Two gallery walks with InterNations: Friday 26 April, and Sunday 28 April.
On 26 April, we ended up visiting about 14 galleries on the route.
Impressions from Berlin Gallery Weekend 2024
Category Archives: Berlin
My favourite city
Random photos from14 and 15 April
An early Sunday morning walk at Landwehrkanal and and photos from Monday morning when I was early for a breakfast appointment near the central station.
And another thing that (I hope) is peculiar to Berlin
While I am in the process of getting things off my chest: Here, rules are not rules. Everything is debatable. At least in flat-owners meetings (Eigentümerversammlungen).
The first time I came across this phenomenon was when the people who ran the café in the ground floor of my building asked for permission to install a cash withdrawal machine in the café. For some strange reason still incomprehensible to me, that had to be approved in the annual meeting of owners.
In what I have since come to see as a pattern, of course the answer was no, because the people who asked for this permission were not ethnic Germans. My first real encounter with racism in this country, described in more detail in this post.
In any case, the way these things go is: Year one: a proposal is made and discussed in the annual meeting. Year two: the issue is put to the vote. Year three: the issue is implemented. That is how long things take.
On to the next issue: BBQ-ing, or grilling, on the balconies. The first spring and summer I lived here I could not believe that that was really happening, and to what extent. Of course that only got worse during Covid, the level of home outdoor cooking increased, as did everybody else’s need for spending time on their balconies. For a couple of hours each day, we have to keep doors and windows closed to avoid that stink, which I have always hated, entering our flats and hanging in clothes and furniture.
When I asked our Hausverwaltung (“admin”) – years ago – whether that is really allowed, the answer was vague and wishy-washy – that as long as nobody complains, then yes. Pathetic. And since I am also an immigrant, I knew what the reply would be if I took it up in the owners meeting, so I did not bother.
In the meantime, after last year’s owners meeting, I decided that the atmosphere and tone there is so confrontational, hostile and toxic that I am not going to attend any further meetings. There is especially one person there who for some reason seems to have a lot of power, and each time I dare to open my mouth, immediately contradicts me, like a metaphorical slap in the face, before I even manage to finish one sentence. Being treated like that is a complete waste of time.
Now to the current issue. I have to have a window replaced, and it turns out that that requires a plate on the outside of the building to be removed in order to install the window, and then put back again. An incredibly stupid way of building buldings. Anyway, there is a rule, or so I thought, that basically, indoor repairs are paid by the owner, and anything facade related is paid by admin. So when I asked them who were to pay the cost of renting one of those ladders needed for this operation (between 2000 and 3000 euro) I was told to pay, and then take up the issue of a refund in the next owners meeting.
Will I bother, forget last year’s promise to myself, and give them the pleasure of interrupting me and refusing before I have even had a chance to make my case? Don’t be ridiculous. Not worth ruining an evening for.
Berlin is proud of its wildlife. Or is it?
There is an amazing wildlife in and around Berlin, from inner city to outskirts, and I have always thought it was a source of pride and joy to Berlin and berliners.
But perhaps that is just hypocrisy.
About a month ago, I discovered an injured female tufted duck on Landwehrkanal. There is a small mound of earth by the bank just across from Vivantes and the van Loon restaurant ship where a couple of swans, and now also this injured duck, congregate.
As can be seen in the photo, the duck has a badly broken wing.
Because of a concrete wall, the location is not immediately accessible, at least not to me, and I am quite sure that even if someone did manage to climb down, the duck would flee into the water. A net and perhaps a small boat would be needed.
As can be seen in the photo, the duck has a badly broken wing. She normally sits very still but sometimes goes to the edge of the water to drink, and when she is startled, she also goes in and manages to swim for a short while before coming back on dry land.
The first time I saw her, there were people there who said it had been reported to the relevant authorities. I have since been back about once a week, including yesterday morning, and she is still there, getting smaller and smaller and sitting more and more still. Dying a slow and, I imagine, agonising death.
On several occasions, I have reported it to two organisations pretending to concern themselves with wildlife rescue, and their standard reply is – we know – many people are reporting on this – we have been there several times and could not find the duck. We will try again tomorrow. And then nothing happens.
So much for Berlin’s love of its wildlife.
