Summer Berlin

Coming to Berlin and bringing your kiddies? And you don´t know what to do beside the sightseeing in the historic heart of Berlin? We have listed up some nice parks, playgrounds and restaurants where you can easily bring your kids! Let the children play while you relax and chat with your friends and family.

1. Alois S. Tapas Bar

this is probably my favorite restaurant to visit with kids in summer. There is a big outdoor terrace with a playground in extension. While you sit and dine and talk and do more talking and when the kids get bored, they can go play.

Where? At Senefelderstrasse 18. Not far from the EastSeven Berlin Hostel.

2. Children´s farm Mauerpark

at the end of the mauerpark, at the schwedter steg, there is a children´s farm called Moritzhof.

there are all kinds of animals here, like ponies, pigs and bunnies. Also there´s a big playground right next to the farm.

3.  Minigolf & beergarten Brachvogel

here you can eat simple but good food, your kids will love….Pizza, pasta, beef and potatoes…. After filling your bellies you can play Minigolf! And if the night is still young, you can drink a cold beer afterwards while watching the kids play on the playground….I can´t think of a more balanced evening, relaxing after a little bit of exercising and watching the sun go under….

Carl-Herz-Ufer 34, 10961 Berlin

 4. A spooky park in Prenzlauer Berg, the LEISE PARK

Go there if you dare!!
A bit spooky and scary, you may think, this park is located on the grounds of a former cemetery. It is called Leise-Park, which means as much as quiet park. You find here lots of nice playgrounds for your kids, also there are still some grave-stones maintained.  It is a beautiful park, with many nice flowers and plants. Go there during the dawn and you might see a fox running through the park!
Go here to get away from the busy center and to let your thoughts flow and your kids play.

5. Museum for Technology

This is a good option for a rainy day!

This huge museum will keep you and your kids busy the whole day, while exploring the 14 different exhibition  departments, featuring locomotives, airplanes, ships, engines and much more. A lot of activities for kids to do and a lot of hands-on exploring to do!

Getting There: Metro Stop “Gleisdreieck” (Line U1, U2), or “Möckernbrücke” (Line U1, U7) Easy to find, it has a real airplane sitting on top of the roof!

For more tips and ideas on what to see and do in Berlin just read our hostel blog!

Berlin events

what to expect in Berlin in 2013? A lot of cool events and exhibitions are being held in the german metropole.

we have made a selection, a top 5, of events and exhibitions coming up in this winter in Berlin!

1. Transmediale

” an ongoing adventure in art, culture and technology”

Transmediale is a Festival based in Berlin and it takes place on a yearly base.

It is about making new connections between culture, technology and art. Every year the festival attracts artist, designers, students, activists and professionals from all over the globe.  Besides exhibitions and performances there are also screenings and publications that take place.

2. Berlinale

this years Berlinale, taking place for the 63rd time, will attract lots and lots of visitors from all over the globe. It is one of Berlins most famous international film festivals.

The program for the public shows about 400 different films from different countries every year. These are mostly european and international premieres.

If you want to go see one of the movies that are being shown during the Berlinale, it is wise to order your tickets in time!

3. Exhibition German History Museum on Nazi-Germany

the exhibition “Diversity destroyed”  will be shown in the German History Museum from January 31st till November 10th. In this year, 2013, it is 80 years since the ” seize of power” of the Nationalist.

“It will show how the social diversity and cultural avant-garde that had turned 1920s Berlin into a pulsating metropolis were destroyed after 1933 when the National Socialists came to power. In this way the exhibition will provide significant insight into the conditions and consequences of Hitler’s rise to power.”

4. 100° Berlin Festival

a 4 day marathon of music, dance and theater performances being held at 2 locations, Hebel am Ufer and SophienSaele. It is a real marathon with performances being held every hour! For an exact program check their websites, or just go there and let yourself be surprised!

From the 21st of February till the 24th.

5. Hamburger Bahnhof Secret Universe IV

George Widener, the 4th in a row of artists that have been largely ignored by the established art discourse…

the exhibition opens at the 25th of January and will be shown at the Hamburger Bahnhof until June 16th.

