Daily Archives: 9. Februar 2010

Gunning for Business

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Tough times have hit the Ku’ Damm. Poor old Luxury is always the first casualty of a bad economy.

Half the Damm’s sidewalk jewel boxes–devised to bring you within a few glass inches of Baccarat and Gucci-things–are plastered over with glowing ads for tourist spaghetti troughs. Now it seems this old gentleman’s mainstay, More for Less, has decided to take matters into its own hands, in the Jack Torrance sense. The rather desperate looking sign reads “WE’RE SHOOTING…”.

Granted there is just one L between Schiessen and Schliessen, which means “closing”. That’s probably what they meant. Feeling lucky?

Hallo!

berlin23enero-010small.JPGHi! My name is Ana and I began my German course today. I would like to write in German, but I’m lacking confidence to do so right now. I hope I will be able to write my entries in German by the end of this course, though.

If anybody is reading this before coming to Berlin I would like to suggest them that they should pack as many sweaters as their suitcases can possibly hold. Believe me: you are probably coming from a warmer country, unless you are coming  from Siberia. Streets are icy and slippery, but the city is worth several embarrassing falls, that’s a fact!

Long Night of the Museum

On Berlin’s biannual Long Nights of the Museum (Lange Nacht der Museen), nearly all of the city’s many museums stay open until 2:00 am. A single ticket buys universal admission as well as unlimited public transportation for the night. The winter event was held the weekend before last–as it happened, by the light of the year’s brightest biggest moon.

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My girlfriend and I went to the Museum für Naturkunde. It was the night’s only stop thanks to a late start, but I have absolutely no regrets. The Museum für Naturkunde is charming and old-school. In contrast to so many technologically overwrought,  super child-friendly museums one sees these days, the Museum für Naturkunde’s shabby treasures speak for themselves.

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It was the perfect museum to see by night. The crowds were out in full force, sipping pink cocktails under the world’s largest fossil brachiosaur–but in the moments we were alone, the old museum by night felt forbidden and magical.

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Check out amazingly cute dead animals like these at the Museum für Naturkunde by day, or wait for the summer event on August 28, 2010.