Sports in the city

I already wrote about the pleasures of urban adrenalin sports and their number seems to grow with the size of the city. Since I moved to Berlin my sport life has blossomed. Not only I became even worse jogging addict and cycling maniac enthusiast (the latter is inevitable once you get on that bike), I also have the opportunity to do exciting city sports. Such as:

U-bahn surfing: survive the drive with a subway without holding on to anything (or anyone) and surf those waves of underground acceleration mixed with unpredictable movements of disorientated tourists. For details see picture above.

Spot the controller: is a common city sport suitable also for beginners. You don't need much, in fact you don't even need to buy a ticket. While enjoying all privileges of public transport, you will feel the adrenalin with each new stop, while wondering if there is a controller among passengers. You're right - they're not wearing uniforms.

Catch the red light: is a sport popular among car drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. True Berliners can't be bothered with insignificance of stopping at red light. Red is good. Red is sexy. Follow the red. Except when it's the color of cycling track and you're walking on it. Then you should run for your life. Which brings us to the most popular of all city sports.

Dodge the cyclist: Yes, we are insane. Not only will we drive on cycling tracks, we will also drive on pavements, roads, streets and pretty much everything on our way.  After all those road hurdles we need to cycle it out. Be scared. Be very scared.

Cycle hurdling: Coming somewhere easy and on time is boring. Therefore we need obstacles such as:

• parked cars (upgrade: with opening doors), 
• delivery trucks unloading their stuff, 
• confused tourists, checking the maps, 
• coffee tables/chairs, 
• slow cyclists that drive in the middle of the track with the speed of injured chicken. 

You name it, we got it. Plain cycling is so 20th century, so bring it on!

Jump to the sound of sirens: I am pretty sure there is a limitation on how loud the ambulance sirens can be and I'm convinced that the ones in Berlin are well above any limit. So jump, as it will surprise you when you will at least expect it. Possibly when your mouth is full of coffee.

As you can see, life in the big city is never boring. Possibly life-threatening, but boring definitely not. Are there any other interesting city sports I've missed so far? Please, do enlighten me.

Shopping in Berlin

Most of my friends who come to visit aks me where can they buy something "typical Berlin". And they don't mean endless lnumber of Ampelmann products or I love Berlin T- shirts. So if you had different kinda shopping in mind, you might wanna pop into one of these stores:

Kleidungschmuck (Skalitzer Str. 82): is a sweet little shop with clothes, made by young designers. Of course the clothes are a bit more expensive than in H&M, but at least you'll be sure that they're not powered by delicate children handfcrafts. You'll find mixture of clothes from street chic to elegant sporty stuff. The shop is also a bike rental.

Dazu shop is selling designer "ich" bags that resemble Freitag bags (very popular in BLN). They cost from 30 to 100 EUR and are creatively decorated, sometimes also with recycled materials e.g. bike tires. Definitely something that says Berlin.

Zozoville (Mainzer Str. 12) is like a candyshop for fans of bizzarre contemporary art. You can buy beautiful artwork of artists Johan Potma and Mateo. Of course if you're like me, i.e. far from being ritch, you will get your friends one of the posters, not the paintings. They are beautifully obscure.

Freakout (Grünberger Str. 63) is a cute shop with everything from clothes to vintage bags, kitchy souvenir and funky glasses. If you're looking for small and not too expensive gifts, that's your store. It's packed with things that scream Berlin without actually spelling it.

Zierstiche (Gabriel-Max Str. 14) is selling lovely little monsters in different shapes. You'll also find some clothes for children, jewlery, toys, pois, bags buttons and thingies you put on your eyes to sleep during the day (Sleepgoggles?). All things are hand made and incredibly cute.

There is also a fair number of cool shops in Boxhagener Str. and Kopernikussstrasse. In case you're not really sure what you want and how much you wanna spend, go to one of the Berlin fleamarkets on Sunday e.g. one at Boxhagener Platz, the big one in Mauerpark or the occasional one in Neukölln. That should fix any shopping spree.

