What to see in Berlin, Berlin blog

Wladimir Iljitsch Uljanow, known to most of us as Lenin, was one of the most influential politicians of Soviet comunism . He was responsible for the founding of the Soviet Union and the October Revolution of 1917. His political activity and ideology was very polarizing. At first, fighting for the emancipation of the working class he found many followers, but once in power his extreme ideals were no longer supported by the general public. The revolutionary turned into a dictator and found himself in and out of exile. Still, even after his death in 1924, he remains a historical Russian icon.

Several monuments were built in his memory and his honor in Russia, other Soviet Republics and other Communist states including former Eastern Germany.

One of them stood almost 20 meters tall in Berlin. Created by Russian artist Nicolai Tomsky it was placed on the Leninplatz which is known today as the Platz der Vereinten Nationen. But soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 many of the Lenin statues and monuments were torn down as a symbol of liberation of from the Communist regime. This monument´s destruction is one of the best known examples of post- wall iconoclasm. It was broken down into 129 pieces and buried in the woods outside of Berlin.

The question what to do with the parts of the monument has caused and still causes controversies amongst politicians because now the head – which alone weighs 3,5 tons – is supposed to be part of the exhibition “Enthüllt. Berlin und seine Denkmäler“ (Revealed. Berlin and its monuments). Dealing with monuments honouring anything Socialist remains a hot topic of discussion. Organizer of the exhibition Andrea Theissen has her eye on the prize and wants it to be part of the project. She does not anticipate political resistance against her plans. She also adds that if the Lenin-head is permitted in the exhibition its excavation will not start until next year.

Even 20 years after the Fall of the Wall we can’t seem to let go of the past. Whether or not Lenin’s head will be part of this exhibition Berlin has many other sights and venues remembering Germany’s history, including former Eastern Germany, for example Checkpoint Charlie. However the German capital is not just interesting for history nuts. Rent apartments in Berlin and find out what more this city has to offer.

There are two theories of the origin of the term Flea Market. The first comes from the observation that flea markets tend to be very crowded and the people -buyers and sellers equally- seem to be very active, just like fleas. The other theory claims the term comes from the fact that some of the items sold are infested with fleas because they switch owners often more than once. Either way a flea market is the type of market where all types of second-hand goods are sold. It can be indoors or outdoors. Most of the time you can get anything at a flea market from extravagant, antique, curious, weird, cute, etc.

Generally speaking flea markets are not very profit oriented. Often they are even charitable. For some it is an opportunity to get rid of old things that they didn’t have any use for anymore, others go there to find one of a kind items at a bargain price. The mere rush of bargaining about a price and winning the battle is sufficient motivation for some to go to a flea market. When I was a kid I used to sell my old stuff at this children’s flea market and I always ended up spending the majority of my hard-earned money on something that I found there.

The special thing about items sold at a flea market is their value. I am not talking about money here because flea markets are known for cheap prices but personal or emotional value. Everything you can get there belonged to someone else before and maybe at some point it meant something to them so everything comes with a little story. All the vintage lovers out there love to shop at flea markets and second hand shops. And that’s exactly where the “marketing strategy” lies: The better the story the more money you can demand for this item. And it gives the buyer the feeling that he just purchased something really special to a really good price. To summarize it all a flea market provides good material for some funny or interesting stories.

Germany’s capital Berlin has tons of flea markets in every neighbourhood that are definitely worthy of checking out. If you are not interested in buying anything take a stroll through the flea market to check out the cozy atmosphere and later continue on to some real shopping at the KaDeWe. To save some on the accommodation rent Apartments in Berlin and discover the city.

The breakup of a relationship should mean a step forward in your evolution: you are taking the liberty to choose something better for your future. It is proof of the fact you know when to end things that are no longer working. Unfortunately, sometimes you can be depressed after you finally decide to leave your partner. You feel low, you’re sad no matter what others do to cheer you up, you can´t concentrate, you’re sensitive and you feel like crying all day, all you want to do is sleep and forget about what happened.

