weekend markets.

06/11/2011 – 2:21 am
voodoo market

It seems as though Berliners love a market. Art, design, craft, flea, farmer, slow food, Turkish, book, sweet food, ‘voodoo’.. every weekend offers the prospect of a different market to explore. Being in Berlin for months at a time has allowed us to sample all the different markets usually held on each weekend, so here is a sampling of some we have visited.

Mauer Park Flea Market
We started our marketeering at the famous Mauer Park flea market in Prenzlauer Berg. To be honest, it’s overrun with tourists and it’s extremely hard to navigate through the stalls. We went in August, so the whole market space was heaving with people. Instead of stopping and sorting through all that was on offer, we had no choice but to go along with the flow of people traffic moving through the narrow walkways.

mauer park flea market

mauer park flea market

Boxhagener Platz Weekend Markets
Boxhangener Platz in Friedrichshain offers a much more pleasant market experience, as the market stalls are formed around one square rather than sprawling across a large area. On Saturdays you can experience the farmers market, which offers high quality fresh produce, flowers, good coffee from the mobile Passenger Espresso, fresh juice, turkish food, bruschetta… you get the idea! The perfect way to spend some of your Saturday. The flea market operates on Sunday, with the goods on offer being a lot more “curated” than Mauer Park (ie. instead of mountains of crap, only mounds of crap that are easier to sift through). There are a lot of restaurants and cafes that proclaim they are famous for Sunday brunch, so you’re bound to have a pleasant day in Friedrichshain.

boxhagener platz farmers' market
boxhagener platz farmers' market
boxhagener platz farmers' market
boxhagener platz flea market
boxhagener platz flea market

The Turkish Market in Kreuzberg
The Turkish Market along Maybachufer cannot come more recommended from friends and other bloggers and when we finally managed to explore what was on offer, we can see why. Fresh produce at cheap prices, piles of Aladdin shoes and materials, fresh pita wraps, cheeses, and most importantly, 1kg bags of olives for 3 euros!

turkish markets in kreuzberg
turkish markets in kreuzberg
turkish markets in kreuzberg

Markthalle Neun
The lovely old Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg usually caters for specialty markets that are less frequent. On separate occasions we went there for a Handmade Market and a Sweets Market. Both promoted ethical and sustainable ways of local business, although I must admit that we dropped a lot more euros supporting the cause for chocolate, cakes and brownies than crafty goods. Keep an eye on their website for what market is coming up new right here.

markthalle neun in kreuzberg
handmade market at markthalle neun
naschmarkt (sweet market) at markthalle neun
naschmarkt (sweet market) at markthalle neun

Voodoo Market
The list of markets could go on and on so I’ll just mention one more: the Voodoo market. They don’t operate often, but they try to break the traditional mould of what you have come to expect at a market. When we went in October, it was held in a nightclub with trippy neon lights and wall/ceiling decorations. What you’ll find in the stalls is a mixture of second hand and handmade clothing/jewellery, art, design, food, interior decorating stalls, art workshops, music workshops, djs and so on.

voodoo market
voodoo market
Tags , , , , , , , , | Category Uncategorized | Permalink | Comment (0)

teufelsberg: the devil’s mountain.

12/10/2011 – 1:55 am

Before we arrived in Berlin we knew that we wanted to make a trip to see Teufelsberg, German for ‘Devil’s Mountain’. If you look at any Berlin urban exploration website, there’s a good chance it’ll include Teufelsberg as a place to go. After the WWII air raids, rubble was removed from the city to be transformed into the ‘mountain’. Following that, during the Cold War, the Americans used the site as a listening post to spy on East Germany with audio equipment. However since spy bases are no longer needed, the place has been left to the elements and some squatters.

We sought advice from friends about the best way to see Teufelsberg, and the general consensus is that security in the area has recently increased. Not too keen on being caught just to take some photos and do some exploration, we found one guided tour that takes you to the site so we emailed the organisers of the tour and secured a place one drizzly Sunday.

With cameras charged and rugged up in layers, we worked out which public transport route we would need to take to get to the outskirts of Berlin and meet up with the tour. Unbeknownst to us, there were extensive rail works operating that day and a lot of train lines were down so we had to make a few more train changes and ended up arriving at the meeting point 15 minutes late.

