MetropolCon 2023 is almost here! Here are a few practical bits of information and tips we’ve gathered for you. If you have any questions, feel free to email us at programm [at] metropolcon.eu
Food options onsite:
MARS: Restaurant with a small but refined menu, drinks, and a fabulous selection of cakes
LITTLE MARS: Small, café-style sales point at the entrance, offering drinks, sandwiches & wraps, muffins & cake, pretzels, soups, and ice cream
MARS MOBIL: Vegan and non-vegan burgers, soups
BETONBAR: Drinks, wraps, muffins, pretzels, soups (open until midnight if demand is there)
We kindly ask you to be respectful of our neighbors.
If you leave the con later than 10 PM, please be quiet while you’re outside. The scheduled program items end before 10 on Thursday and Friday, after which point the party moves “underground” – into the spacious Betonbar. There is also a smoking lounge with special air filtration in the building. Please don’t go outside to smoke after 10 PM, either; use this lounge instead.
Please stay aware of your own belongings.
We cannot assume any responsibility for attendees’ property. We’re in the middle of Berlin. The outdoor areas and restaurant at silent green are accessible to the public. Security and admittance control personnel cannot guarantee seamless supervision of our program spaces.
Please use public transportation to get to the con as much as possible.
Berlin has a reliable public transportation network. Trains and buses run frequently, and you can get to nearly every corner of town from the nearby S-Bahn stop (S+U Wedding). A single trip costs €3.20. A daily ticket costs €9.50 and is valid for any 24-hour period. It will cost you €4 to get into town from the BER airport with public transportation. If you’re taking a train into Hauptbahnhof, buses 120 and 147 will bring you straight to us (a 3-minute walk from the Müllerstraße stop).
Street parking in the area is hard to find. Please use park & ride or the parking options where you are staying if you’re driving into town. Parking spots are monitored; however, many places will have free parking on Thursday because it’s a federal holiday. Make sure your parking spot is one of those. Please note: On Friday from 9am-8pm and Saturday from 9am-6pm, parking costs €3 per hour! Pay at a blue parking meter as soon as you’ve parked.
Program, etc.
We’re working feverishly to get the digital program booklet finished. It will be made available as a downloadable PDF magazine. You can see the program and con hours here, and the full code of conduct here (scroll for the English version). If you need a printed program, we will have a few daily schedules on A4 paper to distribute, a.k.a. “the fine print.” Once you’re on-site, the rooms are all unmistakably labeled in MetropolCon orange. If you have any questions or issues, look for a MetropolCon team member. The team will all be wearing large yellow buttons. Volunteers “on duty” can be recognized by their green sashes.
Warmup: What’s happening before the con?
On Wednesday, May 17th, you’ll be able to see American author Mary Robinette Kowal at our bookstore partner, Otherland, before she graces our con with the keynote, writing workshops, a time travelers’ salon, and a panel.
And on Tuesday, May 16th, Karlheinz Steinmüller and Christian Kellermann will have the honor of presenting new books at the Haus der Sinne in Prenzlauer Berg. Berlin publisher Hirnkost has organized this event to introduce several new books. Both authors are also taking part in MetropolCon, and Hirnkost will have a table in the dealers’ area! (Please note that this event will be in German)
Around the venue
If the culinary offerings at silent green aren’t enough, we recommend Mr. Hoang a few steps away (and already tested and approved by some team members. Going up Müllerstraße (direction Northwest), there’s a bunch of other places, including a big döner kebap place on the next street corner …
If you arrive by public transport, you can hardly miss Edeka and Budni (supermarket and drugstore/Boots alternative, respectively). Both are on Müllerstraße on the way to the venue. So if you’ve forgotten anything essential for survival, you’re sure to find it there, at least on Friday and Saturday.
Please note: Thursday, May 18 is Ascension Day, a public holiday in Germany! Most regular stores will be closed, buses will run on Sunday schedules, but most Spätis (= small convenience stores with long opening hours, and thus, beloved Berlin institutions) will be open.
Dead Dog Party, anyone?
And what do we do when MetropolCon is over? For those who want to join the “Dead Dog Party” on Saturday evening, we recommend Charlie’s Beach, a beach bar in the middle of the city (i.e. there is sand, chilled drinks and deck chairs, but no sea), only a few steps from famous Checkpoint Charlie.
It’s easy to get there from our venue, because the U6 takes you straight from S+U Wedding to the Kochstraße/Checkpoint Charlie stop in 10 minutes. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, there’s also Murphy’s Irish Pub as an alternative.