Life goes on. Fight depression!

Breaking up with your partner is not the worst that can happen to you, is it? Do you remember the bad days you´ve had, when everything goes terribly at work and you argue with your family, or when you discovered that your best friend lied to you? Or that day you didn’t even have money to buy food? If you could get through those moments, then you can fight depression. Fighting it is difficult but not impossible. It affects your body and your soul, it changes your state of mind.
Begin by thinking that worse things have happened to you in the past and try to find the humor in these sour times. For God’s sake, you’re smart and you have the power to begin again. Accept that you’re facing a depression but don’t waste time complaining about your situation.

Cut connections with the past

Even if you feel tempted, cut connections with everything that could remind you of the bad moments you passed through. It’s very important to know exactly what caused this situation, as being aware of the roots of your depressions will always help you understand things better and learn from the past. So let’s say your ex- partner calls you and suggests you should at least be friends. Maybe he or she is right, but try not to answer the phone until you get though this difficult situation and you have your head sorted out. No phone calls, no e-mails, no messages- this is what you need.

And remember, no drinks or pills will make you feel better, but a friend ready to listen will always be a great help. If you need to change of pace just take a plane towards Germany, rent accommodation in Berlin and forget about everything, but not about taking care of yourself.

If you have a TV at home and you enjoy an evening on the couch watching TV I’m sure there is at least one TV series that you watch on a regular basis. Whether daily or weekly a series usually has recurring characters that you often start to identify with or at least sympathize with and a plot that unfolds in a manner that makes you want to watch episode after episode. You don’t have to be a couch potato to get a little upset when someone disturbs you while watching your favourite show. There are different types of series, for example daily soaps. Quite recently there have been a lot of series –mostly American ones- that take place in hospitals or have some kind of police force as main characters.

Perhaps you prefer watching movies? You can watch movies at home or at the movie theatre, but no matter where you choose to watch them at the end there is clarity. Except that lately, the film industry is obsessed with making a sequel for every even slightly successful movie. In movies the whole plot usually unfolds in a matter of 120 minutes and when it ends you don’t have to wonder about what is going to happen in the next episode.

I will let you in on a little secret. My personal guilty pleasure is a show that airs in Germany. It’s called “Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten” (German for Good Times, Bad Times). It’s a daily soap that’s been around for over a decade. It tells you all about the daily struggles and drama of the people living in a neighborhood in Berlin. Of course it includes tons of relationship problems and it tries to pick up on current problems in society. Whether this is done successfully is still questionable. It is shot at a studio in Berlin and also on location. For example one of my friends used to go to a school where they shot school scenes for the show. I’m not proud to be watching this show and I would certainly not call myself a fan but there is something about the show that makes me want to tune in every night at 19.40h.

Also based in Berlin is the movie “Berlin Calling”. It tells the rather crazy story about a Berlin DJ Ickarus who after touring the world tries to work on a new album, suffers from psychosis due to his excessive drug consumption and ends up in a mental institution. It takes the viewer on a crazy tour through the electronic music scene in Berlin. The story line is funny and tragic at the same time. The main character is played by real-life DJ and Producer Paul Kalkbrenner who is also responsible for the soundtrack. Some of the places were scenes for the movie were shot include famous clubs in Berlin such as Maria and Bar25.

Whether you are a fan of daily soaps or have weekly movie nights with your friends Berlin is an amazing city that is worth exploring. Movies and shows based there will only make you more curious about the places you see in them. And if you rent Apartments in Berlin you will have a great and cheap place to rest up or recover from any activities you plan on getting into in the German capital.

There is Berlin, and there is Berlin in summer. After months of cold and dark, Berlin residents open their doors, take out the tables and chairs and begin to enjoy the good weather like people in very few places know how to do. One fun example is open air cinema, something of a tradition in Berlin. One of the oldest and most widely known of these open air cinemas is called Freiluftkino which can be found in the bohemian neighbourhood of Kreuzberg.

