"Ich bin ein Berliner" - 6 days in Berlin!

Berlin day 1.

At 4 am a van pulled up at 207 Cavendish Road, London. 5 red eyed souls dragged themselves out into the London blackness and carefully negotiated large suitcases into the van. One poor individual (myself) was packed into the dicky seat and was walled in by the afforementioned luggage. Click went the seatbelts (except for mine - but I was encased in 40kg of bag) and the adventure began.

I have been waiting for this part of my trip for so long. The final run home- yet the most exciting part of all- EUROTRIP 2010. Jed & Phebe, her brother Tom and his girlfriend Lucy and I were headed for 2 weeks of awesome partying, europe-style. Our trip is a tri-city affair - first Berlin, then Copenhagen then 3 days in Amsterdam (or Amsterdamage as it is known) before we wash up on the shores of old Blighty once more.

At this early, luggage bound stage I was not feeling the best. So filled with excitement (and caffiene) was I the night before that I had not managed one wink of sleep. I was also suffering from mega-indigestion sustained the previous evening when bolting down penne pasta with Amy and Cat. I only ate it so fast because it didn't taste very nice (flawed logic I know..). I was not the only one struggling. Jed was experinecing some kind of ailment and everyone had a case of the sniffles.

Our flight was sceduled for 6:50 but was delayed til 7:30. And if there's one thing worse than mega-indigestion, it's sitting around in an airport with mega-indigestion. It seems pretty lame but we have become extremely hardcore in our attitude towards discount airlines and "getting the best seat". Our strategy is to find a central point between all the boaring gates and watch the screen. The second our gate is allocated, we walk - nay we run blindly in that direction. Once in the holding pen, we quickle acertain where the boarding point is and obstinately stand in front of it. They call special boarding passengers and we wait. Then, the second the go-ahead is given, it is a free-for all. We run dangerously over the icy runway and overtake the special boarding passengers en route for the stairs. Our general strategy is to get the first row. The satisfaction of being the first off the plane is worth it.

We were first into the terminal in Berlin- And we couldn't wait to get inside- it was FREEZING! In the 3 weeks prior to our arrival, snow levels had been building and building. Just prior to our landing, there must have been a massive blizzard. We stepped out of the airport into what can only be described as a winter wonderland. So. Much. Snow.

somehow still, the Germans (perhaps through their rutless efficency) are able to keep trains running even during permafrost conditions (which is amazing because if leaves fall on the track in the UK, the trip is off kids). We caught the S-Bahn, then the U-bahn and ended up kinda sorta near where we were supposed to be- the "come 2 friends" guest house on Bullostrasse. apparently you can't say bullostrasse.. you have to pronounce it BOOUUlostrasse (as we discovered when miffed Germans did not understand requests for directions).

The walk from the train to the mystery BOUUUUlostrasse location was extremely unpleasant as although winter wonderlands are wonderful to look at, they are not suitable condiditions for dragging suitcases for. I was not wearing gloves at the time and my tears of coldness-terror froze on my cheeks. I have now found my kryptonite - temperatures sub negative seven.

We checked in to our accomodation. We had a 3 bedroom apartment, with a shower/toilet, a toilet AND a shower room. ONe of the bedrooms was kinda a kitchen, but this could be overlooked due to the joy of central heating warming our hearts to our new surroundings. Our building was covered in lethal icicles, 1m long and positioned 5 storeys above pedestrian areas. Bicycles were frozen solid in their locations, coated in an icing of... well, ice.

It was decided we should power nap. I think each of us knew going in to this nap arrangement, that oversleeping was to be the unspoken outcome. Intending to wake up at 3 and explore, we woke up at 6 in the dark. Conveniently, just in time for dinner

One of Phebes ex-housemates had been a recent visitor to Berlin and given us some hot tips on delicious eating places. We decided try Oranium and Oranianburgstrasse in East Berlin. This was a good choice. The food was out of control. Cannot be described. No Words. But Awesome. And so filling that, although we napped the afternoon away, a good night's sleep was had by all


DAY 2
Because we are poor and also because we are cheap (and also because we are smart travelers who read online reviews) we spent the next day on the New Berlin Free Walking tour. The assembly point was outside starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate. We got there a little early to capitalise on photo opportunities and then hid inside from the cold, nursing coffees and iced chocolates in our already-semi-frostbitten hands. SHortly before 11 am several guides emerged and set up barriers outside in the snow. We were corraled into these spaces and separated into tour groups. While this was occuring, my toes froze completely and I wanted to die. Curse you, icy nemesis.

