Sharing Berlin with people I care for

During the last couple of month I have quite often faced the wonderful possibility of showing Berlin to strangers. Time limits were always different as well as the preferences of my friends. So I was challenged to give them an idea of Berlin worth loving in 12, 8 or 5 hours … Quite tough for this rather big and straggling city. Especially considering the fact that it doesn’t fascinate everybody automatically. Once I was really surprised to learn the opinion of a young girl who has spent most of her life in a village in the southern Germany. After having visited Berlin with her schoolmates she wrote me a mail describing the city as “a grey spot”. I was utterly incapable to understand how can a young person screen out the energy and excitement of this city. And most logically I didn’t want that the same happen to my friends.

I guess I did a pretty good job, but I’m not sure it was a complete success. I still keep asking myself if I should rather have brought them to the Kulturbrauerei instead of Sony Centre, to the East Side Gallery instead of the Check Point Charlie or to the “Trattoria Toscana” instead of the “Deponie”. There are no right answers I guess, though I still keep on checking the imaginary list in my head, putting in some new points, reconsidering the old ones and not being able to discard anything, so the list just grows bigger …

To my deep satisfaction all my guests have expressed their desire to come back to Berlin again. And what matters non the less, they helped me to rediscover the city, to see it in a slightly different light. Like one July night drinking cocktails on the Savigni Platz with someone, to whom due to the formal reasons of his short trips only the formal sights had been shown, I was surprised by the “I could never imagine Berlin can feel like Paris” remark. Why is it so, that when hearing a compliment for something you like you get as proud as if the compliment was paid to you personally?

Anyway, I would be grateful for any ideas concerning what’s worth “seeing for feeling”, feeling the very soul of Berlin.      

Angst

Berlin, wovon hast Du mehr Angst, von der Wahrheit oder von der Luege? / Berlin, what are you more afraid of: of the truth or of the lies?

sun & rain

Berlin, what’s up? Why are you crying every evening? We like your sunny smile… keep wearing it! No reason for rains, and the fashion week will hopefully be over in two days :-)

Entertainment for hares.

2 o’clock in the morning. Wonderfully calm night with no wind and no clouds in the sky. I ride my bike along the Teergarten with the Potsdamerplatz on my left dreaming of my soft pillow and the not finished book hiding underneath it. Suddenly a small creature jumps away from under the wheels of my bike followed by another one. I stop and watch a couple of hares rush away from the path into the Tiergarten. Curious beast! They walk out of the garden to sit on the path and watch the changing lights of the Potsdamerplatz and cars pass by! Even they need something besides gorging and fucking? Amazing!

Literatur Haus in Fasanenstrasse 23 – a fab place to be!

White and red roses flourish in the garden of the Literatur Haus. People are sitting at the tables sipping wine, enjoying each other and the idyllic view. I feel tempted to join them for a while but pay the bill just in time not to be late for one of the wonderful events of the LH itself. Its charmingly profound program varies from exhibitions to movies and from poetic readings to lectures. It is something above the ordinary entertainment. Accordingly the public is over 40, which is a pity, because the events are everything but boring.

Today I went there for the pleasure of watching “A Foreign Affair”, the 1948 wonderful classic by Billy Wilder with peerless Marlene Diethrich, Jean Arthur and John Lund. Filmed in the ruins of Berlin this brilliantly funny story is all about life, love and risk. When I then went down the Q-damm I could not believe it is the same street I have just seen on the screen: bright lights, happy idlers and the strong scent of jasmine where shouting that the spring is there!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mDSWCfIy4Y

http://www.literaturhaus-berlin.de/

Berliner Luft

Today I could fill Berlin’s air in a bottle to use instead of perfume the rest of the year.
It's top note including fresh grass, long awaited sun rays and oxygen makes feels me with happyness; the heart of the fragrance consists of the dizzy floral composition with strong jasmine accent; the scent is accomplished with the bottom note of the freshly backed bread, adventurous Vespas and warm wood. Fabulous!

