my dad had a miniature railway when we were kids. it was a very serious and special affair, which me and my brother weren’t allowed to touch by ourselves. it was kept on its box and reserved for occasional weekends spent at home, when he was feeling especially patient and had plenty of time on hands. we loved setting up the tracks in complicated routes with overhead bridges which quickly took over the rug of the living room…

so when i found out about loxx through uberlin, i was blown away by the idea. i mean, i knew for some people this is a serious hobby, but doing a whole city? was that possible?

it turns out, not only it is possible, it is also super awesome, and one of the coolest things we’ve seen in berlin so far!

there are moving trains of course, all kinds of them, from s-bahns to the ice – but also trucks and buses that move around the city and magically stop at the traffic lights. there are miniature versions of the brandenburg tor, the tv tower or the reichstag, where you can see and listen to jfk doing his famous “ich bin ein berliner” speech. there’s even an airport – yes, with planes lifting off and landing!


my favourite part was really all the small details. it seems like everywhere you look, there’s something to be discovered, little events and scenes being enacted. we went around it pulling on each others sleeves, excitedly pointing out every scene we’d discovered. i believe you could spend the whole day doing that and still leave with lots you didn’t notice…

and every once in a while, the lighting chances and you can see the city during twilight and night time.

i don’t have words to describe it. it’s just magic. go see for yourself! :)

… is equally balanced by my hatred for haggling! i can’t do it, not after two years of daily practice in china… i always feel like i’m either cheating someone or being cheated… there’s no winning, and so i end up not buying anything most of the time. still, i like to browse around, and imagine where all these relics might have come from. berlin provides a lot of visual entertainment for the curious eye.

the germans have a saying: “april does what it wants” – so far, it seems determined to stretch winter as long as it can… i’m really glad i didn’t let my winter clothes behind in portugal!

i’ve been keeping in mind these mementoes from last year, frequently returning to them. so looking forward to many warm sunny sundays in mauerpark’s grass, reading and listening to the karaoke, or just watching the people walk by…

the reichstag’s dome it’s one of those places that it’s safe to visit with almost anyone: it’s free, there’s plenty of history, a nice view over the city, and a well-made audio-guide that will point out all the interesting facts at the right time, in plenty of languages. since the booking is made online, there’s no waiting around and no queues. visits happen in smallish groups, and you can take as long as you need to wander and look around, enjoy the architecture and the view over the rooftops, and just watch the people…



… if you’re lucky, you might even see the parliament in session below! :)

these are from a few weeks ago in the canal behind our house… it was quite magical to walk in the frozen ice and even beneath the bridges. definitely a new perspective, and only slightly scary!

berlin is a curious geographical conundrum. wikipedia says it’s a number of times bigger than paris, and it does seem big to us. it takes half an hour by subway or bus to the center of the city (whichever “center” you pick). and since only 4 million people or so live in all this space, it doesn’t feel the least claustrophobic. the streets have large sidewalks and are lined with trees, there are parks and lakes and canals around every corner.

but, if you take the s-bahn in any direction and ride till the border of the AB zone, you’ll soon be in a completely different place. mind you, this is still berlin: a different berlin. like jiading it still shanghai… but not really.

up north in karow, for instance, close to where the wall used to be, horses graze on nearly frozen fields or around small ponds. there are paths marked by signs, paths that walk around small clusters of lakes, or up and down the soft hills. chopped trees, neatly piled on the side of the path.
near enough to the city that you can still see the omnipresent tv tower looming in the distance – but far enough that you can almost forget you live there.

we’ve discovered this path, the barnimer dörferweg through the couchsurfing berlin walks group, which we’ve joined. we’re looking forward to new walks when the weather warms up a little. they’re a nice and diverse bunch, so if you want to get out of the city for a while and breathe fresh air, you should come too! :)

there’s a discreet and intriguing memorial near the entrance of reichstag, a row of uneven cast iron plaques, with names and dates. no explanation is given for the curious tourists that wander around it.

the memorial was unveiled in 1992, in remembrance of murdered members of the reichstag. in the borders of the 96 plaques are the names of the politicians from the german parliament that were persecuted by national socialists after they gained power in 1933. it is a simple and inconspicuous memorial, but a noteworthy one.