Bikes of Berlin

Berlin nurtures a true bike culture.

Bikes weave around cars, whirl down sidewalks, and lean against every building. Clusters of bikes are chained to every available post, sign, and handrail.

These humble vehicles are a quintessential part of life in Berlin. Because they're so embedded in the lifestyle, they reflect a lot about the city and its citizens. Chipped paint, baskets, and even the chains used to secure the bikes speak of the people and the place.

In addition to a vibrant bike culture, Berlin and northeast Germany are striking places for tourism. On offer are a unique blend of architectural styles, a temperate seasonal climate, and a global city for culture, politics, media and science.

Visitors flock to Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, and the Reichstag building to experience history. Alexanderplatz, a historic meeting place and market, still thrums with world-class shopping, as does Potsdamer Platz. Self-guided tours at the many city parks, palaces like those in Charlottenburg, and monuments like the Memorial to the Murdered Jews balance days spent in the museums.

Berlin's nightlife and cuisine are renowned worldwide for dishes like currywurst, Buletten or meat Frikadellen, the Berliner doughnut or Pfannkuchen. Wiener schnitzel, Swabian kasespatzle, bockwurst, and of course pretzels can be found at fine dining establishments as well as inexpensive restaurants. The city's mixed immigrant history expands on traditional German dishes with offerings like lahmajoun and falafel, doner kebab sandwiches, Brazilian rodizio, tabbouleh and hummus.

Travel tips and facts about wildlife, food, rental cars, camping, adventures, travel and tourism, and cultural tours are easy enough to find on travel sites like Expedia or Travelocity. Entire trips can be planned using guidebooks like those from Lonely Planet. Now visitors to Germany can expand their knowledge base with an artist's view of Berlin.

During a two-month stay, Laine Cunningham discovered that each of Berlin's many bikes had its own personality. While visiting the neighborhoods of Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg, Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and more, she shot photos of single bicycles and clusters of bikes that conveyed a special vibe.

The thirty full-color photos in this book are paired with evocative titles that bring you the essence of the Bikes of Berlin.

For fans of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre, Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum, The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi, Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth, Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Perfume by Patrick Suskind, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Candide by Voltaire, The Clown by Heinrich Boll, Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian, Fatherland by Robert Harris, The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy, The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, and The Hangman's Daughter.