theberlinguide:

Tegel Airport to be Blocked by Taxi Drivers

If you’re flying into Berlin next Monday, 15th June, you might find it a little tougher to get into the city. Taxi drivers are staging a strike at Tegel airport from 9am to 1.30pm, before heading down to their protest rally at Brandenburg Gate. They’re protesting an new fifty cent tarif for pickups and drop offs to the city’s airports (Tegel and Schoenefeld). While they can demand this back off passengers, they are worried that this, combined with the general taxi fare increase...

June 12th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

The Sony Center

The Sony Center on Potsdamer Platz is usually considered one of the must-see sites in Berlin, and it generally caps off my First Evening in Berlin Tour for visitors. The Sony Center looks like it was pulled straight out of an anime dream of Tokyo. It’s a glistening complex of glass and steel which stands out in a city of four-storey stone. And it looks better at night, so much better at night. The centre is a collection of seperate buildings around an oval platz and decked with a sail roof...

June 9th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

What do you tip in Germany?

This is a common question for tourists and the simple answer is: you don’t have to tip anything. Unlike the US, with it’s miniscule pay for wait staff, Germany’s waiters and bartenders get a real paycheck at a decent rate. It is considered polite to tip, howver, if the service and food has been good, but this is usually only a rounding up of around 10% and it is not at all a requirement. The German rules are that tax and service is included in the bill. Recently, AFP has reported...

May 27th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Restaurant Kuchen Kaiser

These days the “Cake King” of Kreuzberg (map) is more Bar than Bakery, but a decent place for kicking back in the summer weather, grabbing a bite to eat or a drop to drink. The Restaurant Kuchen Kaiser has an impressive history – although it’s not really it’s own. Founded in 1866 at the site it is now, Kuchen Kaiser was a large bakery/cafe which had Berlin’s first ammonia refrigerator and it’s first revolving door – out of which many customers and staff...

May 25th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

60th Anniversary of the Luftbruecke

Today, May 12th, marks the 60th anniversary of the end of Berlin’s Airlift. From June 1948 until May 1949, West Berlin was sliced off the rail and road supply lines by the Soviet Union, which was trying to gain control of the rest of the German capital. In a momentous effort of infrastructure and logistics, the Allies flew enough food into the city to keep the population going – over 200,000 flights kept this first act of the Cold War in check. In celebration, today Tempelhof Airport...

May 11th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

The Ankerklause: Cafe Bar of Nautical Kitsch

I only just realised I’ve been writing here for a year and have completely failed to cover one of Berlin’s most famous landmarks – Die Ankerklause. This cafe/bar lies just south of Kottbusser Tor, right on the Landwehrkanal and is almost an institution. It’s a place you can still find that grungy Berlin feel, a place that hasn’t changed or gentrified over the last decade, and a place that is still one of the most popular destinations on a sunny day for people who just...

April 21st, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

The Siegess

It is one of the more well known of Berlin’s landmarks – a tall column topped with a golden winged Goddess of Victory. The Siegess

April 16th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Return of the White Asparagus

It’s that time of year again. The seasonal foods calendar has swung it’s pointer squarely onto the much loved local specialty: Spargel (Asparagus). The first harvest was proudly announced on the news this weekend, which means that shortly Beelitzer Spargel -from the area of Beelitz south of Berlin- will be appearing in our supermarkets and on our menus. My mouth is watering already. As I described last year, the Weisse Spargel is grown under the ground and you can recognise the asparagus...

April 7th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Call a Bike: Useless for the Casual Tourist

There’s a rent-a-bike scheme here, and a few other German cities, run by the Deutsche Bahn during the warmer months of the year. Cleverly named Call a Bike, it works on the principle of having bikes randomly around the city that you can just grab when you need one… say, when it’s 3am and you’re not sure you can walk straight enough to get to the next U-bahn station. The principle is sound enough, and it’s fine for locals, but I don’t think it functions so well...

April 5th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Fries and Mayo

As Pulp Fiction told the rest of the world, Europeans eat their hot chips with mayonnaise, and it actually is a surprisingly good mix. Now I would personally encourage everyone to head over the The Netherlands to really sample the fatty joy that is Pommes mit Mayo, but we do have a few popular Imbisse (take-away stands) who have made potato-driven cuisine their product of choice. Fritz & Co. is one of the more well know in the city. It’s a little hut on Wittenbergplatz but don’t get...

