berlin
Berlin—a fascinating hub of creativity that I love. Also, super Instagram friendly. Also, hipster heaven. I stayed in Mitte at Soho House. Just about every little street bordered by Torstraße and Auguststraße is worth seeing. The area is filled with hip galleries, trendy boutiques, and charming cafés. My favorite street in the entire city is Auguststraße—between the stores and restaurants, you could spend hours exploring it. There’s a really cool building that houses cafés, bars, and galleries, which was converted from a former Jewish girls’ school (Auguststraße 11-13). Nearby is Jahn-Sportpark where you can people watch, picnic, or check out some street art.
Jocelyn Fur: Similar Color
One of the most exclusive museums that I’ve been to is located in Berlin. Unless you have someone on the inside, reservations need to be made about half a year in advance or else it gets booked up. The gallery is called Sammlung Boros and I have to say that it’s one of the more interesting art exhibitions I’ve been to—not just because of the installation, but because the building itself is a former WWII bunker, turned into the old location of Berghain (crazy party club that still exists in a different location), turned into a museum with a penthouse where the collection’s owners currently live.
Berlin’s museum culture is insane. Each one located within museum island can boast about its truly impressive content—for me, especially Pergamon. Inside of it, you’re literally standing in the remains of ancient civilizations. The Hamburger Banhof museum is also a must—modern art/street art, and I was lucky enough to be there for a special exhibition that showed off art produced by artists persecuted for their work during the nazi regime.
The high end shopping is located in Charlottenberg. There’s an overly crowded tourist area at the beginning of the major street...don’t get dropped off there. But other than that, it’s a pleasant place to walk through for an hour with a glass of wine. It’s very different than the rest of Berlin as it’s more posh and family friendly, unlike the rest of the hipster oriented city. The other areas around Mitte like Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain are the latter—extremely hipster, cool to go out in at night, not much to see during the day.
Restaurants: Katz Orange, Alpenstueck (schnitzel, schnitzel, schnitzel), 3 Minutes sur Mer, Royals & Rice (Vietnamese), Kimchi Princess (Korean), Paris Bar (love German food, but French for the win).
Cafés: Pauly Saal (inside former Jewish girls’ school), The Store Café (first pic below), Café Maître Münch (Charlottenberg), Café Bravo (outside area amazing on a nice day, second pic below), anywhere on Auguststraße really.
Drinks: Clärchens Ballhaus, Buck & Breck, Tausend Bar.
Shopping: The Corner, The Stores (first pic below), boutiques along Torstraße.
