Articles by Paul

Originally from Lancashire in the north of England, Paul Scraton is responsible for Company Communications at The Circus. If you would like to get in contact with him, you can reach him by email at paul.scraton [at] circus-berlin.de

Long Night of Cuisine in Berlin

8. Mai 2013 in Beer, Berlin, Events, Festivals, Food by Paul

Panino Casareccio con Pomodoro e Mozzarella

In Berlin we have a number of different “long nights…”, whether for museums  or knowledge, but coming up on the 11th May is a long night that promises to be the tastiest of them all: the Long Night of Cuisine. In the neighbourhoods of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg a number of culinary establishments will be opening their doors from 6pm until midnight, giving you the chance to sample their work for a small price, showcasing the ever-increasing range of high quality, owner-operated culinary destinations we have here in our city.

Here’s some more information about what to expect:

On Saturday May 11th, the Friedrichshain shops “Küchenliebe”, “Zuckerstück” und “Stadtschönheit” invite you to a punch party with disco appetizers in mason jars. The café “Zuckerstück” is serving punch and cake, and the catering company “Stadtschönheit” is offering appetizers in mason jars, all accompanied with relaxing, electro lounge music from Horst Matrix. The restaurant “Schwarzer Hahn” is offering delicious smoked Thuringian pork with mustard-cream cucumbers, May-punch and jars filled with tasty duck rillette and black nuts. Café Sellberg invites you to a special reading with stories about coffee. While listening, you can enjoy the café’s three most popular cakes: cheesecake, carrot cake and nut brownie. Additionally, you can win coffee vouchers and a Berlin breakfast for two.

Whoever prefers tea instead can join an informative tasting of the trendy cult drink matcha tea. The tea store “Teekränzchen” welcomes you to the exciting world of tea: from tastings to tours through the diversity of tea, a visual tea seminar, a tea tombola with the motto “Every ticket wins”, and an exciting quiz. The Scandinavian candy store “Herr Nilsson GODIS” will surprise with its Nilsson’s Wheel of Fortune: visitors can try their luck at spinning the wheel to win different prizes like a Herr Nilsson T-shirt, a candy tasting or a special discount. You can experience a different kind of disco in the restaurant “scheers schnitzel”, located at the Oberbaumbrücke. At their “Schnitzeldisco” you can get cocktail shots (i.e. Basil Smash, MaiThai Shot, 3-Days-Awake-Caffeine-Shot), a tasting portion of schnitzel and a scheers-dessert for a small price. The party will be accompanied by a DJ desk. Caution: come as a schnitzel and get a schnitzel for free.

Guests will get an introduction of classic German brewing in Kreuzberg at the “Brahaus Südstern”. Small samples of rare beer specialties will be served and its characteristics explained, as Brewmaster Thorsten Schoppe presents his own favorite beers. Other participating culinary partners in Kreuzberg include “Cupcake Cuisine”, “OlioBiscotti” , “Zum goldenen Krümel” and “W.E.I.N. eG”.

You can register for the event and find out more information on the Long Night of Cuisine website.

Mozart May

7. Mai 2013 in Berlin, Circus News, Events, Music by Paul

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(Photo: Monika Rittershaus)

Throughout the month of May the Komische Oper in Berlin performs only operas by… well yes, you’ve guessed it, the one and only Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. There are loads of different performances throughout the month, but we are especially pleased to announce that we have teamed up with the Komische Oper to offer Circus guests a €10 discount on the following:

10th May – Don Giovanni
12th May – The Marriage of Figaro
20th May – Don Giovanni
23rd May – Don Giovanni
24th May – The Abduction from the Seraglio
26th May – The Abduction from the Seraglio

If any of our guests are interested then please contact the reception, where you can also get information about the rest of the festival.

