Local History in Marzahn

The Berlin boroughs also maintain local history museums. I went to visit the Bezirksmuseum Mahrzahn-Hellersdorf, in part because I was intrigued by a special exhibit they were running on coffee and design in East Germany. That exhibit was small, but a delight, really nicely presented, but the museum also had a permanent exhibit of local…

There is so much… high culture music

Berlin offers so much in terms of high culture. Sometimes I feel like one billboard in the subway advertises more classical concerts than Vancouver sees in a whole year. And, not only is there so much culture, but it ranges from the world class (we saw Zubin Mehta conduct the Berlin Philharmonic), to the plain…

There is so much… culture with friends

One of the great delights of the stay in Berlin is having a chance to see some friends much more than we have in past years. Obviously, that includes some old schoolmates of mine. But it also includes longtime family friends, some of whom offer a particular angle on cultural events in Berlin. ABA and…

Beer

Okay, have I mentioned that beer in Berlin is delicious and CHEAP? Generally, I like everyone else, buy beer in a 20-bottle case here. You buy the whole case and return it for a deposit with the empties. Each brewery has its own case, but you can also mix-and-match to some extent. Partly out of…

Wacky Business Idea: Service Kiosk

The Kiosk is definitely not a modern dinosaur. But, when I recently saw an add for a Kiosk location in a subway station that could be leased, I started thinking about how I would run a Kiosk. If you’re curious about these business opportunities, check for available locations: http://urbanis-berlin2.de. Building on the general Kiosk strengths of convenience and…

There are so many… Kiosk

I’m a big fan of the Berlin Kiosk. It is a small store that carries newspapers, magazines, candy, cigarettes, some pop, maybe ice cream. And there are a lot of them. In the newspaper (where else?) I recently read that there are more than 108,000 of these throughout Germany. There certainly is no shortage of these…

Barbers

[Note that this is post #50 on this blog!] In Vancouver, I get my hair and beard cut at a simple barber on Broadway. But finding a place that shaves is not that easy. By contrast, there are lots of shaving opportunities in Berlin, in part because barbers appear to be that much more common…

There Are So Many… Pharmacies

This is something that Ingm has noticed. In her words, “there are as many pharmacies in Berlin as there are Starbucks in Vancouver”. We’ve spotted areas on the bus commute to her schools where there are four pharmacies within view of each other. They are easy to spot with their common large “A” (for Apotheke…

Kids’ Observations

I’ve always enjoyed school commutes with our kids for a nice time for conversation and hanging out with kids. Fresh air, somewhat purposeful walks… a nice setting to talk. A sabbatical with its (even more) flexibel schedule makes a lot of that possible and so far the girls haven’t asked us not to come along…

There Are So Many… Newspapers

I had been looking forward to the time in Germany for the newspaper-reading opportunities that it would offer. I realize that I date myself by being a dedicated newspaper reader (just like Twitter use = for old people), but there you go. I had anticipated cycling through different newspapers’ offers of trial subscriptions,for variety, but…

Evaluating Market Fare

After two recent trips to the nearby market, some tasting notes: Donkey Salami Em and I have had the donkey salami now and it was very good. I couldn’t claim that I would  be able to distinguish it from other salami in a blind taste test, but it seemed to have a slight sweetness to…

There Are So Many… Cargo Bikes

… and so many different kinds too. Since I’ve decided to be a dedicated public transit user for the year, it’s not entirely clear to me what the bike routes look like, by they appear to be good enough that many people have decided that a dedicated cargo bike makes sense. The dominant demographic seems…