Just returned from a weekend in Berlin which coincided with the city’s Museum night. During this Lange Nacht der Museen or the Long Night of Museums, all of Berlin’s museums, from the largest to the most obscure, throw open their doors over a Saturday night. The event last through Saturday evening into the early hours of Sunday morning (most stayed open until 2am) and compete with each other to lay on the best show providing bands, jugglers, comedians and so on to add something to their event. The tickets for the whole event were about £10 and included buses between the venues. Plus most of the shops stay open late too (we found an excellent bookshop near Friedrichstrasse open till midnight). Absolutely brilliant and it has been so successful in Berlin over the years that apparently other cities like Paris are copying the concept.
So here is something for If Brian Paddick’s Mayoral manifesto (with apologies to the other Lib Dem candidates standing but they are certainly welcome to pinch the idea) open the doors of London galleries and museums for one night in the summer. Throw in a ton of performance art, a cheap ticket with free travel and you have a winner. Can’t see that not working in any city for that matter!
Also I can recommend an excellent restaurant for anybody looking for a good place to eat in an idyllic setting: Altes Zollhaus, Carl Herz Ufer 30 in Kreuzberg tel: 030 692 3566: web: www.altes-zollhaus.com. Let me know what you think.
