We arrived in Berlin at about noon local time. Could have been later because a German guy sitting behind us on the plane kept trying to talk on his phone at take off, cusring at the stewardesses the legitimate 6 times they came around to ask him to stop. We were ascending and he got back on his phone so the stewardess in front of us (facing us as we were sitting next to the emergency exit) straight up took it from him and said he could have it back at the end of the flight. Thank you stewardess.
When we arrived we were super confused about where we were going. We knew where it was but not how to read/use the bus ticket machine etc. A very nice old German man saw us struggling and helped us out and by day 3 we had it down pat. The Airbnb we are staying at is north of Berlin center in a predominantly Turkish neighborhood, as you walk down the street you see the stores on the sides patterned like *salon salon casino salon casino casino* maybe not that intense but close. It is very interesting to see so many different cultures in the same neighborhood such as Muslim, Indian, Turkish, German. While waiting on our Airbnb host to get the flat ready, we found a random bar and ordered a large beer because hey, we are now in Berlin.
After a walk around the neighborhood to gather our bearings, we arrived at our Airbnb. Pauline, a girl our age with beautiful dreadlocks, greeted us at the door a little stressed trying to book a flight to Italy. She showed us around the flat and introduced us to her to roommates who also had long cool dreadlocks! Coincidence? We have yet to inquire about that one. Anyways, the entire apartment is really spacious and her flatmates are very kind and generous. Flavio, is a nice guy from Italy who recently moved to Berlin after living in Brazil for 3 years with his girlfriend, now ex. He doesn't know much German and everyone in the flat speaks English frequently, which is welcoming :)
Exhausted from our early flight and day of traveling already, we relaxed on Paulines rocking chair and bean bag while listening to the flatmates banter. Aftee mustering up the energy, we decided it was time to hit the town for a little while. Flavio directed us toward a cool area, if a little more touristy to grab a bite for dinner and we spent some time looking around the area before settling on a spot to eat. The weather was a little chilly but come morning of day 2 we were seeing the normal summer temperatures we are used to.
On day 2 we awoke to the 2 flatmates still here preparing a salad for lunch (cut us some slack we're still working through some jetlag) and they kindly invited us to join them. They called it experimental cooking but it was good if not what we are used to, lentils arugula beet root and mozzarella. After a little yoga and salad we were ready to tackle the day! Flavio mentioned Alexander square to us and told us how to get there so that's where we went.
It was also packed with tourists and shoppers but hey we kinda fit that bill. We did a little looking around, Michael was hunting for a travel guitar and Karmen was looking for some earrings but we left empty handed. We saw some cool sites though, like the Spanish acrobatics we have a picture of and just generally cool products and art. After a couple of hours we decided it was time to head back to the flat and recuperate for a couple hours when Flavio volunteered to show us a bit of the city on his way to a climbing party in east Berlin (Friedrichshain?).
We followed him off the train and he was kind enough to get us each a lemonade beer (3/5 lemonade 2/5 beer) and it was delicious. He was pointing out sites as we followed him to a large outdoor climbing wall in a beer garden where a bunch of people were hanging out and after relaxing and people watching for a few minutes we went our separate ways.
From the climbing wall we ventured further east looking for a good place to eat dinner and after some indecision we settled on some schnitzel and fries. It was DELICIOUS and cheap totaling about 10 euros all together for us each to have a meal. Before leaving Michael went to the restroom so we wouldn't have to pay to use a public one. Decidedly, Karmen went after him following his directions that the urinals were on the left and the toilet on the right. Lo and behold, he actually had given her directions to the boys restroom and she embarrassed herself by witnessino a man shaking off his pee....so that was one for the books.
Since it was Saturday evening we wanted to do some partying and we're looking around for a cool bar/club/music area to enjoy. Beautiful graffiti was everywhere, next to skatepark warehouses and loads of street musicians. Karmen saw a bride walking down the street, we witnessed some cool beat boxing, and there were even fireworks going off! Whilst walking we saw a neat entry way that led to a wake boarding contest in the city! It was a giant rectangular pool area with a zip line pulling wake boarders onto a triple rail set up and back around to a ramp to get air to do tricks. This caught our attention for awhile because we had never seen anything like this in a city.
After leaving there we were unsure where to go and it was getting dark so we just followed a crowd that looked like they knew where they were going and we soon found ourselves at another beer garden with a live band that was really fun! It was at a bar called Urban Spree and they also had an artist tables where Karmen made friends with a young female artist over the movie Aquamarine. Michael had never seen it, but he was assured by both women that he was seriously missing out.
We stayed there through the night enjoying the music, dancing, and being friendly with a few people that were nice enough to talk to us! When we left we stopped at a photo booth that had absolutely no indication when it would take pictures. We swear we aren't as drunk as a couple of them make us appear! Just terrible, terrible timing. After hopping on the train we made it back to the flat in one piece, happy to sleep but excited for what the next days will bring.
Until the next one!
