At Wassermusik Festival with my Black Milk Mermaid Leggings, of course.
Some time ago, I “liked” a Facebook group called Ads That Make You Feel That Your Life Sucks In Comparison. The description of the group said: “Beautiful people enjoying themselves to the maximum while you spend your summer enslaved on a temporary contract”. You know, those ads that show people laughing and drinking around campfires, or road tripping looking cool as hell On The Road style, bohemian/artsy looking people playing instruments near a beach or lake while drinking beer… all that. Well, I have to say that this has been the very first year that my summer has felt somewhat like that (the ads, I mean, not the enslaving temporary contract!). I finally got to do a lot of summery activities with my friends and covered several of the activities from the Berlin Essential Summer Experience™, among them:Picnic/Barbecue at your favorite park.
You know summertime is approaching when all of a sudden all the parks are covered in smoke produced by the slow charring of meat and sausages by families and groups of friends, scattered through the field in your neighborhood’s green areas. Barbecues with friends can be turned into several hour-long eating chillaxathons, especially if you go to one of the bigger parks (like Volkspark Friedrichshain or Tempelhof) that have hordes of people doing all sorts of entertaining stuff everywhere you look, from acoustic covers of your favorite 90’s songs to tight rope walking between the trees. Another of my favorite things to do this summer have been evening picnics, since the weather is usually a bit more refreshing and you also get to enjoy that nice softer light of the last hours of the day. Just take your dinner and a bottle of wine and enjoy it on the grass! Or in my case, make a Matcha tea tart with lychees and raspberries* and enjoy it while sitting in a quiet place among the trees; aromatic candles, incense and music are a nice bonus.*I got this recipe from Zen Can Cook, who described this tart as "refreshing just like the bubbles in a glass of chilled Lambrusco at the end of a hot summer afternoon". I couldn't agree more.
Swim in a lake
Tightly connected to the previous option, perhaps the summer activity per excellence in Berlin is going to a lake. There are many small lakes scattered in and around Berlin, so it is fun to explore them one by one. A swim after cycling or jogging is incredibly refreshing, as well as taking a dip in the early morning or evening! You can even follow the FKK* way of life and swim au naturel if you want to…*FKK stands for Freikörperkultur, which is the German way of saying "mind the occasional naked dudes liying around or swiming at the park".
Go to a music festival
Of course, if you are young and hip, this summer you will probably be found at Greenville, Melt! Berlin Festival, or something of the sort. If you are me, however, you live in a sort of cultural bubble impervious to Top 40 hits or any other sort of musical phenomenon of the moment, and most of your favorite artists are dead – I’m not kidding, I didn’t even know who or what Grimes was until Elisa from Style Bizarre featured her in her blog a couple days ago! I’m pretty much the opposite of hip and trendy. Two of my New Year’s resolutions were: 1) Become more eclectic.2) Attend more live gigs. Therefore, to magically marry both, I decided to look for offbeat musical acts. And that’s how I found out about Wasser Musik Festival at Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Tiergarten, focusing this year on the Pacific Ocean and Asian music. So, Guitar Güero and I attended an evening combo of a live performance by the phenomenally quirky and folky jazz band Shibusa Shirazu Orchestra, followed by an open-air screening of Cobalt Blue (Gonjuo), a Japanese film that takes place in an amazingly beautiful and remote island in the Okinawa archipielago.
And the show was just starting...
I really loved Shibusa Shirazu Orchestra’s performance: a delicious mixture of jazz with ska, free jamming, some blues undertones and a touch of folk, filled with all the unrestrained Japanese eccentricity that we know and love. They even had a floating, silver dragon flying above our heads making it the most magical point of the show: So, in the end I actually managed to merge three of my favorite things: off-kilter rock performances that you rarely get the chance to see, open air cinema and Japanese culture. Speaking of which,Freiluftkino
Another one of my most anticipated summer activities is going to the open air cinema. The season starts in May and ends up in September, and it is an excellent opportunity to watch your favorite films in a relaxed, refreshing atmosphere, with only the sky as your roof and a fabulous setting around you. There are several open air cinemas opening around the city, but my favorite one is definitely the Freiluftkino Kreuzberg with its comfortable deck chairs in the middle of Mariannenplatz, offering a wide selection of both foreign and Hollywood films in original version with subtitles (just in case you didn’t know, in Germany they have the terrible habit of dubbing EVERYTHING, so original versions are a real treat!).
