Spreebound

Beyond The Grave #2: Stahnsdorf Cemetery

William Thirteen — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:01:00 GMT

Is it strange, when visiting a vibrant city, to seek out the local dead? Why do cemeteries – full of old stones and ancient history - attract so many modern travelers? Momondo asked our city bloggers to unearth an explanation and give us the low-down on the neighborhood necropolis. You'll read about the best burials in Berlin, the most entertaining interments in Prague, the graves of American heroes in New York and a cemetery with a magnificant view of Istanbul plus tips on what JP Sartre likes on his Paris grave and about Soeren Kierkegaard's and Karl Marx's last resting places in Copenhagen and London. Are you ready to go beneath the surface?

Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery

While wandering about a huge, weedy cemetery on a damp Autumn day may not be everyone's cup of tea, it certainly has its fans, as I found this past Sunday, making my way along the stony paths of Berlin's Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery. Opened in 1909 the cemetery was a response to the rapid growth of the urban population following Berlin's emergence as the capital of a unified Germany and a major industrial center.

Unlike many older European cities Berlin had never arranged for a central cemetery, and Stahnsdorf was opened to relieve the burden on the many smaller graveyards dotted around town. These days it’s a popular destination with families and sightseeing groups who enjoy the quiet tree-lined walkways and parklike ambience. I was impressed by the number of visitors even on this chilly, late afternoon.

I first chanced across the 156 hectare memorial park last summer, having lost my bearings bicycling back from the small town of Potsdam, once home to the summer retreats of Prussian royalty. As I pedaled along a sandy trail through the piney scrubs, I found myself cycling along a tall fence and soon began spying mossy mausoleums and ancient crypts overgrown with ivy.

I was approaching the cemetery from the backend and it was a good fifteen minutes before I finally reached its public entrance, which gives you an idea of its vast size. The discovery aroused my morbid curiosity but I had to postpone that first visit, as an out-of-town friend was waiting for me back in Berlin. Since then I've visited Stahnsdorf several times, each time finding something new and notable along its winding pathways.

As an enthusiast of German Expressionism I was particularly excited to find the resting place of filmmaker F.W. Murnau, director of “Faust” and “Nosferatu” – one of cinema’s earliest vampire tales, the film remains unsurpassed in its evocation of dread and decay. While it can’t be seen in the photo, behind the Murnau memorial is a stairway leading downward into the family’s crypt, accessible through a gate which, when pulled open, makes an appropriately eerie groan.

Farther along is the cemetery’s large mourning chapel, completed in 1911 in the fashion of a traditional Norwegian wooden church by then Prussian royal building surveyor Gustav Meyer. Its dark pine paneling and austere design fit peaceably into the deep, green Brandenburg landscape, but also lend the chapel a spooky quality – despite the number of couples pushing prams through its wooden doors.

Nearby is another notable grave, remarkable for its designer instead of its occupant, that of Julius Wissinger, a successful German merchant. The concrete memorial, whose shape recalls the ribs of a ship or the vault of a cathedral, was designed by Expressionist architect Max Taut, who played a leading role in Berlin’s early 20th century development.

The weak sun was dropping through the dark pines as I continued meandering and marveling at the beautiful memorials and somber stones. Some have been lovingly maintained or carefully restored, while many others are overgrown and half forgotten. The cemetery’s guardians have even put together an audio tour (in German of course) guiding interested visitors to the resting places of the cemetery’s thirty most celebrated occupants. But that will have to wait until my next visit - the cemetery closes just after sundown, and soon I was cycling back into the city – leaving the famous and not-so-famous to rest in peace beneath a starlit Stahnsdorf sky.

Christmas Market Magic

William Thirteen — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:08:00 GMT

It's that time of year again in Berlin; the skies are cold and damp, darkness falls early, stays late, and you can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a Christmas market. One of the city's most loved holiday traditions; the markets are a time-honored way to lighten the gloom of Berlin's long December nights. This week I tried my luck at a 'traditional' Weihnachtsmarkt in front of Schloss Charlottenburg, on the far side of town.

Even from a distance the market glows invitingly, the twinkling bulbs of the Christmas trees framing the royal palace, festively painted with holiday colors. Crowded with merrymakers of every age wandering along the rows of wooden huts and rustic cabins, the palace's normally staid front lawn takes on the appearance of the small alpine village of Christmas fantasy.

