Spring is coming! A variety of activities are on offer, from a hike through the cherry blossoms, to museum visits, to an English afternoon tea–and much more!
Get Out and Explore
Friday, 14 April See the special exhibit, Sonne, Quelle des Lichts in der Kunst/ The Sun: Source of Light in Art. Taking Monet’s painting, “Impression, Sunrise” as its point of departure, the exhibit brings together a variety of sunlight-inspired artworks from antiquity to the present.
Sunday, 16 April Join an English-language, behind-the-scenes tour of the Berliner Ensemble, the famous theater founded by Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel. We’ll have a look at what happens backstage, how the scenery is set up and more about the everyday workings of theater productions.
Friday, 21 April Berlin abounds in fascinating museums, and here is one you might have missed: the Kleines Grosz Museum, dedicated to the works of Berlin artist George Grosz. We will see both the permanent collection and a special exhibit on the artist’s (disappointing!) visit to the Soviet Union in 1922.
Friday, 28 April Visit Jagdschloss Grunewald, a Renaissance hunting lodge.
Not only is the setting lovely, in the woods on the shore of the Grunewaldsee, but also the Jagdschloss boasts the largest collection of the works of Renaissance painters Lucas Cranach the Elder and his son.
Sunday, 30 April How do we feel about plaster casts of famous sculptures? Are they inspiring? Convenient? Inferior? See Berlin’s fine collection of casts and a special exhibit highlighting the changes in public attitudes to them over the centuries.
Food, Drink, and Friends
Thursday, 13 April The Casual Evening group invites members to drop by for that drink after work or a casual evening meal in a central location at Hackescher Markt. A relaxing way to finish off the day!
Friday, 21 April Have a proper English afternoon tea at the Teehaus im Englischen Garten. Sandwiches, macarons, petit fours and, of course, scones with clotted cream and jam–all with a lovely view of the flowering English Garden in Tiergarten!
Books and Films
Monday, 24 April We will discuss Clair Keegan’s Small Things Like These. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, this novel is set in a small Irish town in 1985 and tells the story of one of the infamous “Magdalene laundries,” where unmarried mothers were incarcerated for many years.
Wednesday, 26 April The Biographies Group will discuss Tiya Miles’s All That She Carried. It is the prize-winning story of a sack, given by an enslaved mother in the 1850s to her nine-year-old daughter, who was soon to be sold into slavery in the southern US away from her family.
The Film Buffs group and the Science group (nonfiction books) meet on an ad hoc basis, at times convenient to participants.
Stay Fit with Walking Groups
Saturday, 15 April We hope to coincide with peak cherry-blossom time at the Mauerweg/ Asahi Kirschblütenallee (cherry blossom avenue), a 1.7 km long stretch on the border between Berlin and Brandenburg which is lined with over 1000 cherry trees. Our brisk walk will continue into Lichterfelde, to the Lilienthal Park.
Every Wednesday A walk around Schlachtensee.
Every Thursday A walk around Tiergarten
Crafts, Languages, and Games
Want to brush up your language skills, or relax with crafts and games? Plenty of opportunities here!
Monday, 3 and 24 April English Speakers
Tuesday, 11 and 25 April German Speakers
Wednesday, 12 and 26 April French Speakers
The Club has several Mah Jong groups that play regularly, as well as a crafts group that meets at participants’ convenience.
Photo credits: Cherry blossom, Joan Luft. Jagdschloss Grunewald , Superbass at Wiki Commons. Monet sunrise: Art database, Public Domain, Wiki Commons
