Back in March I received an email asking if I'd like to go to Berlin to see the new Scotch & Soda production at The Chameleon Theatre. Would I?! Berlin is an awesome city - I hadn't been since 2007 - and I love cabaret shows (including the Scotch & Soda London show in 2015 and Cantina in 2012), so I promptly replied with an excited ja. Here's what we got up to...
The Chameleon Theatre arranged a whistlestop one night blogger trip, but as I wanted to squeeze in as much as possible, I got the first flight out on the first day and the last flight back on the second. When I arrived I collected my Berlin WelcomeCard at the airport and headed straight to our cool hotel in the City West area.
The 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin is one of the coolest hotels I've ever stayed in: housed in the listed Bikini-Haus building overlooking the zoo and Breitscheidplatz, the lobby is filled with plants and the smell of fresh coffee, the corridors are lined with neon blue room numbers, there's a 360° rooftop terrace with killer views and killer cocktails at the hipster Monkey Bar, and the colourful bedrooms have walk-in showers, floor-to-ceiling windows and hammocks. Awesome design, great location, good breakfast and a happening bar - I'm recommending it to anyone heading there.
After checking in, I walked through the beautiful nearby Tiergarten: 520 acres of inner city park filled with woodlands, monuments, ponds, runners and dog walkers. It was one of those fresh spring mornings where the air was still crisp and the trees were bare, but the sun was shining and the spring flowers were in bloom. I walked 5km around the park and past the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's modern 1960s concert hall to Ki-Nova where I met the other bloggers for a healthy lunch - we shared falafel, hummus and beetroot dips, fresh salads and veggie curry bowls with a couple of bottles of prosecco before heading back out into the sunshine. I spent the afternoon walking around the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe with its 2,711 maze-like concrete columns, the imposing Brandenburg Gate, and did a spot of vintage shopping (I picked up three blouses at the Pick n Weight kilo store for €20) before heading back to the hotel to freshen up.
The 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin is one of the coolest hotels I've ever stayed in: housed in the listed Bikini-Haus building overlooking the zoo and Breitscheidplatz, the lobby is filled with plants and the smell of fresh coffee, the corridors are lined with neon blue room numbers, there's a 360° rooftop terrace with killer views and killer cocktails at the hipster Monkey Bar, and the colourful bedrooms have walk-in showers, floor-to-ceiling windows and hammocks. Awesome design, great location, good breakfast and a happening bar - I'm recommending it to anyone heading there.
Our evening started with drinks on our private balcony of the Chamäleon Theater, which is a beautiful restored 1920s ballroom in the historic Hackesche Höfe courtyard complex in the middle of the Mitte district. The theatre presents contemporary circus productions from all over the world, including the Australian Company 2's new Scotch & Soda show, which runs in Berlin until 20 August before touring. The multi-talented cast of daredevil acrobats and musicians serves up a cocktail of innovative circus acts and rowdy live jazz with gravity-defying trapeze turns, balancing acts on champagne bottles and a lot of gasping from the audience. It's a brilliant way to spend an evening.
After the show, we went for dinner at a nearby Vietnamese teahouse called Chén Chè - which means 'bowl of goodness', and I can vouch for that - for bowls of soups and traditional clay pot dishes. We went back to our hotel for a nightcap at the rooftop bar - having got up at 4am and with a busy day ahead, it was time to call it a night...
