Summer days and shoe likes

"Hutton olive suede lace up mini wedge with speed hooks, eyelets and camel piping."

Liebnitzsee: Clash of Cultures

Some weeks ago: It is my Liebnitzsee-Premiere. Unbelievable, but I have never been to this beautiful place a stone's throw away from the hectic city before.

A small beach spot in the middle of the forrest wilderness: pure nature, crystal clear water...life is so beautiful...
But ahhh, what is that?? All these naked people...everywhere... shaking their a...., p...., and b.... over the lakeside. It makes me breath short. Is that some pervert insider place, where all those people come who love to make out in front of others? Think, think, think... Oh no, wait, there are too many kids around for open air adult perversions. But what is it then: I am afraid, it is compulsory to hang around naked here and start to make a plan how to get out of the situation without appearing as a prude party pooper.
Then finally my friends shed light on the "red-light"-issue. Here are the results:
1) We are in East Germany. Many people spending their weekend at Liebnitzsee are from East Germany.
2) Many people in East Germany ("Ossis") grew up with nudist/naturism beach culture and still celebrate it. It is something very normal and has no sexual relevance.
3) People from West Germany ("Wessis") are usually considered to be prude because of their inhibitions to join the nudist-cult (although there are many who love it as well).


--> Clash of cultures at Liebnitzsee

Sonntagskonzerte

Sunday evening in Mitte: Where it is usually very busy and packed with tourists, you can now find an intimite moment in front of the Bode-Museum. There is silence, there is waiting and there is curiosity. But mostly, there is relaxation. The sun is setting, it is getting chillier but the stairs where I sit keep me comfortably warm. Then, finally, an acrobatic move of the conductor and I can already feel the soundwaves of the trumpets squeezing my torso (I am sitting in 10 cm distance from five trumpet, trombone and tuba players).

And then the beauty begins: First with Benjamin Britten and then Peter Tschaikowsky - Symphony No 5. The musicians of Lietzeorchester gently stroke their hands over their instruments and completely dazzle the grateful audience.

Berlin, I like! Lietzeorchester, I like! Open air Tschaikowsky, I like!

More, more, more......

Liebermann-Villa at Berlin Wannsee

Yesterday the Bernstein Family went to the lovely Liebermann-Villa at Berlin Wannsee in order to check out the home of Impressionist artist Max Liebermann. Surprisingly, we chrashed into the Villa's 100th anniversary celebrations.

Max Liebermann (1847 - 1935) built his very own "Casa Rustica" on a property in the prominent Alsen neighborhood at Berlin Wannsee, where he resided during the summer months. His "Castle at the Lake" with its beautiful garden was the subject of lots of his later masterpieces. He lived there with wife and daughter until he died in 1935, all frustrated since his dreams of the assimilation of the Jews into German society apparently failed.

Surpressed by the Nazi regime in his career and freedom, Liebermann is reported to have said about the topic: "I can not eat as much as I would like to vomit". The tragic downfall of the Liebermann house and family speeded up after Liebermann's death. The Villa continued to be the house of his wife Martha until it was taken away by Nazi authorities who used it as a home for their famale entourage.
Later, Martha commited suicide in 1943 in order to avoid deportation to a concentration camp.




After the Second World War the famous Villa served as a hospital where Liebermann's former studio was tured into an operating room, then rented out to an aquatic sports club house until finally in 2006 the house was opend to the public as a Museum in honor of Max Liebermann.

Sibel Kikelli in "When We Leave"

How much pain can a woman stand? How much can you suffer before you break? What does it take to escape from your personal hell? Why do you need to justify the pursuit of happiness? How much do you love your family if you let them destroy whatever you have? How much power do the rules of a social microcosm have to turn you from a loving parent into a cold blooded robot? How much humiliation and abuse is necessary to make your environment realize that you are a victim? How many degrading things can happen to you at once? What means family if they cast you out? Why do some people think violence can replace words and comprehension? What if life hates you? Why why why?

Watch Feo Aladag’s very emotional and melancholic “When We Leave” with the amazing Sibel Kikelli in a family portray between Germany and Turkey, modern spirit and tradition, destruction and love. Maybe you will find some answers….or not.

“When We Leave” (Die Fremde) (2010) - ****