Berlin

In my travels from London to the Netherlands I met many people who loved Berlin and they wouldn't stop talking about the city once they knew I was going there.  Several people I met loved their time in Berlin so much that they got overexcited for me just because I was going to go there.  Naturally, this also made me excited to get there, but I somehow had very little in the way of expectations (except for the night clubs, more on this later).  I had the perfect outlook as I arrived.

I got to Berlin late on a Friday night after a gruelling nine hour drive from Arnhem in the Netherlands.  I was happy just to get to my hidden away little hostel, check in, and have a relaxing beer with one of the Dutch guys I met on the way there.  I didn't "go out" on a Friday in Berlin, which in hindsight, was a missed opportunity.  When I got home to my twelve bed dorm at 2:30am - I was the first person back.  Eep!

One of the coolest travellers I've met is an American with a British passport.  We had both left London around the same time, and while I had been traveling, he had been trying out life as a resident of the German capital.  He is quite into the CouchSurfing scene and we agreed to meet up at a CS event in Treptower Park on my first day.  It was an Ultimate Frisbee event and playing a competitve sport for the first time in ages was fantastic.  I also met the other person who shaped most of my time in Berlin in addition to my aforementioned American-British friend, Andrew: an American-German girl, Sophie.

My second night in Berlin was spent hanging out with Andrew and he falls firmly in the anti-clubbing group of people.  I don't disagree with this outlook, but I really wanted to see one of the wild Berlin night clubs while I was there.  However,  once again I didn't go out in Berlin, this time a Saturday night: another missed opportunity.  We did have a cool night of hanging out at the hostel meeting people and the hostel terrace had a great view over a very loud outdoor concert in support of the protests going on in Turkey at the time.

I realized on my third day in Berlin that I still hadn't really been a tourist so I set out to rectify that.  I walked nearly fifteen kilometres and saw so much that I couldn't really take it all in at the time.  Looking back over the pictures, though: Wow - Berlin is a great city to walk through.

The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park, the biggest war memorial outside of Russia, is impressive, massive and a solemnly grand place.  The East Side Gallery has to be the nicest set of outdoor paintings/graffiti on the planet.  The Pergamon museum is an absolute must see if you enjoy ancient history (Grecian and Babylonian).  The Brandenburg Gate is such a massive and beautiful triumphal arch that you could take pictures of it from 30 angles and never truly capture its grandeur.  The whole city seems to exude charm and history, from the huge impressive Reichstag building, to the very underwhelming Checkpoint Charlie and the Fuhrer's Bunk... errr parking lot.  There's a lot to see in Berlin.

My third night was finally an attempt to go out and experience the Berlin nightlife.  But, it ended up being more of a random wander through parts of Kreuzeberg looking at graffiti, eating the Berlin night food of choice, Currywurst, and generally being supremely underwhelmed with the clubs and bars on offer.  Third night in Berlin?  Zzzzzzz.

My fourth day in Berlin was very laid back.  I hung out and had breakfast with Sophie in the northern part of the city and then checked out of my hostel to move in with my friend Andrew for two nights in the southern part of the city.  We had a relaxing day wandering around Neukolln and went out to an extended documentary screening later that evening.  The day perfectly captured the dirty, cultural, laid back, interesting and totally random feel you get every day you spend in Berlin.

My fifth and final day also came close to capturing the essence of Berlin.  In the morning Andrew and I went up to the centre city to meet up with his friend at the Ramones museum (in Berlin??), followed by getting a haircut from a Turkish man who couldn't speak English, the best felafel in Berlin at Mustafa's (so claim guide books), a night out with Sophie at a jazz club, and finally ending up at Berghain early in the morning.  But, it was closed.  Five nights out in Berlin and not one (open) club visited.  Oops.

Conclusion

I love Berlin.  I like the fact that I didn't go to a proper night club, one of my goals for Berlin, and it didn't detract from my experience whatsoever.  The quality of the art, the richness of the history, and the diversity of everything I saw speaks volumes for the charm of the city.  I enjoyed every day there and I'm looking forward to going back.

Special thanks to Andrew and Sophie for making my time in Berlin as good as it was!