Kw is a great art institute situated at the backyard of a very eastern part of town, place for many other small galleries. Auguststrasse is worth the walk and Kw is worth the stop.
I’m a photographer from Brazil, based in Berlin. I’m attached to this city since 5 years and I have been trying it out from top to bottom, from inside out. Here are some of my personal highlights.
What looks like a plant nursery from the outside, is both, a plant nursery housing two rescued Amazonian parrots and a hidden cafe serving up some of the loveliest cakes and cuppas in all of Berlin. Brace yourself fir occasional screeching parrots flying around though that only adds to the charm of Blumen cafe.
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 ).
It is an English language bookstore centering on non-western, diasporic, and queer perspectives.
Many many many rare and special books carefully selected by Siddhartha Lokanandi that is the soul of this place! Check it, it is unforgettable :)
Flughafen Tempelhof was once the symbol of nazi-pride when Hitler notoriously comissioned construction of the smallest duty free shop in the world (and a beautiful example of fascist architecture). After the war, Tempelhof became one of the frontiers of the cold war with the U.S. battling the communists (who undoubtedly wanted to get rid of the small duty free shop altogether) via the Berlin Airlift. It turned out to be a huge succes, and enabled the allied forces to remain their presence in Berlin and save the small duty free shop. The real free-market victory will come in about two years though, when project developers will take over and start building houses, blocking my view onto the airfield.