The (Pet Pe)Eves of March | Things To Do In Berlin #1
Dear Adventurers! While I buy shampoos and lather and rinse for weeks now, Berlin is turning down the returning migrating birds. We live in a goddamn snow globe, ladies and gentlemen.
Nevertheless, you might want to enjoy a bit of Berlin spring winter (clickety-click ’em), coming along with my favourite Berlin addresses.
I promised you a few Berlin insights in March. I must say, I’m rather in the mood for a rant about the weather, the pet peeve of any urban dweller, together with the public transport, and tourists. But then it occured to me that in order to prevent tourist behaviour, we all should share our hidden hot spots!
And while the selection might appear somewhatrandom, what unites all of these addresses, is that all are realBERLINERS. These addresses are all 100% Berlin.
Be it the Graz-born fashion designer Lena Hoschek, whose store in Mitte is a time machine to the 50s and 60s and fits in and blends so well with the careless, inked, vintage-loving Berlin in-crowd. Hip, but real. 100% Berlin.
Be it a hot dog shop where you’ll see an alley cat devour the delicious snack next to language students from Japan, a ballet dancer from Kiev, a local dishevelled matron and a chic gay. No fuss. 100% Berlin.
Be it a shop variety in an old-established neighbourhood that’s changing now; a shop hiding inside another shop; or a high-tech boutique for a new smile. Inventive. Stubborn. 100% Berlin.
Almost a Bruegel – Gleisdreieck park
Frozen and angular
Poor trees and birds
Leipziger Platz: a square like a snow globe
At night, the sky is red
Lust for colours!
Acacia honey, goat cheese and raspberry dreams (of mini Gugelhupf cakes I made last summer)
Trick the season with an “all year pizza” with prawns, shiitake, goat cheese, and grilled bell paprika and fennel
Street cuisine? Tarte flambée, freshly made in a stone oven at farmers’ markets: Tuesdays (Fehrbelliner Platz), Thursdays (Hackescher Markt), Saturdays (Winterfeldtplatz)
Berlin’s best hot dogs (meat from “green” Neuland farms), Motzstrasse/Nollendorfplatz vis-à-vis Hartnack language school. Try the amazing variety as veggie, too. (Available drinks are very Berlin, ranging from champagne to beer to coffee.)
Time for dessert! What, is this a French millefeuille? Why, yes…
Au Délices Normands is empty by 15:00 – Berliners hurry to get freshly baked bread, pies, millefeuilles, croissants, flûtes, éclairs…
These mini-macarons (bitter chocolate, madagascar vanilla, and lemon) though…
…come from Makrönchen – a owner-run café in Schöneberg, Berlin’s gourmet “Kiez” (hood) numero uno.
While they’re baked using Makrönchen’s own recipe (less sugar, more almond powder), the French heritage is indisputable. Every Friday, fancy savoury flavours are offered. Yum! (Closed on Mondays)
Not far away from Makrönchen, in the Grunewaldstrasse 79, at Spitzen-Borten (almost Slossen-Boschen from J.K. Jerome, non?)…
…an amazing variety of lace (Spitze) and borders (Borte) is offered. The charming Augsburg-born owner is Berliner by choice for decades now and is always in for a chat about gentrification and Kiez history.
In the Kantstrasse, another Berlin original resides in a… silk flower shop! Harry Lehmann sells perfume by weight. More than 50 adorable scents (from old-fashioned to stunning, modern juices) as well as individual variations (!) at an incredibly fair rate of 4,50€ per 10 ml of an Eau de Parfum. Great souvenir, 0% tourist, 100% Berlin original.
What? A DENTAL SHOP? Before you burst out and LOL, the testeneers (a trademark product) are individual tooth embellishers. Either for fun (mine are elegant vampire fangs) or for checking out a new smile option before heading to an actual dentist. Oh, the testeneeers are made within an hour, the process is pain-free. The quality is your “made in a German dental lab” at its best.
