Waldcafé in the Nature and Environment House

As the name suggests, the Waldcafé in the Nature and Environment House (HNU) is surrounded by greenery. It has an indoor area as well as a beautiful terrace, which is open to you as a visitor to the HNU with a valid ticket. In addition to basics such as French fries and bockwurst, there is an ever-changing offer, which should appeal especially to children. The menu includes pasta with tomato sauce, rice, chicken nuggets or baked potatoes. In winter you will find more delicious things like hearty stews and in summer lighter dishes such as salads or fruit salads on the menu.

Since there is a playground on the terrace, the adults can sit back and enjoy their coffee. In addition, the entire HNU site is enclosed, so that no child can be “lost” here. The premises of the Waldcafé can also be rented for events such as school enrolment celebrations, sugar cone parties, company celebrations or birthdays. The culinary offer at such celebrations is geared to the wishes of the guests: coffee and cake, barbecue buffet or both, the possibilities are many.

In addition, the Waldcafé has a great outdoor kitchen, which is equipped with rustic furniture and utensils as well as a suckling pig grill. Here you as a group can still experience a real adventure and prepare your meal on an open fire. The staff of the Waldcafé provide the recipe and the ingredients – you chop, simmer and fry.

EVENTS

Several times a year, the Waldcafé invites you to events such as “Baking with Frau Holle” or “xxxxx”, where children and parents themselves can participate, but can also have a feast. You can find out more about current dates on the HNU website:hnu‐berlin.de/freizeit‐angebote/.

HISTORY

After the USE GmbH took over the Nature and Environment House in 2005, it initiated structural measures. In 2007,this included the conversion of earlier training and storage rooms into the Waldcafé.

Frittenfritze

The Frittenfritze is a classic Berlin snack bar with an additional ice cream offer. Here, you can still get the Berlin currywurst as it should be: as a boiled sausage with a homemade sauce, which is based on the original recipe of Hertha Heuwer, the inventor of the currywurst. Although Ms. Heuwer took her recipe with her to the grave, the Frittenfritze has spared no time or effort in tracking down the original ingredients. The clientele likes it, as it does the soft ice cream, that does not foam, but comes in a compact, creamy texture.

HISTORY

The Frittenfritze is situated in a former Park Railway gatekeeper’s house. The Park Railway tracks used to run along the current main road. When the Pioneer Palace was built in 1979, the tracks were moved to the outside. The gatekeeper’s cottage had had its day and was initially used by the Park Railway itself. In 2000 for the first time, it was let to a snack bar operator. In order to be able to use the building as a snack bar, it was enlarged, and an extension was added at the front. In 2011, Frittenfritze Hanno Schaar took over the kiosk and has since provided a small but fine offer with his trade fair gastro and catering experience.

Finnhütten at the Bathing Lake

In the Finnhütten at the Bathing Lake, the boss still cooks himself – always fresh and with good ingredients. The amount of love put into the food can be seen by the “hand cut” homemade fries alone. In addition to basics, there is an ever-changing menu, which is put together by the Finnhütten team according to their mood, but also to match the weather and guests´ wishes.

Here everyone gets their money’s worth (or appetite´s worth). For example, when a Polish Week or a Steak Weekend is declared, the Finnhütten always have summery light meals, such as salads or vegetarian and vegan dishes always available. If they are not on the menu, just ask for it and the chef will conjure up something. There is also a wide selection of drinks and an ice cream for dessert.

The guests in the Finnhütten are as colourful as the menu. They are made up of regulars, concertgoers to the Parkbühne, international students of the HTW (Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (University of Applied Sciences for Engineering and Economics)) and residents from the surrounding districts.

The Finnhütten can also be booked as a location for private celebrations and events such as birthdays, consecration of youth or weddings.

HISTORY

The Finnhütten were built on the occasion of the 1973 World Festival and initially served as a kiosk, which mainly served children´s snacks and drinks such as sausages, fizzy drinks and soft ice cream. At that time, the Wuhlheide was largely a Pioneer Park and attracted a corresponding number of children and young people.

In 1986, the parents of the current tenant, Michael Schindler, took over the Finnhütten and continued to operate in the same manner. When Mr. Schindler followed in his parents’ footsteps in 2004, he gradually changed direction. He renovated, renewed water pipes and re-wired electrical lines, enlarged the capacity by creating more seats, and changed the menus. The kiosk of those days has become a full restaurant establishment.

The Waldkater Event Gastronomy

With its food truck, Der Waldkater Wuhlheide provides visitors with a varied snack offer, which includes characteristic dishes such as sausages in rolls, French fries and currywurst (with homemade sauce) as well as home-cooked kasselers and bulettes. Ice cream and ice pops, coffee in many variations and chilled drinks from mineral water to organic herbal brews to alcoholic and non-alcoholic bottled beers, make your break in the Wuhlheide simply perfect.

Payment can be made with every means, whether card, GooglePay, Applepay or other digital payment options – and of course also in cash.

