Berlin: the cafe edition

As I’m sitting reunited with my favorite café in DC, it seems fitting to reminisce and talk about my favorite cafés in Berlin.  There is no shortage of cafes in Berlin, that much should be obvious.  Whether you are looking for a cozy cafe to curl up in and read a book or a busy cafe to get you working, Berlin has it.  I have to say, there are far too many cafes for me to visit...I mean there are too many cafes on my street for me to even visit in just a few weeks.

When I visit cafes, I have to admit that I make a lot of my judgments based off the atmosphere and not necessarily just the coffee.  Don't get me wrong, I will not enjoy my time if I receive a lukewarm coffee or badly made espresso, but I'm not claiming to be a coffee connoisseur. I want my coffee to be strong, but I'm not at the level of being able to detect different notes in my coffee...yet.  But if you want that anyway, Berlin is also the place to go for good coffee.

However, the places I'm including in this post are the cafes I have frequented; they are tried and true favorites for me to get my coffee fix and also sit down to do a little bit of work. There are some famous coffee places in Berlin, including The Barn, Bonanza Coffee Heroes, Double Eye, and Sankt Oberholz among many many others, but some of these a little more unknown.  It can be easy to become overwhelmed by the abundance of cafes and restaurants in Berlin, so I hope this helps some of you out who are looking for some different options.

The first café was essentially right around the corner from my apartment, making it easy for me to pop over and grab some coffee and catch up on my emails.  It had the qualities of an ideal café for me – good coffee, nice people, a cozy environment, and fast Wi-fi…which unfortunately can be harder to find in Berlin than most people think.  It was also in my favorite district of the city Schöneberg, a quiet historical area in the center of Berlin.  By historical area, I mean that it was the cultural center of Berlin during the Weimar Period, aka one of my favorite historical periods.

Mokalola

Leberstraße 21, 10829 Berlin

S-bahn Julius Leber Brücke or S-bahn Südkreuz 

 

The first time I visited Mokalola was through the recommendation of someone I knew.  She encouraged us to find out what the name of the café meant.  It turns out that it was named as a nod to its location in Schöneberg, and especially after Marlene Dietrich, born near the cafe in Schöneberg and ultimate femme fatale. One of her most famous roles was as Lola in The Blue Angel, making Mokalola an adorable name for the café.

photo from flickr because I forget to take pictures....

Berlin: some sightseeing

Although I managed to do a lot of sightseeing my first time around in Berlin, there was still so much more I hadn't seen.  I didn't actually go to a lot of the museums or typical sightseeing sites, but I did manage to get out a couple days and face the crowds of people downtown to explore everything Berlin has to offer.  

In terms of history and culture, Berlin is a fantastic city.  For a history nerd like me, I never get tired of the museums and memorials.  While Berlin has had somewhat of a dark history, I credit them for trying to come to terms with it.  I view it as a way to incorporate the past into the present, a part of a permanent reconstruction of Berlin.  In this way, Berlin will never be "finished."  It is constantly evolving, seamlessly weaving the new in with the old, because there is no strong distinction between an "old" city of historical buildings and a new city of business and fancy architecture.  It is all placed together, and part of what makes Berlin so special.

Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauerstrasse

 

On Being Back in Berlin

Berlin.  The original destination for this entire trip.  The city I’ve endlessly talked about the entire year, waiting for the moment I could finally be back in the city that so effortlessly defined me and even more than that, was me.  

Lots of people have asked me, “Why German?” or even better, “Why Berlin?”  And to tell you the truth, I have no idea.  Part of it was because I wasn’t really interested in learning Spanish, French, or Latin in school, but part of me was also puzzled when I started learning German and fell completely in love.  It was one of those gut instincts that I knew I was doing the right thing and making the right decisions.

As for Berlin?  Call it weird, but I always knew I would come here.  It was another one of those feelings that I knew I would love it.  Before coming here the first time, I always wondered if I had built up this fantasy image of Berlin in my head; that I was looking for something I wouldn’t be able to find, especially in a city (or country) I had never visited.  Upon my arrival in Berlin for the first time last year, I knew that wasn’t going to be the case at all. Never have I had the sensation that everything was sinking into place the same way I felt when I was settling into Berlin.  

