“Add a little sugar to the saffron,” Farzane said as she worked the combination in her mortar and pestle. “It makes it easier to grind.” Farzane, a 20-year old refugee from Afghanistan who’d come to Berlin with her family in the last year, was deep in the process of teaching us how to prepare several Afghan dishes she’d grown up cooking in her home town of Herat. … [Read more...]
Berlin Travel Articles, Photos and Panoramas
Berlin Christmas Markets: A Beginner’s Guide
What are the best Christmas markets in Berlin? I’ve answered this query countless times on email and social media. So I offer here my handy guide and pay homage to my favorite Berlin Christmas markets. I also use this as an excuse to wish all our friends and readers a kick-off to a happy holiday season. … [Read more...]
Berlin by Bike [VIDEO]: A Review of the TomTom Bandit
![Berlin by Bike [VIDEO]: A Review of the TomTom Bandit](https://23886-presscdn-pagely.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/tomtom_bandit_brandenburggate-150x150.jpeg)
“You should do more video!” We know, we know. We should do more video. We should be doing more with this storytelling medium. … [Read more...]
Tempelhof: The Yin and Yang of an Abandoned Airfield
If you’ve ever known that pang of sadness on the longest day of the year or the faintest glimmer of hope on its shortest, this is for you. If you’ve ever pondered cycles and the tricks of the seasons, that too. It was early August heat wave. Audrey and I were returning home on bicycles from a late-afternoon-turned-evening gathering with friends, a craft brew and … [Read more...]
Exploring Berlin: Virtual Tour Week and a Giveaway
This is about Berlin, chunky quotes, something new we're trying this week, and a few giveaways to tie it all together. Berlin. A city we love, a city we've chosen as a base. As we dig into Berlin and meet others who've done the same, we learn a little bit more about the city through them -- its layers of history, humanity, creativity, and culture. This week … [Read more...]
The Evolution of a Nomad (or, Why Berlin?)
This is a story about life shaping…and a thank you to the people who have helped make it possible. A few days ago we returned to Berlin from a month in New Zealand. Something was different. Really different. Traveling for a month is not particularly unusual for us, but the fact that we had keys to an apartment, one where our names were on the buzzer, certainly … [Read more...]
Berlin: A Beginner’s Guide
Traveling to Berlin? Here's our Berlin brainstorming guide to give you some approaches and ideas to get started. After spending three summers in a row in Berlin, we found ourselves moving there. Berlin draws us in, like the school kid who may not be the best looking in the class but has the magnetic personality that everyone wants to be around. Berlin for us is … [Read more...]
Berlin Food: Favorite Neighborhood Meals Under €10
We share some of our favorite Berlin restaurants and dishes that fall into the category of high value. The goal isn’t just to eat well and inexpensively, but to use Berlin food exploration as a compass to get out and enjoy the city's fabulous neighborhoods along the way. … [Read more...]
Hot Sauce Tasting: Hurts So Good
A quick visit to a hot sauce store in Berlin turns into an unplanned three-hour hot sauce sampling that made us feel like we just dropped acid. Have you ever planned a hot sauce tasting? Ever even imagined one? Well, maybe you should. … [Read more...]
Base Flying Berlin: An 11th Wedding Anniversary Jump (Video)
What is marriage, if not a leap of faith? Fourteen years ago, on or around our second date, Audrey and I went skydiving together. It was, as you might imagine, both terrifying and fantastic. And as much as you also might also imagine that it wiped away my fear of heights, it did not. Perhaps it chiseled away at that wall, but it certainly didn’t tear it down. I … [Read more...]