Berlin Perspectives - Private Tours In and Around Berlin

27/12/2020

2020 is a year for uplifting stories. Here is one of them: https://www.berlinperspectives.com/blog

Posted by Carlos This is an unusually personal blog. In addition to the millions who have succumbed to this deadly virus, the world over has been struggling with COVID-19 in a multitude of ways...

26/11/2020

There are some cool playgrounds and there are some awful, awful playgrounds...

Posted by Torben Traveling with children is hard work. Everything takes longer, everything is more stressful. And that's before you figure out what you're going to do with them when you get there....

31/08/2020

Thanks, perhaps, to Tom Cruise, most of us know who Stauffenberg was, but Julius Leber? And for whom should we -- and in particular the German military -- be naming stuff?

Posted by Torben

29/05/2020

Our newest blog about the thought-provoking Spiegelwand memorial in the district of Steglitz

Posted by Carlos Foreign visitors on our tours of Berlin often praise Germany for commemorating the victims of National Socialism. While the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (the Holocaust...

11/05/2020

There are certainly many much more important things to say about the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, but in case you ever wondered whether the war really ended on May 8th...

Posted by Torben

05/05/2020

Over the last six to seven weeks (or has it been longer?), I have made a point of isolating myself physically as well as I can. The challenges one faces in this ongoing process are by now almost...

01/05/2020

We want to try our hand at some shorter posts giving insight into Berlin's history. We'll aim for brevity and try to relate the contributions to places and sites you can visit. Here's some Berlin history before Berlin actually existed...

Posted by Torben

27/04/2020

Some thoughts on how and why German political culture is a little different. (And it's not all about Corona, promise.)

Posted by Torben

20/03/2020

Dear All,

We hope everyone stays safe in these difficult times in which we have to stick together. Our health and solidarity come before anything else.

In order to help "flatten the curve", we are doing our best to practice social distancing and to encourage others to do the same.

Once we have overcome this pandemic and it is safe to do so, we would love to show you Berlin.

In the meantime, we will keep you posted with our blog posts.

Stay safe and healthy,

Torben and Carlos

28/11/2018

With the season winding down, we again have a little time to devote to our blog. Halloween has passed, but Berlin's cemeteries remain... I was about to write "alive," but that's not quite right. At any rate, there are lots of dead people in Berlin, some of them quite famous!

Posted by Torben

14/01/2018

Here's our newest blogpost. It's about a 19th century prison break, no less, very exciting!

Posted by Torben In August of 1850, a 21 year old political fugitive arrived in Berlin and moved into an apartment not far from Gendarmenmarkt in the center of town. He was carrying false papers...

08/11/2017

Posted by Carlos ‘The 9th of November represents the bright and simultaneously the dark sides of German history’, Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller declared a year ago. He was referring...

08/11/2017

Check out our newest blog on the occasion of 9th November

Posted by Carlos ‘The 9th of November represents the bright and simultaneously the dark sides of German history’, Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller declared a year ago. He was referring...

31/10/2017

Check out our new blog on the occasion of Reformation Day, the 500th Anniversary of Martin Luther sharing his 95 Theses.

Posted by Carlos

05/04/2017

Kicking off our season with different tours, here with graduate students from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, and Indiana University, USA.

30/03/2017

Come check out Torben and Carlos' interviews on the Rick Steves' website: https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/guides/torben-brown; https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/guides/carlos-meissner

24/03/2017

Look out for our new business cards!

16/02/2017

Posted by Carlos

15/02/2017

Posted by Torben It seems that anytime anyone anywhere writes about Berlin nowadays, mention must be made of the “looming specter” of its recent past; of a city “haunted;” of “ghosts” and...

13/02/2017

Check out our newest blog, on the presidential election in Germany!

Posted by Carlos No, Angela Merkel has not been replaced. She has been Germany’s Chancellor since 2005, not the President. The new man (in spite of female candidates, it’s only been men so far)...

19/12/2016

See Torben's newest blog on the Bundespressekonferenz, a unique press feature and democratic institution.

Posted by Torben On prime river-view property in the heart of Berlin's government district is an otherwise nondescript office building bearing the name of the organization it houses in white letters...

12/12/2016

No, this is not the Eiffel Tower in Paris; it's the one at the Centre Français de Berlin (CFB)! Owing to being one of four powers to occupy Berlin after the end of the war (the others were the USA, UK and USSR), the French Military Command established the Centre Culturel Français in 1961. After German Reunification, the property passed into the hands of the German Ministry of Finance; however, the governments of Germany and France agreed that it should once more be home to a cultural centre, which was re-opened under its current name in 1994. Come check out the CFB in the neighborhood of Wedding, or find out more about this area on our "Kiez Berlin" tour!

12/12/2016

Check out Torben's blog at http://www.berlinperspectives.com/blog/of-traffic-lights-and-national-character

Posted by Torben Prejudices are useful; they save time. If we can attribute behavior to notions we have about a group of people, if behavior conforms to cliché, then we are spared the effort of...