Relief – and recommending a dermatologist in Berlin
I frequently hear people complain that it is difficult to find a good dermatologist in Berlin. I found one before Corona and made a mental note for future reference: Dr Martina Ulrich @Dermatologie am Regierungsviertel. Unfortunately, they only take private patients. This is a reference to the – to me reprehensible – German “caste system” within health care, which I will get back to at the end of this post.
As a teenager and young person, I did stupid things in terms of sunbathing when we were not so aware of the dangers, and in any case, I have such fair skin that I should never have spent much time in the sun. But I did, and the result is more and more small moles and other signs of sun damage which I am no longer able to keep a proper eye on. Given that a full-body skin cancer screening is part of what my sickness insurance offers every two years, I decided it was time and made an appointment with Dr. Claas Ulrich in the same clinic.
I had been dreading it slightly, partly because I had heard that these screenings take forever, and also because the shock and panic from my breast cancer diagnosis in summer 2022 is still lurking right beneath the surface and whenever I think of screenings, although happy that I live in a part of the world where they are easily available, I fear the worst.
Dr Ulrich very happily and enthusiastically operates a brand-new scanner which he introduced to me as if it were his favourite child. The room it was in was not even completely set up for that kind of consultation yet, for which he profusely apologised.
The scanner sees EVERYTHING, and points out what merits a closer look by the dermatologist and a hand scanner. The whole thing took less than 45 minutes – and nothing even remotely suspicious was found.
If this is something you keep telling yourself to have done – do not hesitate. Better safe than sorry.
Note to self as a reminder about the recent visit from Denmark
(and perhaps also to the visitor, and to others looking for things to do in Berlin)
One of my two favourite teenagers came to stay for a weekend. (They are now 30 and 31 respectively, but I will always think of them as my favourite teenagers).
Anyway, on Friday evening, C caught an RB train from the airport (“Richtung Charlottenburg”) and arrived at Alexanderplatz station less than an hour after landing. Literally. A record, so some things are improving.
Catching up, planning the stay, sushi, cheese and an excellent orange wine from Georgia, which I had picked up at a recent wine fair out of curiosity after hearing how it is produced.
Saturday, breakfast in Beumer & Lutum across from the Jewish Museum.
Despite a relatively rainy and windy day, we did everything on foot, ended up walking more than 20.000 steps and nearly wrecked two umbrellas.
First to the German Spy Museum, followed by a pitstop in Café Maxim on Potsdamer Platz, before circling Neue Nationalgalerie (Mies van der Rohe) just to see it from the outside and peek into the giant ground floor space.
Briefly saw the Euthanasia Memorial next to the Philharmonic, but it was raining quite heavily just then. Onwards through part of Tiergarten and past Reichstag and Kanzleramt, crossing the river to Futurium. An impressive building but a bit of a disappointment inside. Clearly geared more towards school children. The Skywalk was closed “until spring” and we did decide that it might be worth going back to for that reason, not least since the entrance is free.
Lunch in The Cube Berlin, my favourite building in Berlin, before proceeding to the third and last museum of the day – The Cold War Museum which we both found very interesting.
Somewhere along the way I had decided that we would end up deserving the treat that (I think) dinner at NaNum is, and since it was still possible to book a table there, that was a no-brainer. Luckily, my visitor always was and still is curious and interested in almost everything, and this goes for food too, so she was game and really enjoyed it. Unless she was just really good at being polite, which is entirely possible :-).
Since NaNum is so close to where I live, we managed to get home and put our feet up before indulging in their seven or whatever courses and the excellent wine pairing menu.
The next morning, this was balanced off by a quick Sunday breakfast at home of just bread and cheese before setting off for Hansaviertel (C had expressed an interest in the Bauhaus/Interbau architecture) (walking along the Spree from Hauptbahnhof – no more rain, sunny but uncharaccteristically cold), and then a pitstop at the teahouse in the English garden, which is a shadow of its former glory but still a nice place to sit and people watch for a bit.
By the way, also in Hansaviertel, we discovered a church where an American gospel-type worship service was in full swing. This was the church, but I have been unable to find more about that specific event.
