Berlin snow is never virginal for long. Gathering coal dust on its decent it often boasts a yellowy hue long before hitting the ground. But adaptable as only city folk are, we have come to value the many shades of Berlin snow as white, bright white – with an afterglow. So when it falls and before it’s had time to dissolve into a slush of tyre tracks, dogs’ dinners and gravel, here is were to go and legally enjoy the fluffy, toboggany whiteness of winter:

http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/umwelt/stadtgruen/gruenanlagen/de/
nutzungsmoeglichkeiten/rodeln/index.shtml

Note: There’s a place in Berlin called Coca-cola hill!

Ian Whalley, English trainer and translator from the English midlands, tells us why he lives in Berlin.

Skating in Scandinavia and Berlin

Wiki, I love you! With winter on its way and the bleak and smoggy city sky closing in on us… I thought it would be nice to highlight some of the happier pastimes of these shortening days. Childhood memories and X-mas cards soon confirm ice skating as the season activity. A quick google for ice-rink addresses lands me on a wiki link to Lidwina of Schiedman, patron saint of skaters. Bedridden after a skating accident back in the late 14th century, Lidwina developed a series of saintly qualities such as paralysis, anorexia, spontaneous bleeding and loss of limbs. I quote; “…great pieces of her body fell off… she shed skin, bones and parts of her intestines, which her parents kept in a vase and which gave off a sweet odour”.

But, wiki tells me, ice-skating wasn’t always this much fun. According to scientists, bone skates found in Scandinavia and Russia dating back to 3000BC, were invented for not for frolicking but purely for survival! Indeed -current studies confirm that “people traveling across the region’s frozen lakes reduced their physical energy cost by 10 percent”. (Perhaps this was the initial attraction for Lidwina)

Inspired? Learn how to make your own bone skates at:

http://www.valhs.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/ice_skates.htm

Or don’t make your own skates and just hire some at an ice-rink of your choice. Here some choice ice-rinks in Berlin:

Die Ungewöhnliche Eislaufschule
Ringstr. 67b , 12205 Berlin
http://www.eislaufschule.de

Eisstadion Wilmersdorf
Fritz-Wildung-Straße 9, 14199 Berlin
http://www.horst-dohm-eisstadion.de

Erika Hess Eisstadion Wedding
Müllerstraße 185, 13353 Berlin
http://www.eislaufen-berlin.de/index.php?id=login.php&gast=gast/eisbahnen.php&eisbahn=2

Eisstadion Neukölln
Oderstraße 182, 12051 Berlin
http://www.sport-in-neukoelln.de/

Eisbahn Lankwitz
Leonorenstraße 37, 12247 Berlin
http://www.eisbahn-lankwitz.de

Kenneth MacLeod tells us why he lives Berlin…

You might not know that Berlin is one of the sunniest places in Germany. In every case it is one of the driest regions, too, so rain is something we do not know very well (not as London does, f. ex.). And it gets even better: as Prof. Dr. Dr. Peter Höppe, Professor in Physics, tells us about the future in the Tagesspiegel, Berlin will soon have a climate similar to the south of Italy. The Glocalist even writes about a possible tropic paradise in Berlin. Berlin had the warmest summer in Germany in 2008 with an average temperature of 19,2 ° Celsius (this includes the night temperatures!). Ok, it is autumn now and we all face the winter - but you would not want to know what winter is like here, so we do not write about it.

When can you say you are? People who just recently moved here don’t have a clue what this kiez-thing really means. They have an address and don’t care about spending their free time going from Mitte to Charlottenburg and later to see a friend in Friedrichshain.

I think it starts when you start saying Fhain or Kreuzi or Prenzlberg or S.P.A.N.D.A.U…. This goes hand in hand with a certain feeling that your (!) kiez is the most exciting neighbourhood in Berlin. This kiezthing – you probably have it in every other city as well. What’s special about berlin is that you can afford to live almost everywhere (well, the square meters differ a bit) – so choose your homebase carefully.

Here’s some Berlin-Musik: 

Hanne Hukkelberg, Berlin
http://www.lastfm.de/music/Hanne+Hukkelberg/_/Berlin

Icke & Er: Keen Hawaii
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYojBDQQXy4

Seeed, Dickes B
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=w9b2j2g42nQ

why o why are we using bad english instead of german? the answer is simple: this blog is part of a project called “berlin is better”. berlin creatives are telling creatives from all around the world, why they love berlin as a place to live and to work. be patient with us, our english sometimes might be not great, but our love for the city is. and that’s what we want to share with you.

about Berlin, films about Germany: funny, serious, boring and outstanding.  A subjective selection:

• Alles auf Zucker, Regie: Dani Levy, 2004
• Gegen die Wand, Regie: Fatih Akin, 2004
• Texas – Doc Snyder hält die Welt in Atem, Regie: Helge Schneider, 1993
• Heidi M., Regie: Michael Klier, 2001
• Keinohrhasen, Regie: Til Schweiger, 2007
• Good Bye, Lenin!, Regie: Wolfgang Becker, 2003
• Der Himmel über Berlin, Regie: Wim Wenders, 1987 and its sequel: In weiter Ferne, so nah!, Regie: Wim Wenders, 1993
• Das Leben der Anderen, Regie: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006
• Theo gegen den Rest der Welt, Regie: Peter F. Bringmann, 1980
• Sommer vorm Balkon, Regie: Andreas Dresen, 2006
• Der bewegte Mann, Sönke Wortmann, 1994
• Das Leben ist eine Baustelle, Regie: Wolfgang Becker, 1997
• Pappa ante portas, Loriot, 1991

All about German films: www.filmportal.de

The most popular German crime series is “Tatort”, every Sunday, ARD 20.15pm

David is writing about the Pong-Thing, I read projector and think: 8 mm Bar.

A relict of old Mitte times, located across the street from White Trash on Schönhauser Allee’s lower end.

Good, honest and cheap half litre Berliner Pilsner from the bottle. Stand inside or outside. Practically no furniture. Definitely no interior design; but always reliable “Super-8″-movies and other great screenings.

Schönhauser Allee 177.

Top tip: Check out the FAQ-section on http://www.8mmbar.com/.

of course other cities have their contemporary art exhibition halls. but only in berlin it is placed at the former stadtschloss place in the heart of our city: from june on The Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin will be a temporary must-see-site at a location where until some month ago the Palast der Republik reflected the evening sun in its blushed windows. the Palast had to leave but at least now you can visit the beautifully designed building with exterior works by gerwald rockenschaub. visti severl times, the exterior art work will change twice a year.  www.kunsthalle-berlin.com/