Courtesy of Lavanderia Vecchia

Lavanderia Vecchia is located on Flughafen Str. 46

Thirteen courses sounds like a decadent, over-the-top display of hedonism, but when it's done right, the results can be thrilling and energizing.

Diners at Lavanderia Vecchia begin with a soup-shot of summer tomato broth, with a single roasted Pomodoro tomato at the bottom, and end with a glass of house-imported Grappa. In between, there are delicious, supremely executed delicacies like Vitello Tonnato and risotto with Porcini mushrooms.

With all the wannabe Italian eateries in this city, it's a rare experience to taste the real thing, and the owners have made every effort to ensure an authentic experience.

They provide wine and olive oil from Tuscany under their own Sabine label and decorate the tucked away courtyard (that once housed a laundromat) with hanging laundry and washing machines.

Molly Fried

Sabrina Small

After receiving an MLA in Gastronomy, Sabrina Small changed gears from academia to hands-on cooking. Her experience has extended from cheesemongering in Baltimore to mushroom foraging in Oregon. Since moving to Berlin in 2007, she has worked primarily as a cultural journalist. Her articles are featured in Gastronomica, Heeb, Ex-Berliner and the on-line magazine Sugarhigh.

Her musings on food and ephemera can most recently be found at foodandfootage.com.

Fredric Ceson

NPR Berlin's new Music blogger Anouschka Pearlman searched for the best spot for open mike nights in Berlin.

My name is Anouschka Pearlman.  I am a performing songwriter under the artist name Anouschka. I have a degree in guitar and songwriting from Berklee College of Music in the States and have paid my dues in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Sweden before coming to Berlin 2 years ago.

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but in the music mecca called Berlin, I often grab my gig-bag on Sunday evenings to head out for two open mikes: Artliners and “The Sesh.”

Artliners Folk/rock and roots, Gartnerstrasse 23, Friedrichshain

At Artliners any song goes as long as it comes from the gut.  It’s a well-worn neighborhood dive full of hippie hearts, sleepy hangovers and Harz IV clothes; don’t let that fool you, though.  The harshest critics in town are here. These jaded souls won't respond unless you’ve got the goods.

“The Sesh” at Al Hamra Singer/Songwriter, Raumstrasse 16, Prenzlauer Berg

“The Sesh,” which is hosted downstairs at the restaurant Al Hamra in boho P-berg, is often packed with a more upscale but lively crowd. Smoke wafting from hookahs, together with the oriental deco, inspire writers to test their mettle. The songwriting is typically mainstream singer- songwriter with spontaneous sessions afterward, and there is a  bonus: If you play you get a free beer.

“Acoustic Nights at the Lux” Singer/Songwriter, Schlesichestr. 41 Kreuzberg

A staple on the scene, but it’s a huge room, which makes it a challenge to connect with the audience - all the more reason to try! I’ve seen some brilliant artists here.

“New Standard Jam Session” at Edelweiss, Jazz, Goerlitzerstr. 1-3 Kreuzberg

I like the Edelweiss jam; it’s  low on attitude for a jazz jam (which suits me just fine) and open-minded. I have heard hip-hoppers get up and rap to standards. That’s what I call building bridges! Edelweiss has a special sentimental meaning for me. When I first arrived in Berlin with my guitar, dog, and suitcase, I moved into a WG around the corner. Edelweiss is where I drank my morning java every day.

For jazz purists and seasoned cats, there’s “Robin’s Nest” at the B Flat on Wednesdays. Rosenthalerstrasse 13, Mitte

A-Trane has a jam sometimes if you’re hardcore and awake around midnight! Bleibtreustrasse 1/Ecke Pestalozzistrasse, Charlottenburg

Know of a great open mike session? Have an experience to share? Let us know.  

Kingsley Smith/NPR

Vactioners flock to the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin.

If you are in Germany, you probably aren't reading this article, because you are on vacation!

According to a Reuters survey of 12,500 people in 24 countries, 75 percent of Germans say they are most likely to use all of their annual holiday leave.  The US ranks 20th, with only 57 percent of respondents saying they use all of their vacation time each year.

Here is the rest of the top 10, ranked in order, of workers most likely to use all of their leave:

1. France
2. Argentina
3. Hungary
4. Britain
5. Spain
6. Saudi Arabia
7. Germany
8. Belgium
9. Turkey
10. Indonesia

Are you going to use all of your annual leave this year?

iStockphoto.com

The German government paid over $500,000 to hunters in 2009 for wild boar that had to be destroyed after traces of radioactivity were found.

The NPR News Blog “The Two Way” reported on a story yesterday about the rise of radioactive wild boar in Germany.

Twenty-four years after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion, creatures as far reaching as wild boar are still being affected by radioactive waste.

Even if you aren’t likely to come across wild boar in your everyday activities, according to the Spiegel Online article, the wild animals are being contaminated by common foods such as mushrooms and truffles containing radioactive Caesium-137. And this isn't only a problem for the boar; German hunters are losing large.

Spiegel Online reports the German government has handed out more than $500,000 in compensation to hunters who have been forced to ditch the contaminated meat. Of that sum, Berlin paid an estimated $170,000.

