Friedenau is not where your ordinary Berlin ventures to when setting foot on Berlin for the first time, and yet, it has so much to offer, and all it takes is to open your eyes to discover the hidden beauty of this charming neighborhood, located south-west of Berlin's inner-circle:
The "Deluge Fountain" by Paul Aichele, who designed it for the Expo 1896. The fountain was moved to its current location in 1932. Check out the detail ... the drama of it all: a man trying desperately to rescue his mother (?) from the rising tides:
... the wife, safely perching above the waters, desperately holding on to her baby. I wonder what incident in his life inspired Aichele to this really dramatic work ...
The "Deluge Fountain" in its entirety
Turn-of-the-century water pumps, scattered all across Friedenau.
One of the features that make Friedenau stand out are the city villas - Stadtvillen, as they're called in German - many of which are still occupied by one party only as, for instance, this one: Villa Scatolenti on Nied Street, just two houses down from where Nobel Prize Laureate Günter Grass used to live, a villa now occupied by his son and daughter in law.
Villa Anna on Alba Street
... another one is this pretty little number on Perels Park West ...
... or this one, surrounded by lush greenery ...
Friedenau Town Hall, which is in dire need of a new coat of paint. Its front was badly damaged during WW2 while its back and side (depicted) have survived more or less unscathed.
"Ceciliengärten", or how I choose to call it, "Sicilian Gardens", is a prime example of "working class living" such as it was conceived in 1920s Berlin. Unfortunately, today, the working classes of this world - Germany's included - can but dream of finding housing as comfortable and pretty as this, relegated as most of them are to tenement blocks in suburbia.
"Sicilian Gardens" with its water tank, or rather, what looks like one for it contains nothing and like most of Berlin's turn of the century domes, has no purpose at all other than being decorative.
The lawn at "Sicilian Gardens" with its two sculptures at either end, "Morning" and "Evening". Needless to say, the lawn is very popular with dog owners, including myself.
"Stolpersteine" - "stumble stones" in English - a project to commemorate the Holocaust across Germany (Europe, actually, as the project has recently been extended) are numerous in Friedenau. Not because Friedenau had a particularly high number of Jews settling there, but because one of the last Jewish Prayer Houses was located there along with one of the last remaining so-called 'Jew's House' (denoting houses were Jews were 'lumped together' by the Nazis before being deported). One such a house and the above mentioned Prayer House were located on Stier Street, just around the corner from my apartment ...
... therefore, Stier Street has a high number of such stumble stones, and new ones are still being implemented on a regular basis as more facts on those deported emerge. Today, Friedenau is once more boasting a modest Jewish community, the most "famous" member of which is Rabbi Daniel Alter who rose to national prominence when he was attacked outside his house by a group of Arab youths about two years ago. The attack made headlines across the country, and a few days later, a rally was held in Friedenau to express solidarity with the Jewish Community and to take a clear stance against racism and anti-semitism.
God, so the saying goes, is in the detail ... though looking at this gargoyle found on the entrance of a building on Nied Street, it appears the devil had a hand in it, too ...
"Salve" betrays the Germans love affair with Italy, set off, probably, by Goethe's famous "Travels to Italy", published in the late 18th century. Taking their cue from Goethe, no doubt, the erstwhile owners of this building had "Salve" inscribed above the entrance door, just like Goethe did at his home in Weimar.
Beautiful Art Nouveau detail on an apartment building on Nied Street.
... a glass manufacturer ...
This is one of my favorite hang-out's ... The "Süsskramdealer", or ""Dealer in Sweets", run and owned by a gay guy (of course!), who sells excellent coffee and all things chocolate from around the world (though mostly France and Italy), mixed in with some local stuff, such as the Berlin based Praline maker,
If you'd ask me what's typical of Friedenau, I'd have to say, 1. the unusually high number of psychoanalysts, 2. the equally high number of alternative practitioners, and 3. the omnipresence of classical music, be that that there are quite a few violin makers, piano makers (such as the one above) or sellers of wind instruments located in Friedenau, or that you can often hear classical music coming out of apartments as people are practicing the piano, the violin, or are simply listening to classical music on the radio whilst going about their day-to-day chores.
... a seller of antiques, selling their wares in the front yard ...
... a wine-bar round the corner from my home ...
... our local market, taking place on three days per week, where you can find, for instance, saucisson from the Auvergne, sold by Catherine from Paris, as well as an assortment of Turkish, Italian, Greek, and Austrian food stalls. In addition to that, you have all the farmers from the Brandenburg area also selling their produce, and along with all the organic food stores nearby, they make for a highly competitive (food) market.
...speaking of the Turkish community, Friedenau also has a mosque, located in the Islamic Cultural Center, and though Friedenau may not be Kreuzberg, it is - almost - as multi-cultural, having as it does its fair share of Korean tea houses, Vietnamese take away's, Thai restaurants, and, of course, its obligatory slew of Italian restaurants (there are 11 in my immediate vicinity alone!). But that bourgeois Friedenau is a lot more dynamic and international than one is led to believe, is evident in its dog owners, for the ones I know come from all sorts of countries, including Russia, the US, Spain, Vietnam, Poland, Italy, India, and Israel.
... this is our Russian supermarket, open 24/7, and a real blessing given the many public holidays in this country where everything is closed - so this 24/7 grocery store is a Godsend indeed!
The "Haunted House", as I call it, for it looks a little somber ... a little, yes, haunted, all offset now by the lush, beautiful lilac ...
... no, it's not all doom and gloom, Friedenau in Spring is all about groom and bloom - the whole neighbourhood exploding in a gush of colours and blossoms, and though I'm not usually into gardening, Friedenau in Spring never ceases to amaze and inspire me!
... and looking at the beauty of it all: who could blame me ...?
... for in Spring and Summer, what's beautiful anyway, looks even prettier now, in the sunshine, framed by lavish greenery ...
... the entire district turned into a park ...
... with me in it, for as someone said to me the other day, "DO MOR OF WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY", and so I'm having plenty of cake and plenty of chocolate, for as long as cocoa is growing on trees, chocolate is my vegetable!
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