Berlin 23: Back at Tempelhofer Feld

After my ride around Tempelhofer Feld the previous evening, I was keen to return there with the others. So after we’d been to the DDR Museum, we arranged to head over there, stopping for lunch and a visit to the Urban Nation contemporary art museum on the way.

Riding to Kreuzberg for lunch

After our visit to the DDR Museum, I went off to find a Nextbike while the others went off to catch an U-Bahn train. We were making our way to Kreuzberg, to go to an interesting looking Sicilian, Amici Amici we spotted while in the area going to Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap the evening before.

Being half Sicilian, I always have my eye on anywhere that does decent fresh arancini. In the UK, they’re pretty hard to find and are usually bought in frozen. With a counter of freshly made arancini, this looked promising.

Starting with a familiar route along Unter den Linden, I made my way towards Potsdamer Platz, on a route the featured sections of painted lanes and footway level cycle paths.

Door zone cycle lane of sort on Wilhelmstrasse, Weltballon in the sky

Arriving at Potsdamer Platz, I made a brief diversion to famous Hansa Studios, known to me as the studio used by David Bowie and Iggy Pop in the mid 70s. During the cold war, it was close to the wall and played a part in the inspiration for the lyrics of Bowie’s Heroes.

I carried on along Stresemannstraße, then stopped briefly at Tempodrom Berlin, the concert venue where I saw Pavement play back in 2022. I hadn’t seen the building the daytime before. It is an impressive structure, in the day or night.

Looking towards Tempodrom Berlin, where I saw Pavement in 2022

At the end of Stresemannstraße, I carried on along Mehringdamm, passing Mustafa’s, which already had a queue outside it. From there, it wasn’t long until I met with the others and arrived at Amici Amici.

Picking up some pizza, arancini and beer, we sat out at their tables in the sun and enjoyed our lunch. I have to say the arancini were pretty good.

Tourist boat and Berliner Schloss in background — Looking across the River Spree

Riding to Urban Nation

Once we finished at Amici Amici, we set off for Urban Nation, a contemporary art museum in Kreuzberg. Opening in 2017 and focusing on urban street art, Urban Nation was on our list of places to visit.

Getting to Urban Nation was a short ride from Amici Amici, largely along Yorckstraße and Bülowstraße. Riding along Yorckstraße was mainly on paved or asphalt cycle paths, which were pretty good, apart from the odd narrow section.

I really enjoyed riding along Bülowstraße. I’ve cycled along here before and found cycling along here really pleasant. I particularly like riding along the railway viaduct that goes down the middle of the road.

Red painted cycle lane passing under U-Bahn viaduct on Bülowstraße

A lot of the cycle lane along Bülowstraße is parking protected, with bollards at the junctions, which stop vehicles encroaching on the cycle lane. It’s clearly a popular route, with many people cycling along here and quite a few cargo bikes.

Looking down on the others at Urban Nation

After parking up the Nextbike and meeting the others, we headed into the Urban Nation museum. We were really impressed with the artwork in the museum, which is free to enter, and relies on donations. I’d definitely recommend visiting.

Riding to Tempelhofer Feld

After touring Urban Nation, we set off to our final destination for the day, Tempelhofer Feld. Though this time, our youngest decided to tag along on a Nextbike, rather than getting on public transport.

Getting there meant going back the way I came, along Bülowstraße and Yorckstraße, then turning onto Mehringdamm. This was mostly pretty good, except for some less than great painted cycle lanes.

Arriving at Tempelhofer Feld, we headed to the Luftschloss Tempelhofer Feld theatre, grabbed a table and watched the world go by. It was great seeing people enjoying the space, whether walking, cycling, skating or doing other activities.

Once the other two arrived, me and our eldest went off in search of some Tier electric bike share bikes to hire. This meant going outside of Tempelhofer Feld. Once we picked them up, we headed back into the park for a wander.

We had lots of fun riding around the busy runway on our e-bikes, sharing it with others enjoying the late summer afternoon. After being there the night before, it was definitely more enjoyable on e-bikes and in the daylight.

I must admit I’m a little jealous of the fantastic public green spaces the people of Berlin have access to, especially when they’re as unique as Tempelhofer Feld. I can imagine that if Manchester ever decided replace its airport, the old one wouldn’t be turned into a public space.

Junction on Bülowstraße — Selfie on Bülowstraße

Returning home

After we were done in Tempelhofer Feld, I decided to join the others on public transport back to our Airbnb home, rather than riding back. This involved taking S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains, with a brief stop on the way for kebabs. Thankfully the ones that don’t take over two hours of queueing to get.

S-Bahn train arriving at Tempelhof station

It was interesting to see people with their bikes on U-Bahn trains and well as negotiating them up and down stairs. Manchester has had trams for over forty years and we’re still waiting for bikes to be allowed on them.