City Event Guide
Berlin Events for May 2008
Finally Spring has arrived and Berlin is starting to warm up. The chain of summer festivals that take place throughout Europe, of course include Berlin and almost all of the special events are designed to get everyone outside and having fun.
Story Highlights
- Carnival of Cultures
- Friday Summer Concerts
- Open Air Cinema
- Skate Night Berlin
Carnival of Cultures
From May 9 to May 12, the Carnival of Cultures takes place in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin. This offers an awesome array of diversity and culture. If you can imagine it, this carnival seems to offer it. Highlights include acrobats, DJs, stage performances, exotic foods, crafts from around the world and much more. Thousands of acts from all over the planet perform in the streets and best of all - the carnival is free. A children's carnival takes place on May 10 and a parade runs down Gneisenaustrasse on May 11. To get to the festivities, use the U-Bahn Hallesches Tor station and go to Blücherplatz.
Friday Night Summer Concerts
Whether you have a preference for plant gazing or not, the Summer Concerts at Berlin's Botanischer Garten (Botanical Garden) are a great treat on a nice evening. While they're not free, the price is reasonable and includes admission to the botanical garden for the day. If you've never been to a botanical garden before, bring someone to stroll around with and be prepared to have a relaxed day. The concerts range from Russian folk music to classical masterpieces performed by the German Symphony Orchestra. Concerts run on Friday evenings.
Botanischer Garten Berlin does have a website, but perhaps the easiest way to get involved is to ask a German speaker at your hostel to call up the garden and confirm any events for you. The garden is at 5-10 Unter den Eichen (other entrance at Königin-Luise-Platz). The Botanischer Garten station on the S-bahn will take you to near the entrance on Unter den Eichen.
Open Air Cinema
For a moderate cost (less than €10) why not go and see a movie outdoors? The open air cinema runs in Kreuzberg throughout the summer. Every night brings a new film and everything from The Bee Movie to home grown German cinema makes an appearance. Be prepared to read subtitles in one language or another. Movies are shown on a large, outdoor screen at dark, usually after 8:30pm. To get there use the Kottbusser Tor U-bahn station to go to Mariannenplatz, then find the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien courtyard. Visit the website to see what movie is playing and what language it's playing in.
http://www.piffl-medien.de/flk/flk_xberg_film_db/xberg/pdf/2008/AZ_Ex-Berliner_105x260_Ansicht_en.pdf
Skate Night Berlin
Perhaps you didn't count on an evening of roller blading when you visited Berlin, but this is indeed a great way to see the sights of Berlin. From May through to September on Sunday evenings, Skate Night starts at Brandenburg Gate. Several routes are available and all are traffic free for this event. The routes will take you past many Berlin landmarks but skates aren't provided so be sure to bring your own.
- Kristin
