All stories about "Berlin"

Every Berliner loves the Weinerei, that kitsch little bar by Weinbergspark, where the so-inclined can drink endless glasses of cheap rosé and then throw €5 in a fishbowl and stagger home. But what about the wine connoisseur more interested in quality than quantity? Germany's vineyards are well known for producing Eiswein, a labor-intensive delicacy made from frozen grapes and Riesling dessert wines with peach, pear, apricot, and apple aromas. But wine bars and cellars in Berlin also stock vast quantities of French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese wines that pair perfectly with even the heaviest entrées. So skip the beer, and save trips to the Weinerei for the end of the month. Many of these locales also offer tasting events, where wine lovers can sip Pétillant and discuss the prädikat. Here's a quick roundup of wine cellars and bars around the Weinerei for all you oenophiles.

LP stores in Berlin are a dime a dozen, but being a former New Yorker, I am admittedly one of the few people in Berlin who clutches an iPod as if life depends on it, even in my own apartment. So I enlisted the proven expertise of two local DJs who spin together as Tanzpartner (dance partner) to give you a rundown of the best plattenläden in town. All these stores also stock CDs, so don't sweat it if you don't have two turntables and a microphone. Whether you crave dub reggae, drum n' bass, or that catchy whistling intro from Peter, Björn, and John, you can find it here. Or, if you just want to immerse yourself in Berliner kultur and sample all kinds of techno, from minimal to trance, then there's a record store and a music scene in Berlin for you. Rock on dear reader.

When did tischtennis (ping pong) grow cool? Its roots in Berlin go back to 1899, when the first ping pong verein (club) was established. Members were of the "upper crust" and may have been cool. But the current ping-pong furor seems to be riding on the coattails (or legwarmers) of the 1980s fashion craze (or the upcoming Balls of Fury). "But the 1980s never went out of style in Berlin," you say? True. But in the actual 1980s, ping pong was for squares, something of an underground hobby played on ping pong tables in people's basements.

As with all cosmopolitan cities, Berlin offers an ample selection of wild but run-of-the-mill world-capital nightlife: legendary nightclubs and trendy lounges where the young and successful (or at least hopeful) flirt and drink pricey cocktails. The style, patrons, music, and cocktails are akin to similar scenes across the globe. But then there is the other Berlin, the Berlin in which Berliners live, create, dance, and naturally, party. These are places from which the average local late-night reveler stumbles home. They have color, character, verve, and, as usual in Berlin, history.

Everyday on Gridskipper we give you a new map. Some are new, some are fetched from our archive, newly updated. Happy Gridskipping Another favorite in the Berlin pastiche of "multi-kulti" is Indian food. Though certainly not as popular as Arabic and Asian cuisine, India's curried stews and lentil soups have a tender place of their own in Berlin's heart. Once again, spicy dishes are prepared to suit fearful palates, so expect a kind of simulacrum of Indian cuisine. Follow the map for some genuine, lovingly made dishes. But if you like hot, be sure to make that clear when ordering.

A sunset that's literally out-of-this-world [Andrew Sullivan]
“Fly Derrie-Air” campaign Philly newspaper’s own practical joke [USA Today]
London sees the Second Coming of Zeppelin (airships, that is) [UK Times]
Berlin’s Schlosspolatz square will house a temporary “White Cube” exhibition space [Spiegel]
Airlines charging fatties an extra weight fee: fact or fiction? [Drudge]
Rusty bridge slows Amtrak service between NYC and Beantown [Jaunted]
Get ready for a heat wave New Yorkers [WCBS]

Spring is in the air, which means drab winter wear ought to be properly stored away. Pretty pastels in breathable fabrics are the essence of this time of year, as are sweet berries, crisp greens, and a fabulous pair of Romanesque sandals. And so, to help you shed the old and bring in the new, I've scoured east and west for the snazziest shops in Berlin. Whether you've a penchant for Tokyo's youth culture or for Sex in the City, there's something here for everyone. Happy spring shopping.

Since spring has finally arrived in Berlin (like, yesterday), the streets are teeming with life, and not just the cracked-out vampire kind that dominates the sidewalks during those sunless winter months. With the promise of multiple hours of daylight comes the heavy burden of mischief-time management for many of the city's urban art assassins -- those who had the luxury of winter's endless darkness to do their bidding in relative safety. Not anymore. The days are going to get long -- uncomfortably long, in fact. So what's a street artist to do? Hibernate until winter? Niemals (Never). Just find a corporate sponsor to fund your mural or a gallery to exhibit your work legally and call the rest of your external endeavors "exhibition promotion." Here's another look at Berlin's best graffiti ambassadors, and a sampling of galleries that have embraced urban art and its messiahs as the city's up-and-coming cultural creed. (Our previous coverage is here.)

