Jim is not only one of the owners but also our resident expert of all the weird and wonderful hidden corners of the city. You can be the recipient of his expert advice on the blog, or drop him a line at hadfield (at) circus-berlin.de.
With the end of the summer approaching, the Circus team decided to pull out the barbecue last Saturday to celebrate. Of course, this being northern Europe, as soon as someone utters the words “Lets have a barbecue” then the sky turns to grey and the it starts to rain for forty days and forty nights. Which makes it all the more impressive then, when we were on the brink of cancelling and the clouds parted and the sun came out. Epic.
After a break of one week due to EURO 2012 football this Wednesday is again All-You-Can-Eat-Pasta night for €2 in the Circus Hostel. The delicious pasta is cooked by Emma the Café Manager who just happens to be an Italian. What more can a hungry backpacker want than a load of pasta cooked by a native?
Well Mister Goldman of Goldman’s Bar fame is a very big lover of his spicy sauces. Sounds like a marriage made in heaven? Well we are going to find out very soon, but because it is horses for courses we have courtesy of Marie Sharp (Belize) 3 possible suitors for the pasta.
1) Habanero Pepper Sauce (HOT)
2) Belizean Heat (REALLY HOT)
3) Beware: Comatose Heat Level (F**KING HOT)
Not being an expert in hot sauces I would only suggest that discretion is a better part of valour And that Comatose Heat Level does sound jolly hot Or You could just do a Homo Simpson and then it does not matter:
After many years of wonder times at the Circus our very own dear Rosa decided it was time to branch out and open up her own business with her partner Vittorio. Since the end of 2011 in West Berlin, just close to the International bus station at number 15 Kaiserdamm, Cantina Sicialiana Da Vittorio has been supplying the local population with top quality home made Italian pastas.
The combination of Vittorio – a full blooded Italian who has been in Berlin for 20 years – and the South American hospitality of Rosa has turned out to make for a smashing combination. What’s more there is no product at the Trattoria that is not Italian (except Rosa of course….) so more authentic is not possible.
And for any of you other former members of The Circus team out there in the big wide world, drop us a line and let us know what you are up to …
The town of Zossen outside Berlin has had a long military history in Germany. It was a prisoner of war camp during World War I and from the 1930s on became a top secret complex that was the headquarters of the whole German army during the Second World War. The ‘Zeppelin’ bunker was completed in 1939, and was the largest and most modern telecommunications centre for the German Army. Between 1939 and 1945 all messages sent by the army came through this command centre, which was so large that a tank could enter and unload with ease.
Less than a hundred metres away are the bunker complexes of Maybach I and Maybach II, which housed the top generals of the German military. Built to look like ‘normal’ houses from the air, they were made of reinforced concrete and featured four floors, two above ground and two under. The hundreds of workers entered through secret openings to the complex, connected by hundred of metres of underground passages. The camouflage was so successful that the Allies didn’t discover it until a raid by the US Air Force in 1945, which missed in any case. After 1945, and under the terms of the Allied Occupation Agreement, the bunker complex was supposed to be destroyed.
What actually happened was that the Soviet Army renovated the Zeppelin bunker to make it nuclear-proof, and continued to use it. Until 1994 it was the central command for the Soviet Air Force. .Alongside the bunkers, there are also a number of museums within the complex, such as the Garrison Museum (German military history), and an interesting exhibition on the ‘Everyday Life of the Russian Soldier’. You can also explore the bizarre cigar shaped bomb shelters, which were supposedly virtually impossible to hit from the air. They never caught on.
Info: You need to take the regional train from Alexanderplatz which leaves every 30 minutes and then a bus from outside the train station to Waldstadt Wünsdorf. You can take tours of the bunker complex daily, which run at 2pm on Mondays to Fridays, and 1pm and 3pm on winter weekends (Nov to Mar). From April to October there are three tours a day on Saturdays and Sundays, at 12noon, 2pm and 4pm. Unfortunately the tours are only in German, although there is an information sheet available in English. The museums are open 10am until 5pm daily (In the winter months they are closed on Mondays)
Now, every so often strange things happen at the Circus Hostel, and recently we received an email from a random address from a man claiming to be a former guest of ours who had attached some pictures of the old military base in the Potsdam suburb of Krampnitz. Actually, we have to take his word for it that he is an old guest – we don’t actually know his name – but for the purposes of this post we shall call him Bob.
Bob, it would appear, is something of an adventurer. He headed to Krampnitz where, between 1937 and 1939, the German Wehrmacht built a cavalry training school that was designed by a man named Kisch. Now Kisch, for whatever reason, decided to give the base something of a village feel, with a central tower, officers’ mess, accommodation for the soldiers and a parade ground and so on.
By the time it was finished Germany was at war, and the base was converted to become a training area for mechanized troops. After the war the Soviets took it over and there they stayed, from 27th April 1945 until their withdrawal in 1992. Ever since it has been basically abandoned, and although signs on the locked gate forbid entry, Bob found a hole in the fence and went to have a look around.
We definitely do not condone such behavior, as it is not only forbidden but also potentially dangerous, but we found the pictures interesting enough to share with you on this blog. So thanks to Bob, whoever he is and wherever he may be.
