Ich war ein Berliner – Part 3
Take a bite
There are quite a lot of so-called traditional places where you can taste some of the German cuisine, but I guess that at least for a tourist, eating out at certain places actually upgrades the whole experience. Even the food doesn’t necessarily have to be that good.
One such place is the Konnopke’s Imbiss, where they sell the local typical dish of Currywurst (A sliced sausage dipped in ketchup and heavily powdered with curry) for almost 80 years now. To be honest, I’ve tried a number of these Berliner hot-dogs in a number of very popular places, but I couldn’t tell the difference. Still, I think it’s fun eating it while believing to mingle or getting some of the atmosphere. Check out “Best of the Wurst” (2004) by Grace Lee for some wurst-inspiration.
Only a few dozen meters from the popular stall under the Eberwalder-strasse U-Bahn station, and you’re at Prater, Berin’s oldest Biergarten (Beer garden). This kind of outdoors bars is more common across Germany than one can imagine, and for a good reason. It’s obviously better to visit during summer time, but even in winter it’s a cool place to spend an evening in. They do serve food, but this place is meant for beer.
Another popular dish, claimed to be originating from Berlin, is the Döner – what we Israelis would regard as Turkish-style Schawarma. But obviously there’s some difference. You can find the Döner almost anywhere in the city, but unfortunately the best one I had (for a number of times) is located in a rather remote part of the city. apart from the location, by the York-strasse S-Bahn station, there’s simply nothing bad I can say about Hisar.
After hours
If there’s one thing that people come to Berlin for – but can’t remember a thing from it the next morning – is this city’s nightlife scene. You can simply find everything you look for in this city, and although my acquaintance with this aspect of the city is rather brief, I’ll try to offer two different options.
Not far from the Ostbahnhof, one simply amazing place is Berlin’s renowned Berghain/Panorama-bar. What used to be an engines factory turned into a HUGE parties platform still drawing its “charm” from the freaky industrialized building. If Fritz Lang’s Metropolis pops up your mind once you step in, flow with that – and have another drink.
If you prefer not moving that much, another option would be checking out the cinema at the Hackesche Höfe. Well, actually, there are two (or three?) of them, but this one’s going for the more discreet one called Central Kino. Unlike the majority of the cinemas in Germany and also in its multi-cultural capital, this homey and somehow alternative cinema offers quite a variety of English-language/subtitled films, both new ones and oldie classics. Note the initials by the movies’ titles: OF (for Originalfassung) and OV (Originalversion) both stand for Original Version, and OmU (for Original mit Untertiteln) means the movie has subtitles, in some language. And one more tip, this cinema’s Kinotag (cinema day) are Tuesday and Wednesday where you’ll be charged only 5.50 euro instead of 6.50 (or 6 if you have a student card).
And for those of you who are more into the elite culture this city has to offer, pay a visit to the opera or the orchestra. You’d be surprised to find tickets for the finest concerts and the best known productions (like Aida, in our case) for almost the price of a cinema ticket. For example, at the breath-taking Staatsoper Unter den Linden, or at one of the world’s best orchestras, the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Berlin – Do it yourself
Other options for exploring the city would be, the bus lines 100 and 200 which do a round trip through the city’s landmarks; walking in the streets – with or without a map -
is always a good thing to do; but Berlin’s highly-efficient mass transportation system offers an intriguing vibrant underground world with colorful stations, traveling preachers and talented musicians bagging for money. And speaking of which, consider buying the daily, weekly or monthly pass to make it a lot more flexible and worthwhile travelling through the city.
And in case you’ve had enough of the German diverse capital but didn’t run out of escapism, a number of airlines, operating from the city’s two airports, connect it with numerous destinations around Germany and across the continent, many of them for less than a train ticket, making sure it’s also afforadable to come back.