Every year the Freiluftkino projects the best of domestic and international films, new releases and classics at very accessible tickets in the most comfortable environment you can imagine- outdoors on a warm summer’s night! This year’s season begins the 30th of April with a screening of the movie “Neukölln Unlimited” (2010) a re-examination of the new multicultural reality of Berlin, hip-hop and immigration, and will finish the cycle the 30th of June with a screening of “Shutter Island”

Stand-out movies from this year’s programme include Lars von Trier´s Antichrist, Tarantino´s Inglorious Bastards, Lee Daniels´ Push and even the must-see Avatar. This is the perfect chance to see all the important films of the year you haven’t had a chance to see, as well as all the prize-winners of Deutscher Filmpreis. All films will be screened in their original language with subtitles in German, and German films will be screened with English subtitles.

To get to the Freiluftkino Kreuzberg you can take the underground to the stop U- Bahn Kottbusser Tor. Normal ticket prices are 6.50 euros, but bonus packs are also available if you want even cheaper tickets. For more information on programming check out the web page: www.freiluftkino-kreuzberg.de

If you have never had the pleasure of seeing a movie at an open air theatre, we can say that you still really haven’t lived. Few things are as romantic as a night of dinner, German beer and open-air cinema. If you rent apartments in Berlin, you can see for yourself. Come and enjoy this great tradition which joins cinephilia with the pure pleasure of being caressed by a gentle summer breeze.

The exhibition Early Years which opened in the KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin in January takes us to Poland, where contemporary art and museums and other cultural institutions are reaching new heights.
For a few decades now contemporary art has been going through hard times.

The common criticism it has been coping with is that it has become an elitist practice, which is too complex and has, therefore, completely lost its social relevance. But criticism has also been levelled at cultural institutions. Since the 60s, they have also been confronted with reproaches concerning their policies and practices, and even their social and cultural influence has been called into question.

Nevertheless, the outlook in Poland is totally different, where contemporary art benefits from a wider understanding and acceptance. And as if that weren’t enough, new museums and other cultural institutions – be it private or public- are emerging and opening their doors to a public hungry for new art. This tendency is evident with the construction of a museum of contemporary art (Museum of Modern Art in Varsovia) in the Polish capital.

The show at the KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin wanders through the fields of institutional self-reflection, seeing the birth of a museum, which not only has to face the conflicts revolving around contemporary art, but also be aware of the institutional critique and the collapse of the economy, that has affected the cultural field as much as the business world. We are facing hard times, yet Poland proves that art and museums can still come forward and that it is a question of redefining and being receptive towards the insecurities and changes of the moment.

The early years of an artist describe that magic moment, which initiates every artistic journey where naivety and the fear of the unknown merge with the immense creativity of the first artistic experiments. The show tries to look at the present events in Poland and the birth of a museum from the perspective of the early years, that unique instant where everything is possible, and aims to help in the process of reframing an institutional identity in collaboration with polish emerging artists, like Wojciech Bąkowski, Yael Bartana, Tania Bruguera, Oskar Dawicki and Daniel Knorr.

This fresh exhibition sets a new and encouraging outlook for the arts and cultural institutions such as museums. Because right now we are in need of optimistic and constructive visions, rent apartments in Berlin until the 2 of May, and bear witness to a new turn in the cultural world.

Size matters, and in the world of nanotechnology, smaller is better.

Nanotech is basically all about technology (microchips and robots) that is measured in nanometres. A nanometre is tiny – one billionth of a metre. Self-washing clothes, a microscopic mobile phone lodged under the skin, perfume released in steady doses throughout the day, surgery performed by microscopic robots injected into the blood stream – no more scalpels.

All of these things are not science fiction, they are on the way to a store near you.