The most important series and works of George Widener will be shown and also some new drawings, developed especially for this exhibition.

The Hamburger Bahnhof is always worthwhile a visit. It is a big museum for contemporary art, located close to the Berlin main train station.

If you are planning your trip to Berlin and you are still looking for a nice hostel in Berlin, stop looking and come stay at our place!!

Berlin Wall Documentation Centre

The EastSeven Berlin Hostel listed up some cool and interesting activities in Berlin!

We want to keep our guests informed about what is cool and cheap to see and do in Berlin. Some of our favorite low cost activities & events in Berlin are listed down below. In case you want to have more tips and recommendations just book a hostel in Berlin @ EastSeven and ask our knowledgeable staff.

1. Berlin Wall documentation center
this documentation center, completely free of charge, is located at the Bernauer Strasse.
It is really closeby our hostel, it is approximately a 10 minute walk. You can ask us at the reception for directions.
At this documentation center they have  a Tower you can climb up, you should have a look, because  from above you have a clearer view over the Berlin wall (small piece maintained) and the death stripe.
Learn more about Berlins History by paying a visit to this informative museum.

2. Kulturbrauerei
This huge complex of night-time hangouts originally housed Berlins Schultheiss brewery for more than 150 years. By night the Culture Brewery turns into a popular meeting point for determined drinkers, eager to explore the buildings wealth of bars, clubs, cafes and restaurants, or just hang out in the huge courtyard.
3. Dr. pong
the table tennis bar in Berlin. don´t think it is a sports bar  because it ain´t. A lot of youngsters meet here to get together! There is nothing more fun than playing table tennis with over 20 people at once! Beside that there are dj´s playing great electronic music! It is a great hangout!
4.  You enjoy drinking a glass of fine wine? Go to the Weinerei!
great cozy place, it´s mainly students you will find here. getting together to drink really
great wine and philosophize in a relaxed living room-feel atmosphere.
The concept of the Weinerei is quite unique. You ´buy´ a glass, for one euro, and then you
can fill and refill it as often as you like. Also there are little snacks the accompany the
wine. when you leave you can pay whatever you think it was worth.
Don´t go here too late, when the wine is out, it’s over and out!!
Location: Fehrbelliner Straße 57
5. White Trash Fast Food
This is  a famous and legendary rock club. The name already implies it; they also have a fast food restaurant.
Serving the most delicious burgers & fries I have ever had. I can recommend their vegetarian burgers too!
What else to expect at the White Trash, great live music & a great Rock´N´Roll atmosphere!!

6. Organic Market @ Kollwitzplatz
This is how you can spend your Saturday like all the locals living in Prenzlauer Berg. Strawling over the market, buying some things to eat, drinking some coffee or even champagne. At this market, everything is possible! You can even buy clothes and jewelry here, also there are often musicians standing at the ends of the market, playing their songs!! Always a great atmosphere here!!
7.Mauerpark Fleamarket
if you are staying over the weekend you absolutely can´t miss out on the Mauerpark
fleamarket. Held every Sunday from 7 till 16 it is the place where hip & young Berlin and
Berlin-visitors get together. Not only looking for bargains, also it is a social happening where
friends meet over a bratwurst, or watching one of the many spontaneous concerts from
musicians coming from all over the globe.