 Read more about where to in Berlin:

• Cool places in Berlin
• Alternative Berlin

Miss U-bahn

An excellent idea, creative minds and love for fashion resulted in Miss U-bahn contest, one of those slightly crazy but typical Berlin events. The concept was that designers capture the spirit of their designated U-bahn station in their creations and compete for the title of Miss U-bahn.

Besides creative ideas we also found out interesting historical details about actual U-bahn stations. I have to say that all the contestants showed lots of talent and sense of humour.

 Miss Alexanderplatz:

Miss Rosenthaler Platz:

Miss Merhingdamm:

Miss Schlesisches Tor:

Miss Kottbusser Tor:

Miss Warschauerstrasse:

Miss Potsdamer Platz:

Miss Zoologische Garten:

Miss Potsdamerplatz became the new Miss U-bahn 2010. I have to say Miss Warschauerstrasse won my heart by answering the final round with: "Can I at least get a fucking beer if I answer?" Also Miss Rosenthaler Platz was extremely good in the talent round with her ghost performance (during the Berlin Wall times this station was not functioning and was kinda ghost station). Maybe they have more chances next year?
P.S. Thank u JinX for the tip about the event.

Cool places in Berlin

Image via Wikipedia

It took me a while to find out about alternative places in Berlin and even longer to discover really cool places, outside the tourist gridlines. So here they are - make a good use of them when you visit Berlin.

Squats: Almost in every part of the city there is also a squat. The most popular events are of course parties and VoKu (Volks Küche), a meal prepaired by volunteers that is usually quite cheap (2 or 3 Eur). Sometimes they also have international VoKu (e.g. traditional Norwegian food), vegan Voku etc. If you're into alternative and/or activist stuff, you'll feel right at home there. You will find most of the squats happening on the website Stressfaktor.

Chén Chè Teahouse is one of most recently discovered places, described as an oasis in the middle of the city. It really is, as this Vietnam Teahouse is hidden in the courtyard and beautifully decorated with plants. It feels like entering a secret garden. Is you are a tea person it's a must. They also have meals and delicious sweets. It's so nice that I even forgave them for telling me that dumplings were vegetarian. Anything that had a heartbeat can't be vegetarian, including fish and crabs.

Schwarze Kanal is a community of artists activists, living in trailers. It used to be situated by the river Spree (hence the name) and was moved this summer to it's current location near Treptower park. Occasionally they organise festivals and activities but mostly, live together and work on their projects. It's one the Berlin secrets that are not so easy to discover.

Krumme Lanke is a lake, just a but outside the city, the last station of underground line U3. Unlike Wansee or lakes around it, it's less turistic so it's possible to enjoy a nice swim or a picnic without feeling like you're on a festival.

Even after almost a year Sadhu is and remains my favorite restaurant. It is a Pakistani restaurant with delicious food and friendly staff that occasionally gives you something nice to drink on the house. Unlike other similar restaurant on that street, Sadhu is almost always full.

White trash is probably a dream of every rock fan - it's a fast food place with indie punk rock/rock music and concerts. Burgers are so big they come in two parts, served with fries. Additional plus: all burgers are available in veggie version and it tastes amazingly well. Also the menu is extremely amusing. Check for yourself.

Of course this are only some of the cool places I'd reccomend, so...to be continued.
P.S. Those of you, who prefer your burgers with meat - I heard that the best burgers in Berlin are @ Burgermeister.

More about Berlin:

• ABC alternative Berlin
• Eating in Berlin
• Shopping in Berlin
• Sports in the city

So, how is your German?

This is a sentence I hear quite often (apart from two most annoying common ones: what are you doing in Berlin and why). My usual answer is: besser.

Eventhough I am still planing to take an intensive course, I learned a lot just by listening and trying to speak. I must say the latter is much easier after a beer or three. Of course I make lots of gramatical mistakes with die, der, das and others, but it doesn't really matter cause they don't pronounce half of the letters anyway.

I love Berlin slang. It's somewhat soft, melodic and sometimes also funny. E.g.

