We had a fun week. We saw more of Berlin, met some interesting people and made some friends along the way.

Doreen and Logan have been enjoying their new fitness studio. Logan loves the kids club and other children that come while Doreen loves the all-female/spa-like environment. For the first time Doreen took one of the Cyberobics classes - a staple at John Reed clubs. It works like this; you attend a class with a prerecorded trainer, from someplace else in the world, giving you instruction on the specific regiment you selected (sometimes in German and sometimes in English). Doreen opted for California beach Pilates and was only 1 of 2 in the class which has a life-size floor to celling screen. She said it reminded her of Melinda Chambers as the instructor shouted “scoop…scoop,” from half a world away. Classes include cycling, aerobics, kettle bell work, etc… It’s very German in the fact that it has a digital element, techno music soundtrack, and you can workout without having any interpersonal interactions.

Chad’s adventures this week were filled with meetings and networking. Berlin has a vibrant startup culture that Chad was introduced to a few weeks back. Last week one of the local founders introduced him to a network of other founders and requests for meetings and interviews have been frequent. Two of the interviews this week sent him on a new U-Bahn and then S-Bahn [U-Bahn = Subway, S-Bahn = Above Ground Train] route to the heart of Kreuzberg. Over the last weeks we have heard all kinds of rumours about Kreuzberg. Most of these stem from the fact that Kreuzberg is the heart of counter culture in Germany and also an underlying fear from the locals of the large migrant population. One such rumour was that on May 1st, people riot in Kreuzberg because it’s a holiday that allows people to riot. We’re not sure if these is true but we will find out soon enough. Regardless this was an awesome opportunity to explore the area, meet new people and bring along the film camera for some B&W shots that Chad’s been looking to get. The Kodak 400MX B&W film takes a week to develop so keep an eye out on Instagram for those images later this week.

All the back and forth to Kreuzberg this week get the family thinking this should be our weekend adventure - explore a new area of Berlin and learn more about it (maybe take part in a spontaneous riot). 

Kreuzberg [colloquially known as X-Berg] is a fairly new suburb of Berlin. The suburb was formally recognised in October of 1920 when the Greater Berlin Act incorporated a series of villages into 20 distinct suburbs. In 1821 the Prussian National Monument for the Liberation Wars was erected on a nearby hill in the area commemorating the Napoleonic Wars. Kreuzberg literally means cross hill, and was often an area for vicious battles during the 18th and 19th centuries when the Prussians were fighting for control of the area. The 1860 industrialisation brought a need for housing to Berlin as it was growing rapidly. This once rural area became the staging ground for mass construction to house the working poor. WWII brought devastation to the area and post war the rents were regulated; making investments in the area unattractive to developers. The 1960s brought immigrants, students and counterculture to the area due to lower rents and proximity to the city centre. 

In the 1970s this area was well known as the Punk Rock Capital of Europe bringing in many famous groups to headline at the Club SO36 - David Bowie and Iggy Pop were frequent guests. In 1987 the Kreuzberg zip code of SO 36, hence the name of the aforementioned club, started to become very violent in retaliation to the wall and the corresponding punk rock scene. Club SO36 rivalled New York’s famous new-wave CBGB club - in part because the local violent reality surrounfing Kreuzberg. In the years since, African, Turkish and LGBTQ culture have played a significant role in shaping the modern day Kreuzberg. Today Kreuzberg is Brooklyn on steroids, with a hint of German nationalism, and a full dose of “…we don’t give a shit about [Fill In The Blank].”

Having recognised earlier in the week that Kreuzberg is less thug and more urban yup-ster [Yuppie meets Hipster - Jay Ratchford Patent Pending) we ventured into the Kiez to see what we could find. First on our list was a cool market in the heart of the original burough called Markthalle Neun. Housed in an old community building from the late 19th century, this market looked like anything you would see in San Jose, Brooklyn or Denver these days. The place was full of tasty cured treats, men with long beards drinking beer in tight jeans, and artisan craft makers selling their wares. We elected a good old fashion American inspired BBQ plate to share which was devoured in less then 5 minutes. As we walked around, we tasted various meets and cheeses, Turkish inspired treats and Italian style cuisine. We filled our backpack with goodies from multiple stands and headed out to take a walk around the area.

As you can imagine, being in the counter culture hub of a city that is known for it’s graffiti, we saw a ton of skilled pieces along our walk.

On our way back we stumbled across a summer beer garden that looked like something out of Mad Max, and an old church at the top of a park leading to the main Kreuzberg square. 

St. Thomas Kirche [Church] was originally built in 1865-1869 and was the largest church in Berlin. At one point it was the largest congregation in Western Christian culture. At the end of the long park was an old square that was built in the 1860s with the Kreuzberg industrial expansion. In the 1920s there was a tragic fire which is memorialised with an art installation that has a strange Disney vibe.

As we headed to our train station we ran across a cool memorial to Bruno Alfred Döblin; a famous German novelist. His most popular work, the 1929 Berlin Alexanderplatz, is frequently noted as one of the 100 best works of literature of all time. Alfred was born in what is now Poland, towards the beginning of the industrial revolution in Germany, and lived through WWI & WWII; only passing on in 1957 at the age of 78. Alfred has been lost to history a little bit because his literary counterparts were Kafka, Mann, and Grass. However, Alfred served as a Doctor In WWI and then as a propaganda writer for France (where he was a dual citizen) in WWII. In the 1940s he also worked for MGM writing scripts for major motion pictures. The site of the memorial sits on an unused and abandon U-Bahn station which was constructed and then moved for the major department store (the rival to The Wertheim Department Store mentioned in last weeks posts) in the Kreuzberg area.

As we finished our walk back to the Mitte district, we took a moment to enjoy the beauty of the Märkisches Museum U-Bahn stop.

Sunday was a day for us to take it easy and enjoy a bit of Spring weather. Doreen found a wonderful market just North of our flat where food trucks converge every Sunday in the Spring and Summer. This market, The Cultural Brewery Museum, is a beer garden, open air market, movie theatre and modern art museum in one location. The courtyard provides a perfect setting for the open air food truck market (complete with techno music playing in the background) while the buildings are refurbished from the 19th century original market where patrons would bring their horses to get shoed, clothes to be mended and other services of the time.

We enjoyed some great treats, a few beers and a nice walk home to close out the week.

Next week we head to Copenhagen for Easter and Doreen’s Birthday.

Until then, we wish you all well!