I admit, I had some trepidations about coming back the second time around.  Although I knew I loved it the first time, I keep hearing how people seem to find things different the next time visit, and end up realizing they don’t love it as much as they did before.  I always had a good instinct about Berlin, but I couldn’t help but be afraid that the same thing would happen to me – that I would realize my love for Berlin was just an infatuation and not really the city I was looking for my entire life.  It turns out that I should just trust my instincts because I seem to love it even more the second time around.  
 

From the quiet to buzzing and alive; from the cafes to the craziest clubs, Berlin has it all.  It’s a city for everyone, but at the same time while at the same time takes some getting used  to.  It’s not a city that jumps out in its beauty or glamor or friendliness in the same way other cities like New York, Paris, or London attracts people, but spend a little bit of time here and you realize the city is buzzing.  It starts early in the morning, from the fresh bread and fruit at the markets to the coffee in the afternoon, and lasting long into the night at the bars and clubs around the city…taking you all the way to the first morning light when you finally stumble home and then do it all over after a couple hours of sleep.  What strikes me is the ability for anyone to fit in – and how everyone seems to mesh together.

Berlin is a really hard city for me to capture in photographs.  To me, there is no way to really adequately show the city in photos as nothing correctly shows the life and beauty of the city.  Those moments are almost too intimate - as if I'm intruding on peoples' personal lives by snapping a photograph on the Ubahn or the way a man walks his dog down the street, quietly whistling for it to follow along or the way two friends chat in a cafe.  It's these little moments that make me cherish the city, and also the moments that I don't capture on camera.  But I tried anyway.

Sometimes, you're just not into it....

Sometimes, I wake in the morning and am eager to go running - I'm energetic, motivated, and the sun is usually enough to get me out of the house as soon as possible.  Then there are those times where it's all I can do to make myself to even a quick 20 minute pilates workout or even some simple stretching to get the day started.

This morning was when of those days where despite having the warmest weather since I've been in Germany - 21C/70F - the sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky.  It was one of those morning where I hit snooze on my alarm a few times, and then after I proceeded to wake up, I decided to lay in bed and read some blogs instead of changing into my running clothes.  It wasn't until nearly an hour after I had woken up that I could finally drag myself out of bed.

Even then, sometimes getting into the run will motivate me to push harder and get into it.  That didn't happen today.  Instead, all I could think about was how today was my last morning in Berlin, and how hot it felt, and how tired I felt.  I have no doubts that the stress from finals week, trying to find an apartment for the summer in Berlin when I won't be able to meet anyone in person, trying to figure out how to get a new visa, and the sadness of ending the semester with some great people exhausted me and drained me of all motivation for the week.  I took my run slowly, with many walking breaks and didn't even keep a record of my time.

Although it wasn't a record-breaking or hard run for me, sometimes I just need those days to take a break and use the run as a way to clear my thoughts rather than challenging and pushing myself.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that breaks are okay, to let my mind and body recover a little bit to get my motivation back.

However this run was not all bad, I managed to snap a few last pictures of my last run in Berlin for the semester:

I will definitely miss running through Tiergarten in the mornings, no matter how grey and cold it was for 75% of those runs.  I'm so glad that I got to see what it's like in the springtime, and even though I won't be living so close to it in the summer, I look forward to taking long walks in the park!

I'm sitting surrounded by suitcases as I type.  My next stop: Paris.  Expect lots of skincare, beauty, food, and typical tourist posts!

FOTD: Playing with some brights

Springtime in Berlin is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful things I've seen.  After a brutal and very grey winter, seeing the sun every morning is enough motivation for me to crawl out of bed before 9am and go on a morning run. 

Workout of the Day:
10k run
short arm workout consisting of pushups, tricep dips, and tricep extensions

I never thought I would be able to manage running even 8k, let alone 10k, but they are becoming a norm for me now.  With this weather and some beautiful parks in Berlin, it's definitely less painful that it could be!

Even with finals this week, I can't resist taking a (very) long break from studying by talking a walk through the streets and hitting up a few cafes in the afternoon.  The weather and the sun are taking me out of my makeup rut and inspiring me to do something a little brighter - an accent of a yellow-lime eyeshadow and a cheerful pink lip.  It's definitely a refreshing change from the taupes and neutrals that I've been wearing all year!

 See what I used after the jump!