When we arrived at the designated S-bahn stop for the tour meet-up, there was no one around. After waiting 5 minutes and approaching a completely different tour group, we decided to take the plunge and hike up to Teufelsberg ourselves and hope for the best. We had the help of Google Maps to help guide us in the direction of the summit and after about 30 minutes navigating through light woodland and up a slippery undulating footpath, we could spot the ominous white patch domes towering over the treetops above us. Dreading the thought of how to scale the cyclone fence, we soon found a driveway with a security guard standing at the entrance. We explained that our tour left without us so he gave us passes and we were escorted into the grounds, up a flight of stairs and into the vast concrete space to join the group.

The photos tell the story from this point onwards but it is worth mentioning that inside the dome at the very top of the main tower, we came across a group of people chanting and moving around the space while some played instruments. Apparently David Lynch had been in negotiations to purchase the land on Teufelsberg with plans to erect a university dedicated to Transcendental Meditation in 2007 (see http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,517873,00.html) , so this may explain what we witnessed on Devil’s Mountain that day.

Tags , , , , , , , , , | Category Uncategorized | Permalink | Comment (0)

unplanned berlin.

15/09/2011 – 5:31 am
Lazing on Museum Island - Bron

Since arriving in Berlin we haven’t really planned our days too much; using the ethos of “whatever we feel like doing today”. We are here for a few more months and the weather is either London like (aka dreary and cold) or beautifully sunny and warm. Berlin comes alive when the sun comes out. The parks are filled with people soaking up the last of the sun before winter arrives.

Today we decided to let our feet take us somewhere new. It started with us walking down Karl Marx Allee past the Frankfurter Tors and the large apartment complexes built after WWII. We kept walking until we came to Volkspark, known as the oldest public park in Berlin. It has a plethora of amenities including tennis courts, a restaurant, wading pool, theatre, war monuments, beach volley ball courts, bouldering walls and skateboard park. However the real point of interest became the two small mountains, which are destroyed bunkers filled in with rubble from destroyed buildings in 1946 after WWII. Amazingly some of the flak tower and bunker ruins are still visible, poking through the forest which now covers the space.

Flak tower remains 1949 - Wikipedia
Flak tower remains 2011 - Mark

A last minute invite on Sunday resulted in having a leisurely brunch with our housemate and his friend. After food and coffee, we decided to explore the flea market at Boxhagener Platz just around the corner from our brunch spot. Unlike the Mauer Park flea market, which is over crowded and goes on for kilometers, this market is nicely-sized and somewhat “curated”, as a friend described it. After a full circuit of the Platz we all ended up with something: I picked up an acoustic guitar, Bron found a tiny Pentax Auto 110 (possibly the world’s smallest SLR), our housemate also found a guitar and his friend found a vase.

Market wandering works up a thirst so we stumbled upon a Russian cafe/bar and sipped on mojitos for the rest of the afternoon until we decided to grab dinner at a local Sri Lankan restaurant. All in all a wonderful day spent with new friends and topped off by a decent German thunderstorm and lightning show.

There is an incredible amount to see here. Here are a few photographs of our adventures over the last week or so. We hope you enjoy viewing them as much as we enjoy taking them!

-mark

The Tacheles - Mark
The Tacheles - Mark
Exploring Volkspark - Bron
Volkspark - Bron
The S-Bahn - Mark
Exploring the abandoned rail yards - Bron
Abandoned rail yards - Bron
Berlin Wall Freedom Park - Mark
Berlin Wall Freedom Park - Bron
Abandoned building - Mark
The Sunday Boxhagener Flea Market with friends - Bron
Adam pondering - Mark
Soviet war memorial (Treptower Park) - Mark
Soviet war memorial (Treptower Park) - Mark
Exploring Treptower Park - Mark
On the walk from Kreuzberg to Friedrichshain - Bron
Reading by museum island - Mark
Architecture along the Spree - Bron
Hats - Mark
Friedrichshain on a weekend - Bron
From Friedrichshain to Kreuzberg - Bron
The wall - Mark
Locks on a bridge in Mitte (a week later they have been removed) - Bron
Along the Spree - Bron
Small Chair - Mark
Aunt Benny - Mark
Walking to Kreuzberg - Bron
Tags , , , , , , , , , | Category Photogram | Permalink | Comments (4)

on finding good coffee in berlin.

