Just returned from our trip to freezing Berlin; it wasn't quite as cold as our last (February) visit but wasn't far off.

We stayed at the same hotel, the Park Inn next to the TV tower on Alexanderplatz, which was nice and comfy and familiar.

Friday nite was beer nite (isn't it always!) and once we'd offloaded and changed we grabbed some German stodge in the Christmas market just outside the hotel and walked up to Schonenberg (no mean feat in such temperatures) and had a few beers at the Spot bar (smartish and cocktaily), then later at Bar Hafen (psychedelic and cocktaily) and later still at the (aptly) seedily named 'Blue Boy Bar' which I love, chiefly because it's tacky and eccentric with strange paintings and dark alcoves.

It is true however that finding decent (gay) bars in Berlin is a bit like Russian roulette. We generally avoid places that are blacked out to the street, or that have signs on the door saying 'men only' (not wishing sexual shennanagans to put us off our Bittberger)...

I love German beer though. It's purer than British beer and leaves me with much less of a hangover which is probably just we well as we like to drink it in the biggest glasses available (make mine "a large vase please, Sir").

A few places were quietish, not a bit like London at 9.00pm on a Friday evening (or we just don't know where to go!), and even though we always forget how much later other cities operate I can't be arsed not going out till midnite... we'd do nothing the next day for a start.

Art-wise I loved the German Expressionism show at the Berlinischen Galerie. I think the gallery must be quite new as it's right behind the Jewish Museum but we didn't come across it last time. It's split into two levels with what I think is a permanent collection of Otto Dix, Emil Nold and Naum Gabo working right the way through to contemporary painters like Baselitz on the ground floor. It's huge and a great sweeping survey. Paintings, installations, drawings. Upstairs they have a massive show of the Brucke painters. It's a rigid show arranged thematically. A room of self-portraits, paintings with models, landscapes. The one clear language again and again was Kirchner, in every room, and I loved his Berlin street scenes. His feathery brush strokes and dizzying perspectives were perfect for the groups of elegant ladies in furs and hats and handsome blokes with cigarettes held aloft. Everyone looks as though they were off to somewhere marvellous, and of course they probably were, then.

We also checked out the Chrysler collection, in the offices of Chrysler near Potsdamerplatz (bit like 'Bloomberg Collection' in London). They had a show of minimalism, which was OK, not really my thing, but I was surprised to see that they had an Ian Davenport on show. He's one of my favourite painters of 'that ilk'. I used to love his shows at Waddingtons...

It's worth pointing out that neither the above appear in Time Out guides despite being major spaces... which is odd. I've sent them an email.

On Saturday nite we were disappointed to find out that the authentic German restaurant we discovered last time had changed hands and turned South American which was a shame (not in itself but when you want German food it is) as it was a beautiful restaurant with vaulted ceilings, but found a suitable replacement in Offenbach-Stuben in Prenzlauer Berg.

It used to be a private dining club for theatrical types in the days of the old East Berlin. It's small, a warren of quiet candlelit rooms with dark panelled walls covered in memorabilia to the composer (who I have to confess I'd never heard of) who gives the restaurant it's name. It was one of the best dinners we've had in recent memory, and served by two nice men who happy to help us round the menu (my policy is to smile nicely and politely say 'I'm ever so sorry, and I hope you don't mind, but I can't speak any German', which luckily meant that we were generously looked after rather than banished to Siberia). G's first course was about 7 rabbit livers on a bed of rocket, on a plate (I kid you not) approximately 14 inches diameter, then he had goose and spinach and potato dumplings. I had snails (tiny German ones), at least two of G's rabbit livers and half a duck with red cabbage and fried rosti type potato cake things. It was excellent and if you're ever in Berlin I beg you to visit. All washed down with kir-royales, light pilsner and nice coffee. And 70 Euros, which I think is a steal. It was superb food. Oh, and before you go they put a 5cent piece in an ornate glass cabinet, and a curtain pulls up and a small group of dolls start mechanically dancing to a tinkling music box soundtrack. He did it twice so I could take a picture, but normally "we only do the one show, but as you asked nicely!".

Afterwards we went to Flax, which was quiet (they're not open too late like most bars in Berlin) considering that they were celebrating their tenth birthday party. We had a couple of cocktails which were big but weak, which was perfect, then discovered the walk back to Alexanderplatz was only about 25 minutes or so which meant that we could walk off at least some of what we had indulged.

The Christmas markets in Berlin are great, and so colourful. Full of
fairground rides, mini ice-rinks, families getting pissed on mulled wine, more sausage and food stalls than you could possibly ever need (and all cheap and excellent), and loads of stalls selling wooden toys, fur hats, candles. It feels more Christmassy than London that's for sure. Lights everywhere, music, fake snow. And I loved the automata... fairytale scenes in booths; mad witches and strange children. You press a button, like a light switch, and it comes alive and starts moving to bizarre music and voices. Kids just stand mesmerised.

Taking of automata we also saw William Kentridge's show 'Black Box' at the new Guggenheim. I'd not come across him before. He's a South African artist who makes jerky animations with sketchy charcoal drawings. They are projected into a large deep layered box like a mini-auditorium with a soundtrack. Sets rise and fall and models move across the projections, all powered by a Mac and I was told off for sneaking a peek at the powermac screens hidden from view. The work is concerned with geography and memory and specifically the history of Africa and South Africa; there's some German crossover hence the commission in Berlin (by Deutsche Bank).

Moving tableau(x?... what's the German word?) became something of a theme of the weekend... I feel a new set of paintings coming on!

http://www.deutsche-bank-kunst.com/guggenheim/e/ausstellungen-kentridge01.php

http://www.sammlung.daimlerchrysler.com/index_e.htm