Our guide was called SImon and he was an Englishman studying in Berlin. He was great - very animated, encouraging questions and forcing us to do starjumps and run on the spot throughout the tour to prevent frostbite. We walked all over Berlin - From the Brandenburg gate to the memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, CHeckpoint Charlie, Gestapo Headquarters, The Spot where the nazi students burned all the books, People's Opera house, Museum Island... and more. It was great and we learned so much about the the city's turbulent past. Just imagine.. only 21 years ago the wall was still standing and we wouldn't be able to even tred the path we were now slipping over upon. ANd before then, in the grip of the Nazi reigeme, we would have been standing in the Evilist place on earth. The city today is so cool, progresive and cosmopolitan that it is almost impossible to believe.

Our tour concluded outside the Berlin Cathedral - a fantastically over-decorated building constructed in a hodgepodge of architectural styles due to the constant interference of one of the Fredericks. Here, our guide gave us an extremely through run down of the events leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall. I had no idea it was a total mistake. Can you imagine? However, although the guide's story was interesting and also entralling, nothing could change the fact that my feet were simultaneously numb and throbbing with pain.

After the tour we attempted a quick escape into the Pergamon museum. ONly the line was extremely long and we had to wait out in the cold. By this time the mercury was at -13 and falling. HOwever, the wait was worth it - the Pergamon was amazing. THey don't display just a collection of small artefacts here - they took the whole bloody buildigns and put them inside. The Pergamon temple, Gates of Babylon and other similarly massive ancient wonders were all spectacularly reconstructed for us to see- and listen about by conveient audio tour (i am a massive audio tour fan).

We found our way home in the dark and cold - stopping off at a chemist to get painkillers, cold medication, cough syrup, nasal spray and antihistamines. The sickness has set in!

At this point my bag was getting very full - especially as we bought some other "medicine" as well, namely 4 bottles of rose (at 2 euros a bottle, how could you not). When we got back to the room, i was dismayed to find my camera had gone awry in all the mess. I searched everywhere but to no avail. I was very sad to report my poor Pannasonic Lumix as a gonner.

My mood was buoyed however by the promise of dinner at WHite Trash Fast Food - the coolest bar/restaurant in town. As we left the room, Jed reached into his pocket and to everyone's surprise, produced my little camera. I had got him to hold it and he had put it in there and forgotten about it. However, I resolved to get a new camera anyway.

Unfortunately for us, WHite Trash Fast Food was closed. Gerscholssen (or something like that). until the next night, so we wandered down to Alexanderplatz - the central square of Communist Berlin. There were crazy makeshift christmas bars set up everywhere - and a tobogganing hill, and a night club pumping out tacky club classics (think I'm blue dabadidabadi). We settled in a nice italian restaurant and smashed pizzas for tea. We returned home feeling sick but glad to have seen ALexanderplatz- including the totally random TV tower thing that inhabits the skies above the square.


Day 3
On day 3 we joined another walking tour by the same company up to Oranienburg, to visit the site of Sachsenhausen COncentration Camp. It was absolutely freezing and we were in pain the entire time, but it was the most amazing experience and absolutely nothing on the pain and suffering endured in that place at the hands of the Nazi reigime. I don't really want to write too much about it - but we visited the whole camp and even the wreckage of the gas chamber. Just horrific. But I am so glad we went up there. I thought I would die of the cold dressed in 5 layers (it was -17) but the poor prisoners of the past had to work in these conditions in thin summer pyjamas and wooden clogs. It was.. an experience I will never forget.

If you want to read more about the camp here is the wiki link - Sachsenhausen

day 4

I was so excited. It was time to visit the East Side Gallery, the longest standing area of the wall left intact- famously embalzoned with some of the world's best known images of graffiti. We had a great morning (albeit a freezing one with the wind whipping off the river) posing with the various images in an amusing fashion, and appriecating the work of these artists, many of whom have re-painted their work 5 times over the past 20 years. I was also excited because it was new year's eve!

