To the untrained eye, Mauerpark looks like an abandoned lot. This grungy yet hugely popular green space is renowned for its sprawling flea market, open-air karaoke and historic significance. Now, thanks to the completion of a major redevelopment, there’s twice as much room to party.

Celebrated Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg was in Sydney for concerts when the global shutdowns began. She flew home to Berlin and watched her calendar of performances crumble like dominoes before her eyes. The silver lining? She’s learned to unplug and discovered the theatrical talents of Mother Nature.

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted a rethink about how we should live, work and travel. Berlin is making the best of a bad situation by expediting further improvements to its bike infrastructure.

Of all the enjoyable things about being abroad, there’s something deeply satisfying about tucking into a good book that’s set in the place you happen to be travelling through.

Desperate to escape my confined Corona-existence in Berlin, I have begun exploring beyond the city limits. Brandenburg cops a fair bit of flak for being boring and lifeless, but it’s actually full of attractive destinations for those in need of a green getaway.
 

After almost a decade of living in Berlin as an expat, a juicy PhD offer Down Under enticed me back to the homeland indefinitely. Shortly after arriving back in Australia the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc across the world, removing all reference to normality.

After the coronavirus went global, governments around the world launched repatriation efforts to bring back thousands of citizens stranded abroad. Two friends of mine were among those caught out.

Sydneysider Katelin Meredith has been living in Berlin for nearly a year. When the coronavirus closed off most of the city, she listed all the things she wants to do when life gets going again.

Berlin’s first reported COVID-19 case was diagnosed on 1 March, 2020. Since then, it’s certainly been a month to remember in the German capital. Infections have grown and Berliners have come to realise the extent of the crisis.

Even before the recent closure of Berlin’s theatres and galleries due to coronavirus, life in the German capital was getting tougher for artists. 

When you live 16,000 km from home, what foods do you miss the most? Supplying expats with edible memories is big business—and another form of German-Australian cultural exchange.

Over the years, Berlin has increasingly become a hyped international hub for globalised living, a cool factor which can often overshadow the charms of the rest of Germany. I took a short trip north to get acquainted with the country’s second most populated city.

Germany is a world leader when it comes to up-scaling sustainably grown produce. Foodtech entrepreneur Anne-Kathrin Kuhlemann is now taking "bio" to the next level, with her organic fish farm in the heart of Berlin.

Time away from Berlin helped Australian writer Vijay Khurana realise what he truly loved about it. One landmark in particular sums up his attraction to the city’s unique opportunities.

While many early co-working spaces were set up in the United States, Berlin also had a hand in the development of this global trend. Today the German capital hosts countless mixed offices, from creative community clubhouses to slick franchises.