OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
1. Bearpit Karaoke
Topsstraße 28 • Open May–Oct: 3–5pm Sun • www.bearpitkaraoke.com
Sunday afternoon karaoke sessions in the Mauerpark’s “bearpit” amphitheatre are extremely popular. The show host, Joe Hatchiban, arrives on a fancy bicycle equipped with loudspeaker and laptop. Crowds of up to 2,000 gather to watch hopefuls take turns belting out oldies.
2. Unterwelten Museum
Brunnenstraße 105 • (030) 49 91 05 18 • English tours Apr–Oct: 11am, 1pm & 3pm • Adm • www.berliner-unterwelten.de
Did you know the Nazis made aircrafts underground? Or that Cold War nuclear bunkers were largely futile? Find out on guided tours of bomb shelters, tunnels and vaults going back to the 19th century. Exhibits include an Enigma encryption machine, armaments and atmospheric living quarters.
3. Boros Art Collection
Reinhardtstraße 20 • English tours at 11am and 1pm daily (by reservation only) • Adm • www.sammlung-boros.de
This World War II air-raid shelter is now a contemporary art gallery owned by the advertising mogul Christian Boros (see Hochbunker). Built for the staff of nearby Friedrichstrasse railway station, this concrete behemoth has also served as a prison, a larder for produce, and a disco. Visits can be made only on 90-minute private tours, which can be booked online.
Boros Art Collection
4. Badeschiff
Eichenstraße 4 • (030) 533 20 30 • Open May–Sep: 8am–midnight daily • Adm • www.arena-berlin.de
A shimmering island of blue, this old cargo container in the Spree is the city’s coolest place for a dip. The pool is reached via a pier from a sandy beach. After sunset DJs spin vinyl and guests migrate to a nightclub boat, Hoppetosse, moored alongside.
The Badeschiff in the Spree
5. Schwerbelastungskörper
General-Pape-Straße • (030) 533 20 30 • Open Apr–Oct: 2–4pm Tue–Wed, 10am–6pm Thu, 1–3pm Sun • www.schwerbelastungskoerper.de
Hitler and Albert Speer, the Führer’s chief architect, planned to transform Berlin into a “world capital” called Welthauptstadt Germania. To test the feasibility of building a huge triumphal arch on the area’s soft ground, they commissioned the Schwerbelastungskörper, a concrete cylinder weighing 12,650 metric tons. The Welthauptstadt was never built but the cylinder houses a historical exhibition.
6. Monsterkabinett
Rosenthaler Straße 39 • (0152) 12 59 86 87 • Open 6–10pm Thu, 4–10pm Fri & Sat • Adm • www.monsterkabinett.de
Run by the Dead Chickens art collective, this installation features robots that interact with visitors. The 20-minute tour with heavy metal soundtrack and lightshow ends with a blast of anti-monster spray that blows the head off one creature.
7. Mount Mitte
Caroline-Michaelis-Straße 8 • Open 2pm–sunset Mon–Fri, 10am–sunset Sat & Sun • Adm • www.beachmitte.de
Don a helmet, strap on a security line and wiggle your way through Berlin’s oddest high-rope climbing course, tackling wooden barrels, surfboards and old East German Trabant cars suspended in midair.
8. Admiralbrücke
Fraenkelufer 25
This lacy, wrought-iron bridge was built in 1882 in Jugendstil style, spanning one of the prettiest stretches on the Landwehrkanal. On balmy summer nights it fills up with beer-drinking revellers listening to street musicians playing their hearts out.
9. Museum der Illusionen
Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 9 • (030) 25 78 41 17 • Open 10am–9pm daily • Adm
Set near Alexanderplatz and the TV tower, this museum promises “to trick your senses and amaze you while doing it”. It has specially constructed rooms, which aim to make visitors believe that they are, for example, stuck to the ceiling or are the size of a dwarf. Scientific explanations accompany each illusion. You are encouraged to take photos of yourself and your companions in the midst of the optical and haptic illusions.
10. Tieranatomisches Theater
Philippstraße 12 • (030) 209 346 625 • Open 2–6pm Tue–Sat • www.kulturtechnik.hu-berlin.de
Nestled in a university courtyard, the Veterinary Anatomical Theatre is Berlin’s oldest surviving academic building, erected in 1789-90. Wander through the historical exhibition to the circular lecture hall with dissection table and spectator galleries.
Tieranatomisches Theater