The tiny sizes of the huts belie the wealth of goods they offer. I could have knocked out a good part of my Christmas list had I been in the mood, but I'm an unrepentant last minute shopper so i just browsed through, taking in the holiday cheer, the children's joyful shrieks as they whirled around the antique Christmas carousel or miniature Ferris wheel, and their wide-eyed wonder at the endless selection of toys and trinkets.

There’s plenty to tempt older children like me too. The vendors were laying out long rows of woolen gloves and scarves, fashionable felt hats, hand carved nativity scenes, and holiday house decorations. The stuffed shopping bags and cash changing hands confirm that this tiny alpine village is a one stop shop for every holiday need.

And then there are the edibles - lots and lots of edibles. Eating and drinking is a central part of the Christmas market experience and long lines of red noses circle cabins offering every sort of goulash, grilled beast and, this being Germany, a multitude of wursts. Bloodwursts, Bratwursts and Bockwursts are turning and burning on the grill and, though not a big meat eater, I waited in line like everyone else. There are few things that can warm the belly on a chill winter evening better than a smoked bratwurst slathered in mustard and washed down with a steaming mug of Glühwein, that sweet, warm, intoxicating brew that, as its name implies, adds an extra glow to every Christmas market. Afterwards I treated myself to a paper sac full of hot roasted chestnuts to keep that holiday warmth all the way home.

There are still a couple of weeks to go before the big day and I’m planning to make my way to a few more Christmas markets. There’s the trendy Weihnachtszauber on the Gendarmenmarkt, the hipster market in Prenzlauer Berg's Kulturbrauerei, the proletarian market at Alexanderplatz with its ice skating rink, and even a Hanukkah Market at the Jewish Museum. With so many to choose from I'll be able to keep the winter blues at bay and find plenty to marvel at while contemplating the true gifts of this holiday season.

7 Lesser Known Berlin Sites Of Remembrance

William Thirteen — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:01:00 GMT

Every city has its unique product - its main attraction. Detroit has automobiles, Paris fashion, and Tokyo noodles. Berlin has history - and plenty of it. Unfortunately, much of this history is monstrous and tragic. I can barely walk down any street in this city without coming across a plaque, marker or memorial remembering those lost to the cruelties of Berlin's unique history. Every journey across town becomes a journey through the darkest days of the twentieth century.

All this history is really a bit exhausting and overwhelming. Around every corner and down every street I am constantly confronted with some of the worst chapters of Western Civilization. But this struggle to remember, to remember the victims, the perpetrators and those who resisted is all part of 'Vergangenheitsbewältigung' the German word for the process of coming to grips with the past. And, while this process is discomforting, enraging and saddening, it is only by engaging in it that we may regain our common humanity and develop the courage and determination to prevent such catastrophes in the future.

Sailing Berlin's Seven Seas

William Thirteen — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:49:00 GMT

In attempting to describe Berlin's landscape many turn to the communist era's crumbling concrete Wall or 19th century palaces still bearing the scars of WWII's final battles. Fewer, however, might mention the city's 180 kilometers of navigable waterways - the five rivers, six canals and dozens of lakes that surround, and sometime submerge, Berlin and its residents. These waters, however, form a major part of the natural amenities and have helped Berlin earn a reputation as one of Europe's greenest cities. Spring's warm breezes herald a return to the city's waterways, so this past weekend I joined friends for a floating tour along the Havel, one part of Berlin's watery wonderland.

Twenty minutes on the S1 S-Bahn line brought us to Wannsee, one of the area's largest lakes and, after buying sliced strawberries and bottled water at the station's grocer, we made the ten minute walk down to the "Schiffsanlegestelle". The Wannsee has been a warm weather retreat for generations of Berliners, with its large beach and leafy banks lined with elegant villas (including the notorious House of the Wannsee Conference in which the Nazis finalized plans for the Holocaust). We purchased our tour tickets for the Sieben-Seen-Rundfahrt, a two hour circuit around seven "lakes" formed by the river Havel, and then swung into line behind our fellow passengers at the pier.

Minutes later our craft floated up to the dock and, after generously allowing the previous tour's passengers to disembark, we charged aboard and grabbed seats at the ship's prow. Our ship was the MS Sperber, an old river cruiser owned by Star & Circle Lines, which has been sailing the Havel river since its construction in 1916. Her renovations and modernizations have kept her seaworthy and comfortable, however, and today she seats over a hundred passengers in her dining area and two hundred more up on deck. We shoved off, a steward took our orders for ice cream and beer, and soon we had our feet up, our cameras out and were prepared to watch the world glide by.

