finding berlin

There is no Christ­mas without an ever­green fir tree. The tra­di­tion of put­ting a Christ­mas tree in your home dates back many moons and I won’t bore you now with his­toric details (except for point­ing out this exhib­i­tion at the “Museum of European Cul­tures”, which show­cases Christ­mas pyr­am­ids, the Christ­mas dec­or­a­tion found in Ger­man homes before

The New York Times have recently pub­lished an art­icle about Ber­lin describ­ing the exper­i­ences of a tem­por­ary expat in the city. As always, whenever Ber­lin gains inter­na­tional atten­tion, Ber­liners feel some­what flattered. It’s nice that New York­ers might think our city is inter­est­ing enough to pub­lish words on it. But the art­icle in ques­tion does not

I think Marcus still hasn't been to the Kreuzberg. Not the district, but the actual hill. He's been living in Berlin for a hundred and two years and we once promised to take him there. Judging by Stefans pictures, it seems like the weather conditions are perfect for a serene view from above. The park is a 12,8 hectar area on the Kreuzberg. The Kreuzberg - translation "cross mountain" - is the highest natural peak of Berlins city center. Yes, the highest. Which means Berlin is as flat as an iron board. The Kreuzberg - the actual Kreuzberg hill - is the pimple in Berlins face. But it's a really nice pimple. The green park and slopes which you can picknick on are very inviting to spend a whole afternoon on top of the city.

I’ll be hon­est: there is lit­er­ally noth­ing attract­ive about Pots­damer Platz and I’ll rarely ever pass by. It’s bor­ing and dis­con­cert­ing, pretty much the typ­ical go-to tour­ist hot spot with a mix of fancy res­taur­ants and posh office build­ings. You can expect some stuff to see, but a col­or­less lack of human inter­ac­tion. The only time you’ll

(Jan Herd­licka is a con­stant con­trib­utor to our site. We love his ana­log black and white approach and embrace this quiet but power­ful series he took in the Grune­wald. Read his thoughts about it and like his page!) Although the pho­to­graphs were taken in imme­di­ate near­ness to big cit­ies, they seem­ingly show impalp­able places. The eye seeks

Neon lights shine brine by night. Where Karl Marx Straße lacks in charm and aes­thet­ics by day­light, this street knows how to be flashy as soon as the sun goes down and the neon shop– and head­lights go on. The patch between Rathaus Neuk­ölln and Karl-Marx-Str. U-Bahn sta­tion seems espe­cially mag­netic to pecu­liar situ­ations. The shops,

In case you've missed it: Yesterday's dense fog didn't leave any doubts that autumn has finally arrived. Upon coming home to Kreuzberg I was amazed about the city being densely covered with thick mist – enjoy for yourself how beautiful and eery the Oberbaumbrücke sat enthroned over the Spree yesterday.

Remem­ber the Zoo Palast? The one next to the Bahnhof Zoo? Some of those who’ve been here a while know that this used to be a swell cinema with a story reach­ing back to the 1920s. Although it was des­troyed in WWII, today the facade and the cinema halls on ground & first floor are under monu­ment pro­tec­tion.

With some places it’s just a feel­ing. The Bahnhof Zoo has always been an icon for Ber­lin, the former cen­ter of the West. Nowadays I hardly ever get as far as Char­lot­ten­burg, and I try to avoid crowded places and shop­ping des­tin­a­tions (I tend to like my life stress-free. Plenty of tour­ists and the typ­ical pre-Christmas craze are

Advent cal­en­dars seem to be a big thing in Ger­many. I wouldn’t know about it. I come from a cul­ture where chocol­ate is a staple, some­thing as big a tease as advent cal­en­dars does not fit the concept of my life­style. But I’ve always loved the idea of open­ing up presents con­sec­ut­ively for a month, Chris­tian or not. So it’s no long

As a part of a major urban development plan, that dates back to the late 20th century, the typical courtyards of Berlin were once conceived to ensure heterogenous, thus vivid social compositions. Believe it or not. We strive to endeavour new specimens that leave us both surprised and excited.

When we told our friends that we decided to go to “Südgelände” nobody knew what we were talk­ing about. It doesnt mat­ter how long you live in this city, your know­ledge and your interest will likely go as far as the Ring and rarely bey­ond. And as a mat­ter of fact Südgelände is loc­ated a few meters