Valet de Chambre builds Palais am Festungsgraben

Palais am Festungsgraben (former Palais Donner)

The above Palais was originally built in baroque style by Johann Gottfried Donner, the Valet de Chambre of Prussian King Frederick II (Friedrich der Große) in 1753 and redesigned, one century later, with the – then very hip – classicistic "livery" it wears nowadays. 

The Palais is situated right behind the chestnut grove of the New Guard House and  is the only buiilding in this neighborhood that survived World War II relatively unscathed.

It disposes of several very representative halls and is used for festive receptions or exclusive events (can be chartered by you too!). It even won an award for being "one of the best event locations in Germany".

Furthermore, the building serves as a theater, hosts two galleries and the Tajik Tee Salon.

Old pictures of the building from the Federal Archive (Bundesarchiv)

Berlin Wall Memorial

Berlin Wall Memorial Visitor Center

From August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989, a nasty line cut through Berlin's entire city center: The notorious Berlin Wall, built to prevent citizens of the GDR from fleeing to the West. West Berlin was an island located in the middle of the GDR.

As the wall alone couldn't stop people from trying to escape from the GDR regime, it was additionally fortified by a death strip all along the border, as well as a "shoot-to-kill" order.

The area along the restricted zone was patrolled, watchtowers were set up, signal fences giving silent alarms were installed and the land around the border was declared no-man's-land and was lit up bright as day during the night.

Observation platforms in the West allowed tourists and West Berliners to sneak a peek "over the fence" into an other world.

In the peaceful revolution of 1989, the guards of Bornholmer Straße border opened the gates on November 9th without formal order and masses of people flocked to the West.

The Berlin Wall Memorial partly is an open-air museum and the memorial grounds on the former border strip are open all year round. Admission is free. There also is a viewing platform at the Documentation Center (Bernauer Strasse 111). Don't miss it!

If you are up to some research, check out the specialized bookstore on the history of the Berlin Wall in the Visitor Center.

A really intriguing and actually quite spooky part of the Berlin Wall history is on display in the Nordbahnhof S-Bahn station: The "Ghost Station Exhibition". 

What is this?

As a result of all the wall building and the busy cutting the city in two halves, public transport network had to be divided too. Three lines that passed through the city center and a short stretch of East Berlin territory stayed open to West Berliners while East Berlin stations were closed down.

Read more on Ghost Stations

Bauhaus Archive – Museum of Design

Entrance with cafeteria

What essential piece of wisdom did I take away from my visit to the Bauhaus-Archiv yesterday?
Roaming the exhibition halls, merely escorted by the soft English audio guide voices, I was pondering about life and learning and life long learning – and of course, if only briefly, about architecture and design.

The essential piece of wisdom I took with me was that wherever you go and whatever you do, it is good to look at things in a new, in a fresh, in a pure-minded way. Untainted, so to speak, as if human beings were able to ever look at anything in an "untainted" way ... ah, but let's leave this for now and just pretend we could.

For me, the essential of Bauhaus philosophy is to try and look at things in a different way. I will take that with me and hope I'll never forget to apply it to my daily life.

As for the museum: If you go there you absolutely will want to take an audio guide (it's included in the entrance fee). I thought it was great to be informed about so many details while looking at the pictures and design objects. By the way, it is strictly forbidden to take photographs inside the building!

The Bauhaus Archive Museum of Design houses an extensive collection documenting the history and impact of the Bauhaus movement.

The movement started out on April 1, 1919 in Weimar, then relocated to Dessau in 1925 and finally to Berlin in 1932 where it was pressured to close in April 1933 by the National Socialists.

The Nazis denounced the Bauhaus for its – what they called  – "degenerate art" (the nazi term for modern art) and frowned upon its modernist style as un-German, probably influenced by Jews and on top of that a front for communists and social liberals.

Bauhaus
Bauhaus Museum Weimar
Bauhaus Movement Weimar

Meilenwerk Berlin: Showing off Vintage Cars at their best

Meet up with this sexy lady and her mean machine right in front of Meilenwerk before visiting their classic car show. Don't hesitate to bring your kids: Once inside the place, you will find an absolutely G-rated environment.

A must-go for every vintage car enthusiast, this dealership exhibits the most exquisite jewels of the past century. Additionally you can find a great variety of products associated with vintage cars as well as a restaurant with Sunday Jazz brunch and several club areas.

Meilenwerk Berlin