The bomb of Bad am.

The LF survived his big night out on the town however he did come a little unstuck at Park am Gielsdreieck where it all ended with one badly sprained ankle after falling off a balancing beam.  Ouch!    The brave lad hobbled home and up the 5 flights of stairs in absolute agony.  Needless to say things are going somewhat slower around here as a result. Here's to a speedy recovery LF.... and lots of Arnica cream (this cream is the American Express of creams to me.... 'Luckily I never leave home without it!').

Back to the park though.  It is huge with 2 great playgrounds, one with a very civilised cafe for the grown ups.  You can hop off the train at Mockernbrucke and walk all the way through to Yorkstrasse.  On the edge of the park there is the German Technik Museum, which is meant to be awesome but unfortunately we didn't make it there.  Next time.

Z woke on Friday morning adamant he wanted to go swimming so we headed off to Bad am Spreewald in Kreuzberg on the train only to find it was closed for repair.  After a coffee and croissant at the gorgeous  Morena Cafe. We toiled over 'Where to from here?' and found the bomb of all pools,  Stadtbad Schoneberg.  This place is my idea of European swimming heaven.  With huge glass windows on 3 sides it looks out onto a park on one side and the courtyard of a big old apartment block on the other. The upstair lap-come-diving-pool is incredible. From the entrance you watch peoples legs kicking through a small window which shows the pool above.  If you find yourself in Berlin, with or without kids, a visit here is such a tonic.  After the graffiti laden streets and at times in-your-face-vibe, it was a welcomed reprieve.

Other places we lapped up:

The most incredible Vegetarian Vietnamese Restaurant, Chay Village, in Schoneberg (right near the pool).  If I could cook like this I would gladly become a vegetarian.....again.  Amazing.

The beer garden located very conveniently around the corner, Kurhaus Ponte Rosa, something Z and I found on one of our walks.

Brio Cafe Bistro & Kaffee Bar, both in Graefestr. Kreuzberg were on our favourite list.  Z loved the park at Honenstaufen Platz around the corner.  On Saturday morning they have a great little organic community market where you can get your organic booty and a great coffee while the kids play.  

Ankerklaus is another fun place to go for a drink especially if you can find a seat out on the balcony in the sun.  We took Z's newly purchased 'Rush Hour' (3Euro from the flea market) and sadly one of the pieces skipped off the table and landed in the Urbanhafen.  

I made my way out solo on Sunday to the Boxhagnener Platz Flea Market, while the boys stayed home to rest.  I must say I prefer these smaller flea markets to the bustling and very popular Mauer Park flea market (another great smaller market is situated at Arkona Platz within skipping distance from Mauer). It was a beautiful day and there is a great water park....well, water park is probably too grandiose a term for it....in the centre on Boxhagener Platz.  Perfect for summer sun shenanigans.  There were no shortage of vegetarian eateries around this part of town and I did get my smoothie fix (which I am really missing!) at Funk You. A raw, vegan, juice bar which was doing a roaring trade.  For the crafty's Wollen looked like a friendly place for picking up wool and purchasing handmade knits, unfortunately it was closed on Sunday, as most things in Berlin seem to be.

The sun was shining and it was so liberating to be wandering the streets alone so I headed for Treptower Park with every other sun loving Berliner out for a stroll. 

My friend BM, who lived in Berlin, made us a list of things to do and see.  High up on the list was a beer garden situated on the edge of a playground on Landwehr Kanal in Kreuzberg, 'genius' as she put it! We spent an hour or so in the beer garden while Z man played and we read copies of ExBerliner which we had picked up for free at the Toast & Jam vintage market earlier that morning.  The 1.5km walk along the canal either side is beautiful with another great park on the east at Schlesischer Busch.

We continued up the canal all the way to Badeschiff hoping to check out the swimming pool.   Due to the Fashion Festival they were hosting a rave so we thought better of entering.  Not really our thing.

On our last day we discovered Marheineke markethalle a fabulous indoor market place for every foodie fancy.  If only we had found it earlier!  Across the road is a slice of traditional Austrain heaven Felix Austria for hearty goulash and traditional stodge.  We enjoyed our last lunch there sitting out on the street in the sunshine, sad to be leaving.....and yet rather pleased to be seeing the clean streets of Denmark.

There was so much more to do......  10 days was wonderful but a month is definitely needed in this town to 'almost' scratch the surface.  All in all we have loved our time in Berlin.  It get's the vote as Z's favourite city so far, with Paris coming a close second.

Next Copenhagen. x

Day tripping.

Things we have managed to squeeze into our days. Days that have become predominantly about park hopping, Chinese whispers (which is very entertaining even though we are only 3...), I spy and countless crazy renditions of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory's Oomp Loompa song.