Newcomers to the Circus Hostel

6. Mai 2013 in Circus Hostel, Circus News by Paul

Lion3

We have a new addition to the Circus Hostel who stands guard over the main entrance. We will be running a little competition based on our friendly doorman which we will announce later in the week, but for now we hope you will come by and say hello. Meanwhile, out back, our regular non-paying guests have returned to the hostel courtyard… and we wish the new family all the best for the future…

More pics from the hostel on facebook here

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A Perfect Day with… Lisanne

3. Mai 2013 in Berlin, Perfect Day, Staff picks, Stuff We Like by Paul

RTP_Weinbergsweg

The next in our series of Perfect Days comes from Lisanne, our social media guru and the person you should ask for all your Berlin tips and ideas for things to do… You will find Lis tweeting here…

UP IN TIME FOR BREAKFAST…

One of my favourite spots for breakfast – and not far from The Circus – is the Café Fleury in Weinbergsweg. Sometimes hard to get a table, but they also have an outside area with blankets and morning sun. They have great Cappuccino, several breakfast options but also cakes, daily changing soups and sandwiches. If you´re not the big-breakfast-type, just take the “petit français” (“little French”) – a coffee and a croissant.

GOOD MORNING BERLIN…

Once done with breakfast, I´d walk up Kastanienallee, a great street to do some not too expensive shopping if you don´t like big fashion chains. There are several shops of Berlin labels such as Mr. & Mrs. Peppers (Kastanienallee 91/92) who have great Berlin-made skirts and dresses, with a hint of 70ies. In winter time, you should stop for a waffle at Kauf dich glücklich, a café/shop where you can basically buy everything they have inside. The Elvis waffle is my favourite J

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Farewell Dialogue, Long live Dialogue!

1. Mai 2013 in Berlin, Books, Events by Paul

dialogueLast Saturday we headed down to Kreuzberg to our favourite bookshop, and supplier of good reads to both The Circus Hotel and The Circus Apartments, Dialogue Books. After three years in the city, Sharmaine, Nerys and the team were closing down the shop, which meant of course a farewell in style with plenty of cake and wine, plus offers on the remaining books, to keep a constant stream of people happy.

But the end of the bookshop, sad as it is, does not mean the end of Dialogue… and within a few hours of the hangovers clearing they sent out their first invitation to their first post-Bookshop event – part of their Literary Lounge series at Soho House – and it seems fitting in this time of shift and change for both Dialogue and the wider industry, that it is their first eBook event:

“This month in the Literary Lounge, Dialogue Books is thrilled to mark the launch of Frisch & Co eBook imprint with a very special evening of conversation and reading.

Founded in 2012, Frisch & Co. Electronic Books is a Berlin-based eBook publisher of contemporary fiction in English-language translation. Joining Dialogue Books’ owner Sharmaine Lovegrove are E.J Van Lanen, founder of Frisch & Co. and Anna Kim, winner of the 2012 EU Prize for Literature and author of Anatomy of A Night (“one of the most exciting and beautiful German language texts in recent years”).

Please Note: This a bi-lingual reading with English language discussion.

Spaces are – as ever – extremely limited, so please RSVP to events@dialoguebooks.org to reserve your space.”

The Literary Lounge takes place on May 14th, just a short stroll down the Torstraße away from The Circus, but as they mention in their information places are VERY limited so make sure you register at the email address above.

For more on the future of Dialogue in Berlin, take a look here, whilst if you are (like us) bereft because of the closure of the shop, check out this post with alternative foreign-language booksellers in Berlin.