The Freiluftkino Kreuzberg. Photo from B-like-Berlin.de.
I am also very fond of Freiluftkino Reheberge, not only because is in my area, but also because it’s just so pretty: it feels like watching a movie in the middle of the forest. A candle-lit pathway among the trees takes you up to the top part of the amphitheater-style stage with the screen, and you can get all sorts of snacks and beverages to enjoy while you watch your film. The only downsides are that they mostly screen dubbed versions, and also the seats are wooden benches which can get really hard to sit on after an hour or so, so don’t forget to get a cushion before the film starts!Freiluftkino Reheberge, or "The place beyond the pines", haha!
Flea Market
All sorts of treasures await to be discovered here, including Guitar Güero – in case you didn’t know, we met at one. Fleamarkets are the perfect way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon, looking through the trinkets, walking around with delicious nostalgia, doing some people watching, and complementing the experience with some delicious treat. Also, they are a paradise for Instagrammable shots.
The Fleamarket at the RAW Tempel.
I am very fond of the one in Prinzessinengarten at Moritzplatz. Probably, because that is where I met my Prince of The Pony Hill (Candy Candy fans unite!); it is a tiny market, but has a lot of charm to it, a small stage where people play live music in a relaxed atmosphere, and you can also take a break and get some delicious light meal with organic ingredients or a coffee with homemade apple cake, and sit on the benches to socialize with other attendees.The Fleamarket at Prinzessinengarten. Fun fact: this was taken the day that Guitar Güero and I first met.
Boxhagenerplatz is another great option, with an eclectic selection of old books, local art, second hand clothes and accessories and old trinkets to browse through. I think another reason why I like it so much is that I usually complement my fleamarket experience with a visit to Chüechliwirtschaft (good luck pronouncing that!), a cozy crêperie on Grünberger Str. that serves the most amazing variety of delicious crêpes and galettes at very affordable prices. Their salmon and spinach quiche + salad is also to die for, all fresh, and organic (or Bio, the German equivalent).
And, of course, there is also the market at Mauerpark, which I have come to avoid since it’s always swarming with people and the atmosphere gets oppressive and stressful, which is pretty much the opposite of what I look for in my Sunday stroll experience. Also, I find most of the stuff there to be rather expensive. However, Guitar Güero’s sister visited us a couple weeks ago and she did some amazing finds there; her secret? Going really early! Before all the tourists (and the unbearable heat) descend and smother you, stealing the best bargains (and your patience).
Find a great place to watch the sunset
Berlin is a fairly flat city, but you can still find some high spots with nice views to grab a drink, have a nice chat and relax. Viktoriapark in Kreuzberg is one of them, with a viewing spot where you can see the city all around you. Also, some bridges offer a nice higher-up perspective: try Bösebrücke (which is also relatively close to the airport so you can see the planes flying low in the distance) and Warschauerbrücke, which is definitely not the most relaxing spot ever, but still good to take pictures of amazing sunsets in the city.Cotton Candy clouds on the sky and the Fernsehturm as seen from Warschauerbrücke.
Monument at the top of Viktoriapark in Kreuzberg.
Just stay outside!
Hang out at your or your friend’s balcony for a tea afternoon, make giant bubbles on the street, go to your rooftop and camp there with a mat, iced tea and a good book…. it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, you can just grab a couple of beers and drink them by the river (the stretch next to the East Side Gallery has a nice view), or simply take some chairs out onto the street and do some people watching while you chill. On one of those 35+ °C summer days I saw a couple sitting outside with their feet in a very big washbowl full of fresh water – like an outdoor spa! – enjoying the sunlight while keeping cool; it looked so tempting.
Just sit outside and relax...
As you can see, you don’t even have to be in Berlin to do several of these activities. With still one more month to go, summer is not over! Let’s make the most out of this gloriously long, hot days before starting the happy transition into the lovely fall… Greetings from the hot and humid – but really magical – Berlin,