September 2011

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Congratulations to all our marathon guests…

26. September 2011 in Berlin, Circus News, Events by Paul

marathon 2011

Over this weekend runners, skaters, hand-bikers and wheelchair athletes were all in town to take part in the Berlin Marathon. Up at the front of the field a new men’s world record was set, but here at The Circus we are more interested in our many guests who were taking part. It is always a great atmosphere in the hostel and hotel over marathon weekend, and it is especially nice to see the weary but happy faces with a medal around their necks when people return from the course.

Congratulations to all our guests who took part in the marathon, and what follows is a list (in no particular order) of Circus guests who ran and their times. (Any mistakes in spelling are entirely due to my failure to read the varies styles of handwriting…apologies and let us know so we can change it)

Berlin Marathon 2011 – Circus Guest Roll of Honour

Javier Roldan (Spain) 03:37:00
Paul Higham (UK) 02:54:32
Bernhard Arlt (Germany) 03:29:10
Andrew Biss (UK) 04:29:00
Alan Wong (UK) 04:04:43
Lisa Tsang (UK) 04:24:40
Harriet Hägglund (Finland) 04:18:11
Didier Desccemp (France) 04:35:31
Eric Ovaknin (France) 04:17:22
Anders Schonnemann (Denmark) 03:14:10
Kenneth Leversen (Denmark) 03:46:50
Greg Minter (Australia) 04:03:14
Seth Lonsk (USA) 04:14:13
Peter Heiner (Germany) 04:03:20
Jean-Pierre Charon (UK) 03:52:06
Alastair Lindsay (UK) 04:19:50
Matt Burley (UK) 03:45:00
Luciano Pinto (Brazil) 04:09:04
Sara Schirmer (USA) 04:22:16
Gary Smith (UK) 04:52:57
Sarah Obervae (UK) 04:41:14
Martin Jones (UK) 03:48:13
Sam Lindsey (UK) 03:21:00
Allison McCall (UK) 04:21:50
Karl Brandhofer (Germany) 04:12:26
Christoph Zimmermann (Switzerland) 04:05:59
Ian Moore (UK) 04:14:00
Jennifer Ho (USA) 04:26:11
Carrie Crawford (USA) 05:10:00
Richard Smethurst (UK) 04:10:50
Pierrick Delaunay (France) 04:08:00
Jerone Taluasson (France) 04:22:00
Barack Salti (Israel) 03:49:00
David O’Shea (UK) 03:40:00
Lisa Keswick (UK) 04:12:00
Ismael Melendez (USA) 03:41:00
Caline Ribeiro (Brazil) 04:07:45
Hans Kristian Andersen (Denmark) 02:57:00
Louise Wuhl (Denmark) 03:50:00
Danne Westlund (Denmark) 03:56:00
Lambert Patrick (France) 03:14:00
Nozahic Yann (France) 04:03:00

Once again, a massive congratulations to everyone who took part in the marathon, and we hope your feet are not too sore this morning. We are very proud of you!

Real Scenes: Berlin

22. September 2011 in Berlin, Music, Stuff We Like by Paul

Jared and Digel both pointed me in the direction of this video from Resident Advisor which explores the club scene of Berlin. It is part of a series of films by Resident Advisor that have the following aim:

We explore the musical, cultural and creative climate within electronic music’s key destinations. We’ll look at the role singular figureheads—producers, DJs, promoters—play in making their city’s music scene a point of world-wide interest. We’ll also look at places, spaces and inspirations, seeking out the essence of what gives these hyper-local scenes a truly global resonance.

You can find out more about the Berlin film on the feature page, and of course you can watch it below:

Real Scenes: Berlin from Resident Advisor on Vimeo.

Eyewitness Talks: Growing Up in Germany: 1925-50

19. September 2011 in Berlin, Circus Hotel, Circus News, Circus Talks, Events, History by Paul

circus-talks-buttonOnce again we are really pleased to be welcoming another eyewitness speaker to the Circus, as part of our ongoing series of history talks in cooperation with the ZZB – The Centre for Witness to Contemporary History. The talk is taking place at The Circus Hotel tomorrow evening, and as always it is completely free, takes place in English, and everyone is welcome.

Our speaker this month is Frau Gericke who was born in Potsdam in 1925, and grew up through the Weimar period, the Nazi’s rise to power, and the Second World War. In 1945 her family’s home was confiscated to be used as Winston Churchill’s residence during the Potsdam conflict, and was only returned to the family after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990.

Frau Gericke will share her story with us, and will be available afterwards to answer questions.