Bin ick kino? = Why are you staring at me?

Ick mach dich Krankenhaus = I will beat you up. (funny only cause it means literally I will make you a hospital)

With everything else I improvise. Like today at the hairdressers. She can't speak English so I showed her a picture. Actually I showed two pictures of completely different haircuts and said: Etwas wie so oder so.

She went on on explaining on what would be good and what she's gonna do. Every now and then she would ask me something. I understood most of the things and when I didn't I just answered with "Ja".

The result is a nice haircut for only 7 eur. So yes, my German is improving :)

Fuck the pain away!

Nope, it's not about rebound, it's all about concert of Peaches in Berlin. Definitely one of the top 3 concerts ever, right after Rammstein.

It's hard to say what exactly was so great about it cause it was pretty much everything. Of course it also helped to have two rather lousy groups performing before.

Hawnay troof was some kind of funky wanna be Michael Jackson meets The Beegees. Only offtune. Rich lyrics included "You're my momma, I'm your brother/cousin?" and "I'm feeling it." So yeah, definitely not a keeper.

Snax was slightly better at singing,  but much better to listen to than to look at.  All that manic jumping on stage made me think someone underestimated their daily drug intake.

But then she came. Simply amazing performance, not just because of the costumes, stage diving, laser show and walking on our hands, but also because of extremely addictive energy. Yeah, I'm definitely a believer.

Sorry, no pictures this time. I was too busy jumping.

ABC alternative Berlin

I finally took time to write down few reccomendations for everyone who is interested in less tourists sights of Berlin, especially East part. Not only because it is bursting from alternative culture and is much more colorful and cheaper than West, but also because I live there :).

So here's what you can check out:

Køpi is "occupied" house on Köpenickerstr. 137 which has a long history of fighting for it's legal rights and is today autonomous housing project and (alternative) cultural center. Cool parties and happening till late morning hours. Also very wallet friendly.

Mauerpark flea market happens every Sunday in memorial park, dedicated to Berlin wall. It's one of the biggest I've seen, where you can buy everything from bicycles to records and products from young Berlin artists. And while you're browsing through various stands, you can treat yourself with some coffee or freshly made juice/food.

Bethanien is basically an old mansion, functioning as cultural center. Various cultural events and rich alternative activistis and political happening will not dissapoint those, who seek something more than just a night out.

Cafe Datscha - Cute russian cafe, decorate in Soviet style. On Sundays from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. you can get the most amazing brunch (all u can eat) buffet, I've ever had. Extremely tasty food, fingerfood and sweets - for about 9 EUR. Also they serve my favorite soft drink Wostok - natural energy drink, very tasty, very Berlin. Unfortunately not so easy to get outside Kreuzberg.

Kptn. A. Müller is very cool pub at my favorite street - Simon-Dach Strasse. It is one of those places that are typical for East Berlin and look like a livingroom from the 80's. Wallet friendly prices, satisfying variety of beers, cocktails, soft drinks and snacks are some reasons why it is quite popular. Also you can play table football for free. Unfortunately it does not open before 6 p.m.

Café Bar Sofia - very cool smoker (and wallet) friendly bar, with special affections for kitsch. They don't mind if you bring in your own food, also they have quite interesting toilet. Nice little café, most of the nights music is indie orientated.

Görlitzer Park is nice huge park, right near U-bahn station Görlitzer Bahnhof. What makes it special is that very alive through most of the year. Young people mostly bring their drinks and hang out or bring their grills and make picnics. Yes, it is one of the parks where you can grill food. Very cool, especially in the summer.

So this was something to start with. Stay tuned for more tips.

Useful websites:

• city map
• public transport info
• parties for free
• indie concerts
• tickets for concerts
• events
• queer events
• useful for bicyclists
  

Easy Saturday morning

On Saturdays I go to the market. Even if I don't need to buy anything. I take coffee from the Italian guy. He's always in a good mood, smiling, greeting people with "Buongiorno" and inviting them to try his home made Tiramisu. You can easily notice he's not faking niceness. He's truely enjoying his work, doing it with a big smile.