8.THE BERLIN-HOHENSCHöNHAUSEN STASI MEMORIAL OLD STASI PRISON
The site of the main remand prison for people detained by the former East German Ministry of State Security (MfS), or ‘Stasi’, has been a Memorial since 1994. Since the vast majority of the buildings, equipment and furniture and fittings have survived intact, the Memorial provides a very authentic picture of prison conditions in the GDR and gives another view of the divided Berlin.
Tours of the prison are usually led by former inmates, who provide first-hand details on prison conditions and the interrogation methods employed by the GDR’s Ministry of State Security (MfS).
It is only possible to view the extensive prison complex on a official guided tour as Visitors require detailed guidance in order to understand the various sections of the prison.
Public tours every Saturday and Sunday, every hour from 10am to 4pm in various languages, but better call ahead to ask at what time it is in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Danish or Norwegian…
Phone Visitor’s Service: Phone: +49 – (0)30 – 98 60 82-30
Admission:
Regular fee 5,00 Euro, concessions*) 2,50 Euro, Students 1,00 Euro
*) university students, senior citizens, handicapped persons, Berlincard-holder
How to get there:
Take the Metro U2 from the Hostel and go 2 Stops to Alexanderplatz. From here you take the Tram M5 to the stop “Freienwalder Strasse”. The Memorial is then about a 10 minute walk down Freienwalder Strasse in Genslerstraße 66.

9.  SACHSENHAUSEN MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM

When visiting Berlin, you should visit some historical sites aswell. for instance the sachsenhausen concentration camp. It’ s not going to be a fun trip, but you will learn so much more about the terrible second world war and its victims.
Opening Hours
15 March until 14 October: daily 8:30 – 18.00
15 October until 14 March: daily 8:30 – 16:30
Entry is for free.

10. Viktoriapark Kreuzberg
Viktoriapark is one of Berlin’s oldest and prettiest parks and offers a great view from the top of Kreuzberg. Have a delicious and cheap vegetarian lunch at Seerose (Mehringdamm 47) and then have a coffee or some ice cream at one of the plenty cafes in Bergmannstraße. Kreuzberg/Viktoriapark @ U-Mehringdamm.

Have fun exploring Berlin without spending too much money!! Hope to welcome you soon!!!

Here is a top 10 of great events and parties for this weekend!

Events in Berlin

1. Finest Friday at Berghain/Panorama Bar

Party starts at midnight, open end! Where? At Berlins coolest CLUB:  Berghain

You ll find Berghain at the following address. 70 Am Wriezener Bahnhof; Friedrichshain; 10243 Berlin
For tonight´s party the damage is  8 Euro.

Here we will present to you the line up:
Panormabar – Finest Friday
Floating Points (Eglo), Red D & San Soda (We play house), Steven Tang (Emphasis), Prosumer (Ostgut Ton)

2. Saturday the 25th of February, party time at PANKE CLUB
HOT SOURCE @ Panke together with Fil video installation
with Sneaky, Benski, Tres & Rokin

Come join us for our joyful reunion throwdown.

Full Source Force in effect!

Cheeky Berlin residents Sneaky and Benski are joined by Hot Source OG members Tres and Rokin who are flying in from Barcelona and Cologne. Both will be armed with their tastiest selections du jour! and all 4 primed for deep dancefloor devastation!

So…..what’s on the menu for the evening?…….Simply, no holds barred, life affirming music for your mind and body. Nu-Skool to Old-Skool.

“Hot Source joins the preverbial dots with impeccable style”
Marge Simpson

AND……….. you can even wig out to the sounds (ninja style) in the backroom with Glow in the dark table tennis!

Doors open: 23.30
Location: Panke, Gerichtstraße 23, Wedding, 13347 Berlin

(Text: Panke Club)
3. Saturday the 25th of February: RECYCLE – Berlin’s finest Drum’n’Bass: HOSPITAL

@ Gretchen Club

The party starts at 23.30, you find Gretchen Club here: Obentrautstr. 19-21, Kreuzberg

BOX1
Netsky (Hospital/BE), Logistics (Hospital/UK), Nu:Tone (Hospital/UK), N’Dee (Recycle/D), MC Mace (Recycle/D)
White MC (Recycle/D)
BOX2
“Sunny Side Up” with André Langenfeld (D)

4. Exhibition @ C/O Berlin–> Ron Galella . Paparazzo Extraordinaire

Last call, exhibition is till 26 February 2012

“If someone says ‘no photos!’ then I try not to take any more. However, before he says that I take as many as I can. That’s the game”. Ron Galella

A paparazzo hunt is cunning, harsh and frequently ends painfully. In the worst case bloodily—including broken jaws and lost teeth. For Ron Galella and his undercover activities, no effort or risk was too great. He proceeded like a detective in order to catch the celebrities in the right moment, patient, persistent, shifty. Whether it was Jacqueline Kennedy, Marlon Brando, Greta Garbo, Andy Warhol, Sean Penn, Robert Redford, Muhammad Ali, Madonna, Mick Jagger or Audrey Hepburn—he managed to get them all in front of his lens. His pictures are snapshots rather than portraits. Spontaneous, not staged, and as a result extremely authentic.