The Good:
We are already using nanotech, of a sort. Drug delivery through patches has been around for a long time. Some of you have probably quit smoking using nicotine patches. Products in development include clothing that is impregnated with something resembling a USB port. These recharge your gadgets while you walk, using the power generated by your own body. We have nano-socks that use embedded technology to repel bad smells. A couple of years back, the wiperless windshield was unveiled and the same water-resistant technology is now used in swimsuits and other clothing. Why you would want your swimsuit to be dry when the rest of you is wet is anyone’s guess, but for around $50, it’s yours. Nanotech is being used in cancer research: Particles that greatly enhance the effects of radiation therapy are looking promising, as are the microscopic robots that are being built that can be injected into the body to destroy cancer cells, and possibly diagnose disease.

The Bad:
How do you like the idea of inhaling an army? The use of nanotech for destructive purposes is a very real possibility. The sad reality is that most of the resources for research and development are devoted to the military. This is where we got GPS and a host of other everyday applications. As well as the possibility of hundreds of billions of tiny robotic soldiers being released into the air of a city near you, there is also the Grey Goo. This sounds like something out of a 1950s B-Grade sci-fi flick, but it has been a hot topic on the table of Nanotech Ethics Groups for years. The problem is this: Nanobots are designed to self-replicate. This is not always the case, but on the battle-field, it is the only way to prevent ending up with a bunch of dead soldiers (or a bunch of deactivated tiny robots). If they are designed to self-replicate, ethicists are concerned about nanobots sweeping across the world like locusts, destroying everything in their path and leaving nothing but Grey Goo.

The Future:
Scientists have already successfully introduced nanotechnology into living cells.
Advances in miniaturisation means that within the next couple of decades, a single cell will fit up to 2500 transistors. This can mean everything from self-healing (eternal life, anyone?) to self-destruction, depending on who is doing the implanting. Nanotechnology may be the key to truly sustainable energy, global cleanup of all pollutants, atmospheric cleanup of greenhouse gases and materials that are not only biodegradable, they actually eat themselves. Nanotechnology may also be the key to destruction on such a widespread scale that the planet as we know it now will be changed forever. It may also lead to unheard of diseases, side-effects and problems that we not only cannot solve, we cannot even imagine.
Like all human technology (from fire, to the wheel, to nuclear energy), this is both a great leap forward and a huge risk. Those who say we are dangerously playing God ignore the fact that perhaps this is the goal of evolution: To bring a species to a point where it can control it’s own evolution and determine its own path. Which way that path will go is our choice.

A country that is especially known for their research in science and technology is Germany. Looking for some ‘Deutsche grundlichkeit’ or are you interested in knowing more about nanotechnology? Berlin is where it’s all happening! Apart from that this is a very dynamic and young city. Rent the best apartments in Berlin and enjoy your stay with us!

The actress Romy Schneider will be forever remembered in her role as Sissi, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. However, she was also a celebrated star of French cinema. The Museum für Film und Fernsehen in Berlin presents the exhibition ‘Romy Schneider. Vienna – Berlin – Paris’, an overview of her career.

She was only 17 when she made her appearance as Sissi, a role about which she later would say: ‘Sissi is sticking to me like glue’. She turned her back on the German film industry and moved to France. She received various César awards for her roles in French films, but somehow her life would always revolve around Sissi. Both women hated the roles they had to play in the public life: Sissi that of the court, while Romy was sick of the paparazzi. Both lost their son at an early age. Sissi’s only son, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, committed suicide when he was 30 years old, while Romy’s son David died in an accident at the age of 14. He punctured his femoral artery trying to climb over a spiked fence.

Elisabeth (Sissi’s real name), was murdered by Luigi Luchen in 1898. He stabbed her in the heart and she bled to death. But life was hard on Romy too. She never got over the death of her son and began to drink heavily, and later became addicted to sleeping pills. It is believed that’s what caused her cardiac arrest 10 months later, at the age of only 43. She is buried in the small village of Boissy-sans-Avoir, France.

The exhibition runs until end of May. It will unite photos from Romy Schneider’s private life, press photo’s, as well as costumes, movie posters, and much more. A film series accompanying this exhibition is planned for the spring of 2010.