The menu in the summer garden changes weekly and can best be described as “good German cuisine”. Here, too, visitors will be given all the coffee specialties, which would best match the changing cake offer. And with four beers on tap – two pilsners, a hefeweizen and a dark beer – the Waldkater is also well positioned in terms of drinks. Basically, the summer garden can accommodate 150 people. However, due to the current situation surrounding the novel “Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2”, only 80 people can be catered for at any one time until further notice.

In addition, the Waldkater specialises in events and catering, whether it is for a trade fair, a wedding, a business event or consecration of young people. It takes care of the organisation as well as the catering of its guests or visitors and offers vegetarian and/or organic catering as well as finger food buffets. The Waldkater responds to your wishes and ideas and ensures a smooth process, so that you can sit back and relax.

If you are looking for a location for your celebration or event, you can also book the summer garden in the Wuhlheide. The Waldkater is equipped for such occasions and offers everything from a single source.

EVENTS

Once or twice a year, The Waldkater organizes the event “Rocking in the Forest” together with the rock club “Home of Rock’n’Roll e.V.” from Köpenick. The dates will be announced in good time, including on this website.

HISTORY

The building in which the Waldkater is located in the Wuhlheide dates back to the GDR era. It then operated as a snack bar, which complemented the offer of the former club restaurant (now a ruin). After reunification, the snack bar became the summer garden with a restaurant business and henceforth bore the name “Eichenklause” – a reference to the street Eichgestell, where it is located.

Rooftop Garden

The Rooftop Garden, located on the 4th floor of the FEZ-Berlin, is open to all visitors and employees of the Wuhlheide. With its large, glazed dining room and surrounding terrace, it offers enough space for many hungry mouths. It is open daily and offers 2 elective meals as well as a “Fit & Vital” dish.

HISTORY

The Rooftop Garden has been operated by Forum Esswirtschaft GmbH together with Café Zauberbaum since 2023. For a long time, however, the two restaurants were managed independently of each other and by different operators. In GDR times, the Rooftop Garden was the canteen of the Pioneer Palace.

Café in the Model Park Berlin-Brandenburg

Those who visit the Model Park Berlin-Brandenburg should not miss the opportunity to take a rest in its café. It consists of an indoor area with bar, which is housed in a stable tent construction, as well as beer garden.

In addition to delicious snacks such as Bircher muesli, butter pretzels and sausages, various daily soups, French fries – optionally with steak, grilled cheese or schnitzel – are served, pizza with various toppings and milk rice. The cake and ice cream offer is also impressive.

If you would like to celebrate in view of many sights and yet in the countryside, you can also book the café in the Model Park for private celebrations or corporate events.

HISTORY

The café in the Model Park has been in existence since 2007. In order to make the stay even more comfortable for visitors, it is being enlarged and expanded.

Café Zauberbaum

Café Zauberbaum is located in the FEZ Berlin and has an interior restaurant as well as a terrace in front of the FEZ. From the interior you can also reach the FEZ swimming pool, where there are also some tables and chairs.

Café Zauberbaum offers snacks such as French fries, sausages and burgers, pastries and coffee and other drinks.

HISTORY

Café Zauberbaum as well as the Rooftop Garden has been run by Forum Esswirtschaft GmbHsince 20232. For a long time, however, the two restaurants were managed independently of each other and by different operators. The café was temporarily leased as a sports café, most recently it was called Café Alfons.

Fuchsbau in the Wuhlheide

In the middle of the parkland of the Wuhlheide lies the environmental and meeting centre Fuchsbau. The meeting point for children, young people, young families and the disabled offers 75 beds and is ideally suited for stays of several days for groups from day care centres, primary schools and associations. Thematically, (almost) everything revolves around experiencing and exploring nature. Guests can hold seminars and events on environmental issues, accessing a well-equipped environmental library. In addition, the Fuchsbau team is happy to provide them with advice and support.

There are two rooms for supervisors in the building as well as various shared rooms for children, which are equipped with bunk beds. There are also modernised washrooms with 12 showers, a dining room for about 80 people, spacious corridors and a large terrace in front of the house. The Fuchsbau is wheelchair-accessible and has a toilet for the disabled. Details of room layouts and prices can be found on the Fuchsbau website.

Also, recreational fun is not neglected during stays in the Fuchsbau. This is ensured by the diverse offers (partly subject to a charge) in the park, which are also open to Fuchsbau guests. You can use the playgrounds and sports fields as well as the skater track in the park, go swimming in the indoor or outdoor pools, rent games and sports equipment as well as bicycles, visit the animal enclosure in the Nature and Environment House or ride on the Park Railway. The children’s and youth leisure centre FEZ Berlin also attracts with great events. Sports enthusiasts may be drawn to the Wuhlheide Climbing Forest or the Sports Youth Club Arena. And if you want to see more of Berlin, you can marvel at well-known Berlin and Brandenburg sights in the Model Park.

