The Avenue of the Enthusiasts

Berliners are well known for their abusive communication skills. Other Germans often call their way of speaking "Berliner Schnauze" (Berlin Snout). So what happens when Berlin authors try to do an evening of cosy book readings? Answer: the audience goes home laughing and, of course, somewhat insulted.

The Avenue of the Enthusiasts (Chaussee der Enthusiasten) takes place each week in RAW Tempel on the site of an abandoned old railway yard near Warschauer Straße in former East Berlin. Six authors, up on stage, reading a bunch of funny stuff revolving around the zeitgeist of the week. Cost? Just 4 Euros. Can't go wrong really, unless you can't understand Berlinerisch. The evenings have been running for ages - always on a thursday night - and they have long since reached cult status amongst the students living in the area.

These two guys at the top were especially a good laugh - but be warned, it's not worth getting all "answery-back" if you are in the audience. The guy on the mic is probably cheekier than you, and he always gets the last word!

"Das Derby"

Just in case you've had your head in the sand the last few months, Berlin's biggest football club, Hertha, are back in the second division this season.

Euroblog's hard working journos have determined that Berlin is the only European capital without representation in it's national first division football competition. We're pretty sure this news is an exclusive.

How did it all happen? After loving Lucien Favre to bits in 2008/2009, Hertha Berlin dumped him early last season after a string of bad results and signed up Friedhelm Funkel. Things went from bad to worse with him at the "helm" and - before you could say Marko Pantelic - the team from the capital was the laughing stock of the country and got demoted.

Hertha's traditional rival meanwhile, Union Berlin, has come from the other direction. The Köpenick-based club has worked its way up from the regional leagues to the second division in three years. After starting strongly last season, they ended their debut period in the middle of the table.

So, what most people thought could never happen, is now reality. Union v Hertha - in the 2nd division. Adding a little bit of extra spice to the all too predictable media beat-up, is the fact that Union come from the former communist east, while Hertha are the traditional West-Berlin club.

The first derby of the season was on Friday. The game, played at the "Stadion an der Alten Försterei", ended in a drab 1-all draw though. Bit of a let down really....especially after such a long article.