Savignyplatz: bookshops, noodles and the literary west
Bookshops in the railway arches, the Asian end of Kantstraße, and a garden café behind a literature house. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Savignyplatz
A double square split by the S-Bahn viaduct, with two leafy gardens and cafés spilling onto the pavement. Start here with a coffee at an outside table; this is the living room of the literary west.

2. Bücherbogen (the S-Bahn arches)
Under the brick viaduct, the *Bücherbogen* fills the arches with art and architecture books — vaulted ceilings, trains rumbling overhead, the best browsing in the district. Buy nothing or buy a heavy monograph; either is the right amount.

3. Kantstraße & the Stilwerk
Turn onto *Kantstraße*, the long street that became Berlin's Asian canteen — Cantonese, Vietnamese, hand-pulled noodles. Midway is the *Stilwerk*, a design centre stacked with furniture showrooms. Note a noodle spot for later.

4. Theater des Westens
An 1896 theatre with a riotous facade, home to musicals for over a century. You don't need a ticket — just stand across the road and read the stonework, the busts and garlands of a confident age.

5. Fasanenstraße & the Literaturhaus
South onto elegant *Fasanenstraße*, where the *Literaturhaus Berlin* occupies an 1889 villa. Walk through to the garden café behind — wicker chairs, a glasshouse, the quietest cup of coffee in the west. The bookshop downstairs is small and excellent.

6. Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum
A few doors along, the drawings and sculptures of Käthe Kollwitz — grief, mothers, the cost of war, rendered without a flicker of sentimentality. Small, devastating, half an hour. Check current opening before you go.

7. Uhlandstraße
Walk down to the U1 station where *Fasanenstraße* meets the *Ku'damm*. One stop ends the loop, or you're already on the boulevard if you want to keep going.

Savignyplatz: bookshops, noodles and the literary west