JBK and I spent two wonderful weeks in Berlin at the end of August and were lucky to have great weather, uber-gracious hosts, a great place to stay, and enough time to feel like we were really learning our way around the city. I’m just now catching up with my notes from the trip and wanted to share some places we visited and enjoyed. I’ve posted some more pictures online here, and will put up other bits of video and more photos as I have some spare time.

Food/drink/bars:
Prater Garten bier garden: Great outdoor beer garden in Prenzlauer Berg with both indoor and outdoor seating. Perfect place for classic and reasonably priced German food.
Cafe Ostfee: Cute cafe with lots of outdoor seating in Prenzlauer Berg. Big German breakfast with lots of fresh bread, jam, and coldcuts. This is where we first encountered the “wespen” — the wasps that have plagued Berlin this year and show up to hover around your jam every time you have a meal!
Pappa e Ciccia: Great Italian spot that was down the street from where we were staying. There’s an organic ice cream spot next door, but not as worth your while as actually eating the pastas available here. I had a great ravioli with fig and ricotta filling in a sage butter sauce. In the mornings, there are delicious “toasties,” breakfast sandwiches, and fresh bread, butter, and jam, which you can slice and fill up your own baskets with.
Privatclub: This is a downstairs club with nightly djs and parties. Our friends were headed here to go to a Balkan Electro night, so we joined and had a great time. It’s a very intimate (read: sweaty!) place once the dancing gets going, but also a very comfortable size.
Bonanza Coffee: Recommended to me by Bryan Boyer, this is a super hip coffee joint on Oderberger Strasse right next to a great used vintage bike store. Not much food, but Class A coffee and good people-watching.
Kuchenkaiser: Classic German food in an old world garden setting. Popular spot in Kreuzberg for families/all ages. Huge portions of food.
Ankerklause: “Anchor Bar” that is right on the canal that runs through Kreuzberg. There is a covered outdoor area that hangs over the river and the interior is decorated with lots of anchor/sailor themed kitsch. Popular hang-out spot for drinks and young people.
Alpenstuck: An Alpine restaurant with a super super sleek interior, also recommended to me by Bryan Boyer. This was the trips very best (meaning we had multiple) wienerschnitzel and spaetzel. A wee bit pricey compared to an regular-night-out dinner. Located on a quiet street in Mitte.
The T Room: Amazing cafe run by a couple from Holland. Exposed brick interior with gorgeous natural light, beautiful furniture, and homemade tea and scones with clotted cream served on mismatched vintage dishware all day long… great music playing from the record player with stacks of records you can put on if you feel like, and piles and piles of amazing art magazines for you to read everywhere! Many were Dutch photo magazines, but there were selections, both old and new of publications from all over the world.
Cafe am Neuen See: If you go to Teufelsberg (see below), then on your way back you’ll ride through Tiergarten. In the middle of this big park, there’s a great cafe that feels a lot like the Boathouse Cafe on W.72nd Street. There’s a cafeteria with yummy pretzels, salads, pizza, all kinds of drinks, and it’s a lovely place to hang out.
El Burai: Berlin has a huge Turkish population so the city has a ton of donner kebab spots, but our favorite was a tiny place on Torstrasse called El Burai. The owner fried falafel to order and the tahini sauce and fillings were extra flavorful.
Rodeo Bar: Upscale restaurant/club that’s in Mitte in an old domed bank building. The interior is grandiose and worth peeking into even if we don’t eat there. One of the Junior Boys was dj’ing so we went to check it out; the food is pricey and probably not the best bet for a meal at that cost, but interesting if you want to experience the space and listen to some music.
Meierei: Amazing, amazing Alpine bakery that serves gorgeous (and delicious) apple strudel and plum tarts (among other sweets). There’s a big, beautiful backyard with tea lights and the interior of the bakery has a sleek design. On one wall they sell specialty products (jams, honeys, oil, vinegar, etc); it’s really a place you’re meant to sit at all day with a good book and a cappuccino.

Shops:
Kwikshop: A very kiosk-like spot with curated trinkets and objects for the home.
Do you read me?: A fantastic magazine shop in Mitte featuring the most comprehensive international collection of art and design magazines I’ve ever seen. I could’ve spent many more hours here browsing (and wish I had!).

