Berlin

I took my first trek outside of the UK and visited another european capital city, marking the first time I’ve ever been to Germany. Berlin, needless to say has tons of history. But what mostly grabbed my attention was the atmosphere there; it was so green and scenic, while the people were beautiful, warm-hearted and relaxed! Talk about a breath of fresh air from all the hustle & bustle of London!

But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that the main driving force to experience this new place was to reconnect with my buddy Mike Campbell. I haven’t seen this guy since our days in the trenches with Larry-legend over at Popular Front Studios. Man, it has been way too long since I seen this dude and it was great to finally catch-up, hang out and paint the town red.

- - - Playing Tourist - - -

In the five days that I was here I swear I did not sleep, nor once did I ever feel tired. While MC was stuck in the office the first couple days, I toured all the famous sites as I roughed the city on my own. The two-mile stretch of Under Der Linden has most of the major museums and landmarks along it’s vicinity, so most of the touristy and historical things are actually very close by each other. It’s along this boulevard that you’ll see the famous Berliner Dom which is just a magnificent work of architecture alongside the Spree river. To my surprise most people in Berlin speak english, so it made things less stressful for me in that department. Occasionally I’d get the blank stare, though polite, when speaking English wasn’t enough.

I also saw the Fernsehturm (Television Tower) near Alexanderplatz which was decorated as a football in tribute to the World Cup being held in Germany this year. Taking a hike further south I past by Checkpoint Charlie where American forces once controlled during the cold war.

The most symbolic landmark of Berlin is the Brandenburger Tor and I ventured over here several times during my trip. The Berlin Wall use to run right behind it and nearby is the former Soviet administrative building, while further along is the Russian WW II memorial . At one point during my visits around here there was this heckling street performer who would laugh hysterically the more money you would put into his hat. When a group of spaniards replied where they were from the heckling man responded gleefully “¡No Habla Espanõl!”.

- - - Graffiti - - -

Everywhere I went there was a fair amount of graffiti. It looked great in most places, adding extra dimensions to the surrounding landscapes. Though some of it did seem a bit contrived and controlled. Regardless, I took a bunch of photos of it, as much as I my memory stick would allow.

- - - People - - -

One morning, we had this great breakfast at a neighborhood joint that served these huge plates of food while presenting it in the most artistic manner. Come to find out the owner was from Texas, so go figure. He was really nice though, and because one of his cook’s forgot to give us an order of sausages he was not going to charge us for the breakfast, until Mike & I insisted that wasn’t necessary and not to sweat it. The owner’s daughter was absolutely adorable as she was running around all over the place. They also had this kool Mohammed Ali Pinball machine . It was here we coined the term “Rod Mother-F**cking Stewart” about how pseudo-hip someone could be. This was just one of the many silly things discussed over the meal.

While at Bar 25, located on the edge of a river, I meet a few of Mike’s friends and we also made some new ones. Tina & Andre were just these chill designer-artsy types who enjoyed a good scene while getting their groove on. Earlier, a funny episode was when one of André’s friends had fell into the river off the rope swing; luckily she was alright and still managed to keep her wits about it all. Over at the bar I got into a convo with two guys who one of which happened to have Sgt. Slaughter and Big Boss Man of WWF fame as their business card sticker. Talk about random! But they were kool peeps and I promised them I’d put some up back in London.

Celebrating his birthday in the park, Mike’s buddy Phillip & his girlfriend extended an invitation to us to join them for the occasion. It was here that I meet another round of nice people. Funny enough a parade of Mike’s ex-girlfriends were at the BBQ and it was just too surreal all the undercurrents that were taking shape throughout the day because of it. While on a beer run, Mike & I grabbed some pizza at this faux-American spot up the street and it was plastered with all these stereotypical Americana references to the point that it was artful in it’s gaudiness.

- - - Night Life - - -

From Bar 25 to the White Trash Restaurant, and everyplace in-between, Mike showed me around the city beyond the typical trendy spots revealing a very diverse and active nightlife. The city runs, literally 24 hours and in fact most places don’t start jumping ’till around 2am. When Mike & I headed over to the Berghain/Panorama room it wasn’t until 3:30am! We met up with Tina & André again while we were there and it wasn’t until about 8:30am before we left, yet there were people still coming in since it doesn’t shut down until 2pm!!! Crazy. I haven’t been up that late at a club in years. Good times.

- - -

In summary, Berlin is a great city and Berliners are a fantastic bunch of people! I really enjoyed my stay here and wish I could’ve stuck around a bit longer as there were plenty more things to see and do. Mike was a champion of a host and I’m still laughing from our golf range outing among many other memorable adventures. For now, I’m just soaking it all in and savoring the experience until my next visit out here.

Some more pictures from my visit:
set 1 • set 2 • set 3 • set 4 • set 5 • set 6 • set 7 • set 8

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