Remember Berlin
More reasons to love Berlin
Breakfast in Berlin, salami, sausage, jam, soft cheese, hard cheese, cream cheese, baguettes, sounds weird, but you get used to it quickly. Best lingered over from 11-12.30 with 3 coffees, 5 cigarettes and a good friend. Nobody’s going to slap the bill on your table as soon as you finish your last bite. You almost have to do a cartwheel to get the waiter’s attention. No rush, no huff and puff.
Ampelman, the pedestrian crossing guy, has more character than you average green (or red) light, and was protested to remain after re-unification.
Public transport, U & S, so easy!
No skyscrapers, plenty of sun to reach the footpaths, not just at midday.
Weissbier, (especially Erdinger, dark) no preservatives, no hangover (unless you stay out ‘til 6am).
The Reichstag is the once (pre Hitler) and again house of parliment for Germany. It has a great glass dome added in the 90's that you can walk to the top of.
Like a doner kebab? Every second shop in Kreuzberg has all day turners.
Retro, everywhere. Kitsch is very cool, and still cheap. Especially the old GDR (East German) stuff.
Did I say cool kitsch? GDR glass mushroom lamp I bought Sean's cousin as a prezzie for free accommodation, you should see it lit up! He loved it! I wanted it back!
Oh the pillows! The pillows are big squares filled will feathers like an eiderdown quilt, all crunchy and comfy, the best pillows in the world, when I settle down, I’m going to get me some.
The East Side Gallery is a portion of the wall retained, about 1.4 km, covered in new graffitti. In this photo, right is east, left is west.
Before re-unification, there was no graffitti on the eastern side, but the western side was coverered. Because the wall was built 1m in from the official east/west border, west germans could graffitti away and the west german police could do nothing, because it was actually East German territory. The East German security had more important things to worry about.
So what’s not so good about Berlin?
The neo-nazis, they are few but highly visible, giving good punks a bad name. They are scary, usually drunk and travelling with german shepards.
Oh, and the dog shit, on the footpaths. Everywhere. I learned that lesson the hard way with an especially fresh specimen.
So now, a complete change of plans and I’m in Madrid, which I expected to love, but really don’t. Granted, my hostel is shite and very unhelpful, and it hasn’t stopped raining since I got here, and doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.
It’s hard to get used to travelling alone again, I had such quality company in Berlin. Sean, and my new mate Karina.
But lovely Spain comes through as usual. Yesterday, just when I wanted to curl up in a ball and hide, I found a little cerviceria to escape the thunder and rain, a friendly Italian barman and his French client, some yummy olives and mussels and some smiles and friendly basic Spanish lessons. Tomorrow I’m going to head out of the city (I don’t even care if I see anything here, but will try and get to the Prado museum) and try and find some small town hospitality and chill.
Breakfast in Berlin, salami, sausage, jam, soft cheese, hard cheese, cream cheese, baguettes, sounds weird, but you get used to it quickly. Best lingered over from 11-12.30 with 3 coffees, 5 cigarettes and a good friend. Nobody’s going to slap the bill on your table as soon as you finish your last bite. You almost have to do a cartwheel to get the waiter’s attention. No rush, no huff and puff.
Ampelman, the pedestrian crossing guy, has more character than you average green (or red) light, and was protested to remain after re-unification.
Public transport, U & S, so easy!
No skyscrapers, plenty of sun to reach the footpaths, not just at midday.
Weissbier, (especially Erdinger, dark) no preservatives, no hangover (unless you stay out ‘til 6am).
The Reichstag is the once (pre Hitler) and again house of parliment for Germany. It has a great glass dome added in the 90's that you can walk to the top of.
Like a doner kebab? Every second shop in Kreuzberg has all day turners.
Retro, everywhere. Kitsch is very cool, and still cheap. Especially the old GDR (East German) stuff.
Did I say cool kitsch? GDR glass mushroom lamp I bought Sean's cousin as a prezzie for free accommodation, you should see it lit up! He loved it! I wanted it back!
Oh the pillows! The pillows are big squares filled will feathers like an eiderdown quilt, all crunchy and comfy, the best pillows in the world, when I settle down, I’m going to get me some.
The East Side Gallery is a portion of the wall retained, about 1.4 km, covered in new graffitti. In this photo, right is east, left is west.
Before re-unification, there was no graffitti on the eastern side, but the western side was coverered. Because the wall was built 1m in from the official east/west border, west germans could graffitti away and the west german police could do nothing, because it was actually East German territory. The East German security had more important things to worry about.
So what’s not so good about Berlin?
The neo-nazis, they are few but highly visible, giving good punks a bad name. They are scary, usually drunk and travelling with german shepards.
Oh, and the dog shit, on the footpaths. Everywhere. I learned that lesson the hard way with an especially fresh specimen.
So now, a complete change of plans and I’m in Madrid, which I expected to love, but really don’t. Granted, my hostel is shite and very unhelpful, and it hasn’t stopped raining since I got here, and doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.
It’s hard to get used to travelling alone again, I had such quality company in Berlin. Sean, and my new mate Karina.
But lovely Spain comes through as usual. Yesterday, just when I wanted to curl up in a ball and hide, I found a little cerviceria to escape the thunder and rain, a friendly Italian barman and his French client, some yummy olives and mussels and some smiles and friendly basic Spanish lessons. Tomorrow I’m going to head out of the city (I don’t even care if I see anything here, but will try and get to the Prado museum) and try and find some small town hospitality and chill.
posted by x kel at 3:25 AM
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