour. If you want to eat here, make a reservation. It's one of the most popular restaurants in town, due to it being a bar/restaurant/club/tattoo studio, and prides itself on being a rockabilly, alternative place to eat. Reservations are easy enough to make online or over the phone.
Bauhaus Archive
Klingelhöferstraße 14
The Bauhaus Archive is a museum of collected items related to the School of Bauhaus, and a succinct guide through the history of the school. The reasonably-priced audio guides on offer are a must-have, providing the listener with a comprehensive summary of all of the pieces on display, from the basic formula used to create the art, to the beautifully crafted designs of Bauhaus buildings, to physical examples of the revolutionary furniture. A gift shop filled with innovative Bauhaus-themed items can be visited on the way out, and the small cafe that sits beside it makes for the perfect ending to the tour.
Holocaust Memorial
Cora-Berliner-Straße 1
The Holocaust Memorial is a 19,000 square metre plaza covered in 2,711 concrete slabs of varying heights, beneath which lies an underground information centre containing the names of all known Holocaust victims. The effect of looking at the slabs, from any angle, is a dizzying and overwhelming experience, and it is easy to get lost amidst the monotonous, never-ending concrete. Nearby sits the Homosexual Memorial, an equally interesting but much smaller-scale structure.
Lomography Store
Friedrichstraße 133
The main reason I've included the Lomography Store is due to the amazingly helpful Berlin City Guide that we picked up from here. The City Guide is split into sections that make it easy to read through, as well as a handy set of maps at the back that ensure you never get lost. A couple of glances at the ‘Urban Adventures’ section had me making plans for the rest of the time we were in Berlin, my eyes wandering over images of derelict theme parks, art towers, and flea markets filled with bric-a-brac. It is perfect for someone aiming for a more urban experience and includes recommendations for food, clubs, bars, parks, shops and more. It never left my bag once.
PRENZLAUERBERG
Mauerpark flea market
Bernauer StrasseOpen Sundays, the Mauerpark Flea Market is one of the biggest in Berlin. Located in a deserted park, it stretches for nearly a kilometre and offers everything from furniture to photographs for its largely-alternative crowd. There are stalls selling antiques alongside stalls selling traditionally-made food. There are rows upon rows of junk, and then there are stalls of retro clothing and hand-made jewellery. Old photos, postcards and memorabilia are available for prices that are close to non-existence. Elsewhere, the amphitheatre of the park has been used for the past 3 years as a stage for a weekly karaoke gig, entitled
Bearpit Karaoke.
FRIEDRICHSHAIN
Cassiopeia
Revaler Straße 99
As part night club, part skate park, part climbing wall, and part outdoor cinema, Cassiopeia is a place that, on first appearances, looks like nothing more than a run-down, industrial building. Inside the courtyard however, everything changes. The two-storied warehouse holds two levels of dance floors/bars which, though small, attract alternative visitors all year round. The first time I visited, the music was cheesy 90s, and the upstairs dance floor was home to only a couple of other tourists; the second time, it was gypsy punk and dub. It's a great place to meet people and socialise, due to the welcoming sofa-chairs and football table, and we were soon in conversation with the other tourists, a group of people who were travelling to different cities within Germany. The beer garden is a great place to chill out, with an outdoor cinema projecting films for its drunk audience some nights, and an outdoor bar so you don't have to drag yourself all the way back inside.
Volkspark Friedrichshain
Included simply for the atmosphere in summer. When evening hits, head here with a BBQ and join the hundreds of other people in relaxing in the grass with a cold beer, some good food, and awesome conversation.
KREUZBERG
Santa Maria Mexican Diner
Oranienstrasse 170
For ages, I have been wracking my brain trying to think of what we did at Santa Maria; I knew that I'd been there, because the postcard has been stuck on my bedroom wall ever since we got back, but up until about 5 minutes ago I was half-convinced that it was where we went to get our giant stein of Pina Colada, despite knowing that that was a totally different place called Bar 7 or something along those lines. No, at Santa Maria we ate a very delicious Mexican meal. It was my first taste of Mexican ever (I believe I had quesadillas) - and now, after years of not eating it with the fear of it being too spicy, I am a convert. There are a lot of Mexican diners in Berlin, but this one had a great atmosphere and some awesome deals, such as the 1 Euro Taco Tuesday. We sat outside on a rickety bench and ate until we were stuffed.
Kvartira 62
Lübbener Straße 18
Kvartira 62 is a Soviet-themed bar in Kreuzberg that serves 5 Euro White Russians and Polish beer. Being intoxicated as I was from the park BBQ we’d been enjoying all evening, my memories of Kvartira 62 are hazy—but what I do remember is a small room filled with glowing crimson light, and a bar that was too tall for me at a mere 5”2’. Filled with Russian emblems and memorabilia, the room was definitely not full enough to warrant dancing, but the music was at the right volume to allow us to continue the in-depth conversation we'd begun in the park. I don’t recall being there for longer than an hour, but it was set in an area that was easy to navigate in my inebriated state, with me and my friend Becca managing to wander around in a complete circle when we left before locating my sister and her friends once again at the nearest U-Bahn station.