Come and discover the beauty, the diversity and talent of Romy Schneider. Admire her in some of her glorious roles, like that of Hélène in ‘The things of Life’, Marianne in ‘The Swimming Pool’ and Marie in ‘A simple story’. Rent the best apartments in Berlin, and discover who Romy Schneider really was.

Do you remember that there once existed a kingdom in Europe called Prussia? It’s capital was Berlin, and it included parts of modern day Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Russia. The state became abolished alter World War II, since it was seen as the source of all evil. In Germany, people from the south sometimes still use the word Saupreiß (literally: Stupid Prussian) to refer to inhabitants of the North. But that doesn’t mean that all history should be forgotten. This year, it is the 200th anniversary of the death of Prussia’s most beloved queen: Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776 – 1810). In her honor, the Charlottenburg Palace presents the exhibition ‘Luise. The Life and Legend of the Queen’.

Luise was said to be extraordinary beautiful, and when she was 17 years old she married the crown prince of Prussia: William Frederich III. Their life was far from easy, since at the time of her reign Prussia was at war with France. They had to move from place to place, while the Prussian army was fighting Napoleon. Luise had 10 children, of whom 3 died in childhood. Her daughter Charlotte was to become the next Empress of Russia.

But why was she so special? What made her so loved with her people? She maintained loyal to her husband and his people, but what gained her most respect was her resistance to Napoleon. After the battle of Jena in 1806, in which more then 28,000 Prussian soldiers died, Queen Luise personally visited Napoleon I at his headquarters in Tilsit (Russia) to ask for peace. Of course he didn’t give in, but this gained her enormous popularity and respect among her people. When later Napoleon tried to destroy her reputation, it only made her even stronger.

The exhibition will be held from 6th march 2010 until 30th May 2010, in the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin, where she is also buried. More then 200 paintings, sculptures and historical documents will give us a look into the life of this remarkable woman. It includes masterpieces by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Johann Gottfried Schadow and Christian Daniel Rauch.

Luise died at the age of just 34, most probable from pneumonia. She became a symbol of virtue and hope, and her husband established the Luisen-Order to honor her. Don’t miss this chance to discover the woman behind the myth. Rent the best apartments in Berlin, and dive into European history.

As everybody knows, the at world has always had a close-knit relationship with drugs, even long before art was what we know it to be today. Many artists, in order to stimulate their creation and inspiration, have grabbed all kind of substances to create their works. Mind-altering drug effects make artists open their minds with the purpose of finding new plastic forms.
This phenomenon is more common and known in contemporary art. Great artists such as Modigliani, Manet, Degas, Gauguin, Miró, Andy Warhol, Basquiat or Damien Hirst (below) made their best pieces of work under drugs effects.

A type of drug for each time
Each time has its favourite drug. For example, artists in late 19th- and early 20th-century in France were addicted to absinthe, due to its psychoactive properties. According to the myth, Van Gogh, drunk on absinthe, cut off the lower part of his left ear lobe and handed it to a prostitute named Rachel, asking her to “keep this object carefully”.

LSD and other psychedelic drugs were the favourite for Joan Miró, for instance, who used them to induce into hallucinogenic status, in order to create art through revealing the subconscious. Heroine was –and still is- a fetish drug among artists, especially for people like Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Detoxifying in a museum
This matter is interesting and extensive enough for writing a doctoral thesis, but the fact is that my intention is to report on the original initiative carried out by the KW Institute for Contemporary Art of Berlin and the Hotel Marienbad, which offer a drug detox residency for all those with drug dependency problems who are professionally related to the arts. Therapeutic guidance and medical care will be provided also for free. In return, artists must offer some public events (exhibitions, performances, conferences). This project is called ‘Cold Turkey. An Invitation’. Very suitable name…

If you have planned to take a short trip to Berlin in April, visit the museum and see the works of artists that fight to overcome their problems. Book Apartments in Berlin. Your wallet won’t suffer and you‘ll enjoy you stay.