Springtime at The Circus

30. April 2013 in Circus Apartments, Circus Hostel, Circus Hotel, Photography by Paul | Comments closed

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Finally the winter appears to have beaten a chilly retreat, and as we approach the 1st May it seems that spring is actually and finally upon us. At all three houses we have spots for you to sit and enjoy the ever warmer weather, from the relaxed pavement setting on the Choriner Straße outside the Apartments, with plenty of birdsong for company, or the courtyard of the Hotel at Fabisch where you can escape for a lazy afternoon away from the hustle and bustle of the city…

Or perhaps that is what you are looking for, so pull up a chair on the terrace of the Hostel or outside the Café and watch the Rosenthaler Platz – immortalized in Döblin’s Berlin Alexanderplatz – go about its business. Grab and beer or a coffee and enjoy the tram-spotting and the people-watching, as they move between Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg, from Hackescher Markt to Kastanienallee and back again…

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Road to Wembley: Champions League Semi Finals in Goldman’s Bar

29. April 2013 in Circus Hostel, Football, Goldman's Bar by Paul

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Last Tuesday in Munich. Barcelona, the greatest club team in recent history take on local heroes Bayern Munich for a place in the Champion’s League final. For once Barcelona are not favourites, thanks to Bayern’s wonderful form in the Bundesliga, which they have wrapped up with games to spare. The pundits are split, but their predictions have one thing in common: it is going to be a close game. Problem is, no-one told Bayern… as the final whistle blows it is 4-0 to the German side, who have one foot firmly in the final.

Twenty four hours later in Dortmund. Real Madrid, led by the self-proclaimed “special one” Jose Mourinho are in town for the second of the Spain vs Germany semi finals, looking to get revenge on Jürgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund who beat them in the group stages earlier in the competition. Again, the pundits declare the tie too close to call, and again the local team refuse to follow the script… only a defensive mistake prevents the scoreline matching the previous nights action but no matter. With a 4-1 lead, Borussia Dortmund also feel confident that they will make it through to the final.

A week on… FC Bayern look safe, but in the Camp Nou anything can happen. Real Madrid will fancy that an early goal might give them a chance of overturning the deficit… Will we have an all-German final at Wembley Stadium in London, or will the giants of Spanish football fight back and achieve the improbable? Come down to Goldman’s Bar this week to find out…

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI FINALS – SECOND LEG

Tuesday 30 April @ 8.45pm: REAL MADRID versus BORUSSIA DORTMUND (First Leg: 1-4)

Wednesday 1 May @ 8.45pm: BARCELONA versus BAYERN MUNICH (First Leg: 0-4)

BOTH GAMES LIVE ON OUR LOVELY LARGE BRAND NEW MEGA-BIG SCREEN

Goldman’s Bar @ The Circus Hostel
Weinbergsweg 1a
U-Bhf: Rosenthaler Platz

Tour to the Otto Weidt Museum

26. April 2013 in Berlin, Circus News, History, History Tours, Our Neighbourhood by Paul

 

otto weidt

This coming Tuesday (30th April) we have a tour once more to the Otto Weidt Museum, just down the street from the Circus. It is one of the most fascinating free tours that we offer, thanks to the commitment and knowledge of the museum guides who show us around… they really are excellent, and the story they have to tell has to be heard to be believed.

In 1936 Otto Weidt established his workshop, which he moved in 1940 to the back courtyard of Rosenthaler Straße 39 to manufacture brooms and brushes. Because one of his main customers was the German Army, Weidt managed to have his business classified as vital to the war effort. About thirty blind and deaf Jews were employed at his shop between the years of 1941 and 1943. When the Gestapo began to arrest and deport his Jewish employees, Weidt fought to secure their safety by falsifying documents, bribing officers, and even hiding them inside the factory itself.

Here’s what Andrew, our Entertainment Manager has to say about his experience of leading the tour down to the Otto Weidt museum:

“During the tour through the museum you discover stories of real people that are almost unbelievable – from the desperation of living a hidden and underground life in Berlin to amazing stories of survival – and it is thanks to the guides at the Otto Weidt that this history comes to life in such a vivid and incredible way. After the tour of the museum they then take us through the heart of the old Jewish quarter of Berlin, including the memorial that marks the collection spot for the Jewish population before their deportation to the camps.”

The tour is of course free to guests of The Circus, but places are limited, so please make sure you sign up at reception to guarantee your place.

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