We spent the hour sailing along the Havel, wrinkling our noses at fishy smells, squinting in the bright sun, and waving to the cyclists and hikers at the water's edge. Occasionally our Captain blared from the ship's loudspeakers to draw our attention to the palaces and churches along the shore, while recreational boaters in yachts, canoes and kayaks zipped along on either side of us.

Ninety minutes or so into our voyage we approached the Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island), once a park for the Prussian kings, and home of the royal menagerie. We transferred to a ferry which brought us across to the island, now a nature preserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site. True to its name, the island is still populated by dozens of peacocks, which wander the gravel paths followed by flocks of tourists snapping photos.

Adding to the fairy tale ambience is the island's white wooden castle. Built in 1794 by Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II for his mistress, the Pfaueninsel Castle stands at one end of the island, its windows gazing out across the Havel, as if awaiting the return of some long lost Prince.

We wandered about the island, imagining the palm trees, parrots and kindly kangaroos which once amused the doomed emperors. Our royal reveries were interrupted, however, when the castle's clocktower tolled the hour, and we raced back to catch the day's last river cruiser. Our fairy tale castle grew smaller in the late afternoon glare as we sailed back towards Wannsee, our faces now slighty sunburned. Soon our boat tied up at the dock, returning us to the 21st century, and we climbed onto shore, struggling for a moment to find our land legs once more.

Waltzing Mit Tilda

William Thirteen — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:40:00 GMT

Tilda Swinton

Every February we Berliners fall over ourselves like gushing teenagers as Hollywood's A-List converges on the city for its annual patting-ourselves-on-the-back festival, otherwise known as the Berlinale. Gossip about celebrity sightings and festival party plans pass the long hours spent standing in impossibly long lines for overpriced tickets to films that one wouldn't even dream of seeing if they were screened any other month of the year.

Last week, as I anxiously awaited a pair of tickets to a fascinating documentary on the complicated emotional life of Norwegian moose stalkers, I fell into a reverie, daydreaming of my favorite VIP at this year's Berlinale. Tilda Swinton - prize-winning actress, ice-queen, pale Scottish priestess of a parsimonious paradise - was heading up the jury this year, charged with deciding who should receive the festival's coveted Golden Bear.

I have enjoyed her work from her beginnings in such early films as Orlando to last year's riotous Coen Brother's film Burn After Reading. Tilda and I actually already have a relationship, as we once passed each other in the lobby of my gym a few years ago - she was leaving the ladies' locker room and I was heading in - to the men's. Thus it's completely reasonable that I began planning how I would entertain her on a magical evening in Berlin.

Of course, since I am a very busy man (and Tilda probably has a few things to get done too) we would have to meet up after I make it home from work and feed my cat. Dinner and a movie is the usual thing these days, so after meeting at her hotel (don't ask which - it's top secret!) we would hop the U-Bahn for a few stops and grab at table at Honigmond.

Below you can read more about Honigmond and how William's date with Tilda evolved....

Crisis? What Crisis?

William Thirteen — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:55:00 GMT

There's no better time to travel than during a global financial meltdown. Price wars between airlines have led to plummeting ticket prices, and posh hotels are practically giving away their beds. Promotions on all kinds of products – ranging from hot chocolate to haute couture - make it possible for even unemployed bankers to get a taste of the good life. We asked our local bloggers to uncover the best deals, and to tell us about the simple and inexpensive pleasures that can always be found in their cities. With cheap tickets and insider advice, there's no reason why a shrinking economy should stop you from expanding your horizons.

Berlin

Almost every headline these days shrieks of the latest financial catastrophe or corporate meltdown. The gutters of Wall Street and Main Street are overflowing with the red ink of failed riskmanagement strategies, but here in "poor but sexy" Berlin not much seems to have changed. Today’s city has none of the prewar manufacturing industry that formed its urban core in the 19th century, instead the city’s complex history and its reputation as a vortex of contemporary art and urban culture has led to sightseeing and tourism being the city’s main source of revenue.

So, while the local papers keep themselves busy with warnings of the German government’s incompetence in the face of global economic collapse, the rest of us continue to muddle through as ever. But where there is smoke there may be fire, so this past Sunday I took a stroll down one of Mitte's most popular streets, searching for clues to our approaching doom.

