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.

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.

Cemetery of the Dreifaltigkeitsgemeinde (Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof) in Kreuzburg on Mehringdamm 22, between Zossener Strasse and Blücherstrasse. The grandson of German-Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, is musician Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn who was born in Hamburg and lived in Berlin from age two. Felix Mendelssohn and his family are buried in the middle of Kreuzburg at the Cemetery of the Dreifaltigkeitsgemeinde. Today it is administered together with its 5 neighbouring Protestant cemeteries by the cemetery administration St. Jacobi number I.

Little Vietnam in Berlin - crazy crowded market halls stuffed with commodities from overseas.

There's nothing more revigorating during the dark winter days than spending a couple of hours in a sauna. Germans have mastered the art of sauna and you can find amazing pieces of architecture in the public swimming pools (Stadtbad). I find Stadtbad Neukölln very peculiar in its neoclassic architecture and it's definitely a wallet-friendly option to enjoy some sauna time there. Be prepared to be naked in front of man and woman!