Berlin is an amazing melting pot of different cultures and a wonderful place to be! If you have a chance to go, you should definitely say yes. This article will offer you some not-so-traditional things to do and places to see in Berlin, so you can really get to know the city.
Free walking tour
Every day at 11 am, 1 pm, or 3 pm you can go to the TV-Tower on Alexander Platz and stand outside the Starbucks in the tower. Here you will meet a group of people from all over the world and your guide who will show you all the alternative artsy places in Berlin for free! I have done these tours several times and there is always something new to see. Most of the tour will focus on the best pieces of street art in Berlin – and that’s saying a lot for a city where every wall has a piece of art on it. There is also a chance the guide will show you a museum or two and some great art shops. I have even been shown a doll store once, where every intricate doll was made of edible chocolate. Be sure to have an AB metro card on you for this tour, so you can move through Berlin with ease.
Haus Scwarzenberg
The Haus Scwarzenberg is a little courtyard filled to the brim with art and culture on WeinmeierStraße. Here you will find the Anne Frank museum and the Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt in which Otto Weidt hid his Jewish workshop workers who were deaf, blind or both, during World War II. It is both fascinating and really scary to walk through the rooms where over 30 jews hid while the German police looked through the rooms outside. The Haus Scwarzenberg also contains a cinema and, most importantly, its walls are filled to the brim with art. On the second floor of the building at the end of the courtyard there is a store where you can buy art books or original art.
FreiluftsKino Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg is the area in Berlin where all cultures are represented. If you walk down the main street, AldabertStraße, you will find food from every corner of the world and see people of all countries. What Kreuzberg also has, besides its amazing food and its mixture of cultures, is an outdoor cinema. The Cinema is on MariannePlatz, which you will probably need Google Maps to find. On Mariannplatz continue down the gravel path and go behind the castle. There you will find a stand with popcorn, candy and beverages and 100s of deckchairs. Get your chair, find your seat and watch one of their many movies. You can find their full schedule here: http://www.freiluftkino-kreuzberg.de/freiluftkino_kreuzberg_english.php
Mauer Park
‘Mauer Park’ means Wall Park and is called this because the Berlin Wall used to cut right through the park. You can still see pieces of the wall throughout the park. What you can also see is hundreds of stalls with clothes, plants, furniture, pictures, skateboards, drinks and food – a lot of food. This is a great place to spend a Sunday, but get there early before the rest of Berlin arrives! Try to go into the corners of the stores, some of them continue much further back then you would think and the best things are often hiding in the back. When you go from the park to the station, you can stop and listen to one of the many street artists on the way.
Image 1: author's own
Image 2: https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoderek/4780823916
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