Dancing Down the Spree

William Thirteen — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 06:00:00 GMT

April 29 is the International Dance Day. At Momondo we totally support a day dedicated to dancing and we've decided to celebrate the day too. Therefore we’ve asked our city bloggers to come up with their favourite spots to go and dance or watch others do it. So put on your boogie shoes and let our bloggers guide you through the best dance spots in Cairo, New York, London, Paris and Stockholm.

Let's dance #3: Berlin

Bad girl Anita Berber

Modern Dance has been a part of Berlin's cultural landscape ever since its beginnings in the early 20th century. As a rebellion against the formal strictures of Classical Ballet and a companion to the Expressionism taking hold in the realms of cinema and theatre Modern Dance found enthusiastic support in a Weimar-era Berlin hungry for new sensations. Pioneers such as Mary Wigman, Valeska Gert and Berlin's legendary bad girl Anita Berber revolutionized and scandalized as they developed a new language of dance and spatial dynamics.

In modern times dance continues to fascinate Berliners - a week long performance by dance company Sasha Waltz & Guests to inaugurate the renovated Neues Museum sold out within minutes and local media breathlessly recounted every awkward headdress and bent knee.

While I can't say I've extensive experience or understanding of dance in all its variety, it's difficult to spend much time in Berlin without eventually being invited out to a dance performance, and so I've spent more than a few evenings marvelling at the creativity and flexibility of a troupe of attractive artistes.

If you're traveling to Berlin and hoping to take in some of the local dance talent, waltz into one of the the following theaters, you're sure to find something to put a spring back into your step.

Flea Marketeering in Berlin

William Thirteen — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 07:06:00 GMT

Photo: Phil Strahl

The new arrival in Berlin may be shocked and horrified on their first Sunday in the city, when they awake to find the stores closed and the shops shuttered. Usually crowded consumer corridors are as empty the OK Corral at High Noon, lacking even the tumbleweeds and six shooters of the sleepy western town. Despite recent attempts to loosen restrictions on Sunday hours, most retail businesses are still six day affairs, and shoppers with poor planning skills are forced to drag their hangovers to the nearest train station, where a handful of shops are usually open for “travelers”.

So what to do on a Sunday afternoon when a crumpled wad of Euros is burning a hole through your pocket? Head off to one of Berlin's flea markets, which offer not only valuable purchasing possibilities, but hours of entertainment as well! This past Sunday I rose early to make the rounds, caffeine deprived and braving crowds of Sunday shoppers (and the odd bagpipe) in a valiant attempt to find those odds and ends which I never knew existed but now can’t live without.

Meandering with Marx In Berlin

William Thirteen — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Photo: Doratagold

Berlin's position as Germany's capital has been the source of much difficulty down the decades, as every new regime attempts to remake the city after its own ideological design. The 19th century Kaisers with their proliferating palaces and Hitler & Speer's grotesque 'Germania' - a megalomaniacal reimagining of Berlin in the style of fascist monumentalism, are but two examples of the compulsion which seizes those who take up the reins of power. After WWII Berlin saw another episode of this regime rebuilding when the East German authorities, following cues from Moscow, decided to clear away acres of war-ruined 19th century housing and build a tribute to their new dictatorship of the proletariat.

To be fair, the construction was necessary measure to provide housing for Berlin’s bombed out citizens and similar projects were undertaken in the city’s western sectors. But it was here, on the newly christened Stalinallee (renamed Karl-Marx-Allee in 1961), that East Germany’s propaganda machinery took full advantage of the reconstruction in an attempt to demonstrate the superiority of the young socialist regime.

Beginning at Strausberger Platz, home to a fine bust of Karl Marx, down to the twin domes of Frankfurter Tor and back, I walked the wide boulevard this past weekend, taken with the fanciful eight storey 'worker’s palaces', shining examples of Stalinist socialist classicism.

Autumn Lights In Berlin

William Thirteen — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 07:33:00 GMT

Photo: Claudius Prößer

We had a bright, breezy summer in Berlin this year and, while I wasn't able to fly south for lazy days spent supine on Italian beaches, I found my share of sun wandering the Mark Brandenburg trying to avoid horse apples and honeybee stings. Now, as the days grow shorter and I trade in my sandals for sweaters, I'll need to seek my thrills in places with central heating and rainproof roofs. Thankfully Berlin's cultural outpourings also move indoors with Autumns arrival, so there is still plenty to see and do. Here are some events which will see me through until year's end ...

