Street Smarts

We obviously had to think long and hard about what our first post would be. You know, we couldn't just kick this shiz off with any random piece of crap. It had to be both relevant and introductory. So, we present to you as our very first post: The Street Smart Guide to Streets We Like.

One of our very favorite activities is jaunting. We like to take lovely long walks down random Berlin streets with no particular destinations in mind. Two simpletons walking and looking at stuff. It doesn't get more "special" than that. Generally the makeup of a good street includes nice buildings, some foliage, interesting people, good cafes and restaurants, the occasional park or two, and NO homeless people mucking up the ambiance.
With that in mind here is a list of rather nice streets to jaunt down.

Akazienstrasse: Ubahn Eisenacherstrasse
Goltzstrasse: Ubahn Nollendorfplatz
If you start at Akazien, it turns into Glotz. There are tons of really nice cafe's and restaurants (mostly Asian, Indian, and Italian but with the occasional French or Middle Eastern gem), beautiful buildings, tree lined sidewalks, and it all sort of culminates at Winterfeldplatz where there are some great benches you can sit on and people watch. If you're really lucky you'll see the "soul skater." He's an amazing specimen of a man. He has long dreads, wears hot pants and a fishnet top, and does this incredible choreographed hip hop dance number on roller blades. A sight which must be seen to be believed. Also at Winterfeldplatz is a great market on Saturdays and Sundays, one of Berlin's finest actually and well worth a visit.

"soul skater"

Bergmanstrasse/Mehringdam: UBahn Mehringdam
Mehringdam has some nice cafes and a really cool second hand shop. Bergmanstrasse is a GREAT street for eating and drinking! It is literally lined with cafes and delicious restaurants, and is punctuated with a great park called Victoriapark. It has a huge waterfall and is a nice place take a book and spend some relaxing moments.

Kastanienalle: UBahn Eberswalderstrasse
This street is pretty popular with the "too cool for school" sect but you can definitely see the appeal. It is really colorful and entertaining and boasts lots of restaurants with cheap but quality food choices especially if you are a vegetarian. There's also a really great playground at the end of the street that has a super sick trampoline, several table tennis tables, swings, and a jungle gym and is all space themed. It's best in the evening when all the little kiddies have headed home to bed. This street also has a pretty famous biergarten on it called the BerlinerPrater.

Simon Dach Strasse: UBahn SBahn Warschauerstrasse or SBahn Ostkreuz
This street is always busy especially at night and has a concentration of bars so it's perfect if you are lazy and like to pub crawl. It also has nice restaurants and cheaper Imbiss style places that are yummy and perfect for the drunken munchies.

Kolwitzplatz: UBahn Seenefelderplatz
Has a very nice park rife with adorable fat babies and cafes to boot. It also has a bustling Saturday market.

There are just so many streets and so little time to make our way down them all. These are just a few to get you started. Don't spend all your time trapped underground on the UBahn. Try and walk places and get yourself lost. You never know what kinds of treasures you'll stumble upon:)