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The Year 2007 started off under bright stars for berlinsights:
international assignments to Algeria, Morocco and Vietnam in the field of business and organisation development (OD) let berlinsights enrich its network of tour contacts and clients preparing for tailor-made tours to and in Berlin.
The following features are currently under preparation:
walking tours for professionals from Israel, the Middle East and the United States of America through Berlin 'Mitte', our centre of town.
Leisure rides by bus and by boat for international family conventions uniting from abroad and Germany. The mix of age and interest groups caters for trendy spots in town as well as for silent reflexion on Berlin history throughout the centuries.
Thematically guided tours for distinguished experts from China, discussing development and corruption features as well as shrinking and expanding cities for sustainable growth. To this end, Berlin offers sights as well as insights, prepares for hotels and dinners, contacts and berlinsights features to exchange perspectives.
April 2007
berlinsights tourguide Stevie Bloomquist took a group of Israeli scholars through the center of Berlin. On behalf of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), the walking tour included the Berlin Wall surroundings between Holocaust Memorial and German Reichstag, also venturing towards Hackescher Markt and the trendy spots of the Scheunenviertel.
berlinsights initiator Susanne Bauer toured new Berliners towards trendy spots in Berlin MITTE. The famous children's bath of former GDR life at Monbijou Park was as much appreciated as an indepth walk through the Scheunenviertel and Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz.
berlinsights piloted a walking tour around HAUPTBAHNHOF/LEHRTER BAHNHOF: passing by the 'Hamburger Bahnhof' filled with modern art, the route crossed former East-West borders and the MAUERWEG (wall path), the Cemetery of Invalids and the former GDR Watch-Tower at Kieler Eck. The 'Other Side of the World' ('Am anderen Ende der Welt') at Scharnhorststrasse allowed for cosy insights into coffee and health food. The BND's huge construction site (Bundesnachrichtendienst) and new housing investment gave berlINSIGHTS into the future of this seemingly no-man's land being shaped besides the 'sinking wall' art monument nearby.
May 2007
berlinsights owner Susanne Bauer participated in the "History DOC" Workshop of the Euopean Documentary Network (EDN) held in Athens, Greece. Here, she tested her idea of a possible film around the building where her compagnie is located for interim use at Berlin's Unter den Linden ("ous les Tilleuils": address of the former representative Office of CIWL: Compagnie International des Wagons-Lits). The initiative is welcomed by film-makers, producers and historians alike – now berlinsights investigates how and with whom to bring the idea further towards a real film!
June 2007
berlinsights toured a group of senior University Deans of East Africa (Kenia, Tanzania, Uganda) on behalf of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) through Berlin and Potsdam. The tour brought our guests to the four central Universities of "Alexander-von-Humboldt" (HU) at Unter den Linden, the "Technical University" (TU) and the "Free University" (FU) of former West-Berlin as well as to the beautiful Potsdam University.
The stops during the tour included some surprises, such as the memorial tablet of the 1884 "Berlin Conference" that ended the "scramble for Africa" among the former European colonial forces at Wilhelmstreet.
July 2007
© 2007 E.W. van Hutten
© 2007 E.W. van Hutten
berlinsights catered for an international family gathering of some 40 guests by bus, by foot and by boat, and from the city centre to Kö:penick and the lake Mü:ggel in former East-Germany. Crossing the major highlights of Berlin, berlinsights made sure to also trace the cultural roots of our guests in Berlin, such as the Dutch pioneers of building (from Prussian times until today's fancy Embassy construction of Rem Koolhaas), and the country of Nordrhein Westphalia. The NRW representative office at Berlin's Hiroshima street is a spectacular building constructed with only 50% the weight of similar constructions
August 2007
Together with film maker Anja Unger from Paris, berlinsights owner Susanne Bauer reviewed the idea of a film about the history of "Unter den Linden No 40" (see news section of May 2007). In mid-August, Marrocan visitors discovered Islamic roots in Berlin between Kreuzberg and Mitte. Later in the month, former scholars of the Humboldt Foundation were guided along the city center: HISTOX Berlin expert Ralf Oberndörfer showed them around at former Palace of the Republic and future plans for the "Humboldt Forum".
September 2007
berlinsights toured a group of Worldbank staff at the side of its Berlin visit to Transparency International: how corruption is dealt with in the capital of Germany was illustrated by cases of local Government and banks. The beauty of Berlin as a city of low incomes (19,6% unemployment!) was shown with the topic of "interim use of space" (so-called 'ZWISCHEN-NUTZUNG'), to highlight the challenges ahead for urban development in Berlin, a city of constant change.
October 2007
berlinsights accompanied several smaller groups of international guests (Switzerland, USA) through different parts of the city (downtown Berlin and Prenzlauer Berg, a hip "Kiez" neighbourhood). Allowing first-time Berlin visitors personal insights into various aspects of visiting the German capital offered some unforgettable discoveries, e.g. the Jewish Synagoge in Rykestreet or yet the thought-provoking signs ("Denkzeichen") of Rosa Luxemburg at the square carrying her name.
berlinsights manager Susanne participated in the German Government's external evaluation of the largest development cooperation program worldwide, the Ethiopian Capacity Building Programme (ecbp.biz).
'United History' (leadventures.org) practitioners met at berlinsights premises to network and meet new faces and small business owners working at the same location (berlinstory, historiale, denk-mal-an-berlin). Congratulations to Arne from zeit-reisen.de whose video bus tours on Octopussy and other films "made in Berlin" are well described in DB MOBIL of November 2007! (DB-mobil).
November 2007
berlinsights organised a tour for BEGINENHOF through the neighbourhood of Kreuzberg. The walking tour allowed for berl-INSIGHTS into urban planning: from Lenné' s garden architecture in the LUISENSTADT area of the mid-nineteenth century, to the 1920's project for job creation that transformed the obsolete CANAL into an urban workers' leisure place.
The gender perspective of berlinsights further led the women owners of Beginenhof (wohnportal-berlin.de ), berlinsights' new address as of March 2008, through today's vivid and creative Turkish neighbourhood, matched against the ugly concrete planning failures of the 1980's "Kotti" at Kottbusser Tor. Tour highlights gave insights into the Orthodox Synagoge of 1913, and the beautiful industrial Elisabeth-Hof at the former Elisabeth shore.
December 2007
After assignments in Ethiopia and Algeria, Susanne Bauer's consultancy work for development in 2007 ended with operational planning for a group of sector experts in the field of disaster risk management, hosted at GTZ House Berlin.
berlinsights wishes You all a delightful 2008!
