Best of (my) Berlin

<-- still my favorite place for people-watching and picture-taking, the Viktoria Park in Kreuzberg

It has been a little more than one month since I left Germany. I have to admit that my time in Berlin seems like a former life - a month is such a short time and yet I feel as if I haven't seen the Eylauer Strasse or walked around the Viktoriapark for years. Those places remain vivid in my memory, but my year was so well documented that I have stored most of my memories in pictures and have focused my attention on moving forward, first acclimating to a more quiet life at home and then preparing mentally for my last year in Chicago. Not that I do not miss Anna's cheerful 'guten morgens' and Diego's music over breakfast and Judith's charming text messages and knocking on Nancy's door only to find that she could have a full meal ready in five minutes...

Once I come back from a big adventure I have a lot of steps that I like to take to sort of "process" what I've been through. To digest the good moments and memories and be proud of my accomplishments, but also to turn regrets into lessons learned. Part of this processing includes getting pictures printed and making photo albums. This time I am doing four big things - posting final thoughts on this blog, printing some of my favorite pictures to make a scrapbook/album, making a slideshow with this fancy apple technology with some of the video footage I took throughout the year, and finally sending postcards and emails to keep in contact with people I am so happy to have spent time with in Germany. While looking through pictures I have thought of some of my favorites - favorite venues, cafes, moments - and have summarized them here for you. You know, just in case you end up in Berlin at one point in the midst of wild backpacking adventures in Europe. That way you can still get a taste of "my" berlin, even if I'm not there to show it to you personally.

Cafe Bilderbuch, Akazienstrasse, Schöneberg

Favorite Cafes:

1. Cafe Bilderbuch

2. St. Oberholz

3. Cafe Kaulderwelsch/Spörtler Cafe (student cafes at the Freie Uni)

4. Cafe Bateau Ivre

5. Kant Cafe (where Anna worked)

Best turkish brunch place, near Kottbusser Tor

Eierkuchen at the Kant Cafe

Favorite Food places:

1. Aubergine (pizza) on Monumentenstrasse

2. Kumpir at Momo's on the Akazienstrasse

3. Turkish breakfasts at Kottbusser Tor

4. Italian place on the S/W corner of Mehringdamm and Yorckstrasse

5. All-you-can-eat (best american export) brunch place in the Kollwitz Park in Prenzelberg (Kate, what is that place called again??)

6. American Bakery and lunch-spot on Königen-Luise Strasse in Dahlem (again, I'm not remembering names here...)

7. Cafe Hardenberg

Fajitas at Que Pasa

Best Currywurst in Berlin: Curry 36

Kumpir at Momo's

Most-visited movie theaters:

1. CineStar at Potsdamer Platz (original versions)

2. Yorck Kino

3. Xemon (right next to Jullies-Leber Brücke)

4. Odeon Kino

5. Kottbusser Tor (across the street from apartments with fishes painted all over them)

Favorite German Music:

1. Bodo Wartke

2. Seeed, Peter Fox

3. Reinhard Mey

4. Dota und die Stadt Piraten (Kleingeldprinzessa)

5. Wise Guys

6. Wir Sind Helden

7. Fantastische Vier

8. Absolute Beginners

Reinhard Mey, "Bunter Hund" concert tour

Favorite Parks:

1. Viktoriapark Kreuzberg

2. Volkspark Friedrichshein

3. Mauerpark

4. International Park in Marzahn (haven't been there yet, but i've seen pictures!)

Most frequented museums:

1. Berlinische Gallerie

2. Hamburger Bahnhof

3. Alte Nationalgalerie

4. Deutsche historische Museum

5. Martin Gropius Bau

Alte Nationalgalerie (German art since the romantics)

Favorite place to take pictures:

1. Viktoriapark

2. Akazienstrasse

3. Turkish market

4. Market at Winterfeldplatz

5. Kastanienallee Prenzlauerberg

6. Monumentenbrücke near me in Schöneberg

7. East-side Gallery

Best spots for a night out:

1. Klub der Visionaire (club on a boat, in the Spree)

2. Cassiopeia

3. White Trash Fast Food

4. Klub Havana

5. Prater Biergarten Prenzlauer Berg

6. Golgatha Biergarten Viktoriapark

(I really could have done more exploring in this department)

Favorite libraries (this comes with a grain of salt):

1. JFK library FU (more american flags than in the US)

2. History library main building of the HU

3. Ethnology library HU (nice and small)

4. StaBi Potsdamer Platz (if you have the patience for it and don't mind buying water all the time)

5. HU main library (under construction, and is therefore promising for the future)

6. OSI political science library at the FU

But sometimes it's just nice to have something that reminds me of home...

Kate's Kraft Macaroni & Cheese