This museum of photography is really great, and the highlight for me after the inspiring exhibitions is the good coffee and great cakes at their coffee place. I find myself there almost every second week for a drink and a slice of cake. The food is perfect, the ambiance is nice and it's really alive as a lot of people are coming directly from the running exhibition. At the entrance you can find an interesting bookstore and the best photoautomat of the city right outside. Last but not least, it's only some meters from the Helmut Newton Fondation ( which doesn't have a nice coffee place itself yet ).

The central ‘Mitte’ area of Berlin is packed tight with galleries and museums, which means you can cram a lot into a short amount of time, if that’s what you want. The best of the lot is the Me Collectors Room, which shows off large chunks of the Thomas Olbricht collection alongside other contemporary private artworks. The permanent ‘Wunderkammer’ display offers over 200 pieces from the Renaissance and the Baroque periods, with a solid focus on the strange and macabre. There’s even a Mark Ryden original that fits in nicely.

A good place to drown your Berliner winter-melancholy. The bartenders are top notch and the interior is warm but stylish, with the inevitable retro vibe. Open from 6 till late. There´s also a legendary (and kinda expensive) restaurant next door, which provides the bar with some excellent snacks. Works for dates and for friends, but if you´re planning for a bigger group it might be wise to reserve.

A very good reason to travel West: the C/O, next to the formerly infamous Berliner Zoo tube station, is an awesome museum dedicated to photography and visual media. Previous exhibitions include Larry Clark, Martin Parr, Anton Corbijn, Annie Leibovitz and Stephen Shore.

Tuesday's lunch hour tip is the amazing Berlin Philarmonic. A short-duration concert (around an hour) happens every Tuesday at 13h, for free. People make the Philarmonie's foyer full, sitting on the stairs, on the ground and everywhere around. Little advice: bring with you a little cushion for more comfort and try to arrive early to find the good spots.