Neukolln public gardens around the Körner

  A few months ago a friend mentioned that there was a nice clean park in Neukolln. Most parks in the former east are a bit wild and well used so the site of green grass without numerous beer bottle caps meant I would need to find this. I never got around to checking it out till early October.

  Now, there is a palace in Charlottenburg with a large wild garden called Schloss Charlottenburg. It used to be well kept and done up in the traditional style of each royal family's era. Once small section is currently done up in a very geometric style of royal gardens.

  In my opinion, this park in Neukolln is far more impressive than the Charlottenburg Palace park. Built between 1912 and 1914, Körner Park is a sunken garden with a water fall, fountain and at the far end, an Orangery containing an art gallery with cafe. All this in a lower income neighbourhood more know for kebabs and underground bars and clubs. Somehow funding for this park is quite obviously in place, whereas the typical park here is a far cry from this level of maintenance.

Feels a bit like a Parisian park.

A park with enough elevation to have a waterfall, a rare sight indeed.

Gallery and cafe

Apparently the former owner of a gravel pit on the site handed it over to the local city government to be converted into a park (provided it bear his name). Thus the reason for the sunken nature of this park. It was very run down after WWII but in the 1970's was restored and in 1983 the Orangery was reopened. As of 2004, its a listed heritage site.

  On a warm day its got a crowd but not nothing like as busy as Mauer or Gorlitzer parks. A good spot to relax, people watch, sketch, read and plan a lazy day over a coffee.

Cheers
Andy

Berlin's Burger

  A friend of mine introduced me to possibly the best burger joint in all of Berlin. As with most great finds its a tiny hole in the wall kind of place with room for three or four to sit inside and picnic tables out on the sidewalk. While you wait inside there's a Super Nintendo to keep you entertained. There's always a crowd and everything is prepared fresh upon your order. So expect a 20 minute wait from that point.
  There is a list of menu burgers, chicken, vegetarian etc. However I still haven't managed to try any of the regular menu burgers as they also have a weekly special:

oh my, ya bitte.

  This one above is a beef burger with rucola, tomato, house mayo sauce, Camembert cheese, a fried potato patty and schinken (German cured ham). Rather pricey at 7.50 but that's cheap anywhere else but Berlin.

One of our group had the regular cheese burger (4.90), looks good but I'm still thinking about the one above.

  This one was called Sergeant Walnut, 50% Lamb 50% beef, aged Parmesan cheese, grilled veggies, Walnuts, Aioli, Pesto Mayo.

  On a previous visit the special was a beef burger with caramelized onion, and a slightly sweet  cranberry mayo, Feta cheese but the rest is a hazy memory drizzled in fat.

  The place is called Berlin Burger International in the Neukölln district of Berlin. Worth checking out if you're in the area.

Cheers
Andrew