I took off friday from work, and arrived in Berlin on thursday night, to give myself a better opportunity to wrap my head around the largest city in Germany. But due to the previous evening's adventures in beer drinking(see below), I had no energy that evening, and it was all I could do to stay up and watch some German breasts on broadcast television(GO EUROPE!), before crashing out for a good nights sleep, waking up refreshed on friday morning.
Before I left for germany, my good friend Dien told me about some Go-kart rentals in Berlin. He said you can pick them up for a day and drive them legally on the streets, throughout the city. Damn, he was so right. Allen and I took the bus to a neighboring area, and soon we were on the road in these things. Check out the video! The audio is really loud though, so be careful.
8 horsepower may not seem like much, but these little guys really flew around the city. At some points we had the karts up to 45 mph! What a way to see the city, and everyone around us seemed to get a kick out of it too. We spent the better part of three hours flying around traffic and exploring the city.
Because we had the karts, we actually found a really cool area, Kreuzberg, that would be vital to our Berliner experience. As we headed back to the rental office, the first sprinkles of rain began to fall. We got the karts back just before the rain came on strong. Our timing couldn't have been better. We walked out to the street and opened our umbrellas.The next stop on our agenda may have been the most interesting scene on the trip. The Kunsthaus Tacheles is the one of the oldest buildings in the city. It was the last building on the city's list for demolition, but when the group of artists/squatters that occupied the building got a petition to save it, the city stepped in and rescued the building from destruction. Now it is a shining monument to the arts.
Each of the 5 floors is occupied by artists who are selected for residency on a six month basis. History aside, the building is awesome. It sustained major damage in WWII but still stands. Now Practically every inch of the inside is covered in graffiti and artwork from the hundreds of people that have made it their studio. We took an hour to walk around the building and through all of the studios which were open to the public. Quite the experience. Definitely a once in a lifetime kind of thing.From the Tacheles we ventured back to Kreuzberg, by way of the metro. We had stumbled across a small, unassuming bar called Cake earlier in the day, and decided that this would be a good starting point. The place had a very nice tiki feel inside and it welcomed our growing appetite for alcohol.
The night was young and we knew that Berlin has a great club scene so we stepped out of Cake and into a cab. Destination: Eins Null Drei, or 103. 3 rooms, 3 DJ's, and crazy bass...everything that you want from a club that stays open 'til the sun comes out. We started out in the upstairs lounge and met some interesting people. One guy, don't ask me his name, had done his study abroad in South Pasadena when he was 16! He even lived on Huntington drive, right down the street from where I used to live. After talking to him for a few minutes, he offered to sell me amphetamines and coke...Um, no thanks man. I'll see you around. Peace.
Out the window of the bathroom I saw this amazing stencil on the building across the way. Being a huge video game head, I recognized it as some sort of interpretation of Mario Bros. It's about 3 stories tall. Freakin' awesome.
We stayed dancin and movin' until about 5am. Although early by Berlin standards, I'd had enough. We took a quick train ride back to the hostel and went to sleep.The next morning we woke up and headed back to Kreuzberg to get some breakfast from one of the cool cafes that we walked by the previous day. Hangin' out with some coffee and some Frühstück, German breakfast that typically consists of a few breads, some cured meats, and cheese. After breakfast I decided that we should take in some culture. In order to keep the communist theme going from the previous weekend in prague, we headed to Checkpoint Charlie and the last remaining peaces of the Berlin Wall. It was really fascinating to think that the city was divided up until 1989, but I won't bore you with a history lesson.
A few hundred kilometers from the checkpoint was a small gallery featuring a piece, by Mexica artist Damian Ortega, entitled, "Man is the Controller of the Universe". Just look at what he did. Wow. I took a look at his other work as well...some pretty amazing things hanging from ceilings. Check him out.
Walking from the wall, we happened across a plaza with hundreds of concrete pillars of varying heights. At the deepest point, the pillars extended about 12 feet high. Perfect place to snap some photos.
The rain began to fall a little harder as we continued on foot through the city. We stopped all over the place to observe life in the city. Street performers here, kids running a marathon over there. A tree covered walkway proved to be an especially inviting way to escape the rain.
Our journey during the day took us pretty deep into the east side of the city. We found some pretty cool vintage stores, casually strolled through streets with buildings that still had pock marks on them from WWII machine gun fire, and eventually settled in for some delicious Thai food before heading to catch a show back on the west side.Art Brut is a pretty cool band from England. A little cheeky at times, kind of pop with a sense of humor. Allen had met them at a party back in LA over a year ago, so we decided to check them out while in Berlin. Good thing we did. We arrived just in time to catch the opening act. After that we headed outside for some air, and Allen spotted the drummer from the band. We spoke to him briefly before he had to get ready to go on stage, but he invited us to stick around after the show, and hang out before they had to get on the bus the next morning.
One thing led to another, and before we knew it we were throwin back Jager shots with the band. Really cool guys. Not to sound like a groupie or anything, but they just invited us into their circle and let us kick it with them all night. By 5:30 in the morning, they had to get on the bus, but not before Allen threw down on a breakdance competition in front of the tour bus with the guitarist's brother. Oh man, he got served...
Sunday was super chill. We hadn't been sleeping too much over the entire weekend, so we took it really easy. The Berlin Marathon was going on right outside our hostel in the morning, so we took some of that in. We walked around the city a bit more, and decided to head to the airport. It was time to go home. Now I'm back in Munich and things are moving slower again. If Berlin is like NYC, then Munich is Texas. Good, whole-hearted, German conservatism. The sound, the smells, the diversity of the people, the whole thing really, Berlin got under my skin. I loved it there. It was great to see a city that I felt like I could live in, not just appreciate on holiday. And just like New York City, I know I'll be back. Hopefully I can make it back there before I'm too old to stay up all night, everyday.
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