Well, it's Friday, and it's still hot (btw according to today's print edition of the Berliner Zeitung yesterday broke the 37°C barrier), so time for a mixed bag of useless information under the title Berlin-Splitter, "Splitter" meaning in German literally "splinter" or "fragment", but in this context means, well, "a mixed bag of useless information".

Straight off: a study by health insurers Kaufmännische Krankenkasse puts Berlin in 4th place among Germany's 16 Bundesländer for cases of acute alchoholism per head of the population. Only Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein have proprotionately more alkies.

Get some free cinema at the Balkonkino (balcony cinema) in Hellersdorf (way over on the eastern outskirts of the city) on the Cecilienplatz. It's one of those Plattenbau areas - vast estates of prefabricated apartment blocks put up towards the end of the GDR, and the companies that run them come up with all sorts of ideas to make them attractive. In this case by offering free open-air cinema: open to all-comers, though you have to bring your own chair if you want to sit down. July 22: "NVA" (Germany 2005); July 29: "Hitch, der Date Doctor" (USA 2005), August 5: "Alles auf Zucker" (Germany 2004) and August 12: "Die Legende des Zorro" (USA 2005) (all in German, start time: 10pm). Link.

Ever wanted to get lost in a maze of sunflowers? Check out the Sonnenblumenlabyrinth in Lichtenberg, open from July 21 - September 6. Entrance is free, and there are 100,000 sunflowers to get lost in.

Have a favourite place in Germany: the ZDF is running a competition to find Germany's 50 favourite places: http://vote.orte.zdf.de/

Posted at 6:59 AM in