Berlin- recommendations, tips, things to do and see, clubs and bars etc

my mate is djing in berlin at the weekend, as it happens... at this:



he's cottam.

'Use of weapons', eh? Well, well, Contact aren't even trying to hide it now.

Don’t come unless you’re ready to tear the place apart. This balls-out club makes use of a two story abandoned house, featuring original WG interiors, a ping pong table on the ground floor, and whatever zany decorations go up for their one-of-a-kind weekend parties.

oooh, now, I might go along to that actually that's a pretty nice venue....

But will you be ready to 'tear the place apart'?

with my teeth

nightclub in hyped up bullshit shocker.

it sounds pretty awesome tbf.

and the bar25 is reopening.....as kater holzig.....

http://www.katerholzig.de/

looking forward to this!

i think it's open already!!! certainly there have already been some events there - it's meant to be quite good

Rightyoh. Last night's multimedia show went down very well and worked. All 7 minutes of it. It has been recorded, so I may post something here another day. Basically, 10 'screens' of water vapour displaying scenes from 'Diary of a Lost Girl' for people to walk into PJ Harvey - We'll Float, as music. Everybody fucking loved it

I want to know...

Cheaphostel that isn't agest?
Where has all the alternative stuff gone to?

If I wasn't making money I would be in one of those deckchairs in Alexanderplatz smoking and drinking whilst enjoying the architecture and bottoms walking past, but I'm not on holiday - I'm looking for alternative scene type stuff. Not gay/lesbian necessarily - just new and different. Any tips folks?

Well, Stan, by the time saturday night rolled around I was too exhausted to do anything but lie on my bed. So you might be better off asking some of those wretched young people. . .

where's your show Stan - are you doing it again?

sitting in deckchairs at Alexanderplatz certainly doesn't sound very alternative! have you been down to Neukoelln. plenty of alternative life down there...
no idea on non-ageist hostels tho...

It was in Westkreuz/Charlottenberg (sp?). I have contacts here. Haven't had the cash, or time to get out to my favourite areas yet. Possibly staying around a couple of weeks and might try and get away with an impromptu street projection one night before I leave. I'll post details here if I get the opportunity. I was very happy with the way it worked.

Old B&W German film - Diary of a Lost Girl - projected onto 'walk through' screens of water vapour with PJ Harvey as backing music (We Float). There was lots of spectrumy prettiness going on also which I wasn't expecting. Very, very beautiful and magical. If I don't do it again here, I will do it in Granada.

A strange thing...

The Brighton, Berlin, Granada triangle!!! I know so many people who have lived in all 3 cities. Why is this? Well, they're all relatively cheap party cities. Only reason I can think of.

Belushi's/St Christophers/Oasis hostel.

Just don't people. Don't. It is by far the worse I have ever come across. The fact they change their name so often says much.

It got worse.

After paying €55 plus deposit for the smallest single room in the world, I was disturbed at 11am whilst taking a shit. Quick knock on the door and in comes the cleaner before I have a chance to shout out.

Then I take a shower. Whole room flooded. All of my clothes that were still on the floor got soaked.

If I was just paying €18 for a bed in a dorm without a bathroom I wouldn't be complaining, but this is pretty fucking disgraceful.

Stan, this is Berlin's guardian bear deity telling you to get out of town by giving you a hard time, obviously.

Yep. Think I'm heading to Hanover to make some much needed cash. It just isn't happening here.

Try Cologne - AFAIK they like artists, and there are plenty of hostels to choose from.

If I survive tonight, whatever cash I have left tomorrow evening buys a ticket towards Hanover.

I have seriously had enough of the sunshineless summer.

Think I give up on Russia and head back south from here.

Berlin has been fun as ever mind

For those who like longish walks...

This is a fabulous day walk at a very slow pace. A couple of hours if you need to.

From Kurfurstendam, Zoo (the old West centre) you can make your way to Alexanderplatz (the old East centre) taking in loads of attractions. Pretty much a direct route - just keep heading towards The Tower!

Through Tiergarten (makes Regnts Park and Central Park look like very tamed urban spaces). The Tor, Brandenberg gate, Reichstag, Old bit of wall etc etc etc. It is a great way to get a good feel of Berlin in a day.

Think that is my only tip :?

And don't be surprised, if the day is warm, if you see naked sunbathers in the Tiergarten.

Also, if you do the full route Stanley says, you can scope out which of the "attractions" you'd like to visit at greater length, such as the various museums on museum insel. Plus, if you're flagging before Alexanderplatz, you can have a sit down on Unter den Linden or, a bit further on, in the Lustgarten (not as pervy as it sounds, unfortunately ). I love Berlin, not only for the accessible transport, but also for the copious amount of street benches!

Read the thread(s).. excellent suggestions - has anyone got any suggestions for this Bank Holiday weekend specifically? Or where I might find out?

zitty.de (use google language tools, if you must)
exberliner.com
toytowngermany.com

Thank YOU!

Some photos from the recent weekend:



That's the Brandenburg gate, natch. Down the road is the Holocaust Memorial:



I can see what the artist was trying to do with this - as you walk in amongst the blocks it feels like the walls are closing in on you

What she failed to realise is that some people (e.g. the majority of the tourists I saw there that day) have no respect, and use the memorial as convenient seating, or as a climbing gym. I told off some Spanish tourists for precisely that reason. Not that you can make any impression on people like that, of course.

I was kinda conflicted over the fact that kids were running through the maze of the holocaust memorial, when I was there. Obviously people eating their sarnies on it isn't quite as sentimental, but perhaps similarly polarising. I found it to be far more of an interesting space to 'experience' than I'd expected (the way the floor varies, once you're 'inside' it, and the depths that creates) and would have quite liked to have had a more contemplative atmosphere. But on the other hand, it also felt appropriate to have kids playing in it, in a way. I dunno.
Obviously this is a load of trite middle-class shite and all that, but there you go.

Not really. I'm not exactly middle-class (by any stretch of the imagination!) but I felt much the same - narked because there were people flolloping around like it was a kiddie assault course or a load of benches, but also pleased that there wasn't that off-putting air that so many memorials have, that oppressive faux-solemnity that gets projected onto people who visit them.
I'll probably visit it again next month when we're in Berlin, and feel just as "conflicted" as last time.

i thought that the memorial was very good, we came at it from the s/w i think, which seemed to be a quieter part of it, and i found the undulating columns and rows of slightly symmetrical, and slightly similar, but different, shapes quite mesmerising and quite moving, when you stood there and realised what prompted its creation. it was difficult to see what anyone could have done anything more appropriate imo, particularly when we got to the tourist trap of reichstag and surrounds.

for clubbing you can check on resident advisor...

http://www.residentadvisor.net/events.aspx?ai=34