{"id":12,"date":"2021-05-01T07:54:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-01T07:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.basbrader.com\/berlin-mitte-with-jan\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T11:08:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T11:08:27","slug":"between-government-and-graffiti-berlin-mitte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/between-government-and-graffiti-berlin-mitte\/","title":{"rendered":"Between government and graffiti: Berlin-Mitte"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Berlin-Mitte<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I was reminiscing about my travels again and decided to write another post about my Promenade Days Project. During my stay in Berlin, I got around quite a lot. Mainly due to not understanding the public transportation app and getting lost on numerous occasions, but also because I love to get lost, whether I\u2019m in Berlin or any other city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, when in Berlin, you have to visit Berlin-Mitte<\/a>, too. With its Museums-Insel, the Regierungsviertel and the Tiergarten Park it\u2019s probably one of the most touristy areas of Berlin, so it\u2019s quite crowded. And, as a normal tourist, you won\u2019t see all of it. So it was a great thing that I had a guide for the evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The story of how I got to know Jan is one of these great tales of how things can come to be. It started with me going to photo walks in Cologne and meeting his sister a couple of times (a fact I didn\u2019t know by then). When I posted about my travel plans and my idea for \u201cPromenade Days<\/a>\u201c, his sister replied, \u201cYou guys would totally get along, you should meet up\u201d. And so we did! Funny how things can work out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I met Jan at a small tea house on a side street. It was great weather, so we decided to go sit outside on the sidewalk terrace sidewalk, where we drank a lovely cup of tea. We talked about how he got to be in Berlin, and about what he was doing. For him, business in Berlin was booming! During our conversation, he had to pick up the phone a couple of times because, hey, business never stops, but he kept it short, and we could continue our conversation soon enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Berlin<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"Berlin<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Luxury stuff mixed with counter-culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After a couple of cups of tea, we went for a walk around Berlin-Mitte. Jan showed me several cool spots, and the contrast at some times couldn\u2019t be bigger. Small courtyards between high-rises with luxury shops on one hand, and then, a scruffy, cool bar, and a couple of alleys full of graffiti and counter-culture on the other. Excellent! I wouldn\u2019t have found this stuff myself! That\u2019s why I love what I do so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, the scruffy cool bar was visited to drink a cold beer, and conversations continued. After showing me these narrow alleys, this lovely bar, and all these contrasts Jan showed me another part of Berlin, too. We went to the Museums-Insel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Museums-Insel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Museums-Insel is something quite different. Enormous buildings, and architecture, from modern to old, what a place. A Walhalla for an architecture lover like myself. I was slightly overwhelmed at times, and haven\u2019t shot as much of that architecture as I\u2019d have loved to, but hey, I can always return, can\u2019t I?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t remember how far we walked, and what we all viewed, it was a lot! One of the things I really love is the \u201coutside culture\u201d you see in many cities in Germany, and of course, Berlin is no exception!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Outside\u2019s better<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Where we, dutchies are mostly in our own backyard, or go to a bar and sit on a terrace when we go wild, Germany works in a whole other way. You can buy beers or other refreshments at a \u201cSp\u00e4ti\u201d just about everywhere. And then, take them to a park. Or a bit of meadow next to the Spree. Or any other place in other cities. People get together, sit outside, enjoy the weather, each other\u2019s company, and of course, the aforementioned refreshments, and generally have a good time. I even saw free dance classes given. I love it! That\u2019s one of the reasons why I love Germany, and especially, Berlin, so much! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Berlin<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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..and Jazz, too<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After walking around for a couple of hours, shooting some photos, and having a good time, we decided to call it a day and went our separate ways. I went back to my Airbnb and decided to go out for a drink in a cool bar near me which played a mixture of jazz and African music, and enjoyed my evening as I let the day pass in my mind. I\u2019ll be back in that bar for sure, the mix of music, relaxed atmosphere, and great draft beers was a perfect way to end this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Berlin<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Thanks, Jan for having me, and showing me around Berlin-Mitte. I had a blast!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another trip through Berlin for my ‘Promenade Days’ project. This time, Berlin-Mitte with Jan. He showed me a new side of Berlin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"[:en]Between government and graffiti: Berlin-Mitte[:] - PULSE&VOID","description":"[:en] Another trip through Berlin for my 'Promenade Days' project. This time, Berlin-Mitte with Jan. He showed me a new side of Berlin. [:]"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-promenade-days"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1486,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions\/1486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulseandvoid.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}