Gridskipper maps out German restaurants in New York, including Hallo Berlin, Zum Schneider where "beer for breakfast isn't always a good idea, but it seems to make sense here" and Plattduetsche Park Restaurant.

Last week The Economist took an in-depth look at the rebounding German economy. "By luck or by judgment, Germany is in the right businesses at the right time: China, India, Russia and other countries in central and eastern Europe are growing fast and wanting the goods in which Germany specialises. Indeed, exports to Russia and other European countries to Germany's east now exceed those to the United States", the report asserts.

Ulrich Mühe, whose unforgettable performance as a conflicted Stasi officer in the "The Lives of Others" brought the film international acclaim (and an Oscar), died on Sunday at 54. RIP. "Mühe contributed personally to the downfall of the GDR. He helped organise and spoke at the large demonstration on Berlin's Alexanderplatz on November 4, 1989, in which hope for 'another form of socialism' was articulated one last time, but which above all heightened the panic of the old regime."

Incidentally, the German word "mühe" means alternatively effort, labour, pain, toil and trouble.