Livio

The NPR Radio by Livio

NPR FM 104,1 Berlin listeners can now hear the station live online at nprberlin.de using either a computer or a dedicated internet radio.

95 percent of the broadcast schedule will be streamed live.

Presently, Marketplace, Marketplace Money, Speaking of Faith, Car Talk, and A Prairie Home Companion are not a part of the streaming schedule, but you can still hear these programs live on the radio.

If you are having broadcast reception problems with 104,1, please try the live stream at nprberlin.de for improved sound quality.

Click on the 'Listen Live' link located at the top left hand corner of the website pages.  Within a few days, all pages will have this link.

This feature is exclusively for Berlin, German, and European listeners.

NPR

Eric Westervelt & Vivian Schiller in the foreground with NPR FM Berlin listeners.  Everyone is watching a special NPR video presentation.

An estimated audience of approximately 300 enthusiastic NPR FM Berlin fans and supporters gathered Friday evening, July 23, at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, House of Arts and Culture, Kurfürstendamm 207-8, Berlin.

NPR's Central Europe correspondent Eric Westervelt interviewed NPR President & CEO Vivian Schiller about NPR & the Future of News.

NPR staff enjoyed meeting and talking with our Berlin members, and future members to be.

NPR

Mark C. Donfried

A word of thanks to ICD Director and Founder Mark C. Donfried along with his special staff of volunteers for hosting this intimate evening for NPR FM Berlin listeners.

Congratulations to our door prize winners of three brand new NPR Radios by Livio.

NPR

The New Prohibition Band

After the formal presentation, it was time for good music from The New Prohibition Band.  Their upbeat set featured a lively sampling of toe-tapping sounds they describe as neo-folk-electronica.

We were also surprised by some other musicians who 'dropped by' to perform later in the evening after The New Prohibition Band wrapped up.

NPR

NPR FM Berlin 104,1 fans mingle at our special event.

Attendees finished the night by sharing conversation and getting to know each other.  If you were there, did you have a good time?  We certainly did!

Friederike Homuth

The New Prohibition Band features Cera Impala (center) on the clawhammer banjo, violinist Dirk Ronneburg on the left and Jovanka von Wilsdorf on the bass-station.

“The New Prohibition Band” is in the midst of recording their new album “Higher Place,” which is scheduled to be released in September.

In 2007, TNPB left Olympia, WA for a "semi-permanent tour of Europe." The group is based in Berlin, led by songwriter and clawhammer banjoist Cera Impala.

They describe their sound as “neo-folk-electronica," a sort of old-fashioned folk music with a modern sensibility.

Listening to TNPB at my florescent office desk with headphones, I felt like I was at home again in Tennessee. Their music has a kind of organic sweetness that feels authentic, though some of their tracks have a darker edge.

The band will be performing at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy this July 23rd for NPR Berlin's first ever Member Event.

If you'd like to attend, RSVP to npr@culturaldiplomacy.org.

We’d like to send a big thank you out to all our new NPR Berlin members for your generous contributions to 104.1.

We learned a lot from our first ever membership drive; your feedback and comments gave us some great ideas for the future.

In that same spirit, we’re having another first: an NPR Berlin Member Event with NPR CEO Vivian Schiller and NPR Central Europe Correspondent Eric Westervelt Friday evening, July 23^rd.  They’ll be discussing the future of news and NPR’s international role.

The NPR Berlin Staff will also be there and we’d love to meet you in person, get your feedback and answer your questions.

The event will take place at The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, House of Arts and Culture, located at Kufuerstendamm 207-8, Berlin D-10719. 6:00-8:00 pm.

If interested, send us an RSVP.

David Freudberg

David Freudberg is the Executive Producer of Human Media.

Our new Humankind July Fourth special, "An Informed Republic" looks at a remarkable chapter of American history when our founders fretted over whether their fledgling democracy would even survive.

As one of the many historians I interviewed mentioned, there had not been a true republic since the fall of ancient Rome, and many expected the bold experiment of the American revolutionaries to fail. So they knew it would take an informed citizenry to replace the monarchy system from which the colonists rebelled.

Of course in pre-electronic media days, the primary mode of mass communication was newspapers — also one of the only ways that elected officials could communicate with voters.

So they carefully built the postal system in part as a means of circulating news to citizens. They deliberately gave deep discounts for postal delivery of newspapers and even provided what today we would call subsidies to papers, in a sense laying the foundation for modern public broadcasting.

I also had the opportunity for this program to make my first visit to the US Supreme Court for a special interview with retired justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Now at age 80, she's a spry and passionate champion of civic education.

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

Retired justice Sandra Day O'Connor

The level of civic awareness is shockingly low in the country, and she explains the dangers of that — the same dangers understood by America's founders in the eighteenth century.

Walking through the hallowed, marbel halls of the high Court was an amazing experience. One fact that surprised me: the famous Court building was not constructed til 1932. Before then, the Supreme Court held its hearings in the basement of the Capitol building.

Happy Fourth to everyone!

David Freudberg is the Executive Producer at Human Media. He has written and edited more than 700 productions, which include over 100 full-length nationally broadcast documentaries.