Then S-train from S Bellevue to Alexanderplatz and a walk along Karl-Marx-Allee to Frankfurter Tor with this conveniently placed Vietnamese Restaurant for a light lunch. U-Bahn back to Alexanderplatz and a quick look around the ground floor of Humboldtforum and a tour of their basement archaeological exhibit.
Then on to Kraftwerk to watch “Vektor” – a light and sound show by Christopher Bauder. Underwhelming, if you ask me, but moderately impressive and a convenient rest. And we were not many minutes walk away from the next convenient rest and a drink at Café am Engelbecken. Then the home stretch to my local Indian restaurant, Delhi6 in the southern end of Friedrichstraße. They seem to change owners quite often, and the food is sometimes very good and sometimes not so good. This time, I was not impressed. Still, it was nice, after more than 30.000 steps, to be quite close to home and a relatively early night for both of us.
Sunday morning another nice treat – breakfast in Frühstück3000, also very close by, on the square across from the Jewish Museum, and then a visit to Berlinische Galerie, virtually in my backyard (although unfortunately, there is no direct back-door passage :-)). Then a walk towards Tempelhof, across my local cemetery(ies), with a nod to the graves of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, his sister Fanny, and three (four?) other familiy members. Coffee in Café Blinis Espresso Lounge before reaching “the largest architectural monument in Europe” – Tempelhof Airport and a very interesting two-hour guided tour. Which, by the way, I had done once before (in a slightly modified version) – photos here.
Bus 248 via Bergmannkiez past Marheineke Markthalle with just enough time for a spicy chai in the ground-floor café of the building I live in, where Melek treated us to a taste of her date-banana-tahin loaf, on the house, before picking up C’s luggage and heading off to Alexanderplatz and an RB train back to the airport.
Quite a whirlwind visit with a lot of walking, seeing, eating, reminiscing and some good laughs, which I had been looking forward to and hugely enjoyed.
A walk through Park am Gleisdreieck to the area around Bayerischer Platz
(on my way to an evening class at VHS Charlottenburg Wilmersdorf)
Along this route, more or less, with detours once I got close to Bayerischer Platz.
I wanted to finally see at least some of this memorial. I don’t know how many signs I missed, but those that I did photograph are in the last block of photos.
The German bureaucracy is getting worse, not better
Final edit 27 February: “Happy ending” 🙂 – I found an HNO doctor who unlike the first one I went to is competent and friendly, and unlike the second one I went to has friendly receptionists who do not lie about what my insurance company wants and does not want. Ear infection, or whatever it was, is now gone. Dr. S. Schölzel, Bergmannstraße 5. Highly recommended.
We now have to bring our “Anmeldebestätigung” along when seeing a new doctor for the first time. Despite having lived here eight years and seen many doctors and one hospital, I have never been asked for that one before.
After having been treated for an ear infection unsuccessfully by one ear doctor and three different kinds of eardrops for a couple of months, I wanted to get a second opinion from another ear doctor and made an appointment with Herr Dr. med. Christian Scheiber in Leipziger Straße.
Having arrived there and filled in the usual two-three pages of blabla (that German IT angst again) and presented my passport and insurance card, I was asked to produce my “Anmeldebestätigung” and if I did not have it with me – go back home to fetch it. At some point, they even claimed that my insurance company demands it. (?????). That is a blatant lie. I am privately insured with JSIS – the sickness insurance for current and former European Union employees and have been since 1976. I think I would have known by now if that were the case. I even offered to pay the bill in cash then and there if necessary – but no, not good enough.
Due to gail-force wind gusts (accompanied by rain), I had already been almost blown off the pavement three times on the way there, so I was not about to make an extra return walk under those conditions. And – in a country whose motto seems to be “why make things easy if you can make them complicated?” – how could I be certain that when I got back there they would not lie about something else. Once a liar, alway a liar. I therefore left, telling them I would not be back and that they should just send me the invoice.
I am sure my “alleged” address is good enough for billing me, even if not good enough for treating my ear infection.
Hibernation, and VHS’s latest insanity
One of the advantages of staying indoors for three or four days is that you are spared the stupidity you without fail encounter every time you stick your head out of your own home.