• Headed to Prenzlauer Berg for a few lengthy play stops at Wasserturm, Kollwitz Platz & Helmholtz Platz (check out a 360 virtual tour of Helmholtz Platz here).
• A visit to Wohnzimmer. Which is a gorgeous little bar on the edge of Helmholtz Platz perfect for catching the afternoon sun or even better, an evening drink.  The bar reminded me a little of Yelza (with a more French... rather than Eastern European feel) for those who remember it?
• A rather lengthy shopping foray at TragFlache.  The most immaculate and impressive 2nd hand store I have ever come across.  The owner was incredibly proud and so very passionate about his stock. The LF bought himself a couple of jackets, including a leather jacket I think someone may have tried scaling the wall in back in the 80's (.... there are a number of discreet repair jobs on the arms). 
• A visit to the oldest beer garden in Berlin where we met a friendly couple, with a familiar accent and their 2 year old son.  He was an Aussie from Perth and she a Berliner.  They were weighing up where to live....for now it seems Berlin although he is adamant Australia will win out long term.  They both work in the arts sector.  Needless to say Berlin wins hands down here. We chatted, amoung other things, about the incredibly cheap cost of living in Berlin... starting with groceries.  I can not believe how cheap groceries are!  I finally understand what my German friends mean when they complain about the cost of living in Australia.  A bag of food at the supermarket in Australia would cost me around Aus$50..... here it's about 13Euro.
• We took a train ride out to Charlottenberg to visit Harry Lehmann perfumery.  A store which is caught in the most incredible time warp.  A friend of the LF's gave us the tip and asked us to bring back a bottle of 'Titano Man'. Both are priceless gems.
• A visit to the Bauhaus Archive which Z was rather excited about. Since it was a rainy day I can only imagine he thought Bauhaus sounded like an indoor play centre.  Once we were all kitted out in our audio gear the sweet lad kept coming over to give me the heads up....'mum skip number 5 it's really boring'....'mum so is 6' and on it went until we got to the work of Ludwig Mies van Rohe & the model of the Barcelona Pavilion which he loved & thankfully all was saved.
• From the Bauhaus Archive we took a drizzly stroll up through the Tiergarten, past Golden Lizzie and got lost in a section of fantastic 60's suburbia around Hansplatz station.

The LF is out tonight on his wild tour of Berlin's night life.  Let's hope he survives unscathed.
xx

You can find all the 'Berlin' posts here.

Where the streets have long names.

I ditched the fellas for a day and did a tour with these guys yesterday (the LF did a tour on Sunday...more history based.....not so much my thing.  He's also off to do this on Friday night which should be interesting!!).  It was a bit of fun to get out in the city solo, conquer the transport system and my fear of me 'non sprecken zie deutche' (makes me feel like I'm in a bad B-grade movie when I say this!).
My tour guide was a gorgeous young Berliner who has grown up in Prenzlauer Berg...... spent a year in Australia and has fallen for a Aussie Lass who has returned to the land of Oz, much to his dismay.

Anyway, he was a wealth of information....none of which I will spout off here for fear I'll jumble it all together, Chinese whispers style.  Suffice to say it's a fascinating city full of intrigue.  The more you know about this place the more you want to know.  If it wasn't for the winters here I would definitely be keen to spend a lot more time getting to know this place.

Here's a little insight into Berlin's street art.  Which is endlessly apartment.  I also love the dialogue these artists have with the people on the street.  El Bocho's Lucy was a favourite.  Wherever you find Lucy there will be a cat somewhere within the next 2 blocks. It's based on a cartoon Bocho watched as a kid however with a slight twist.  The cats in this series, unfortunately, have all come to an untimely end at the hand of Lucy.....a little grim but I loved them.

We ended the tour here in Jamaica.  Which was kind off fun too.

Today was spent park hopping and shopping but that's another post.
x

ich liebe berlin

We  have cracked it for another amazing Airbnb apartment here in Kreuzberg, Berlin.  It is beautiful. Our hosts, who live in the apartment next door, are away.  They have very kindly left us the keys to their incredible apartment also! It's the kind of dream apartment I'd move into in a heartbeat.  She is a flight attendant and he is a author/theatre director.  They have a 6 year old daughter......who coincidently enough loves Lego even more than Z, or so it seems.

Berlin is an endlessly fascinating city full of contradictions at just about at every turn.  I love it.  The new, the old, the ugly.   Bullet studded walls, decay and the unadorned buildings of a communist era all serve to make this city so confusing and on the same hand totally enthralling.  It makes my head spin.

The number of 30 & 40 something guys walking the streets, sitting in squares, parks and train stations drinking long neck beers is quite alarming.  After Paris and the number of Parisians smoking on streets Z has rekindled his fascination with the idea of smoking and watches people intently as they do.  Berlin is also helping to keep this fascination well in place.

We spent most of Sunday tinkering between playgrounds & flea markets in Mitte.  I love the whole flea market culture here....if only I had a spare shipping crate!

Off to bed.  We are all exhausted.  1 month in and 2 to go.  Z has announced he is 'never going to another gallery in his life!'.  I think some time off is imminent.....luckily tomorrow is Legoland.

x

Berlin Guide

Taken outside Berlin Zoo,  January 1992

That's me in the middle & my friend, A, who we are meeting up with in Paris this time around, on the right. 

I can't tell you how excited I am to be visiting this city. 20 years on and I'm sure I'll see a huge difference, visually, culturally and energetically. The wall had only just come down 2 years before my last trip (crikey, that makes me sound so old). I loved the feel of Berlin then and I have a feeling I'm going to love it even more now.
My friend, Bruise Mouse, spent some months there last years so has been full of insightful information and handy tips.... some of which I've listed below. A huge thank you to you BM for your enthusiasm and knowledge on Berlin. You've really sparked my interest to discover the hidden treasures of Kreuzberg...and beyond.

Guides to get you going:
Sandra's Guide to Berlin...makes me want to be there right now!
Slow Travel Berlin
Still in Berlin
Kreuzberg'd: Everything you Never Knew You Wanted to Know about Kreuzberg.
Design Sponge's Berlin City Guide
Unlike Berlin City Guide
ExBerliner magazine for expats is a brilliant hard copy magazine with feature articles and guides to whats happening around Berlin.
Petite Passports retail guide to Berlin for some consumer spending.

Galleries:
Too many incredible galleries to list here.  Grab yourself a guide or check out:
TimeOut's top picks here.
BerlinList Gallery Guide.
My Premium Europe: Top Contemporary Galleries Berlin.