04/09/2011 – 12:02 am

On our trip, finding decent coffee has been equally important as seeing the sights of each place we visit. Now that we’ve been here for a little over one week, we’ve visited enough cafes to compile a little list that we would recommend to anyone in search of good coffee whilst in Berlin:

The Barn

This was the first cafe we visited, and it felt like we were back in Melbourne. There was a group of Australian backpackers in one corner and most of the staff were speaking English with each other. What’s nice about the cafe is that it does its best to support the Slow Food movement through its use of fresh food and single origin beans.  If you do go, make sure to also try a Portuguese tart, or carrot cake or chocolate tart, etc..

Auguststraße 58, Mitte

http://www.thebarn.de/kaffee_e.html

the barn - bron
chocolate tart : flat white : carrot cake - mark
a flat white at the barn - bron
the barn - bron

Five Elephant Coffee

Though a little bit off the main drag, finding Five Elephant was like Indiana Jones picking the real holy grail at the end of The Last Crusade. At the back of the store they roast their own beans and every day make fresh cakes and tarts. On the day that we went there, Berlin was a hot & sticky 32 degrees so there was nothing nicer than sitting under a shady tree, sipping on a strong coffee and devouring a berry and lemon tart…until the bees started to attack. Later that day I received my first bee sting on our balcony (apparently the bees here are naturally quite aggressive). So for the record, I can now report that sitting inside on the wooden benches is also pleasant.

Reichenberger Straße 101, Kreuzberg

http://fiveelephant.com/

the view of kreuzberg from five elephant - mark
five elephant - mark
inside five elephant - bron
coffee roasting at five elephant - bron

Passenger Espresso

We found this coffee shop by accident when we went to the farmers’ market right near our apartment in Friedrichshain at Boxhagener Platz. To our surprise the little coffee cart had a list of drinks including a ‘flat white’, which became the perfect accompaniment for wandering around the organic food stalls. Needless to say, we jotted down the name and a few days later walked to Kreuzberg to find the fixed address and enjoy another flat white.

Fixed Cafe: Oppelner Straße 45, Kreuzberg & Mobile Coffee Cart: Boxhagener Platz (every Saturday at the Boxhagener Platz Farmers’ Markets)

http://passenger-espresso.de/

passenger espresso at the boxhagener platz farmers market - bron
passenger espresso - mark
kreuzberg street view - mark

Bonanza Coffee Heroes

It sounds like they don’t take coffee seriously, but that would definitely be a misnomer. The Heroes roast their coffee beans on site and take great care in serving you a fine cup of coffee. When we visited, Oderberger str. was in the process of being torn up and there was a lot of surly workmen milling about, which made it difficult to get inside the cafe. However once we got our shoes muddy and collected our coffees, the end result was sublime.

Oderberger Straße 35, Prenzlauer Berg

http://www.bonanzacoffee.de/

coffee at bonanza coffee heroes - mark
summer views at bonanza coffee heroes - bron

Undoubtedly this list will grow as we continue to explore Berlin in the coming months so keep a look out for part II!

- bron x


Tags , , , , , | Category Photogram | Permalink | Comment (1)

finding our bearings* in berlin.

30/08/2011 – 9:16 am

Since our last post we have said goodbye to London and an ‘oh hai’ to Berlin, where we will call home for the next three months. We had already organised to stay in an apartment in Friedrichshain, quite close to the centre of the city, so as soon as we arrived we were able to explore the neighbourhood as locals rather than as tourists.

One of the most dominating sights of the Berlin skyline is the Fernsehturm (the soviet TV tower) which can be seen from everywhere (including the view from our balcony!). Because London was non-stop with doing the touristy things, our first days in Berlin have just been walking around at a much more leisurely pace (see the photos below as a sample of our first impressions of Berlin).