VENUE: Fabisch @ The Circus Hotel
DATE: Tuesday 20th September
TIME: 6.45pm

Circus Apartments – Getting Down to the Details

19. September 2011 in Circus Apartments, Circus News, Design, Events, Food by Paul

tasting peopleAs we reach the final stretch at The Circus Apartments, and the opening date gets ever nearer, we thought we would let you know some of things we have been up to. Although of course the big issues – the construction work, the design, and the development of working structures for the new house – are of massive importance, it is crucial in a project such as this not to lose sight of the many small details. How a place comes together is a combination of the two, for example the overall design vision of the cafe on the ground floor, to the choice of coffee cups on the shelves behind the counter. Attention to detail is arguably the make or break issue in any project such as this, so much of our time at the moment is devoted to it.

sasa coffeeFor example, a few weeks ago Sasa and Lotte headed over to West Berlin to check out supplies for the cafe – the picture you can see is Sasa playing with a particularly funky piece of coffee equipment. Whilst that was going on Sandra was in the office talking to companies about furniture and delivery dates, part of the jigsaw-like process of realising her design vision for the apartments themselves, which began all those months ago with the inspiration of the mood boards. As for Christian, he was discussing with the building company the handover of the building, whilst I was beginning the testing process of the new website, which is now online.

meatA few days later Andreas, Sasa, Katrin, Lotte, Felix and Isabelle met in the meeting room of the hostel for one of the more enjoyable parts of the planning process…taste testing. On this particular day, and as you can see from the pictures, the subject under discussion was the wonderful world of ham and cheese. Sasa had brought together the products of a number of top quality suppliers for everyone to try, and between mouthfuls of melt-in-the-mouth cold cuts and tangy tasty cheese they attempted to articulate their opinions.

SAM_0020Meanwhile, as you have already seen, Rani was over in Lebanon at Blatt Chaya, overseeing the final production and shipping of the tiles for the cafe. Those tiles are now on a boat making their way to Germany, to arrive in time to be installed in all their glory. Even on the photographs the colours look spectacular, and we are really excited about seeing them in real life and with our own eyes. I described Sandra’s job a moment ago as like putting together a jigsaw, and in many ways that applies to the whole project, whether it is the choice of bed linen and curtains, Andrew developing the content for the iPads that will be in each apartment, or Felix deciding on the structure of the opening events.

It is getting closer but it is coming together nicely. Excitement is building. We are really looking forward…

Circus Apartments website is launched

14. September 2011 in Circus Apartments, Circus News, Design by Paul

Last night we replaced the info page about the new Circus Apartments with the brand new website, designed by our very own Julia Stone and put together with the help of the boys from escriptum. There is already a lot of info on there, including the different categories of apartments, information about services, our new neighbourhood guide and Berlin information, and as we get ever closer to the opening date in October we will be adding more and more information, pictures and staff profiles for the house.

Check it out:

aptswebscreenshot

Circus Apartments: Rani at Blatt Chaya

13. September 2011 in Circus Apartments, Circus News, Design by Paul

Reader, he went to Beirut… As you might know, the designer of “The Kitchen” cafe and lounge at the Circus Apartments is rani al rajji, a long-time friend of The Circus and an architect from Beirut. You can see an interview with Rani about his work on The Kitchen here, but right now he is back in Lebanon overseeing the construction and shipping of the tiles for the new cafe and he sent us this short video so we can get a sneak preview of how they look:

Farewell to Rooftop Yoga 2011

12. September 2011 in Circus Hotel, Circus News, Stuff We Like by Paul

yoga photo 3As you might know, throughout the summer we have been holding yoga classes on the roof terrace of The Circus Hotel every Tuesday morning.

It has been a wonderful experience, thanks not only to the spectacular location but also to Manu, our teacher. Tomorrow morning, as autumn gets ever closer, we will be hosting our final rooftop yoga session for 2011, although rest assured it will be back for the warmer months of 2012.

yogaBut what about the winter? Well, the exciting news is that Manu, along with her sister Stefanie, have opened their very own yoga studio in Prenzlauer Berg, a short trip up the hill from Rosenthaler Platz and The Circus. They offer a series of courses in German, Spanish and English, and as anyone who has experienced the yoga sessions here with us, they come highly recommended!

You can find out more information about Manu and Stefanie’s new studio Kalaa Berlin, at their website.

Berlin International Literature Festival

7. September 2011 in Berlin, Books, Events by Paul

litfestStarting today is the 11th edition of Berlin’s International Literature Festival, that brings writers, editors and illustrators from around the world to a number of different venues around the city. The festival lasts for ten days, so there is plenty of time to catch some of the action, and with such a wide variety of events and speakers there is surely something to catch your interest.

The programme is divided into a number of different sections, and here are some the things that caught our eye when we took a look:

Literatures of the World – All manner of writers from all manner of countries, including the current guest authors of the DAAD Berlin Artist’s programme. Highlights include: A.S. Byatt (UK), Gary Shteyngart (USA), Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru), Irvine Welsh (Scotland).

International Children’s and Youth Literature – featuring the dynamic, Gruffalo-inventing duo of Julia Donaldson (UK) and Axel Scheffler (Germany).

Focus Asia-Pacific – this is the main focus of this year’s festival, and the events include participation from Omair Ahmad (India), Ha Jin (China), Kim Chi-ha (Korea), and DAAD guest author Altaf Tyrewala (India).
Reflections – Authors, journalists and international experts will be offering up their opinions on current political, social and cultural topics from eastern Europe.

Speak, Memory – In this section, German and international authors – both famous and forgotten – will be remembered in a combination of readings and talks. Some of the authors being showcased and discussed include Jose Saramago, Rabindranath Tagore, Peter Weiss, Czeslaw Milosz and Fuad Rifka.

Other events taking place over the next ten days include poetry slams, film screenings, concerts, a presentation of graphic novels and a section discussing literature behind bars. Of course, what we have here is just a tiny selection of what is going on, so if you want to find out more, take a look at the official Berlin International Literature Festival website.

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