Bids to save Berlin's historic Tempelhof airport have failed. The Cold War-era "hub of the Berlin Airlift" was built in 1923 and could accommodate 1.5 million passengers annually at complete capacity. Only 350,000 used the airport last year. [CNN]

A wise man once sang Don't do the crime if you can't do the time, a warning simple enough for even me to grasp. This threat of long-term incarceration, a staple of justice and correctional systems for centuries, is still the essential deterrent to criminal behavior. Unfortunately in Berlin, with its twelve years of Nazi dictatorship followed by four more decades of communist authoritarianism, one might end up doing the time -- or worse -- while never having actually "done the crime." Politically and racially motivated confinement, torture, and murder stain the histories of Berlin's prisons, and the process of Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung ("coming to terms with the past") has also involved examining the injustices and atrocities which have occurred within the walls of the big house. While the city now has a normal correctional system for the punishment and rehabilitation of its criminal population, several of Berlin's prisons have been converted into memorials -- remembering those innocents who suffered without cause and warning those who would forget how justice can be perverted by politics.

It's that magical time of year again! The season of all seasons -- spargelzeit (asparagus time). Bunches of chlorophyll-deprived white asparagus hit the veggie stands last week.Among the rest of the colorful fruits and vegetables, it sticks out like some sickly and awkwardly tall kid, a gangly outsider. But that doesn't deter the Germans. For the next two months, the strange white vegetable will be the envy of all edible herbaceous plants, as the star of spring-time menus in restaurants across the country. And Berlin is said to have among the best, getting it fresh from the sandy soils of surrounding Brandenburg.

When looking for a part of town to drown your sorrows because, oh, I don't know. . . your website cash cow was sold and you're probably out of a job, for example, there is but one neighborhood in Berlin where you can get as hammered, unruly, and stupid as you like and still completely blend in with the locals. Friedrichshain, Berlin's punk paradise -- where the pierced, the leather-clad, the dreadlocked, and their pit bulls can drunkenly frolic all day and night, and on the city's dime no less, without anyone so much as raising an eyebrow. It is here, in beautiful Stalinist F-hain, where your newfound unemployment won't just be accepted, it will be encouraged and even celebrated by your bleary-eyed arbeitslose brethren. So jump on the sozialhilfe bandwagon and let's take a tour of F-hain's best bars. Cheers!

Most of what one needs to know about Finland is easily summed up in just a few lines:
Wintersun: From August to May, the Finnish night lasts twenty-five hours.
Vodka: It's kept on ice in the freezer, and the traditional Finnish breakfast is a half liter of it accompanied by a piece of smoked fish.
Reindeer: They're quick to bite, have a greasy coat, and the whole country is rotten with them.
Linus Torvalds: This king of Linuxland keeps a harem of "virtual" wives and commands a geek army.
Saunas: The Finns sweat out their vodka-and-fish breakfasts at lunchtime saunas with the boss.
Sexy: Finnish law requires all citizens to be lanky sexpots, with shimmering hair and perfect teeth.
Suicide: Finland has Europe's highest suicide rate -- but after death Finns transmigrate into even newer, sexier bodies.

May 1 is a bubbling sea of discontent. The urban masses are a flurry with protest, parade, and party. Though in recent years a series of more benign events have taken some of the anger out of the day's mood, May Day is traditionally when a motley collection of left and radical groups -- communist, socialist, revolutionary, and anarchist -- get out for good old Berlin-style demonstrations. In addition to the primary evil, crappy work conditions and compensation, participants protest any and all things negative: racism, sexism, environmental damage, and globalization/capitalism. Other causes are uniquely Berlin: for instance there was last year's march for the release of a jailed Red Army Faction terrorist, a concern that harkens back to West Berlin as the breeding ground for terrorist groups in the late-1960s and 1970s).

Amid the ruckus, Berlin emerges yet again as a metropolis of contradictions. For starters, May 1 in Germany has seen street fights between right- and left-wing radical groups, as when the far right NPD and gangs of neo-Nazi ruffians decide that they can use the day for their own cause, which then leads to battle with Nazi opposition groups. These violent conflicts obviously contradict the messages of coexistence and peace that are the focus of several of the other groups hitting the streets on May Day.

These clashes aside, most of the violence comes from people with little political motivation -- a wave of wayward punks and anarchists out for a little destructive fun. More like football hooligans than pensive protesters, these angry champions of disorder charge through the streets come nightfall looking for a chance to throw bottles and/or rocks at cops, vandalize, and, most notoriously, set cars, garbage cans, and such on fire. Their rage against authority just causes grief for a bunch of unempowered average Berliners -- the residents of Kreuzberg, street cleaners, and other unlucky souls forced to deal with the aftermath.

I'm eager to see how things play out this year, after the peaceful and goal-oriented activists managed to win the day (but not the night) for constructive purposes last year. But as this year marks the 80th anniversary of Blutmai (Blood May), during which the police injured and killed protesters, it'll be interesting to see who'll claim that as their precedent (and how).

There are eleven demonstrations planned so far this year. On April 1 alone, exactly one month before the Tag der Arbeit, three revolutionary groups registered their May Day protests with the city's police. So, as in years prior, the Revolutionäre 1 Mai Demonstration will begin at 1 p.m. in Kreuzberg (pictured above). Then two other rallies will also hit the streets: Mayday beginning at 2 p.m. and Gegen Kapital und Krieg (literally 'Against Capital and War') at 5 p.m. Once you tire of watching these spectacles, you can wander MyFest, the neighborhood's fantastic street festival. Just be sure to batten down the hatches come nightfall.