I don’t know how many of you know Struwwelpeter. Struwwelpeter is a collection of stories of misbehaving children and the disasterous consequences which followed. Think Grimm’s fairytales….but much Grimmer (Ha…you see what I did there!!).

Well, when I was in Frankfurt recently I stumbled upon the Struwwelpeter Museum. On 4 floors you can learn everything about Struwwelpeter, Suppen Kaspar, Hans-Guck-in-die-Luft as well as the author Heinrich Hoffmann.

As a native German of some age now, I remember these stories all too well and consequently must have been a complete angel as a child as I’m sure my parents can confirm. Ahem.

Struwwelpeter Museum
Schubertstr. 20
60325 Frankfurt am Main
Tel.: +49 (0)69 747969

When I went to Leipzig last October to check out a small design fair called Designers’ Open, I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Natalie & Matthias who make the beautiful Oldtimer Wooden Toys we’ve been selling for a few months now.

We had a nice chat and it’s always great to meet people who are equally as passionate about what they do as we are. Keep up the good work!!!

The fair on the other hand….well, let’s just say there is room for improvement. A LOT of room!!!

I don’t think I can ever visit Germany without eating a Currywurst at least twice!! And when it’s organic and served out of a beautiful refurbished Airstream caravan it’s got to be a winner.

I saw this in Cologne during their annual furniture fair and to my surprise Benbergs Benys is run by an old friend. I think if I ever need a career change I might possibly consider getting myself a mobile Currywurst Stall. The only problem with that is that I’d probably eat all the stock.

You can find Benbergs Benys from Monday – Friday in Dortmund on Europaplatz.

I saw this amazing set of mosaics on a 1970′s East German office block in Potsdam recently. It’s called ‘Man conquers Space’ (Der Mensch bezwingt den Kosmos) by artist Fritz Eisel. You really can’t get much more Socialist than that.

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Afri Cola is Germany’s answer to Coca Cola but is just that little bit cooler!!

This year is Afri Cola’s 80th birthday (it was first registered in 1931) and is still sold in the classic bottle which was designed in 1962 by Professor Jupp Ernst.

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I’m off to Berlin on Thursday to check out DMY, the International Design Festival which starts tomorrow. The main show is at Tempelhof Airport, Berlin’s historic airport which is now closed but still has some pretty impressive architecture.

Talking of impressive architecture, last time I was in Berlin I made sure I visited the Olympic Stadium which was originally built for the 1936 Olympics but had a make-over for the last Football World Cup.

Here a few more images:

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