Berlin is amazing. It's a city with so many different impressions, interesting people and a beautiful architecture. In the last five days We've seen as much as we could and that was really much. I'm missing this city yet!
After buying two tickets for an Angus Stone (!) Concert in Berlin we decided to use this opporunity to visit the city as well. Luckily my aunt is living here so it wasn't such an expensive trip even though Berlin is not expensive at all. Food and drinks are really cheap so for people with a small budget this city is perfect!
In contracst to Cologne, where I live, Berlin is way cooler! People here are from all over the world and you almost can't find any old people here.
Maybachufer in Kreuzberg
We arrived in Berlin at 2 o'clock in the morning 'cause we have driven the whole evening and night so that we wouldn't waste any time. On Friday we started discovering the district of my aunt:
Kreuzberg, a part of the town full of turkish people, artists, alternatives, gays and organic living people. It's also the district which has impressed me the most according to it's inhabitants because the hairstyles, clothes and all the different languages were so great to watch! The market on the
Maybachufer was full of fruits, vegetables, turkish specialties and clothes made of alpaca wool. While we were drinking our coffees, we watched young people playing music or doing other stuff to entertain the crowd.
The
Oranienstraße is known for its turkish restaurants, grubby cafés, a big subculture and some second-hand shops. Like I said, the people here were interesting too.
The next day we firstly walked through Kreuzberg 61, the other part of this dristrict. One main difference between this one and Kreuzberg 36, the one I've been the day before, are the organic shops and many families with children. I really liked the
Bergmanstraße, a street full of amaing shops and cafés and great buildings.
In the afternoon we visited the famous district
Prenzlauer Berg. Beirut even wrote a song about it! Here it's good to live, people have money here but aren't rich. In Kreuzberg many Hippies walked around whereas in "Prenzelberg" people with Jute bags, big glasses and short hair lined the streets. Like in whole Berlin, those sweet, very personal cafés were here too, of course.
Kastanienallee
A stunning back yard
On Sunday shops are closed so my mother, my aunt and me went to famous sights like the
Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag. But before we went there we visited a flea market in the Mauerpark. It's a great market with great stuff! I've bought myself a Harem Trouser and my mum found some designer furnitures.
The famous Brandenburger Tor
On Monday we went to the
Kufürstendamm which is a huge shopping street in Charlottenburg (a bit pedantic but great buildings though). I'm not a big lover of H&M or Zara but for those who do love them it's perfect. Charlottenburg is rather a calm district with many rich people but, like I said, the streets were full of marvellous, old houses. We even visited the oldest coffee roast house in Berlin.
The last day we spent walking through Berlin Mitte and visited famous sights such as the
Berliner Dom or the
Museumsinseln. In streets like Auguststraße, Tucholskystraße or Sopienstraße you'll find art galleries, french bookstores, cafés of course, music stores, designer clothes and much more. It's a beautiful atmosphere there especially if the sun shines and you walk along the
Spree, the river in Berlin.
The Lustgarten next to the Berliner Dom
Places like the
Hackeschen Höfe or the
Friedrichsstraße and the
Gendarmenmarkt are also a must-see when you are here. In the back yards are some shops and you can walk through four or more back yards.
I really enjoyed my time in Berlin and I hope I'll get the chance to go there soon again. If you have the chance to go there do not hesitate- it's a beautiful city.
The concert was set in a small salon called "Der grüne Salon" next to the Volksbühne. It was a cosy and really intimate atmosphere which I enjoyed so much. He was singing great and all his little comments to his songs were sweet and funny, sometimes even sad. To one of his songs, "Bella", he said it was abaout a beautiful woman "who sadly passed away". The song "The wolf and the butler", he was explaining, deals with his dog, a dingo, who died. But there were also more positive songs, for example "Be what you be" and all that you are...the title actually stands for itself.