Culture:
Hamburger Bahnhof: We got to see a neat collection of unusual Andy Warhol pieces here even though the main gallery was closed as the museum was preparing for a Paul Pfeiffer show. Also saw a Josef Beuys exhibit that was a bit of a drone for a beautiful day.
Pool Gallery: We went here specifically to see the work of graphic artist Andy Gilmore (Rochester-based), whose work we’d come across before leaving. Nice space in the middle of Mitte (big gallery district).
FIT: Berlin’s oldest petrol station, which is now a rotating installation arts and events space. Our host had her birthday party here and over the course of our trip, the installation revolved from neon pieces to a cello performance and more.
Bauhaus: Take a day trip down to Dessau to see the original Bauhaus school building as well as the “meisterhauses” of Paul Klee, Walter Gropius, Wassily Kandinsky, etc. The town isn’t all that exciting, but the architecture is fascinating.
Mauer Park Flea Market: Berlin has tons of great flea markets that trump any I’ve seen in New York or the states for every category except clothing. They are massive with tons of fresh food, music, and a hot stop for furniture, kitchenwares, and tons more. Mauer Park is one of the bigger ones; we found great old glasses frames there, vintage kitchen stuff, and had delicious Turkish crepes.
Frank Gehry’s DG Bank: Gehry designed DG bank, located right next to the Brandenburg Gates and the American Embassy. From the outside, the building looks pretty ordinary, but from the inside, it mirrors the shape of a giant whale. (Personally found this underwhelming, but Gehry fans may like).
Holocaust Memorial: Officially known as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (whoa, heavy), this is one of the most remarkable memorials I’ve visited. Word is that many Germans dislike it, but I found the experience of walking between the “tombs” moving and thought-provoking. Interestingly, the graffiti-preventing substance used to coat each of the stones is controversially made by Tages-Anzeiger, a company that persecuted Jews and also made a chemical used in gas chambers during the Holocaust. Read the wiki entry for more info…
Clarchens Ballhaus: Both a restaurant and an all-ages century-old ballroom. We went here on our last night and it was the perfect ending to our trip. A few people mentioned to us throughout the week that this was really one of the only places in the city that appealed to people of ALL ages, and was genuinely fun and cool; the center of the room is open to dancing with a stage up front, there is a big garden out front with tables and food served during the day, and there is food and drink also served inside. The earlier crowd tends to be a bit older, then around 11, a younger hipper crowd comes in. We found this to be exactly the case when were were there. The food is so-so, but definitely stop by for the dancing/scene.

Other Must-dos:
Bikes: Rent bikes as much as possible! We rode hours every day, and it enabled us a lot of freedom on top of the fact that the city is SO so so bike friendly. You can take bikes on trains, there are tons of spots to cheaply rent bikes for the day or week, and there are bike lanes on every street in the whole city.
Potsdam: Take the train to Potsdam about 30 minutes outside of Berlin to see Sanssouci (Sanssouci Palace), which is larger than life and Versailles-esque. Also in Potsdam, ride your bike to the swimming spot sandwiched between the Heiliger See and Jungfernsee. There are great bike paths all around the lakes.
Drive: Rent a car and take a drive through the German countryside from Berlin heading South and avoid the autobahn. Make sure you stop at a German rest stop and be amazed at the astounding quality of food and cleanliness.
Badeschiff: Head over to the Badeschiff, a shipping container dropped into the river in the middle of the city. There’s a makeshift beach, food available, and the cost of entry is only 3 Euro. It was a beautiful day when we went, and crowded, but we could hop right in the pool without a line at all times.
Grunewald Forest/Teufelsberg: Take a LONG bike ride to the Grunewald Forest. In the forest, you’ll first come to Teufelsee, a small lake with a nude beach/grassy area, then if you follow the signs in the forest, you’ll find your way to the magical / creepy / amazing structures of Teufelsberg (Devil’s Mountain) and make sure you climb up to the top of the tallest tower! These are former radio towers that were used while the wall was up to intercept Russian and East German radio signals (and also has a Nazi camp buried underneath the mountain which was used during the wars). Since the wall came down, the towers have been abandoned, and now showcase a lot of graffiti worth seeing, and one of the best views of all of Berlin. It’s rumored that David Lynch is trying to buy the property to change it into a University of Transcendental Meditation.
Go to the grocery store: I love going to foreign supermarkets and Berlin’s were no exception. Try and find a “bio” market, which is something equivalent to an organic grocery or Whole Foods (but much more common). Make sure you check out the yogurt aisle in particular. The variety and quality of German yogurt was astounding to me (though I can’t say anyone else quite shared my enthusiasm). The flavors are also more natural tasting. We had: hazelnut, vanilla-poppy, mango, strawberry rhubarb, and straight vanilla.

Published Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 4:58 pm. Filed under Elsewhere. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.