You can hear Humankind at 9:00 AM, Sunday mornings on 104.1.

Monika Mueller-Kroll for NPR

Even Alf is cheering for Team Deutschland.

Toooooooooooooor! First Klose, then Podolski, then Müller.  Wow. I didn't expect such a rich game.

Before the match, everyone was talking about the experienced English players against the youngsters from Germany. Funny that one of the young German players, Thomas Müller, became the man of the match. He scored twice, and the sweet thing was that after the game, he was interviewed by a German TV reporter and Müller sent a long overdue greeting to his two Omas and his Opa in Germany.

This guy didn't seem nervous at all. He just beat England and was thinking of his grandparents.

How cool is that?

Of course the big headlines today in the German tabloids talked about Germany's Wembley goal revenge from 44 years ago. Back in 1966, the English team won against the West Germans 4:2.

One of the English goals was shot, hit the crossbar, bounced down on or just over the line (no one can prove it) and was cleared. It was ruled a goal, but still to this day Germans insist it was not a goal.

Yesterday Frank Lampard's shot hit the crossbar and fell clearly behind the goal line, but it was dismissed by the referee.

It was a goal, but I really don't think it would have made a difference for the Three Lions because from the first minute until the last it was Germany's game.

During their really confident, elegant and skillful performance, it dawned on me: We could win this World Cup in South Africa. Germany's 4:1 victory over England reflected their domination on the field.

Next step: Maradona's Argentinian players. I am ready for another surprise this Saturday!

After a defeat over Ghana Wednesday, Team Deutschland is advancing to the Knockout Round.

The next match isn't until this Sunday; Germany plays England at the Free State Stadium.

If you need a distraction until then, Die Zeit just commissioned 3 musicians from the Konzerthaus Berlin to interpret a few classics, from Brahms to Ravel....on the Vuvuzela.

Gero Breloer/AP

Germany's Mesut Oezil scored the winning goal for Germany in the 60th minute.

The patience of millions of German viewers was tested when their football team played against Ghana.

Germany had to win and for a long time it didn't look like they could, at least that's what my friends with some football knowledge insisted on, but I thought Ghana wasn't playing that confident either.

They were able to kick the ball close to the goal, but not close enough.

The German players seemed nervous and sloppy with the ball. Quiet a few passes went into nothingness.

One thing I thought you could tell was that they really wanted to win, even though they didn't play pretty football. In the 60th minute, an extended "ahhhhhhhhhh" echoed through the Berlin night.

Mesut Özil scored for Germany, and you could hear distant crowds roaring, screaming, chanting and even fireworks. From frustration to celebration within a minute. The fear had disappeared - the fear that Germany would have to go home after just three games, which by the way, has never happened in Germany's World Cup history.

Germany's next challenge: England - a classic.  I hope it's as entertaining and suspenseful as a Hitchcock movie.

One of my favorite parts of the day here at NPR is to work for our Berlin station.

I am in Business Development and getting NPR Berlin on its feet is what makes me tick during the past 2 years, seeing it grow from an NPR station into a local station. It has its own place on the web and in the blogosphere and its own voice.

And soon I’ll be in Berlin for our very first station event: tune in for the details on 104,1. Below is a comment from one of our new NPR Berlin members.

Great to be able to listen to NPR - which I do as a daily diet! Fresh Air, Diane Rehm, Talk of the Nation and the fabulous motor-car freaks are truly masterful shows, for which there is no equal in our German radio-programs. I would love to donate more, but, alas, I cannot ... Thanks to all of you - there is no better way to learn about your country and its hopes & sorrows.

Monika Mueller-Kroll for NPR

Soccer fans gather outside the Treptow arena for the German-Serbia game.

Great game, but disappointed German fans.

Germany lost 1:0 against Serbia. The German team played one man down after striker Miroslav Klose received the red card in the 36th minute.

A few minutes later Milan Jovanovic scored the goal for Serbia. The man of the match was Vladimir Stojkovic, the Serbian goal keeper. He held a penalty shot by Germany's Lukas Podolski.

The result makes Group D a bit more complicated: Ghana, Germany and Serbia all have three points right before Ghana vs Australia.

Anything is possible.

Germany can't get enough of "Satellite" - the catchy tune by this year's Eurovision winner Lena Meyer Landrut, nor can they get enough of the World Cup.

Some cheeky students took Lena's tune and changed the lyrics into a football song. Instead of the original refrain "Love o Love" student Christian Landgraf sings "Schland o Schland," short for "Deutschland o Deutschland."

In a video filmed in a public park in Muenster, bearded Landgraf wears a black wig and black dress to look like Lena at her performance at the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. Fellow students dance around him dressed in German football t-shirts.

Uwu Lena, the bands name, is a combination of German football legend Uwu Seeler and Lena - and, of course it rhymes with "vuvuzela."

The parody by Uwu Lena spread like wild fire on the internet after the group posted their video last week.

First the students got into trouble with the record company that holds the rights to "Satellite," but in the end they were offered a record deal. Uwu Lena's "Schland o Schland" is already the unofficial German anthem for the World Cup in South Africa.