#69

Berlin is colourful! And there is no better time to find proof for this than in summer. And summer has officially started now. Meteorological beginning of summer was on Saturday, as always 01 June, calendrical beginning will unusually be 20 June this year.

If you would like to find out more about such calculations, Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften (eng.: long night of sciences) on Saturday, 22 June, is your place to be. Do you feel like “using cryo-electron microscopy to understand the structure of membrane proteins”? Or would you and your kids prefer to learn more about “naked mole-rats with a sense of tact”? The versatile programme is read like a part of the well-known bestseller “I´ve never thought about this, but I need to try it now”

Speaking of bestsellers: have you chosen your holiday readings yet? If you need some inspiration, plan visiting Berliner Bücherfest (eng.: Berlin book festival) this weekend. Berlin´s publishing houses and book stores will provide numerous stands offering you the best of today´s literature in different languages. Don´t forget to let your new books be signed by the authors visiting and check the programme for interesting events – e. g. a concert with Bob Dylan´s songs and (probably German) interpretation of his lyrics. It really is a special feeling celebrating freedom of thoughts, speech and the arts as well as literature itself on square Bebelplatz, where in 1933 one of the major book burnings was organised by the Nazis.

As Christian Sievers, one of the German TV´s most popular newscasters, would say now: "We are making a hard cut here". 
So, here we go: we are confident you have already stocked up on Orania.Merchwear and X-Berg Duck plates in our Orania.Shop. But there´s more to discover now! The true X-Berg Duck fans among you will be glad to hear that you can buy the wines, Restaurant Manager and Sommelier Ronny Grosser recommends with the duck, online now. And X-Berg Duck made sure that the three bottles are hard to confuse with something else. We like!

Are you a bit hungry now? Good! To be exact, it would be even better if you were very hungry. At square Viktoria-Luise-Platz, Osteria Ribaltone awaits us with one of Berlin´s best traditional Italian kitchens. Our Orania.Empfehlung: the stews and the Tiramisu Speziale served in a Bialetti espresso machine. And don´t bother studying the menu for too long. The really interesting stuff, meaning the daily menu, is brought to your table by the always busy, yet always friendly service staff. Brain jogging by trying to remember all of the approximately 15 dishes already included. Which is just right – jogging burns calories, doesn´t it?

Ready to carry on? Perfect! It´s not very common to call Berlin and Salzburg neighbour cities – but until Sunday, 09 June, we can and we will! “FeelAustria Festival” brings us all we miss from our skiing holidays or trip to Vienna, in a culinary and cultural way. This way we can all feel like famous Austrian singer-songwriter Rainhard Fendrich and sing: “I am from Austria”. (© Photo: Österreich Werbung, Fotograf: thecreatingclick.com)

Compared to this our beloved Kreuzbergfestival almost seems old as we celebrate its 30th birthday this year! Nevertheless: when on the last weekend of June (starting on 28) Kreuzbergstraße at Viktoriapark is transformed into an open-air-jazz-arts-and-crafts-foodtruck-spectacle, we´ll make sure to be there – or be there.

A lot going on in June? Oh, yes! Just one last little recommendation and then we´re done here for today, pinky promise. So: please get tickets for Deutsche Oper´s show on 26 or 29 June! This Don Giovanni is so energetic, this Leporello breathtaking, the choir incomparably charming – you have to experience this (Italian performance with English and German surtitles). 

So, home we go now. Pinky promise.