The typical Berlin winter is biting cold and grey. In combination with the hardness of the city and the angry natives, it feels like a hostile area. Why it's worth experiencing it? Because that's the way this city is.

Berlin has plenty of magic cafés in every corner. This is one of them. It's quiet and it has a mixture of lights and furniture that really catches me. Cakes and coffees are also very tasty.

If you want something a little different from your beer, try Lager Lager. "We are an independent bottle shop and taproom in Neukölln with a passion for all things beer. Choose from our 8 rotating taps and 250+ bottles, with new stock arriving each week. Drink in or takeaway a Growler bottle of your favourite beer using our counter-pressure bottle filler, which guarantees freshness."

One of the most beautiful pieces of Berlin actually is a piece of another city (Al-Hillah, Iraq). Normally Berliners are laid back and like to hang around, drink beer and chat till sunrise. Sometimes they do get excited though, and then they start taking old war-battered stones and piecing them together to (re)form walls. The results are great as can be seen all over Berlin, but the Ishtar gate in the Pergamon museum is where they’ve really outdone themselves.

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.