After a few days, it appears that we need to acquire 3 things in order for Berlin to feel like a second home:
1. buy bikes to ride everywhere
2. find a cafe nearby that serves decent coffee
3. learn some german

..only then may we be able to say: ‘ich bin ein berliner!’

- bron x

* nice pun, eh? because the symbol of berlin is a bear.. ohohoho

the soviet tv tower - bron
the berliner dom on museum island - mark
map man near the zoo - bron
navigating with a moleskin - mark
the boxhagener markets on a saturday - bron
motorbike in Mitte - mark
outside our window - bron
outside a jewish cemetery - mark
farmers market in friedrichshain on a saturday - bron
a sunday on museum island - mark
exploring kreuzberg - bron
berlin summer spent in the park -mark
exploring kreuzberg - bron
bikes in berlin - mark
berlin window views - bron
urban decay/growth - mark
Tags , , , | Category Uncategorized | Permalink | Comment (1)

a gastronomic adventure.

22/08/2011 – 7:04 pm

On Saturday we headed to Borough Markets for a foodie adventure. Armed with Pimms in plastic cups, we spent a while wandering through all the stalls waiting for the rain to pass. I picked up some mushroom pate and contemplated smuggling a tub of olives but they would’ve been difficult to take through the tube. When it became clear that the rain was going to continue, we made our way to the Tate Modern down the Thames where shortly after a quick walkthrough, we were met with warmth and sun. Possibly more unpredictable than Melbourne weather..?

Jumping forward a few hours, we were walking around the Seven Dials area and finally had our first decent coffee at Monmouth Coffee Co. Hurrah! After a couple of hours of shopping we were in need of some dinner. Lisa, who we’re staying with, recommended Spuntino on Rupert street in Soho so we thought we’d go try the food there (their official site doesn’t have much information so here’s a review). The place had dirty rusty walls, dingy lighting and a surly man sitting next to us who looked like Afrika Bambaataa.. the perfect mood for food. As soon as we sat down they took our drink orders and placed in front of us a little tin mug filled with chilli oil-drizzled popcorn. Incredible! I have no photos from our meal there as I was too absorbed with the lovely Italian/American-style tapas we had. So the best I can do is give you a list of what we consumed:

  • popcorn drizzled with chilli oil
  • eggplant chips with fennel yoghurt
  • zucchini, mint and chilli pizza
  • deep-fried stuffed olives
  • chocolate, pecan & whisky cake
  • strawberry & coconut eton mess
  • pale ale & gin fizz

- bron x

arriving at the borough market
ilove olives
foodies at the borough market

foodies at the borough market

paella men
fish at the borough market
borough market seafood
pimms o'clock
the final stop at the borough market
at the tate modern
sunshine at the tate modern
having a flat white at monmouth coffee co.
Tags , , , , , , | Category Uncategorized | Permalink | Comment (0)

Jet Laaaaag.

21/08/2011 – 7:19 pm

So we flew from Melbourne to Doha. Doha to London. Doha is a relatively new airport in the middle east. 6am and 36 degrees….

We were terribly jet lagged after flying for 24 hrs and as London was raining we decided to check out the British Museum. They have the rosetta stone and a heap of Egyptian artefacts. Given I have always had a fascination for this I enjoyed it a lot! After walking through room after room I do wonder how much is left in Egypt???

-mark

Doha Airport
Kuwait
Garden Dinner
British Museum
British Museum
British Museum
British Museum
British Museum
British Museum
British Museum
Tags , , , , , | Category Uncategorized | Permalink | Comment (0)

Next stop… London.

16/08/2011 – 5:58 pm

So the time has finally come! London awaits. For my camera friends these are to tools (or toys) we will be documenting everything with – mark.

20110816-055727.jpg

Tags , , , , , , | Category Uncategorized | Permalink | Comment (0)

and so it begins..

09/08/2011 – 1:48 pm

20110809-122207.jpg

Hello everyone! This a blog so we can both share photos and updates while we are traveling. On Friday we both finished our jobs and I’ve flown up to Brisbane to help mark pack before coming back to Melbourne departing for London next Tuesday. We will be posting more things once we leave so be sure to check in! x

- Bron

Tags , , | Category Uncategorized | Permalink | Comment (0)