Hipstamatic Berlin

What better way to showcase some of the amazing vintage scooters & cars of Berlin than via Hipstamatic!

(That one reminds me of a Pixar character)

and while this guy didn't get Hipstamitc'ed, he's still worth sharing:

Saturday in Pberg

This Saturday we walked around, window shopped, and had lunch in the Sredzkistrasse / Oderberger Str / Kastanienalle area of Prenzlauer Berg. We started out at the Saturday farmers market with currywurst and weisswein schorle with erdbeere - num!

Here are a few fun pics from around the neighborhood:

While the vast majority of buildings have been remodeled and resurfaced, you can still find a facade or two that still bear the scars from WWII:

Check out this amazing vintage bicycle shop called Aloha Berlin:

Stick shift bike!

There's an incredible amount of vintage shops in PBerg - shopping temptations are everywhere.

Though the evenings are still a little cool, overall the weather has improved dramatically. Hooray for a real summer!

more World Cup!

A few weekends ago, a friend of mine from high school (Farrah) was in town visiting some of her friends. Farrah has been living in Milan off and on for years, but also spent some time in Germany during college. I was thrilled to see her! She and I grew up together, and share a close common friend (hi KP!) - so even though we don't stay in touch regularly we picked up right where we left off.

While she was in town, we went to dinner at a local bier garten in Prenzlauer Berg called Prater. I'm so glad she and her friend Marghie introduced us to this place, as it's turned into our go-to spot for World Cup games.

The great thing about Prater for World Cup games is that the place is huge, and it's packed with really enthusiastic football fans.

The bad thing about Prater for World Cup games is that the place is huge, and it's packed with really enthusiastic football fans. 

World Cup Fever

I am going to blame my pathetic lack of posts on the World Cup :)

(yes, those are soccer-themed eggs)

Prenzlauer Berg

On Monday Jake and I moved into our new flat in Prenzlauer Berg. It's not far from our old place in Friederichshain - about a 10 minute bike ride across Friedrichshain Volkspark. It's a fantastic flat! It's at the top of an old style East German building (5th floor walk-up!) and gets amazing light. This is a huge improvement over the last flat; even though it was in a great neighborhood, it was on the ground floor and in the back corner of a gloomy building currently undergoing renovations. Yeah. So anyway, I love love LOVE the new digs!

This is our building; our flat includes the balcony and the three windows to the right:

The view from our bedroom window (you can also see the drastic difference in weather in these pics - those first 2 were taken Wednesday when it was raining; the blue skies are from today):

There is a playground directly across the street. It's actually part of an elementary school that is hidden behind the trees:

... and here's the view to the left:

And how crazy is this - our building still uses coal heating. Both bedrooms in the flat have honest-to-god coal burning stoves. Apparently this is still very common is some of the most popular areas of Berlin!

It was so cold on Tuesday that we had to fire it up for the night. It was fun, and surprising warm and cozy - sort of like sleeping around the campfire. Though I'm sure the novelty would wear off rather quickly in the dead of winter...

Anyway, click through to see (lots!) more pics of our new neighborhood!



Prenzlauer Berg is known for being a great neighborhood full of cafes, shops, and gorgeous architecture. Whereas Friederichshain could be compared the Mission district, Prenzlauer Berg is much more cutesy and family friendly. The following pictures are from Sredzkistrasse, which is a wide boulevard full of buildings with beautiful balconies, tree-lined cobblestone walks, and quintessential European sidewalk cafes on every corner. It's incredibly charming.

More pictures on the way!