Waldeinsamkeit: the feeling of solitude that descends when you’re alone in deep, quiet woods. (And also one of the loveliest German words, don’t you think?) Berlin is ringed on all sides by the state of Brandenburg, whose rural terrain and small, parochial towns are a pretty stark contrast to the über-cool capital city. It’s quite […]
Monthly Archives: August 2013
Meet Your Meat // A chance encounter with Wilmersdorf’s Salami-Mann
All last week, work took me out to a corner of Wilmersdorf that I’ve never spent much time in, but was happy to have the opportunity to explore. One more thing I love about Berlin: The city never feels either too big or too small. I can stay bound to the little village that is […]
Florida Eiscafé // Berlin’s oldest ice cream shop
Like so many things in Berlin, the humble ice cream shop has undergone something of a transformation in recent years, a kind of trendy yuppie-fication, if you will. Think: minimalist design interiors, fancy espresso machines, and ingredients like tonka bean, gorgonzola cheese*, and artisanal cocoa sourced from some far-flung corner of the Caribbean. But for […]
A wee tour of Berlin’s historic public toilets
If there’s one thing that unites the people of Berlin, it’s that we all, every now and again, have to go to the bathroom. Public toilets were once a mainstay on this city’s streets, the most famous of which is the cutely nicknamed Café Achteck, or “Octagon Café.” A bit of architectural history unique to […]