SIGHTSEEING

A wonderful scene seen this morning has made my day. Sun shines in the blue sky. First brave leaves have started painting green the trees on quiet Berlin street. An old man is riding even an older bicycle. A birds’ cage is tied to the back of his bike. In the cage there is a huge green parrot, almost as big as the cage itself. Clutching at the perch the parrot bobs on all pits and bumps. Nevertheless birds’ curiosity wins over the panic and discomfort. The parrot turns his head to the left and to the right trying no to miss any moment of the Berlin spring life.

Berlin is the perfect city to ride by bicycle at three am. And fuck the traffic lights…

A BUS

Late in the evening. We are standing on a bus stop with a girl friend of mine waiting for a bus. A bus comes by and we start waving hands to show we don’t need this one. It stops anyway, the bus driver opens the front door, smiles at us and says “May be the next time?” I love Berliner bus drivers!!!

Snow in the city of graphities

These pictures were captured some time ago but since it is still winter, I thought they were quite relevant. Allora, snow in Berlin!

Hallo Tante Ju! Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin

Just like most of the girls I am not really interested in technical equipment until the moment it stops functioning. Since museums are normally places that store exactly this kind of stuff I thought it was a good reason to make an effort and to go to this one. So I went there and you know what? I will go there again and again!

First of all, they’ve managed to collect lots of beautiful things like old cars, trains, yachts, aircrafts… Sure there are plenty of small copies of frigates and some other things that you can hardly store in one building, but there are also some real boats, yachts, lots of planes, locomotives… And it is great to see the flying legend of the German aviation – a real Tante Ju!

Secondly what normally bores me to death in the museums are the “don’ts”. Don’t talk aloud, don’t make pictures, don’t touch anything… the only thing you are allowed to do is to watch. And this is not the case in the 'Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin'. Yes, you are allowed to express your emotions! Yes you can take pictures with and without flash! Yes you can touch and even interact with lots of things! Like for example, there is a real steamboat that you can get on to walk on the deck imagining yourself the old salt. Or there are drawers you can open to discover old pictures of pilots, their books and medals. Or walk along a wall with many pairs of glasses in it. Watch through them, see stereo pictures of the aristocrats gazing at the flying biplanes and feel like a child looking at the grown-ups through a crack in a fence. There is also a hall with many educational and entertaining games for kids.

Take you time as the museum is huge and has enough things to keep you busy for the whole day.

Luetzow bar

Oh, I really love this place! Did I already mention they also have an additional menu they change every month? My favorite in January is the Flip with Cognac and Crème de Cacao: sweet like chocolate, tender like a kiss, festive like the new year…

La vita in Berlin e bella!!!

Trattoria "La vita è bella" in Belziger Straße 20 is a fantastic place! There is only one indispensable condition: you come in a good mood and ready to chat. To be honest, there is one more condition: do not expect a long menu. The boss and proprietor of the place or one of the waiters will move towards you the blackboard on which you will see the menu of the day: fish, homemade pasta, salads... Everything so fresh you will not believe they do not grow or fish it themselves. Be aware that the later you come the fewer dishes you will see on the menu: as fresh things are not that fresh on the next day, they do not store them. If you would like your fish served with another side dish as offered on the menu just talk to the waiter, he will happily offer you a couple of alternatives.
Good food is not enough now days. Most of us also do need entertainment. Try to chat with the Nunziante de Filippo, the owner of the place. He is there almost 365 days a year and he really seems to enjoy moving the blackboard here and there. If he likes you, he is gonna talk to you for a while turning your meal in Berlin into an evening in Napoli. Just watch him speaking German while his hands simultaneously speak Italian, - admirable performance!
Buon appetite e una serata simpatica!

Happy new year?

I hope to become a better blogger this year, to blog more often, more interesting and to have kinder judgements. Amen...