HISTORY

The building of today’s Fuchsbau used to belong to the Pioneer Palace and most recently housed the Department of Tourism/Defence Education (Abteilung Touristik/Wehrerziehung). Even then, there were more than 60 beds and corresponding recreation rooms for children in the building for the tourism sector (“Young Tourists” Station). In summer, the capacity of the facility can be increased to 300 beds by using tents outside. Events included the regular military and district Spartakiads of the Society for Sport and Technology (GST) (Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik). The “Young Tourists” group developed hiking routes and at regular intervals explored the area around Berlin.

On 01.04.1995 the Fuchsbau was opened in the building as the overnight accommodation for the Young Friends of Nature Association (Naturfreundejugend Berlin e.V.). Since January 1, 2006, it has been under the sponsorship of the Forum Young Friends of Nature Berlin (Forum Naturfreundejugend Berlin e.V.), a non-profit and recognised sponsor of youth welfare, which also maintains several children’s, youth and family centres in Berlin.

The Young Friends of Nature has its origins in the workers’ movement at the beginning of the 20th century. In the struggle for improved working and living conditions, there was also a call for emancipated leisure activities. Working people from the city should be offered the opportunity to connect with nature, hike and travel. In the self-organisation of the labour movement, the first associations were founded at the end of the 19th century to organise hikes and family excursions, including the Friends of Nature Tourist Association (Touristenverein „Die Naturfreunde“.) founded by Viennese socialists. In 1908, a local group was founded in Berlin, which only a few years later became independent as the Friends of Nature Hiking Workers Federation (Arbeiterwanderbund “Die Naturfreunde”). In 1926, as a counterweight to bourgeois education, it started the Young Friends of Nature. You can find out more about the eventful history of the Friends of Nature Here.

Bungalow Village

The bungalow village in the Wuhlheide consists of nine bungalows with a total of 60 beds, a service and a sanitary building. Individuals and groups can book overnight stays here from May to September with prior reservation. The shared accommodation does not offer great comfort, but it gives the guarantee of being awakened by birdsong in the morning. The rental takes place via the website of the Berlin Music Academy landesmusikakademie‐berlin.de/vermietung/unterkunft/

HISTORY

In 1981, two bungalow villages were built in the Wuhlheide to help citizens from the districts of Friedrichshain and Hohenschönhausen to relax.

Both bungalow villages were built as youth recreation centers and have been used as such ever since. In the past, they belonged to the Lichtenberg district office. The second bungalow village was demolished after a fire. In its place today is the climbing forest.

Berlin Music Academy

If you like to play music and want to improve, discover music in all possible facets and share your enthusiasm with other music lovers, the Berlin Music Academy (Landesmusikakademie Berlin) is the right place. With its diverse programme, the musical educational institution offers networking, qualification, stimulation, and project monitoring and support. People of all ages and backgrounds, but also of every musical orientation, are welcome here. The annual offer includes about 150 workshops, 140 concerts, conferences and congresses. Whether classical music, hip hop or African rhythms – the range of the Academy extends over all musical genres.

There are special offers for schools that can hold musical project days and weeks in the Berlin Music Academy. The Academy team supports the visitor in planning and design, which is freely chosen and is oriented towards the wishes of the students and schools.

Pedagogic teams from day care centres have the opportunity to undertake further education in the Berlin Music Academy. The Academy team designs and plans these team days taking into account your needs and wishes as well as the specifics of your institution.

Musical project days for companies, where team building is of the utmost importance, round off the offer of the Berlin Music Academy.

In addition, non-profit organisations can hire the Academy’s seminar rooms, halls, instruments and media and use them for their own events.

EVENTS

In addition to the individual project days and weeks for students, pedagogical teams and companies, workshops, projects and recordings take place in the in-house recording studio throughout the year.

Among the highlights of the Academy year are three major events. First of all, there is the “World of Sounds Music Festival (“Musikfestival Klangwelten”) with musical theme weekends for families and a project week for primary school classes, which takes place in March. September is dedicated to the festival “Samba Syndrome”, which includes numerous workshops for 700 active participants, two evening concerts, participation in the Berlin Marathon and a family weekend.

HISTORY

The Berlin Music Academy was founded in 1995 on the initiative of the Berlin State Music Council (Landesmusikrates Berlin). Together with FEZ Berlin, it forms a non-profit operating company with limited liability, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Land of Berlin.

In the course of its existence, the Academy has been able to increase its offer from 50 to well over 150 continuing education and training events per year. These are undertaken either on its own initiative or by partners. Time and again, the Academy succeeds in attracting renowned musicians as lecturers. It is also a member of the “Working Group for Concerts and Music Theatre for Children and Young People” (Arbeitskreis Konzerte und Musiktheater für Kinder und Jugendliche), which includes many important players in Berlin’s cultural life, including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation and the University of the Arts Berlin (Universität der Künste Berlin).

Since the summer of 2004, the Academy has been the central source of instruments for Berlin students.

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