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.
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 :)
Wim Wenders shot Wings of Desire here. It's a quiet place to work and definitely a gorgeous place to visit. Combine it with a visit to the Philharmonic, just across the street. Affiliation is 30 euros per year and you have lots of desks all over the library to choose from.
Peres Projects mostly showcases young, emerging artists and is at the forefront of fusing art with fashion, celebrity and the love of a good party, which seems to work very well in Berlin. Having recently moved into an ex-Soviet building on Karl Marx Allee, the giant new space contrasts brilliantly with the commanding facade.
Boutique space offers natural perfumes, organic soulful objects, Japanese crafts/ceramics and antiques, natural incenses and smudges, resins and wood pieces for burning in incense ceremony. There are also Chinese tea ceremony going on Saturdays, zen meditation, scent-related soirees and other workshops.
I never heard about Havel until some friends and me checked out the google earth for a trip at the weekend. We went there in the german winter, oh yes...in the winter. I loved this place because is a small city island with a lake (which was frozen at that time) and with lovely houses and an old mill. I have never been there in the summer but i can imagine how wonderful would be.