As a newyear's treat- we headed back to Oranium, our fabulous favourite restaurant, and sampled the brunch menu. Fried cheeze should be a brunch staple! After that, we strolled down teh Oranianburgstrasse to the famous hovel/artist commune/squat/creative space the Tacheles. We wandered throught he whimsical backyard, having a showball fight over the graffiti-d carcasses of old busses and chairs (intentionally placed by artists of course) then explored the ghetto-style staircases. The buidlign was origninally a department store until it was bombed and abandoned. THen artists and crazy people moved in, creating a commune of hippies, legitimate artists and crack heads. It's a very exciting place. We were loving it until, when passing up the stairs, we encountered a young female artist. She wsa coming down the stairs flicking at the people coming up. SHe flicked at me and i felt moisture on my face - I looked at Lucy and she said "omg it's blood". Unortunately it was too late to warn the others, who were in tow, and we were all sprayed with this Girl's blood. Apparenlty she had cut herself on purpose and I'm pretty sure it was some random artistic crap. Didn't change the fact we were covered in a random's blood. Phebe was especially upset as a droplet went in her mouth. THe chances of contracting an infection in this way are very low, but it was still a crap experience for her and a stress for everyone.

We drank some beers and smashed back a record amoutn of Jim Beam to lighten our spirits - it was newyear's eve afterall and we were off to the world's largest street party - NYE at the Brandenburg gate.

I would liek to add at this point that Berlin is a wonderfully cheap city - food, drinks- you can lead the high life at a budget price. Also cheap and plentiful are fireworks. They are EVERYWEHRE- in the convenience store, supermarket, toy shop. People let them off all the time. I kind of think they should be illegal. I know i'm a killjoy but.. i'm scared of the unexpected BANG caused by random children throwing fireworks at you.

But I was very excited by the preimise of fireworks on the gate, and we arrived at the obecenely early hour of 5pm. Not much was happening. some bad bands were playing and people generally did not seem so excited. Hours passed. we drank more and befriended random germans. Tom and lucy disappeared and had random adventures invloving their own fireworks, pizza with mayo and public urination. As the clock ticked past 11, Jed and Phebe went off to get some water, leaving me close to the stage with the random germans - one of whom was annoying me considerably. Time passed. By this time the area was totally crowded - I have never seen a thing like it (and i've been to lots of concerts and festivals). there was literally no way to move. I became sad at the prospect of seeing in the new year on my own and spend 20 minutes pushing through the crowd to get out and see if phebe and jed were at our "meeting spot". In the meantime, unbeknownst to me, phebe and jed were pushing their way back in to where I was. Eventually I also pushed back in and found them just in time for the count down.

At midnight, the classical singer Paul Potz sung "it's a wonderful world" and various other nice songs and there was a great fireworks display. THen, in what can only be described as THE GREATEST MOMENT EVER, David Hasselhoff took the stage. He was wearing a crazy gold coat, no shirt and mroe makeup than a messy tranny. and he was 40 m away from me. THen he sung, and continuted to sing after his song was finished and the presenters were attempting to remove him from the stage. The crowd loved it. Then came crap euro-pop music and we escaped compeltely.

It was a great way to ring in the new year, but I will say that the people there were remarkably unexcited. No one was cheering much around where we were, even for the Hoff. We were the only exxcited people around in the area closest to stage, it seems. Possibly everyone else in this area had been cut off from drinks by the crowds for so long that they had sobered up? The performers as well (except for Paul Platz and the HOff) were not really up to standard for the "largest street party in the world" with 1million attendees. It could have been - more awesome from an organisational standpoint i think.

ANyway, getting home was no easy feat, first consisting of a run down the gauntlet of ice, broken glass, drunk people and maliciously hurled fireworks into potzdamer platz. THen a mysterious maze through the back streets looking for a U-bahn station that wasn't so overcrowded it had been closed. On arrival at home, Our feet were soaked through, we were freezing but we had had an epic new years - even if it wasn't quite as "well run" as we had expected.



