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BERLIN
What can I possibly say about you?
Thank you, first of all, for giving me one of the best weekends of my life!
Second of all ... wow. You are a cultural, partying, crazy whirlwhind that I will never forget. I fell in love with you the moment my plane landed. Okay, that's not entirely true... read on!
My awesome host parents bought me a ticket to Berlin for Christmas, their reasoning being 'you can't spend a year in Germany without going to the capital!' Which is entirely true, but I'd never even thought of it to be honest. I guess living here makes me take it for granted, even though we're at opposite ends of the country. I was excited when I got the ticket 4 months ago and I was excited after hearing stories and reading the reviews of the hostel I chose. I was pumped, and it didn't disappoint.
I arrived to Berlin Tegel around 7:30p.m. and had to take the bus to the U-bahn station. I got on the bus and said to the driver 'I only have a 20 Euro note, is that okay?' WELL, apparently this was not only NOT okay, it was the end of the world as we know it. He started going off at me (in German) saying there were machines to use, the ticket was only 2 euro 40 and he can't give me change and all this other crap I didn't quite understand. "Okay, okay, CALM YA FARM" I said. I managed to find a 5er to shut him up, and I said as sarcastically and rudely as I could manage in a foreign language "vielen dank (thank you very much)" Take that, you unnecessarily grumpy old man!
Ok so not the best first impression of Berlin. Then I arrived at the right U-bahn station and had to catch a train to the station closest to my hostel. The trains were very cool. Yellow exterior with retro seats and white outlines of the Brandenburg Gates ALL over them. You don't even need to make the effort to go to the Brandenburg Gates, just jump on a U-bahn train. They really, really want you to see it. I got off at my station and made my way to the hostel. Now, I was warned by the website beforehand: 'Not for the faint of heart. We are NOT located close to Brandenburg Gate or Mitte. If you're looking for a 'city centre' location, please don't book with is. He be graffiti, dog sh*t, rats and punk rock clubs - this is Kreuzberg!' And initially I was terrified walking from my station to the hostel; it was dark, there were what I'm sure were drug deals going on, and there was definitely plenty of dog s***. But I made it, to the bright green building just like the website said.
I walked in and was greeted by Bernard, who had been e-mailing me in the lead up to give me directions and answer any questions I have. I thought with a name like Bernard he would definitely be German, but he was actually an Aussie living here on an Irish passport. He was really cool and told me everything I need to know. To get to any of the rooms you have to walk through the common area, so you have no choice but to meet everyone staying there! Unless they want to be losers and stay in their rooms. But the majority of people were really social. On my first night I met Molly, Dan, Jack and Carolina, Lewis, Callum and another couple of people whose names escape me :-/ By the way Molly, thank you for telling me one of the funniest stories I've ever heard. I haven't laughed that much in a really long time! A few of us decided to hit the town, after some €1 beers at the hostel (best thing ever, we cleared that fridge out good and proper over the weekend!). We went to a couple of bars in Kreuzberg and then to a 3 level techno club. By this stage I was actually falling asleep on the dancefloor, whether or not it was the long day of travel or the beers I will let you decide for yourself. Haha. So Jack was nice enough to walk me home and then go back to the club. Everyone really looked after each other at this hostel, which is what I loved about it so much!
I woke up at 11ish the next day, not 100% sure how but hey I did it. I decided to try and catch one of the free walking tours that started at 1pm, so I had a shower got dressed and made my way into the common room to ask for directions. Grant was working this time, also Aussie (we are invading Europe, slowly but surely) and he said I should hurry up if I wanted to make it on time. So I walked as fast as I could, Kenny in one arm and my big jacket in another just in case I needed it. You would think after 4 months in Europe I would have worked out the public transport system, if not anywhere else then at least in Germany. Think again! I caught a tram instead of the S-Bahn, because I actually thought the S-bahn WAS the tram service. Even though no trams went to the station I needed, so I just chose a similar sounding name and hoped for the best. FYI; the U-bahn, tram service and S-bahn are 3 completely different entities. Now that we've cleared that up I will continue to tell you about this day.
