Berlin’s Best Bookshops
Paul Sullivan rounds up some of the city's best English (and some German) language bookstores... Another Country Named as one of the top ten bookshops in the world by Lonely Planet, Kreuzberg’s Another Country is one of Berlin’s longest-running literary/intellectual salons for the English-speaking crowd. A good chunk of its 20,000-odd books are for loan, not sale (bring a book back and the purchase price is refunded, minus €1.50), while about ten percent of stock functions as a [...]
Seasonal Recipes: March 2013
This month's seasonal recipe is all about the fish... Perhaps I am spoilt coming from the UK, where the seafood is diverse and excellent, but I find fresh fish is sadly lacking in Berlin. It would be understandable if Berlin were further from the sea, but at only a few hours drive from Altona in Hamburg, one of the biggest fish markets in Europe, one would expect the choice here to be better. As it is, it can be a bit of a mission to find good, fresh seafood. Frische [...]
Farewell to C/O Berlin at Postfuhramt
Stuart Holt says a sad farewell to one of Berlin's most beautiful photography spaces.... Photo by Stuart Holt The first time I visited the C/O Gallery in Berlin it was deep winter. It was oppressively dark outside and the thick snow on the ground made a satisfying crunch as our collective boots marched towards the former post office on Oranienburgerstrasse. I was not yet very familiar with Berlin and somehow the city felt very Cold War to me - or at least cold; grainy and moody like [...]
Photo Gallery: Winter in Berlin 2013
Lisa Tam Ciarán Fahey Bruno Saramago de Almeida Greta Holmberg Telma de Carvalho Alves Cathrin Brandes Kate Seabrook Nick Simpson Lexie McGearey Greta Holmberg Paul Sullivan Natalie Holmes Bruno Saramago de Almeida Peggy Schatz
Walking the 66-Lake-Trail
Paul Scraton discovers pine forests, sand dunes and run-down industrial estates on Brandenburg's 66-Lake-Trail... The 66 lake trail. Photo by Paul Scraton For the last four kilometres through the forest north of the spa town Bad Saarow, we do not meet a soul. Signposts and waymarkers amongst the trees suggest that this must be a popular hiking and Nordic walking spot in the warmer months; but with the forest floor blanketed in snow, the only other sign of human life beyond the crunch [...]
The Hidden Watchtower
Marcel Krueger meets the man who turned a GDR watchtower into a memorial for his murdered brother... „Gegen Verräter und Grenzverletzer ist die Schußwaffe anzuwenden. Es sind solche Maßnahmen zu treffen, daß Verbrecher in der 100-m-Sperrzone gestellt werden können. Beobachtungs- und Schußfeld ist in der Sperrzone zu schaffen.“ "Firearms are to be used against traitors and those attempting to violate the border. Measures should be taken with the aim of halting the criminal inside [...]
Paper & Tea
Aarti Mehta-Kroll rediscovers an old tradition at one of Berlin's finest, conceptual tea houses… P & T I grew up in India drinking chai: milk, water, black tea leaves, sugar and masala heated till the mixture turned the right shade of brown. Every afternoon, my mum would lay this out along with salty snacks. When we were home, my dad and I would also engage in this tea ceremony, stopping whatever we were doing, taking a few moments to relax and chat over this hot beverage. When [...]
Learn German in Berlin
Ian Farrell explores the best resources for learning German in Berlin... Mark Twain's humorous 1880 essay on the frustrations of learning German as a second language. There are lots of reasons to come to Berlin and, with the city’s cosmopolitan nature, learning German may not be top of the list for every English speaker. Everybody here understands English anyway, right? But learning the local language is essential for anyone who really wants to immerse themselves in the city and the [...]
Being A Ghost In Berlin
Manen Ahmed on finding ghosts - and being one - in Berlin... A Berlin mietkaserne (tenement) in David Bowie's "Where are we now?" music video My first ghost sighting in Berlin was on September 8th, 2009, on the fifth floor inner balcony of a building at the corner of Duisburgerstrasse and Brandenburgerstrasse in Charlottenburg. It was early afternoon, and I saw her standing in the sun. Her head turned at an un-natural angle, so that the meagre rays of the sun lit her up her neck. On [...]
Seasonal Recipes: February 2013
Thyme Supperclub rekindles an old love affair just in time for Valentine's Day, with cheese! Cheesecake with Pomegranate February is probably my least favourite month of the year. It’s dark, cold and depressing yet without any of the excitement of the festive winter months, or the optimistic fresh start of January to brighten those bleak days a little. February is a month that calls for comfort food of the highest order. And yet, what comfort food? If you’re anything like me, [...]