Day 5

THe first part of day 5 was all about sleeping in and relaxing, then it was about discovering the cullinary glory tom and lucy had found the night before. Namely pizza from this kebab shop smothered in mayo. o hellz yea.

We decided to head to White Trash Fast Food in the evening, but then realised that the odds of us getting a table without a booking were slim to none. I e-booked us for the next night, but we thought we'd check out the saturday night scene regardless. After a long-ish journey along the red U-bahn line to Roza Luxumborg Platz, our suspicions of restaurant-al fullness were unfortunately confirmed. We decided to try somewhere else and were almost at the trainstation when I made a suggestion that we try the Moroccan plae we had jsut walked past. I claim the suggestion here because it was one of the best suggestions of the trip so far.

The place was called Marrachesh and seemed pretty standard from the outside, but inside it had a fabulous morrocan ambiance and comfy cosy corners to chow down in. We ordered a lot of food- and it was all OUTSTANDING. So so mega delicous! I love morrocan food - meaty balls and yoghurty dips and hummusy items and meat on sticks. Just the best. After dinner we ordered a shisha pipe, and although all non-smokers, we enjoyed the middle eastern water-pipe treat. It's a nice way to end a meal. By the end we were all sleepy and ready for bed, but spend the ride home raving about our meals and our good fortune to have been rejected from White Trash Fast Food for a second time.

DAY 6 - the last day

TIme for Sophie Charlottenburg Palace. It was really very splendid. A free audio tour made it even more awesome. At this point, alot of snow had been melting and the streets were littered with new-year's refuse - especially fireworks, so our external photos didn't turn out the best - but it is so nice to imagine what this place would be like in summer. Built by Queen Sophie CHarlotte - wife of Friedrich II, at the end of the 17th century, this lovely palace is filled with deluxe and fabulous items and decorations. It is sad to see some rooms somehow lacking in their former luxuriousness as they were destroyed in allied bombing raids during WWII. It's so tragic that both sides lost important cultural and historial sights through the bombing. Shame the Nazi's were mega-evil beyond belief.

The best section of the palace was the one containing all the dinner services, jewels, snuff boxes and fabuolous ornaments belongign to the royal family. Just such amazingly crafted items. So luxurious. I want them - it's not fair!

After the palace, we headed home to soothe tired feet and get ready for our dinner reservations at White Trash Fast FOod (aah i get a sense of deja vu about this one). Before our 7 o'clock seating, we went to the Topography of Terror museum at Berlin's most evil address - once home to the headquarters of the SS & Gestapo. The museum traces the evolution of the SS & Gestapo (& Nazis in general) over the 1930's-40's. It starts fairly dry, but by the end you ar confronted with horrors you never new possible. I didn't know that they murdered 3-6 million physically, mentally or psyciatrically disabled people. They just went in to the asylums and liquidated them. They did it in every country they conqured. I didn't realise that they displaced all Polish people from some areas of the country and settled ethinc germans on stolen land. I didn't realise the extent of their hatred for russians and .. yeah the list goes on and on. I felt sick. I already knew most of this stuff but.. seein it all iin one place. It was disgusting, moving and profound experience.

On the train to White Trash Fast Food we somehow regained our appetites and managed to down our ridiculous burgers & fries & onion rings & beers with few troubles. WHite Trash Fast FOod is a mega funky kitch chinese 1930's COuntry music off-the-wall kind of place. It's the sort of place that would publish a zine -which is almost exactly what it's menu is disguised as. It's just the coolest place - with some seriously mental decor - barbie doll legs protruding from lamp shades, a plastic rat "standing" on the bottom of a disco ball. So worth the wait. Unfortunately for us, as it was a Sunday, the nightclub section was closed and we missed out on pilfering our very own white trash fast food cups. witha 1 euro deposit of course.

So. In conclusion. I love Berlin. BErlin is just the coolest city. It's a place that has been fractured and torn apart in so many ways, but the people have come together in a spirit of openness and rebuilt their city from the ground up. People there are nice. There is heaps of cool stuff happening - there is a cutting edge arts scene and people are not afraid to celebrate subculture. I can't wait to visit again - next time IN SUMMER!