So I caught the tram, and after about 20 minutes I was already late for my tour and realised I wasn't actually going to the right place. At all. So I decided to make my way back to the hostel to try and find a friend to do some sightseeing with. On my way walking back I heard a 'HEY!' from the other side of the road. I looked over and saw Dan! He was on his way to Potsdam Platz and asked if I wanted to come along. Sure, why not, at the very least I'd be with someone who knew their way around a bit better.
We exchanged a few details about the night before; apparently I was quite drunk, who woulda thunk it. I asked what was on the agenda tonight and he said everyone was keen to hit the town again, which I was definitely up for. It took us the better part of an hour to get to Potsdam Platz, which was the most boring place ever! You couldn't go inside unless you were on a tour, the weather was crap and the gardens would have been much nicer in summer. Ok I shouldn't be so mean; the palace itself was quite a large and impressive building, and it was nice to have Dan to share it with. But I wouldn't go again, that's for sure.
We got back to the hostel around 7ish and hit the beers. By this stage there were a few more revellers; Antoine, Jeremy, Julienne (who was working there), Roberto and Karlos. We drank a few beers and exchanged a few stories before hitting the town at 11ish. Antoine showed us to Madame Claude's, also known as the 'upside down' bar. Everything was on its head! Within reason, I mean there were places to sit and stuff. But otherwise it was very different and cool. We went to the Fußball table room and the boys were having a game. Then one of them asked me to have a go; it was here that I lost my Fußball table virginity! I scored a goal almost straight away and was so shocked that I kinda gasped and they patted me on the back and said 'yes Kate - you score goals in Fußball! It's okay!' My glory was short lived though, I think I scored one more goal for my team and about 8 for the opposing side. Ah well, I tried!
After this we went to a weird little club behind a caravan which took FOREVER to get to. It was pretty fun, but then Lewis and Callum (two Scottish legends) said they were going to another club so I decided to go with them. We ended up going to the same place we were at the night before. To say it was pumping would be an understatement. Every single person on the dance floor was off in their own world. Needless to say they were probably on some disco biscuits of some sort, but hey it's Berlin, anything goes. Boys in girls toilets, girls in boys. Responsible Service of Alcohol - What's that? Kick someone out for having a little nap? Nah, that's cool. OH&S? Never heard of it. Light up a ciggy on the dancefloor and you'd have a hard time finding someone who gives a s***. I didn't even like techno till I came here. I stayed til 8 in the morning and believe it or not I felt like a p**** going home that early; the party was just getting started.
I had a little nap and again, somehow got out of bed at 11, because Dan and I had arranged the day before to go on a free walking tour together. I went into the common room to wait for Dan, and Bernard was working again. I asked him how long we would need to get to the meeting point for the free tour. To which he replied:
"well, about half an hour; but you have to factor in FUBAR time."
"FUBAR? What the eff is FUBAR?"
"F**ked Up Beyond All Repair."
Wow, I guess there is a word for everything. Thank you Bernard for providing me with my new favourite word, I will definitely put it to good use. Regardless of any FUBARness we were experiencing, Dan and I made it to the free walking tour with plenty of time to spare. We had a really cool tour guide, Lewis from Holland, and the tour started at the Brandenburg Gates - I was happy I got to see the real thing and not just the picture on the train. He took us to Hitler's Bunker, the Berlin Wall, the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his kid from the balcony, Checkpoint Charlie, the T.v. Tower, the Berlin Cathedral, University of Berlin and the Museums Quarter. After that we went to a pub called 'Das Haus der 100 Biere' which quite literally means the house of a hundred beers. I tried a strong Belgian one, it was just like having a Scooey of Old back home <3 Dan and I went back to the hostel and I had, or tried to have, a little nap before Berlin: round 3. Saturday night is THE night for Berlin, and I was worried I wouldn't quite make it! This time we started off at Lido Berlin; a very, very cool rock 'n' roll club where you would come if you really knew how to dance; I don't, but I pretended like 90% of the people there. This was a good place to start but a few of us split and decided to go to a different club. All I could hear in my head was techno, so I wanted something different. We went to a night club with 3 different rooms, one for hip-hop one for rock and one for a bit of everything. It was right next to the famous Watergate. This club was really cool, it played songs I forgot existed and we stayed here til around 6:30 before calling it a night.