Italian delikatessen, yes, please! Centro Italia has three shops in Berlin (Prenzlauer Berg, Marienfelde, and Charlottenburg) with authentic goods, wine, spumante, seasonal products, gelati, and much more. A foodie’s paradise with Berlin’s flirtiest Italian men.
If you’re a sweet tooth, Berlin’s MADE for you. In Mitte, tigertörtchen offer mini cupcakes (sweet, savoury, and some vegan options too). The tiny café is somewhat hidden in the church yard. Closed on Wednesdays.
To prove that my favourite addresses are not only food, food, oh, and food, with a bit perfume and textile excitement, here’s my fave fashion shop: Lena Hoschek, Weinmeisterstrasse, next door to an absinth store… But this is another story!
So please, when you visit Berlin in spring (in real spring that is) or in summer, don’t do tourist places! Do Berlin and yourself a favour, and skip the beaten track.
(I’ll do more fashion later, too; and the cool bars will be up tomorrow.)
looks like they forgot to turn on the sun above germany, as yet.
maybe miss jules will bring some back from barcelona.
_tg xx
they absolutely forgot about the light. am carrying the LA sunshine through the Berlin night now, merci, madame!
and yes, am thrilled to hear Julia’s story. friends have been there and were de-LIGHT-ed (their published report: http://www.pola-und-helena.de/wordpress/?p=1516), I haven’t managed yet. see, I’m a south of france type of person. and by south of france I mean all them impressionist places and the mountains near spain. and arles 🙂
oh god, yes, and the guilty secret of a teenage-poured-over-copy of Mistral’s Daughter, gave rise to dreams of the South.
in my case it was the lovely mr l. durrell who made me love the south before ever seeing it…
Lawrence.
divine.
but there was something about the way Judith described the paintings and the painters and #LaVieLuberon that still delights our 13 year old soul trapped in england, longing for a decent cafe au lait in a blue, blue bowl and a studio of her own.
*sigh*
yes, yes. absolutely.
my 13 y.o. self was gasping for the fantastic places (and times) where the adventures of monsieur poirot and co were set. was beyond delighted at the N-H latin-cyrillic monogram games in the orient express adventure, given that this is my RL name 😉
I’m still to have a train ride from vienna to istanbul. or maybe the royal scotsman? god, I love trains.
or the journey they take in Darjeeling Limited…..(but with a 1st class carriage and a hamper from Fortnums)
quelle glorious tour of Berlin!
thank you kindly.
sending you some #sunshine from here.
looks like they forgot to turn on the sun above germany, as yet.
maybe miss jules will bring some back from barcelona.
_tg xx
they absolutely forgot about the light. am carrying the LA sunshine through the Berlin night now, merci, madame!
and yes, am thrilled to hear Julia’s story. friends have been there and were de-LIGHT-ed (their published report: http://www.pola-und-helena.de/wordpress/?p=1516), I haven’t managed yet. see, I’m a south of france type of person. and by south of france I mean all them impressionist places and the mountains near spain. and arles 🙂
oh god, yes, and the guilty secret of a teenage-poured-over-copy of Mistral’s Daughter, gave rise to dreams of the South.
in my case it was the lovely mr l. durrell who made me love the south before ever seeing it…
Lawrence.
divine.
but there was something about the way Judith described the paintings and the painters and #LaVieLuberon that still delights our 13 year old soul trapped in england, longing for a decent cafe au lait in a blue, blue bowl and a studio of her own.
*sigh*
yes, yes. absolutely.
my 13 y.o. self was gasping for the fantastic places (and times) where the adventures of monsieur poirot and co were set. was beyond delighted at the N-H latin-cyrillic monogram games in the orient express adventure, given that this is my RL name 😉
I’m still to have a train ride from vienna to istanbul. or maybe the royal scotsman? god, I love trains.
or the journey they take in Darjeeling Limited…..(but with a 1st class carriage and a hamper from Fortnums)
if travelling, travel in style.