Listening with the Devil's Ears in Berlin

William Thirteen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:52:00 GMT

Photo: Cbmd

As the days grow shorter and Berlin's trees take on their Autumn colors I've been spending more time out of doors exploring the city's natural surroundings. With two rivers, dozens of lakes and countless acres of woodlands, Berlin is one of Europe's greenest cities, and a few minutes of strenuous pedalling in almost any direction will be rewarded with a leafy picnic spot or a sandy bank from which to watch the sun set. But the city's traumatic history casts its long shadow across even its greenest environs, a fact I encountered again this past weekend when I made a trip out to Teufelsberg, Berlin's "Devil's Mountain".

Out of the Forest of History

Cycling westward, out past the Olympic Stadium where Jesse Owens claimed his four golds in 1936, a short turn away from Heerstrasse's Sunday traffic brought me to the base of one of the city's strangest spots. Teufelsberg is a manmade mountain, created from twelve million cubic meters of rubble - the rubble of Berlin's bomb-blasted buildings carted out to the city's border and dumped over the ruins of a Nazi-era military college on the edge of the Grunewald forest. Forming one of the area's highest hills this artificial geology was soon reclaimed by nature and subsumed beneath native trees and grasses.

Though the trail was wide the hill's steep grade forced me off my bike. As as I hiked out of the treeline I finally saw what had drawn me, and dozens of others, here on this chilly afternoon. During Berlin's Cold War division Teufelsberg lay in the British Sector and the Western Allies quickly realized it was splendid for spying upon communist East Berlin's electronic communications. So the US National Security Agency fenced off the mountain's peak and installed one of their largest listening stations, a half dozen radio domes sprouting from the top of the hill like massive malevolent mushrooms. The Cold War is now history, but those eerie domes still dominate Teufelsberg's skyline and exert a powerful pull on locals and visitors alike.

A Porous Perimeter

Photo: Viernullvier

Despite its closure after German reunification the listening station is still fenced off and entrance is strictly prohibited. However, a short walk along the perimeter revealed a hole snipped through the fence, one of several through which daytrippers creep to wander around the abandoned compound.

Photo: Schrottie

Though first relieved not to be roaming the grounds alone, I was soon amazed by the dozens of fellow curiousity seekers nosing about. I made my way past the broken windows of the empty security offices and toward the main building, whose remaining walls display an impressive amount of street art and rainbows of graffiti.

After threading my way up a narrow stairway I stepped out onto the main platform, decaying domes on either side as I gazed out across Berlin's cityscape. I could easily see all the way to Alexanderplatz with its iconic TV Tower and I quickly understood why NSA loved this place. More visitors had now climbed the stairs to emerge on the platform and we exchanged smiles and greetings as we snapped photos and admired the view. The radar domes themselves have been cut open in dozens of places, victims of souvenir hunters, but their strange magic remained, as constant as the strong breeze blowing over the platform.

Penthouse for Paranoids

Photo: Jordi Torà

I again gathered my courage and curiousity and climbed the darkened stairway up the five floors to the highest dome. Here the souvenir hunters must have met their match, as the dome was in perfect condition, with only a single doorway admitting light into the darkened interior. The acoustics were also uncanny, even minute sounds were amplified by the spherical shape and visitors reacted by speaking in whispers.

The resulting hush, along with splashes of graffiti the color of stained glass, produced an oddly religious atmosphere, the dome a church of some alien creed. I spent some time contemplating the fate of this structure, first created and then abandoned by the vagaries of Berlin's unique history. Afterwards I carefully made my way back down through the ruined structures to the more stable, if no less artificial, grounds of the mountain itself. Climbing back through the fence and onto my bicycle, I was soon drifting downhill and back into the shadows of those trees which would someday reclaim even this last strange crown of Devil's Mountain.

Naughty Days & Nights in Berlin

William Thirteen — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:35:00 GMT

Photo: BoyWithCigar

As long anyone can remember, Berlin's been a city of dark and seductive glamour, the mere mention of its name bringing on visions of vice, abandon and sensual indulgence. The legendary late night extravagances of the Weimar era city were immortalized by Christopher Isherwood in the stories which would later become the film Cabaret, which established the city's reputation as Babylon on the Spree. The Golden Twenties ended with a political catastrophe but, despite twelve years in power and their vain attempts to clamp down on Berlin's libertinism, the Nazi's would leave little more behind than new drag for the already packed closets of the city's uniform fetishists. Later, during its years of post-war division the walled city became a magnet for sexual adventurers, a concrete cage serving the carnal appetites of pleasure seekers from around the world.

