WEDDING
Berlin’s history as a divided city means there’s no real ‘city centre’ but instead multiple neighbourhoods, each with their own charm and quirks. That’s how I find myself in Wedding, a gritty but slowly gentrifying northern district that is home to adjacent sister hotels AC Hotel Berlin and Moxy Berlin Humboldthain Park. Newly opened in 2019, the hotels by Marriott are distinctively designed – the Moxy with a young, bold graphic vibe and the AC Hotel with a thoughtful European contemporary mien. The soft colours and rounded edges instantly soothe any mental strains, complemented by an explorer’s theme inspired by its proximity to Humboldthain Park, named after Berlin’s famous geographer, naturalist and explorer Friedrich Humboldt. I meet up with Markus Rath, the young F&B manager at the AC Lounge which – you guessed it – serves up some serious looking cocktails, craft beers and boutique wines. “Berliners want to be as individual as possible,” he explains, as the reason why they are visiting and living in up-and-coming areas like Wedding. Over the last summer, the hotel initiated an outdoor indie live music concert which drew the city’s cognoscenti to the scene. I’ve run out of time for any more bars, but he gives me a handful of names for my next trip. Meanwhile, I can’t leave Berlin without at least taking in some of the activities and exhibitions themed around the fall of the Berlin Wall, which happened on 9 November 1989. A list of over 200 commemorations are available at visitberlin.de, where artists and academics alike interpret this period in time. Just steps away from the hotel is an exhibition presented by the Berliner Unterwelten E.V. (berliner-unterwelten.de), Society for the Exploration and Documentation of Subterranean Architecture, on Mythos Germania – Vision and Crime. Other than the exhibition, there are four tours available all year round, ranging from Cold War nuclear bunkers to experiencing WWII bombing raids. Some 30 years later, a simple lighted path marks the former trajectory of the wall where it divided Potsdamer Platz, in stark relief to the openness of the Plaza today and a reminder not to take any of our current steps for granted.