On the occasion of the Berlinale, C/O Berlin will show approximately 140 black/white photographs by Ron Galella.

(text: C/O Berlin)

5. Exhibition @ KW Institute for Contemporary Art

“YOU KILLED ME FIRST The Cinema of Transgression  19.02. – 09.04.2012″
Auguststraße 69
D-10117 Berlin

Karen Finley, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Richard Kern, Lung Leg, Lydia Lunch, Kembra Pfahler, Casandra Stark, Tommy Turner, David Wojnarowicz, Nick Zedd

There will be blood, shame, pain and ecstasy, the likes of which no one has yet imagined.
Nick Zedd

Nightmarish scenarios of violence, dramatic states of mind, and perverse sexual abysses – the films of the Cinema of Transgression that were consciously aimed at shock, provocation, and confrontation, bear witness to an extraordinary radicality. In the 1980s a group of filmmakers from the Lower East Side in New York went on a collision course with the conventions of American society. Transcending all moral or aesthetic boundaries, the low budget films reveal social hardship met with sociopolitical indifference. Sometimes shot with stolen camera equipment, the films contain strident analyses of life in the Lower East Side defined by criminality, brutality, drugs, AIDS, sex, and excess.

Even though the movement has remained largely unknown, the Cinema of Transgression has been a significant influence for later generations of artists.

YOU KILLED ME FIRST at KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin is the first exhibition on the Cinema of Transgression.

Entry only over 18 years

(Text: KW Institute of Contemporary Art)

6. Go out for Dinner, there is a fantastic Vegan Food Restaurant closeby our cozy Hostel in Berlin

It is called KOPPS and is located at the Linienstrasse 94, 10115 Berlin
They serve typical German dishes, but everything is vegan!

7.Berlin Wall documentation center

The Berlin Wall Memorial is the central memorial site of German division, located in the middle of the capital. Situated at the historic site on Bernauer Strasse, it will eventually extend along 1.4 kilometers of the former border strip. The memorial contains the last piece of Berlin Wall with the preserved grounds behind it and is thus able to convey an impression of how the border fortifications developed until the end of the 1980s. The events that took place here together with the preserved historical remnants and traces of border obstacles on display help to make the history of Germany’s division comprehensible to visitors.

(Text: http://www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de/en/)

8. Dance the night away at the Bassy Club

There is Live music and afterwards there are dj´s! Expect great oldies rock´n´roll ,

wild music from before 1969!

Great thing, this club is just around the corner, at Schönhasuer allee 176A.

9.  Go eat breakfast at Cafe Entweder Oder

it is located within walking distance from EastSeven, at th Oderberger Strasse. The serve great breakfast, lunch and dinner too.

10.  Clueless of what to do during the day? Go on a walking tour!!

The Brewer´s Walking tour arranges pick ups from our hostel twice a day, EVERY day.

So just ask us at the reception and we will give you additional information.

Sachsenhausen

The EastSeven Berlin Hostel recommends a visit to the Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum

The Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was built in the summer of 1936 by concentration camp prisoners from the Emsland camps. It was the first new camp to be established after Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was appointed Chief of the German Police in 1936. The design of the grounds was conceived by the SS architects as the ideal concentration camp setting, giving architectural expression to the SS worldview, and symbolically subjugating the prisoners to the absolute power of the SS. As a model for other camps, and in view of its location just outside the Reich capital, Sachsenhausen acquired a special role in the National Socialist concentration camp system. This was reinforced in 1938 when the Concentration Camp Inspection Office, the administrative headquarters for all concentration camps within the German sphere of influence, was transferred from Berlin to Oranienburg.

