He did it again! There is this pile of garbage and you walk by one day. And you walk by the other day and there it is: the mysterious “6″ or “6de” or “1kg.de” or “4rtist.com”, painted right on the waste - on an old mattress, a pile of bulk rubbish, building material along road works or even a tire of the big Volksbühne truck trailer parked in Linienstrasse. Have a look at the artist’s website www.6de.de and find a lot more lovely and funny street art paintings. Whenever you walk around in Mitte / Prenzlauer Berg, keep your eyes open and you definitely will find a piece of work!

There is no way to you can make it in Berlin without a decent haircut. Forget the 10 Euro Cut&Go digs in Mitte and the super expensive beauty parlours in Charlottenburg. Daniels little hairdresser’s shop “D” in Prenzlauer Berg is the best place to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere, get a cool hair cut and the latest gossip about Mariah Carey. Appointment is strongly, recommended, but bear in mind that Daniels English is a bit “broken” sometimes. 

D
Schivelbeinerstrasse 47,  Prenzlauer Berg, U: Schönhauser Allee

See more pictures here.

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

The Blaues Band is “in the middle of Mitte”, as they say on their Website, but in contrary to what you would expect this is not an extremely “hip” place. I always go there when I want to have a relaxed coffee or a good, tasty dinner with no big chichi. And, to be honest, I mostly go there when I am too lazy to go any further, because it is just around the corner of where I live. It’s a place to chill and - until 2 p.m. - it is also a place to sunbath (afterwards the sun is gone). The only timeframe to get some excitement and a lot of people is on Sunday morning for breakfast (the breakfast is excellent!). Take your sunglasses and sit outside to watch who is walking by. It is a perfect place to check the latest Mitte look from Brit pop style to full metal piercing and all kinds of tattoo styles. On Sunday nights they have movie nights in the back of the restaurant (for those who don’t want to talk to anyone).

Alte Schönhauser Str. 7/8, 10119 Berlin, Tel. +49-30-28 38 50 99.

Opens at 10 a.m.

What makes Berlin so special is her pace. Berlin is a city, a capital city, a metropolitan capital city – but fall out of your window and the chances are you’ll not hit anyone. Cycle down a one way road the wrong way and the only danger you’ll encounter is a traffic policeman waiting to smugly lecture you to death. Berlin is slow. Every one strolls – not just the tourists. And in between strolls the citizens like to have a little sit down, stretch their thumbs flicking though a menu, or flipping open a bottle (it is essential to master the technique of opening a beer with a lighter, or your eyebrow). Time is quality. Spend it standing in the queue at the library waiting for the buerocratic registration process to unfold and you will experience the unlikely German luxury of watching time slip by. It will not wait, but so what? Where’s it going to go?  The shops will still be open when you get there.  If you need a tin of soup, toilet paper, a beer or chewing gum at one in the morning, visit your Späti or Spätkauf (late purchase) and place your order. In Berlin a hole in the wall is a little old lady who has opened her downstairs window to sell you a tub of ice cream for a midnight feast as you have no freezer. Just don’t get up early and try and go shopping for cloths or trinkets in Mitte, Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg or Prenzlauer Berg. If you need to be up and about before midday go brunching in a café that sells soups and hot chocolate, beer and wine and possibly the furniture your sitting on.  FYI: The german version of english breakfast is the so-called “Strammer Max”: Brown bread with smoked ham and fried egg on top. Or a Bauern-Frühstück: Scrambled egg with onions, mushrooms and sausage. Amazing. And not hurry – last orders are often not until 4 or 6 pm. 

People’s life in Berlin seems very calm and with ease. Without doing business on Sunday, everybody can enjoy more time for recreation. There is a park called ‘Mauerpark’ in the neighbourhood where I live and people spend a lot of happy time there. One day, after I finished work, I passed by the park on my way home. It was a late afternoon, but the day was still very bright in one of the long summer days with the warm coloured sunshine. I was stopped by happy music and couldn’t avoid following the melody. I found several people playing some music and though I don’t know whether the music was composed by themselves, or whether they just performed the works of others, the atmosphere attracted me a lot. Turning around, I could see some people doing sports, lovers strolling around, couples passing by with a baby trolley, dogs chasing balls… all that seemed like a big life performance on a long day’s afternoon. From the scenery you could see the time floating through the people…

This park doesn’t look anything special but a big grassland. The lawn cannot be seen as neat and the trees are not many. Yet, it diffuses an aura that brings people together, and it is just these people, who spread a spirit of tolerance and fill the scene with life.

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/.

If you have been to Berlin before I guess you have visited or heard of Dr Pong. You can find it in the heart of Prenzlauer Berg at Eberswalder Strasse 21. Grab yourself a bat from behind the bar and join in the killer ping pong. A great place to exercise your arm before painting the town red. Cheap beer, live DJs, and occasionally sports events are screened on a projector. Even if you haven’t made any arrangements for the nights antics ahead, its a good place to go and socialize to find out whats going on in Berlin.

opening times: mo-sa 20:00-open end, sun 14:00-open end

Look it up on google maps

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/

The fascination - and sometimes deep love - with our beloved city often comes from second and third sight encounters. A nice way for experiencing and therewith growing to our city are the meandering back- and courtyards you will find in all districts. So this is a general suggestion: If you walk past one of those large Berlin “Einfahrten” give a little hump to the door, and when you are lucky it is open. Have a peek inside, because sometimes a small universe of up to 8 (!) courtyards align like pearls on a string. Its here where you feel the inhabitants hearts pounding…and not all of them are as disney as the Hackesche Höfe.