I woke up at 11am AGAIN on Sunday, I was in auto-pilot by this stage. I decided to take the free Alternative walking tour, to experience a bit more of the real culture of Berlin. This time, I managed to find the meeting point in one go! Hi 5 to myself. Luckily it was right next to a Starbucks, so I was able to order a HUGE and much needed latte. This tour was something special; we learnt about the history of street art in Berlin and why it's so prominent, and saw some really cool artworks! We also went to a tree house that a guy has been living in for over 50 years, and an outdoor Jamaican beach bar where I have a feeling some serious weed was being smoked (not that I have any idea what that smells like). It was a really great tour, and afterwards a few of us were making our way to some Sunday markets, but I was tired so I went back to the hostel instead; which took me forever because, you guessed it, I got lost.
Dan and I decided to go on the alternative pub crawl, cos it started early and I had to fly out the next day in the morning. We started at a place called 'the Yesterday Bar' which was a kind of 60s/70s themed bar, and very cool. Next we went to the Ping Pong Bar! This place was the absolute opposite of classy; you would walk straight past it and not look twice. It had no windows and the door was covered in graffiti. But inside was a huge ping pong table with as many players at a time as possible. The way it works; you pay a 5 euro deposit for a paddle, and join in when the game starts. Everyone moves around the table, beer in one hand paddle in the other, and hits the ball back and forth. If you miss a shot, you're out, until eventually there is only 2 people left playing. When they've had enough one of them taps the table with their paddle to signal the beginning of a new game, and so it begins again! We went to the Absinth bar next and did a cool shot where you light a cube of sugar on fire then drop it into your shot. It was a Sunday so a pretty quiet night, but we ended up at a kind of chill out, post night out café-bar with a really cool dance floor and awesome old school music! After that we decided to go to a gay bar; we being Dan, myself and Mauricio, a really cool guy from Brazil. Berlin is a very happening place for gays! We turned up to the gay bar which was in what looked to be a hotel.
We said 'is this the gay bar?' and they said 'yes. Yes it is'
'What if you're not gay?'
They all said at the same time "we don't care!"
The gay bar was the highlight of my time out! So many good looking boys, who took good care of themselves, obviously went to the gym and knew how to dance. Apart from the fact they were almost all gay, they would have made perfect boyfriends. As a girl it's great because you don't need to care about what you look like, at all!
We made our way back to the hostel, and I had a quick sleep before my flight. Somehow, I managed to pack and leave the hostel before 6:30, get to the airport and check in, and I even managed to make one last friend before I left Berlin; well actually, he's not really my friend cos I can't even remember his name. But he was from Britain and lived in Luxembourg, he was a pilot for Luxair. He gave me a disposable pillow, not sure where he got it but I wasn't asking questions cos it was just what the doctor ordered! I slept the whole flight home, and I needed to wait at the airport for 6 or so hours until my host Dad Frank finished work in Luxembourg and could give me a lift home. I could have caught the buses, but I was too lazy and poor and my shoes were broken. The British guy wished me luck; I was going to ask him if I could come over and sleep on his couch for a few hours while I waited but I thought that might be weird. So I decided to sleep at the airport; Luxembourg is more of a business airport than anything; sleeping is kind of laughed upon, but I didn't care. I took a good and proper nap and then entertained myself with some bought wi-fi for the remainder of my wait.
And, so, that was Berlin! In an absolute nutshell. It was amazing. I've learned a few things from my time there
1. You CAN find a balance between sightseeing and clubbing in the party capital of Europe.
2. Don't pack heels. You won't even take them out of the bag. Nobody cares what you look like in Berlin, and if anything heels are frowned upon
3. Factor FUBAR time into everything you plan
4. If you buy water at the club, everyone around you will take it off you and hand the bottle back to you empty
I have already added Berlin to the re-visit list, for a few reasons
1. I didn't get to go to Watergate, or the Fetish Club, or Berghain to see if I made the cut
2. I loved my hostel
3. YOLO
That's it from me guys, laying low for the next couple of weeks! Next weekend is my little man Marius' 7th birthday, then I'm off to Budapest! Can't wait
Lots of love
gossipkatexoxo
- comments
Karen Rasche Katie, have just finished catching up on your blog! You really do write so well and it feels like I'm there with you! So happy you are having a great time - but I still miss you heaps!! Love ya always - Mumxxx