More than 200,000 people were imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp between 1936 and 1945. At first the prisoners were mostly political opponents of the Nazi regime. However, increasing numbers of members of groups defined by the National Socialists as racially or biologically inferior were later included. By 1939 large numbers of citizens from the occupied European states arrived. Tens of thousands of people died of starvation, disease, forced labor and mistreatment, or were victims of the systematic extermination operations of the SS. Thousands of other prisoners died during the death marches following the evacuation of the camp at the end of April 1945. Approximately 3,000 sick prisoners, along with the doctors and nurses who had stayed behind in the camp, were liberated by Soviet an Polish soldiers.

In August 1945 the Soviet Special Camp No. 7 was moved to the area of the former protective custody camp. Most of the buildings, with the exception of the crematoria and extermination facilities, were still used for the same purposes. Nazi functionaries were held in the camp, as were political undesirables, arbitrarily arrested prisoners and inmates sentenced by the Soviet military tribunal. By 1948 Sachsenhausen, now upgraded to Special Camp No. 1, was the largest of three special camps in the Soviet Zone of Occupation. By the closing of the camp in the spring of 1950, there had been approximately 60,000 people imprisoned there, at least 12,000 of whom died of malnutrition and disease.

In 1956, after the grounds and barracks had been used for years by the Soviet Army, the People’s Police and the People’s National Army of the G.D.R., plans were prepared for the establishment of the Sachsenhausen National Memorial, which was inaugurated on April 22, 1961. Instead of just choosing to preserve the remaining original structures, the planners decided on a memorial site that would symbolize the “victory of anti-fascism over fascism”. It was incorporated into the few remaining original buildings and later reconstructions of historical buildings.

As a result of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum has, since January 1993, been part of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation. This is a public trust, funded equally by the Federal Republic of Germany and the state of Brandenburg. The Museum of the Death March, located in Below Forest, near Wittstock, is also administered by the Memorial. In these woods, 18,000 prisoners, who had been taken on forced marches by the SS in the direction of Schwerin, stayed for a number of days in late April and early May of 1945.

The original buildings and remaining structures of the concentration camp are “guarantors of memory.” As soon as the Foundation had been established, extensive rehabilitation and remodelling work began. The inherited state of the memorial is characterised by the thorough transformation of its historical topography into the memorial complex installed in the time of the GDR. The shift of emphasis towards the camp relics from the Nazi period brings with it a re-evaluation of the various historical layers. The implementation of key rehabilitation projects is funded by a federal government special investment programme.
The redesign of Sachsenhausen Memorial is based on a decentralised concept, which aims to communicate history to visitors in very places where it happened. Thirteen exhibitions on different sites examine the particular history of each and link it to a thematic presentation that sets it in a wider context. These are complemented by temporary exhibitions, held in the New Museum. There are also exhibitions by school groups, resulting from educational projects, as well as workshop exhibitions to present new acquisitions from the archives and depot. After completion of the remodelling work, Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum remains a place of mourning and remembrance in a European context, while facing up to the tasks of a modern museum of history.

Opening times:

15 March until 14 October: daily 8:30 – 18.00
15 October until 14 March: daily 8:30 – 16:30

The museums, visitors service and the book shop are all closed on Mondays. Please note that dogs are not allowed on any part of the memorial.

Guided tours

The tours are especially popular with school classes. Prices are €15 for groups of up to 15 people and €25 for groups of up to 30 people. In our opinion groups should not consist of more than 30 people. For tours in foreign languages there is an extra charge of €25 per group. Tours with special themes: €2,50 (reduced €1,50)

How to reach us (From the cente of Berlin)

By train:
S-Bahn line S1 (Wansee to Oranienburg) until Oranienburg station. This is the trains last stop and the journey time from Berlin-Friedrichstrasse is 50 minutes. S-Bahn Line S26 (Lichtenrade to Birkenwerde), change in Birkenwerder for the S1. Regional train: RE5 from Berlin-Stadtbahn until Oranienburg station. Journey time from Berlin-Zoologischer Garten is 45 minutes. Regional train RB12 from Berlin-Lichtenberg until Oranienburg station. Journey time 30 minutes.

