‘Family’ Archives
Fête de la Musique
Paul Sullivan chats to the local organisers of the famous Fête de la Musique event... On June 21st, Berliners will once again celebrate the longest day of the year and the official beginning of summer with a city-wide music festival, the Fete de la Musique. With performances on over 80 open-air stages, the street festival offers everything from reggae and jazz, to hip hop, electronic music and klezmer. Some of the city's larger venues, like the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the [...]
Strandbad Wannsee
Berlin's oldest and most famous lido still packs in the punters... You're in Berlin. The sun has got his hat (and rave shades) on and you suddenly find yourself longing to escape the city - to flee the concrete, traffic and shadows for some sand, sea and fresh air. The East (Baltic) sea is at least three hours away: too far for a day trip, especially since you're not an early riser. But wait. What's that large mass of water south-west of the city, en route to Potsdam? Of course -- it's [...]
The Pfaueninsel
William Thirteen explores art and artifice in "Prussia's Arcadia"... "On Rabbit Island neither the merest tree nor bush may ever be felled again!" With this bold edict in 1793 Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II took possession of a small island in the Havel river, erected a fairy tale castle for his favorite mistress and rechristened it Pfaueninsel. While he disported himself here among the peacocks for only two short summers before dying in 1797, Friedrich's royal proclamation [...]
Anna Blume
Where flowers, cakes and poetry mingle harmoniously... Berliners love their bounteous breakfasts as much as their afternoon Kaffee und Kuchen - and any establishment that can offer both is justly venerated. So it is with Anna Blume, a Prenzlauer Berg institution that manages to combine a florist, bakery and cafe with impressive fluidity. Interior designer Thomas Seiffert has made good use of the fact the venue was named after a 1919 Kurt Schwitters poem: lines from the surrealist [...]
Prinzessinnengärten
Berlin’s newest urban garden has a royal name and a noble mission… Prinzessinnengärten, or Princess Gardens - is the romantic name of a not-very-romantic urban street in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, hidden away in an alternative enclave of Turkish culture and noisy traffic near the Moritzplatz roundabout. In the center of this largely unused and cluttered space, two ambitious guys began an urban gardening project. Robert, one of the two founders of Prinzessinnengärten had lived [...]
Bauhaus Archive & Museum
Berlin’s Bauhaus museum offers a comprehensive overview of Germany’s most famous design movement... Though short lived, Germany's Bauhaus design school went on to become one of the 20th century’s most influential and pervasive movements. Almost every major European and American city features some example of the Bauhaus style, whether one of the school's linear, flat-topped buildings or one of the many lamps, tables and chairs produced through the years. As Annemarie Jaeggi, [...]
G Wie Goulasch
Simple, home made goulash served in an intimate “living room” environment… Blink and you’ll miss G Wie Goulasch, an itsy eaterie on Chamissoplatz, the quiet square that lies around the corner from bustling Bergmannstrasse. Occupying a small house on the corner of Arndtstrasse, it’s run by Andre Schmermbeck, whose simple business idea was to create a place that serves up hearty, home-made goulash. You know - the kind you get at grandma’s house. It feels a bit like you’re [...]
Marga Schoeller Bookshop
A charming Charlottenburg bookshop with a great selection of English titles and a warm, old school vibe... Not many bookstores can say they've been in operation for over eight decades, especially in a city as historically turbulent as Berlin - but Marga Schoeller's can. Opened in 1929 by the eponymous Frau Schoeller, the shop originally specialised in European literature and theatre works. Schoeller managed to stay open during the National Socialist years despite refusing to sell Nazi [...]
Slow Art Day, 17th April 2010
A new international event that encourages us to Slow down and take more time to enjoy art. Most of us have been guilty of blurring around at least one museum or gallery in our lives, ignoring the majority of the art therein, or focusing more on what's for dinner later than what's in front of us. Indeed, research shows that people spend as little as eight seconds looking at an individual work. Which is why New Yorker Phil Terry, founder of non-profit Reading Odyssey, created the Slow [...]
Knilchbar
The latest venue in Berlin's burgeoning kindercafe scene, Knilchbar ups the game with some serious designer credentials... The last couple of years have seen Kindercafes spring up all over Berlin, catering to an increasing demand from young (and young-ish) parents for a combination of funky, 'adult style' cafes and indoor children's play areas. One of the most recent openings is Knilchbar, near Friedrichshain’s buzzing Boxhagener Platz. Run by friendly young couple Annika and Daniel, [...]
