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.
This place is like being in the Canary Islands, where my hometown is. The wonderful botanical garden has around 22.000 different plant species. I can find here all the tropical species from the island where i grew up: birds of Paradise, palms or dragon trees.
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 ).
My favourite bar of the many around kreuzkölln is Bellman. After its sudden closure and reopening it underwent some changes and is boycotted by some of its former patronage, but for the less principled like myself it’s still a good place to go and they do pull the best Jever in Berlin.
Best record store in Berlin. A great selection of Rock, Folk, Indie, Wave, Industrial and especially the huge floor dedicated to House and Techno Records. Staff are typical Berlin-Style - not very friendly but very knowledgeable.
Beautiful atellier-stores around weserstrasse, this is from a very nice girl that make "sculpure hats" as she said. Excellent record store across the street also.