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If you consider yourself someone who cares about fashion, I highly recommend making it out to Mitte in Berlin. It's an amazing scene - people wear outfits that would be quote unquote ironic elsewhere, but they make them work. There's a huge amount of style and styles - I saw many many different takes on fashion here. And at this time of year, stuff begins to go on sale as people start to make room for new stuff.
Of course, I don't have the money or the space to buy a leather jacket right now (alas!) but Mitte as a district has enough character to make exploring a hell of a lot of fun. I have gotten sick to death of museums and galleries, so today I studied French and took a long walk. I started in Tiergarten and made my way north and east, and, skipping through the museum island, I made it up to Mitte about one in the afternoon; I stayed and explored until four.
It's gotten its own entry because it really does feel like a city within a city. It's mostly composed of GDR buildings that have been redressed or buildings that have been built since 1990 (at least, if you stay on the main streets.) It is the newest part of Berlin that I have seen, and Berlin as a whole has been called a "city of change." There are several graffiti artists having a minor war - some guy painting a Kirbys and Mario mushrooms; someone doing elaborate black and white mashups; someone painting realistic eyes; someone putting up cartoony posters; the list goes on - so just walking around with an eye for a neat splash makes for a good afternoon.
Some of the better contemporary artists run studios in Mitte, including one guy who makes furniture out of old bicycle tires and packing crates (surprisingly comfortable) so you can actually put in an art afternoon if you so desire. There's good coffee places, including one which reminded me almost exactly of the sleepless goat - but very few people do filterkaffee (mostly espresso) so expect to pay slightly inflated prices for your coffee (in my case, I was disappointed with the quality). There's a million places to get any food one could want - including a Chinese place called White Trash Man's Food. And some good ice cream (try making Rhubarb sometime, I recommend it heartily).
One word of warning: it is easy to get lost, even with the assistance of a map and compass; I spent about fifteen minutes doubling back on myself. But apart from that - it's a cool place.
Berlin on the whole has been good to me; I didn't get to do some of the stuff I wanted, but it's better that I leave before getting bored with the place. Tomorrow I catch the train to Prague - hopefully the day after, I will feel like seeing the Mucha museum and maybe find myself some art deco art. The new place has self catering facilities, so I'll be trying out a few recipies I found on the way. For tonight, I'm heading out to buy a new battery charger and some food for the train tomorrow. Until the next stable internet connection - Tzhau.
PS: I keep forgetting to mention this. Staying in a 'family hostel' kept me away from random drunk americans but brought on screaming german children. But the place is so close to the tiergarten that there is a rabbit warren on the grounds - with babies. Awesome.
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