It is sunny and people seem relaxed. I drink cappuccino and roll a cigarette. He pours more milk into my coffee, we do small talk, both in bad German but nobody really cares. I compliment on the coffee - it's really delicious. He thanks me and whishes me a nice weekend.

I take a walk through the market, sun is bringing out the autumn colors of the trees. The city look even more beautiful. Families are playing on the plaground in the middle of the market, people are enjoying their coffee and buying fresh fruits and veggies. Time doesn't exist anymore, there is only now. Yes, this is home.

Where is home?

Moving to Berlin wasn't really that difficult (apart from all the physical exercise that was included). Probably because I wasn't completely aware of what I was actually doing. Of course thoughts like "Am I completely nuts?" did cross my mind from time to time but then quickly disappear to the "Don't panic!" area. Douglas Adams knew what he was talking about.

First days were kinda exciting and confusing at the same time. Mostly I was dealing with fundamental questions like: where is the post office, where can I get decent caffeine fix and where am I anyway. While looking for answers I found extremely useful things like:

• Soft drinks with gas are very popular,
• if you make out words that sound german, people might even understand you,
• organic wine is actually quite tasty.

I also found out that it IS a good idea to visit huge computer stores without a credit card. Especially if they have also Apple Store.

So right now I am still kinda adjusting, discovering the city and trying to practice my German. I'd say I covered the basic level by mastering shopping conversation (hello, how much, goodbye, yes, no) and random useful phrases like: Can I have some toilet paper?

What's next? I have no idea. Let's wait and see.

My darling Berlin

Most of my friends know about my obsession amazement with Berlin and how I can go on and on and on about it. Somehow there is this unexplainable urge to visit Berlin at least once per year, if I want to keep my sanity. Since I started this new year near Berlin I'm positive it's gonna be an excellent one.

Of course the fascination with Berlin goes beyond admiring the pretty buildings, enjoying cheap shopping & food and experiencing cultural diversity. It's actually the only city that makes me feel it. Being completely sober that is.

So if everything goes well, I should go there at least three times until December. But all that going back really enhances the feeling of not wanting to leave the city at all. And I know that someday I will just answer that call and won't return home.

After all, home is where my suitcase is...

Berlin, part two

People would often tell me they've heard about Berlin and ask me what is so special about it. Well, of course there are things like wonderful multicultural environment, alive atmosphere full of art and happening and quite low expenses of living but that's not quite it. What makes it special is something, you can't really put your finger to - that unique feeling this city gives you. Hard to explain yet so easy to experience.

Naturally I have my favorite places I always go to but I am also quite keen to discover new ones. Most of them are of course in the eastern part, around Kreuzberg. This year I made some extra markings on my personal map and added a cool alternative club and a rock bar - definitely places to visit next time.

But what impresses me the most (besides their massive fascination with bears) is the amount of cultural variety that manages to co-exist. It's so not-Slovenian I immediately fell for it. Not to mention the costs of living are pretty much the same in Berlin as they are in Ljubljana. However, I have to admit there are things I don't like about Berlin:

• weather is quite terrible, windy and colder than I'm used to,
• food - German food is a big no no for any soup/salad fans - luckily they have loads of restaurants with just about any kind of food you desire (big sucker for Asian cuisine),
• she's not there.
  

But enough about Berlin, you really should see and feel it for yourself. It's so close to home.

Depeche mode: Home

Berlin, part one

Still hibernating - will be back with you soon:

City of dreams

Only few days are separating me from seeing my favorite European capital again after a year. I think that's the longest period of Berlin abstinence in past 3 years and let's hope it doesn't repeat again.

I never believed you can fall for a city until I visited Berlin for the first time - even the tough German language sounded sexy to me afterwards. The kind of city that is full of life but still it gives you the opportunity to loose yourself in a nameless crowd. Irresistible, vibrant, unexplainable. I could definitely live there I hopefully someday I will.

Until then...

P.S. - Full Berlin report is to follow after I come back & get some sleep