Archives for “Berlin” tag

One of my best friends moved to Amsterdam for a while after living in Berlin for years, and whenever he came back for a visit he had a whole itinerary planned for us for the weekend. He was determined to do his favorite ‘Berlin things’ throughout the few days he would be here. One of them was watching the sunset at Nola’s.

Nola’s restaurant is no big secret around Berlin. It’s a lovely place to watch the sunset while you sip on a cold drink sitting on one of the sun chairs outside during the summer or nursing a hot cup of chocolate with a blanket wrapped around you during the colder months.

Nola’s has a wonderful terrace with a fantastic view of the Volkspark am Weinberg, and an inside area with an elegant 1960′s sort of decoration that gives you the feeling of being….in a classic movie set. The Swiss cross is always present along with ‘Rivella’ ads, but this is all very subtle.

On Sundays, they offer a fabulous brunch with an absolutely delicious variety of Swiss cheese, eggs, sausages, salmon, homemade marmalade……you get the idea. And for those winter cravings…Fondue and a variety of Swiss dishes.

The atmosphere is always relaxed and more of a family environment depending on the time of day. But the sunsets…..

In a big city, it’s always nice to enjoy the nightlife, restaurants, shops, art exhibits, and all the exciting things that are in offer. But sometimes, we are so consumed with the business of daily life that we forget how important it is to be able to pamper yourself every once in while. Despite its relaxed attitude Berlin, like any other big city, can manage to wear you out.

That’s why it was delightful to receive a voucher for a day at a Hamam right in the middle of Kreuzberg as a present. I’d known of their existence around this area but never ventured out to look for them. So when the opportunity presented itself, I relished in it. My visit consisted of me and my friend relaxing in a warm room with comfortable cushions and magazines, then relaxing some more in the bathing area every once in a while pouring warm water on ourselves while chatting and then dividing the rest of our time between the sauna and the cold water showers. You can also get traditional Turkish ‘Kese’ (Turkish handglove) peeling and ‘Sabunlama’ massages.

I find it lovely to live in an area with such cultural diversity like Kreuzberg. And I think the Hamam at Marianenstrasse, though a bit ‘Europeanized’, has managed to maintain an authentic and heavenly environment in which women of all different cultures come to enjoy such an old and absolutely delightful tradition.

During GDR times, for East Berliners with a rare and sought-after ‘Ausreisebescheinigung’, an exit permit, there were only a handful of border crossings they could use. Bornholmer Strasse for example, or Checkpoint Charlie – but the most used border crossings was right in the middle of Mitte, at Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse. Here, West Berliners could also enter the GDR, but the the only way to leave for GDR citizens was through the so-called ‘Tränenpalast’, the palace of tears, a building on the square north of the station erected in 1962.

The expression derives from the tearful goodbyes that took place in front of the building, where family members with travel permit had to say farewell to their relatives that had to stay in the GDR. After the fall of the wall, the blue glass pavilion became a cultural center for concerts and readings, and was turned into a museum in 2006, enabling visitors to relive the experience of officially crossing from the GDR to West Berlin.

I’m glad that these days you don’t have to walk through the labyrinthine maze of tunnels and walkways designed to keep West and East from meeting each other, but enter and exit through the same door. And if you feel truly capitalistic after exiting the GDR, you can continue shopping right across the street…

The futuristic appearing building of the Bauhaus-Archiv is a real landmark in the urban landscape of Berlin. Combining two houses and a bridge on which you can walk “over” the house makes the museum a special playground of architecture. Planned by the Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius in 1964 and built up in 1976-79 in a modified version the white building is a hidden eye-catcher on the bank of the Landwehrkanal.

The Archive/Museum attends to research and retrospection of Bauhaus architecture, art and design in the 20th century. It is the worldwide biggest collection of originals of the classical modernity. In a permanent exhibition which will be showed in December again, you can only see a part of the collection but the most interesting Bauhaus examples of architecture, furniture, ceramics, metal, photographs as well as artworks of the famous Bauhaus teachers Gropius, Itten, Klee, Feininger, Kandinsky, Albers, Schlemmer, Moholy-Nagy and van der Rohe.

Here you can find information in English about the permanent and the special exhibitions.

For a deposit of €10.00 you can rent an audio guide that explains the samples in your language. On wednesday, thursday and friday the entrance fee is one euro cheaper.

The window is covered up by paper and the entrance hidden. It looks like a shop under construction but every minute people go in and out. This is Dr. Pong: Prenzlauer Berg’s Ping Pong-Bar.

When you enter you get the feeling that this is not an official bar but a member’s only club. The Spartan interior includes little more than a ping-pong table and some chairs. The walls are empty, but the club is crowded. Upon further exploration, you will find a bar, a small lounge and a DJ stand. No luxuries here, just a comfortable, cozy grotto that offers a remarkable alternative to all the normal bars where you just sit, stand or talk.

In the bar’s main room, people with table-tennis paddles run in circular fashion around the ping pong table. Most of the people are not professional players and some have never played before, so don’t worry if you don’t hit the ball (and as a good excuse, you can always say that beer makes you lose your body control). Anyway, there is always a new round, which gives you the chance to show your hidden talent.

One of the bar’s owner’s interests is, according to the bar’s manifesto, “losing the definition between game/sport and partying”. A “healthy addiction” to beer and ping pong makes you definitely want to come back to this inconspicuous place.

By the way, you don’t need to bring your own ping pong paddle; you can borrow one at the bar for a deposit of 5 euro.