Berlin Reified: Food, design and life in Berlin

Housewarming (bread & salt)

I was charmed, if baffled, when Murdo and Beate pressed a salt cellar and a loaf of bread into my hands on arriving at our housewarming party last spring. I later learned this pair is the traditional gift for a new home, with all manner of reasons given for their significance.

Never mind the reasons, though. Is there anything more pleasing than this little blue jar from Frau Rose's filled with coarse Italian sea salt from Goldhahn und Sampson, just waiting to be paired with a fresh raisin bun and given to a friend newly housed?

Tiny wooden chicks

I too am completely charmed by the wholesome, harmless wooden animals that populate German toy shops. This pair came from Domäne Dahlem.

Thanks (May 8)

Posters in English, French and Russian have sprouted around Berlin, courtesy of the Freie Deutsche Jugend, thanking said nations for "liberating Germany from German Fascism". I find them quite extraordinary.
 

Labour Day

Are Germans known for being literal? (I have been here too long to remember the stereotypes.) Well, when it comes to holidays, no birthdays are pushed around to make long weekends, and if you have May 1st off, you have May 1st off, Tuesday or not, and it's up to you to use your holiday allowance for the Monday. (Me, I worked.)

Afternoon at the Alte Nationalgalerie

Surely I am not the only one who finds the Alte Nationalgalerie cafe on Museumsinsel a bit – ridiculous? (No sooner is the question framed than googled: "Der Tiefpunkt der Berliner Museumsgastronomie ist wohl eindeutig die kümmerliche Espresso-Ecke der Alten Nationalgalerie" writes Berlin Ist.)

The coffee's fine, of course...

Alte Nationalgalerie, Bodestr. 1-3 (map)
Open Tues-Sun 10 am to 6 pm (Wednesdays till 10 pm)

Nikolaus

I've written recently about advent calendars; the latest in delightful holiday rituals is Nikolaus, as the night between December 5th and December 6th is called here. Traditionally, children leave their boots out for Saint Nicholas to fill, and wake to either coal or sweets, je nachdem if they've been bad or good.  If you're very lucky, you don't even think to put your shoes out, but nevertheless wake to slippers full of gourmet chocolate from Denmark, Austria, Spain, Italy and Germany, and squeal with happy surprise and immediately whip out your camera to document the moment, groggy as you still are. And that evening you get to share your bounty with your own Saint Nick.