April 4th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Let’s Meet Under the World Clock

Alexanderplatz isn’t a really friendly place. After the destruction of World War II, the area was rebuilt into one which would be car-friendlier. Which explains it’s large roads and somewhat barren landscape. On the other side of the train station to the television tower you’ll find an open square with some shopping possibilities, a surprisingly large and somewhat ugly fountain and the World Clock (Weltzeituhr). The World Clock dates from the late 1960′s when the entire area...

April 3rd, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Alte Nationalgalerie

One of the cluster of museums on Museumsinsel, the Alte Nationalgalerie is home to the nineteenth century masters, with an emphasis on the German contribution to this age of art. It is a dignified, elegant nineteenth century building which beautifully compliments the paintings inside. Starting at the top floor you pass through Classicism and Romanticism, including large collections of the German artists Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Caspar David Friedrich. Schinkel is far more famous for his architecture...

April 1st, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Staatsoper Berlin

For getting a bit of culture into you, there’s not much that can beat the opera. Getting dressed up, hobnobbing with a champagne in hand and listening to buxom ladies belt out famous aria’s is one of those must-have experiences. So why not have it in Berlin? We have three opera houses after all. Yes, three. The Staatsoper Berlin, the Deutsche Oper and the Kömische Oper. Culture here is taken very seriously. Most people are thinking of the Staatsoper Berlin when they talk about the...

March 30th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Spring pleasure at the Lustgarten

It’s almost here, the Spring. I heard the first chirping of the migratory family buskers this morning, wandering up my street with accordions and trumpets and serenading the balconies in the hope of a few tossed Euro. A sign more reliable than the appearance of crocuses that Spring is definitely on it’s way. Once the weather gets warm there is one place in the city were you’ll find tourists sunning themselves on lawns, recuperating from their sightseeing march across the city- the...

March 27th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Hosteria Blumenladen: an Italian Pearl

I must admit, when friends invited me along to this little Italian place next to S-bahn station Friedenau, I was slightly skeptic. A restaurant in an old florist on a train line in the gentrified West? My concerns were unfounded however, for this is truly a hidden pearl. They offer a daily changing menu so as much as I would like to encourage you to the octopus entree I had -perfectly tender meat served with fresh fruit and risotto- it probably won’t be there tomorrow. My wild duck main, with...

March 23rd, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Weinbar Rutz: Star Chef & Stuffed Stomach

A friend of mine is on a quest to eat at all of the Michelin star restaurants in Berlin, and probably all those elsewhere as well. Just between you and me, I personally think he suffers from Gourmand Syndrome and this crusade for the world’s best food will drive him to destitution and despair. Of course, I could be exaggerating. The upside is that I’ve at least got someone willing to visit these top notch restaurants with me and a few months ago we made it along to Weinbar Rutz in Mitte. Under...

March 20th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Twins Score Over the German Legal System

Admittedly this isn’t really traveller info… but it is the kind of local news that you want to tell people about, and it makes for a funny anecdote to take home with you. In January this year the department store KaDeWe was broken into. Sometime on that weekend thieves got into the building over a portico and into the ground floor. Once there they stole jewellery from the company Christ, who had a newly opened store-in-store, to the value of several million Euro. Demonstrating the brilliant...

March 19th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

The Oscar Wilde Irish Pub

Happy St Patrick’s Day! Many years ago I spotted a poster advertising Guinness which went along the lines of “Your mother’s brother’s uncle’s best friend’s former roommate’s dog was an Irish Setter? Close enough!” So let’s get out and celebrate, hey? Now, admittedly, I tend to avoid Irish Pubs when travelling. You’re here to experience the local life and culture, right? Sure, it’s one place you are guaranteed to find native English...

March 17th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Lindenbräu: the Sony Centre’s German restaurant

Here’s the thing about Potsdamer Platz: It’s big, impressive, a major tourist destination, and a terrible place to hang out. It’s just not built for casual lounging, especially in the winter when winds whip through the Sony Centre and make the entire experience somewhat frigid. So when people ask me where they should go out for dinner, I tend to encourage them towards other areas of town. But a few nights ago I wound up at Potsdamer Platz with a tourist who was after German food....

March 13th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More

Pankow’s most disgusting restaurants

There’s a new restaurant reviewer in town: the Health and Safety Office of the suburb Pankow. Last week, for the first time, they published on the web a list of restaurants that made the grade of completely disgusting. It’s part of a “Smiley” campaign, where restaurants that rank the top in cleanliness get a nice little sticker on their window and those that don’t reach basic hygiene standards get publicly nailed. A large number are Asian restaurants or take-aways. Many...

March 10th, 2009 | Berlin | Read More