But you are not safe from it. Quite apart from, against your better judgement, watching the news on Danish TV these last few weeks, here is my example from today, of the German IT angst/incompetence/paranoia/resistance:
Volkshochschule Berlin (VHS), which already has the most moronic system for searching, signing up and paying for courses (something they say takes years to change whereas anyone with the right IT knowledge say it would take them less than an hour), for some strange reason insists on calling me Heike although that is, for obvious reasons, not the name I have signed up with, and is, for even more obvious reasons, also not the name on the bank details I had to send them.
Weirdly enough, I only had to send the bank details once, although VHS is very proud of being divided into about twelve offices – one for each of the Berlin districts, and whether they ever speak to each other, or are connected in any way, depends on their mood and how the wind blows.
In addition to crossing out Heike and writing Helle very clearly on the attendance lists which I assume are sooner or later returned to admin, I have also several times e-mailed them and drawn their attention to the fact that they – on their own initiative – invented a new name for me.
I finally received a reply. Guess what: I have to not only send in an application for a name change (can you believe this – I repeat: THEY invented that other name for me – no I?). But wait for it: I have to send an application for a name change to each of the districts in which I am signed up for courses.
I wish I had not e-mailed them. Before, it was not even all that important to me. Now, with that reply, I am really p….. off.
It is not immediately obvious from the above tsunami, but words actually fail me.
Someone ought to introduce IT and computers to them – properly, and real software to replace the kind of Mickey Mouse software they seem to be using currently.
I am more inclined to stop going to any of the courses I am now signed up for, and make sure I never see or hear or read anything about that brain-dead institution, or is it those brain-dead institutions? ever again.
And people wonder why I hate people.
Added 25 January:
A person wearing a Wattenfall coat turned up at our respective doorsteps and rang our doorbells and knocked on our doors insistently. I finally opened thinking it must be an emergency, but he just introduced himself as coming from Vattenfall and only wanted to know who is my electricity supplier. Which is in fact Vattenfall. Which seemed to come as a surprise to him.
??????????????????????????????? Does Vattenfall also not have real computers? And if they do, are they using the same Mickey Mouse software that they seem to use at Volkshochschule?
For my favourite foodies and myself – a list of “high-end” restaurants to try
I actually prefer Asian food, but once in a blue moon (and when I am feeling rich) I find it interesting to try a “higher end” restaurant, perhaps with one or more Michelin stars or ambitions in that direction, and luckily, I know two others here in Berlin with the same interests.
We often talk about restaurants and decide to “add them to our list”, but up to now, this list has only existed in our heads.
This the start of a more constructive approach:
(I will add links soonest)
Bonvivant
Bostich
Bricole
Chiaro
Ernst
Facil
Faelt
Freundschaft
Glaserei, Mehringdamm 49
Heritage, Charlottenstraße
Il Calice
Kink
Lagalante Ristorante
Le Faubourg
Lode & Stijn
Lorenz Adlon Esszimmer (Interior apparently a bit too classic, but the chef should be really good)
Loumi, Ritterstraße 2, seems to be doing well on an address where many others have tried and given up. Would really like to try this one. EDIT: We did try this one, and found the food and wine excellent, novel, and the service personal and friendly, BUT it took far too long, especially in the beginning we waited much too long between courses, which meant that towards the end of the meal we were annoyed and just wanted to get out of there and did not really enjoy the last two courses the way we should have done.
Macionga
Mored, Münstersche Straße 11, Wilmersdorf, opened December 2023, would very much like to try this one.
Nobelhart & Schmutzig (a vegetarian, Michelin-starred restaurant in the southern end of Friedrichstraße which only Helle would like to visit – the others not so much :-))
Osteria Ribaltone
Pars
Pink Room (?Added by Helle, See more under Random notes)
POTS
Prism
The NoName
Tulus Lotrek
UUU
Volt
RANDOM NOTES:
Mark your calendars! On September 21st a new fine dining restaurant, Pink Room, will open inside the Bellboy Bar in Mitte. The concept promises to be unique – a Levantine-Japanese 9 course omakase menu, curated by Michelin-starred chef Gal Moshe and Bellboy’s head chef Paris Katsampis (formerly of Nobu). The drink pairing is also distinctive, combining cocktails, wine and sake. Japanese egg custard with Chilean Sea Bass and Arak Beurre Blanc, anyone?
Mohrenstraße 30, Thu-Sat From 18h