Tempelhof
Described as attracting everyone from “large families enjoying a BBQ” to “amateur triathletes”, the airport was, when we visited it, packed with hundreds of people spread out over the huge runways and play areas. The summer sun was high in the sky when we arrived, with no clouds in sight nor breeze to soothe our skin: we soon realised that, being a large area of total flatness, the airport had no source of shade or protection from the sun. Despite this, we trekked through the long grass and strolled down the runways, pausing every so often to snap photos of the numerous people with kites and the hundreds of cyclists. The large X’s dotted upon each runway proved to be extremely photogenic, the white dashes contrasting sharply against the darkness of the asphalt as they led the viewer’s eye down the landing strip. After walking the circumference of the airport we left, and made our way toward our next destination—getting completely lost in a nearby park along the way, of course.
POTSDAMER PLATZ
Martin-Gropius-Bau museum
Niederkirchnerstraße 7The Martin-Gropius-Bau museum is located near to the Topography of Terror, and runs adjacently to what was, until 1990, a stretch of the Berlin Wall. Including a mixture of contemporary art exhibitions, retrospectives, and cultural events, the museum is held within a beautiful Renaissance building and houses several different exhibition routes, a bookshop, and a cafe. As you can see below on my entry ticket, the main lobby has a beautiful glass dome in the ceiling that coats the room in light. When I went to Berlin in August we visited the Andre Kertesz retrospective, an exhibition that has entirely altered my preferences and personal style in photography. It is a beautiful building that hosts beautiful exhibitions, and is only a small walk away from Checkpoint Charlie.
TREPTOW
Treptower park/ Spreepark Planterwald
Treptower park is located along the river Spree, in the district of Treptow, only a short walk from the train station. The river route is dotted with delicious-looking food stalls, and we stopped for crepes along the way; made fresh right before our eyes, the stall was located opposite a small patch of grass beside the river, and we sat there in the ever-bright sunlight beside a couple taking a siesta in the heat. Treptower Park was packed solidly full of people enjoying the warmth. To get to Spreepark Planterwald, an abandoned GDR-era theme park that is off-limits to the public, you simply follow the river until you reach a wooded area. The walk along the river is extremely long, however, with multiple bike rental vendors displaying their prices along the route. If I was to ever take the same course again I would undoubtedly rent a bike just for the afternoon, the path being over a mile long in each direction.
Our Spreepark Planterwald experience
When we visited, we were aiming for the theme park with no prior knowledge of how to actually get inside. When we reached the wooded area, we followed the fence for twenty minutes at least, subtly following a trio of Asian tourists with cameras who had attempted to vault over the fence at a small dip but failed. We followed the fence for twenty minutes at least, subtly following a trio of Asian tourists with cameras who had attempted to vault over the fence at a small dip but failed. It seemed as though there was no way to get in: we weren’t even sure if it was the theme park we were looking for, or if it was just an area that was genuinely private and fenced off. A little while along, however, we noticed small ornaments hiding within the undergrowth, and a small metal cart overgrown with ivy only a few metres away. We were definitely at the right place—there was just no way of getting in, and the light was fading fast. We doubled back on ourselves, choosing instead to follow the fence around into the woodland at the very beginning of the trail. Here, the fence was made of wooden panels instead of metal. And, a few moments later, we spotted a couple casually strolling past. “Entschuldigung,” I called out. The couple turned around. “How did you get in?” I asked, attempting to emphasise my point by gesturing from them to the fence in case they didn’t speak English. “Ah,” the dude said. “Follow us.”
We watched their heads bobbing above the spiked wooden slats, eventually losing them. I succumbed to a slight panic until we watched the slat before us tilt to the side, and saw their faces peer through. “There’s a guard,” they said, “with a dog. He spotted us, that’s why we were on our way out. Good luck.”
Walking in, we found ourselves on the tracks of the old train that once transported the customers around the park. Cloaked by the undergrowth, in one direction it led straight into the woods, in the other toward what looked like an old wooden train station. To begin with, we headed into the woods, freaking out as soon as we heard the slightest crack of a twig and zooming back to our entrance. Our second attempt led us in the same direction, with the same result: a slight increase on distance, but no let-up on the level of nerves we had about being caught. Third time lucky, we headed in the opposite direction and found ourselves exploring an abandoned ‘saloon bar’ and circus-like tent. What we also spotted in this direction, however, were caravans and obvious signs of life—bottles, kegs, and cans of beer were sat beside the train track waiting to be claimed. Spooked once more, we exited, and decided to continue trailing the exterior of the barrier to see if there were any other hidden entrances. Further up, where the old train had been parked amidst a crescent of shops and food stalls, was a gap in the fence: we slipped through, and snapped some more shots, me shooting film and Becca shooting digital. Mere minutes had passed when suddenly we heard the rumbling of music. A silver car rounded the corner, heading right towards us. Exchanging glances, we both realised at the same moment that we had been discovered in some way or another, whether it was by the guard or by someone else, and, breathless, we darted out of the park and through the forest.
There is, no doubt, far more to the theme park, and I’m determined that, when I return to Berlin next, we’ll reattempt our photographic adventure: the couple that had been in there before us had managed to follow the train track in its entirety through the park. For that moment, though, we were done, and we began our mile-long trek back to the train station.
OTHER AWESOME PLACES
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