Last Thursday was Thanksgiving for our cousins across the great wide pond, so The Circus Café put on a special three-course turkey dinner. Now, coming from Stockport there is not much that I know about this festival, so I had to do some research to make it as much like Mum’s (sorry, Mom’s) for our guests as possible. Some things we managed, but some others we failed…
Thanksgiving Like What Your Mum (Mom) Would Do It…
I. Your Mum(Mom) needs to be there. FAILED. But Steffi our Café Manager was on hand to serve up the dinner and she’s a Mum (Mom) <Mutter> so that was okay.
II. Eat Turkey. SUCCESS.
III. Eat Too Much Turkey. SUCCESS
IV. Drink Too Much Booze. SUCCESS (After the meal it was down to the bar for a free keg of beer to wash down all that food).
V. Have Alcohol-Fueled Arguments With Loved Ones/Family* (*delete where applicable): FAILED. Even in this era of modern communications, skype and mobile phones, because of the time difference at least one of the parties was sober.
VI. Have Left-Overs For Sandwiches The Next Morning: SUCCESS, and the reservations office loved them very much.
So as you can see, it was not a bad effort considering this was Thanksgiving planned by people brought up in Manchester (England) rather than Manchester (New Hampshire), and a great time was had by all.
Except the Turkey. Roll on Christmas.
History was made last week in Goldman’s Bar as it held the first meeting as the official HQ of the Berlin St. George Supporters Club. The foundation of this club is important, as it fills an aching gap in the Berlin social calendar – namely; where else can like-minded boys and girls get together to talk about Australia and the World’s greatest Rugby League Team.
All four founder members were of course present and correct – see photo above – our great leader Andy (President), Jim (Vice President), Lisa (Assistant to the Vice President) and Felix (Berlin Flames Co-ordinator). There were try outs for keenly sort-after places in the Berlin Flames Cheerleader team and lots of new members attracted.
Most importantly of course there was free beer – and I seem to remember somewhere towards the end Jägermeister – but by that point things were getting a little foggy. Let us just say that a good time was had by all and we are looking forward to the start of the new season and the next meeting on the club sometime in the New Year. If you are interested in becoming a member then just drop us a line… Go the Dragons!!!
Berlin St. George Supporters Club Website
Jim is not only one of the owners of the Circus, but he is also our resident expert on the hidden corners of the city. It is Jim’s firmly held belief that some of the most interesting places in Berlin are “off the beaten track”, not least in his home neighbourhood of Pankow.
Pankow Town Centre
The centre of Pankow is the area around the lovely red brick town hall, which was built about a hundred years ago at the start of the 1900s. Also of interest is the small, idyllic church that somehow seems out of place, surrounded by the main road and the normal city buildings, which includes the delightful Rathaus Shopping Centre. The roar overhead are the planes coming in to land at Tegel airport, so close that you can see the colour of the pilot’s eyes.
Bürgerpark
This 103 year old oasis has brought happiness to generations of Pankowians. It is very green, as you would expect, with nice water fountains and statues dotted here and there. In the summer the park is always packed with people, and there is nothing better than joining the summertime drinkers at the Rosenstein beer garden and knocking back a cold one.
Majaokowski Ring
Until the 1960s, when paranoia drove them to a fortified compound north of the city, this is where the highest levels of the East German political class lived. As you can imagine, these were and are some of the nicest houses in the city.
Some famous former residents include Wilhem Pieck (No. 29), the first President of the German Democratic Republic, and Erich Honecker – who led East Germany from 1971 until 1989. He wasn’t the last leader…that honour fell to Egon Krenz, who managed a month and a half in the job before the office ceased to exist.
Schloss Niederschönhausen
This Schloss – which translates from German to “Big Posh House” – was bought by Frederick III in 1692 for 16,000 Thalers. Now, I have no idea what a Thaler is, but it does not stop me from wanting loads of them. It was used as a royal palace on and off until 1760 when it was destroyed by the Russians. Rebuilt, it was visited again by Russian soldiers in 1945 when they turned it into an Officers Club for the Red Army.
After 1949 they handed it over to the East German government, who used it first as the Presidential seat, and then as an official government guesthouse. Some of the famous guests included Fidel Castro and Mikhail Gorbachov. It is open to the public from Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-5pm, and the entry costs €6.
Soviet War Memorial Schönholzer Heide
The Battle of Berlin in April and May 1945 cost the lives of approximately 80,000 Red Army soldiers, and some 13,000 were buried here, which is the third largest Soviet memorial in Berlin after the Treptower Park and the Tiergarten. On the exterior wall there are about 100 bronze tablets with the names of the dead soldiers, and in the middle a huge obelisk which is a 33m high statue of Mother Russia.
Pankow – How to Get There
You can get from The Circus to the area covered by the map in two ways. From outside the Circus Hostel (across the street from the hotel), take the Tram M1 up the hill to U- and S-Bahnhof Pankow. Or else walk down the Torstrasse to Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz and catch the U-Bahn Line 2 north, which takes you to the same place.