Today Berlin is a victim of its own success, the sexual liberation and libertinism pioneered here can now be found in almost every European city, and visitors to the German capital are more likely to be patronizing its modern art, music and fashion scenes rather than its more prurient pleasures. But those seeking a bit of erotic adventure won't have to venture far from the banks of the Spree to find a bit of the Babylon that made the city a libidinous legend. Here are few spots to start with:

Berlin for Bibliophiles

William Thirteen — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:38:00 GMT

Part of the Book Burning Memorial on Bebelplatz Photo: Chan'r

Being a book lover can be a burden when combined with a love for travel - literally! My insatiable lust for those finely bound objects of desire takes up not only precious room in my luggage, as I seem unable to board a plane or train without a half dozen readables tucked into my bags, but also a good portion of my travel budget, since every new destination offers countless opportunities to browse the local bookshops and secondhand shops. Embarassed as I am to admit it, I've now taken to bringing along an empty suitcase when I travel to a new city, in anticipation of all my new prizes.

Even here at home in Berlin I am not safe from this weakness for the written word. The Germans are notoriously literate (remember the Gutenberg Bible?), and in the years since reunification Berlin has once again grown to be a center of European culture and contemporary art. One can't walk fifty meters in any direction without coming across the windows of a bookstore whispering of the fascinating finds which may be waiting inside. As my apartment is relatively small, I try to keep my library pared down to manageable proportions by selling or giving away books once I am finished with them. Still I still accumulate books faster than I can read them and, since I long ago ran out of shelfspace, I am slowly being buried beneath thick volumes of Berlin history, psychoanalytic film theory, and paranoiac-critical surveys of art history.

A bittersweet malady this craving for life between the covers and, since misery loves company, I've compiled a short list of some of Berlin's best book pushers for visiting bibliofiends.

Picturing Berlin

William Thirteen — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Berlin's warm Spring breezes blow in flocks of amateur photographers. They descend on the city, pop off their lenscaps & snap pics from one end of town to the other. By days the visiting shutterbugs search for the perfect perspective on Berlin's architectural icons, and by night their tripods pop up faster than mushrooms after a Spring rain.

Cycling along Unter den Linden becomes dangerous business as I find myself swerving between the camera buffs blinded by their viewfinders and their subjects, smiling & waving as they walk backwards into traffic. In addition to the migratory minicam operators we also have a growing population of professional photographers, who ply their trade as part of Berlin's burgeoning creative class.

The ever multiplying number of music, film & fashion festivals guarantee that there is always someone somewhere in need of a talented lensman (or lenswoman) to document the action. Even I've been known to whip out the pocket camera now and then to snap a quick pic for Momondo's stylish cityhoppers.

Meanwhile, all this focusing, filtering & film development hasn't escaped notice by Berlin's art mavens. So, in addition to our world famous Helmut Newton Foundation / Museum of Photography, we now have numerous smaller galleries showing the work of established & amateur photographers. If you're a camera clutching connoisseur, a practicing paparazzi or just looking for large format prints to lug home as souvenirs of your Berlin vacation, you'll want to find your way to one of these local shot spots:

Popcorn Stars - Berlin's Finest Independent Cinemas

William Thirteen — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:07:00 GMT

Photo: Jon Åslund

Berlin has almost as many independent cinemas as it does saunas, and, though they’re not as warm as a Finnish hotbox and the nudity is (usually) only on screen, they do offer an extensive and diverse film program to help escape the autumn gloom. While the highlight of the filmgoing season is February’s Berlinale, rarely a week goes by here without a film festival or retrospective being screened somewhere around town. From arthouse & avant garde cinema to B-movies and cult classics there is something to suit every taste and, unlike the sauna, a movie theatre has the distinct advantage of being very, very dark, so no one will notice if you’re still working off those extra helpings of holiday cheer.

If you’re in Berlin and want to get out of the house without worrying about what you are - or aren’t - wearing, start by checking out the programs at these cinemas, where you’ll find most of the films shown in their original language versions, with or without subtitles.