From Oranienburg train station.
Bus number 804 from the station in the direction of Malz until the Gedenkstätte or follow the sign posts for 20 minutes.

(text: www.stiftung-bg.de)

Berlin Wall Documentation Centre

The EastSeven Berlin Hostel made a TOP 10 of some of the most interesting museums in Berlin….
With over 170 museums and galleries Berlin welcomes millions of visitors each year to its vast collections. On offer are unmissable artefacts such as the Pergamon’s treasures of antiquity at the Museum Island, contemporary art and modernist classics such as the Bauhaus building. Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum, built after reunification, is one of the memorable highlights of the New Berlin. From Nefertiti’s bust to a speck of the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin’s museums bring its unique character and history to life.
Check out our TOP 10:

1.Deutsches Historisches Museum – German Historical Museum Berlin

Berlin’s Geman Historical Museum newly inaugurated in 2006 is a stunning chronicle of 2,000 years of German history. The permanent exhibition’s presentation of the past is arranged by epoch and contains over 8,000 exhibits. Temporary exhibitions are housed in the new extension by I.M.Pei.

2. Altes Museum – Old Museum

Berlin’s oldest museum built in 1830 by Prussia’s greatest architect, Friedrich Schinkel, the Altes Museum, is one of the most important examples of neoclassicism in architecture in Europe. As part of the UNESCO-listed Museum Island it is best known for its Greek and Roman Antiquities collection.

3. Alte Nationalgalerie – Old National Gallery

The Alte Nationalgalerie reopening on the Musem Island in 2001 was a much celebrated event. First completed in 1876, the museum houses one of the most impressive collections of 19th century European art in Europe including masterpieces from Caspar David Friedrich and the French impressionists.

4. Neue Nationalgalerie – New National Gallery

The New National Gallery next to the Kulturforum complex was the stunning 1968 glass building by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed to house Berlin’s permanent exhibition of 20th century European visual art. A must for fans of German Expressionism.

5. Pergamon Museum

With 850,000 visitors a year, the Pergamon is one of the most popular attractions in Berlin. Three museums in one, or three collections under one roof, its awe-inspiring monuments include the Pergamon Altar, the Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate.

6. Stiftung Topographie des Terrors – Topography of Terror

Between 1933 and 1945, the central institutions responsible for the repressive and criminal policies of National Socialism – the Gestapo and SS – were located on the terrain of the Topography of Terror exhibition.
A preserved 200 meter section of the Berlin Wall can be viewed along one side of the site at Niederkirchnerstrasse. Texts are in German and English; access to the exhibition is available daily until dark. Entry is free, and guided tours and informational talks are provided upon request. A new multi-million euro documentation center is scheduled to open in Spring 2010.

7. Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin with Science Center Spectrum

Berlin’s Technikmuseum – German Museum of Technology – is a popular, entertaining experience for all the family. A hands-on, activity-oriented tour of the cultural history of technology with over 250 experiments covering the fundamentals of scientific phenomena from acoustics to radioactivity

8. Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer, Mauergedenkstätte – Berlin Wall Monument

This evocative stretch of the Berlin Wall on Bernauerstrasse is one of the few remnants of the concrete wall left untouched since 1989. The Gedenkstätte – monument – includes a Documentation Centre which chronicles the history and experience of the Berlin Wall.

9. The Story of Berlin

This interactive history exhibition is no ordinary museum, but rather an interactive journey through Berlin’s 800-plus years, complete with light and sound shows.

10. Ramones Museum Berlin

Find out how punk rock legends – The Ramones – from New York ended up with a museum in Berlin. On display are childhood photos from Johnny Ramone and other band members, gig set lists, fliers from the early days and a vast collection of concert t-shirts.

(Text: Berlin.de)

So if you are planning to visit Berlin you are more than welcome to book a room at the cosy EastSeven Berlin Hostel.

See you soon in Berlin!!!