Robyn BoxBerlin - Part 1
December 14th 2006 12:07
Berlin is a truly magnificent city. It has a little bit of everything, from the contemporary and beautiful, to the quirky and mundane. Your enjoyment of this city largely depends on where you stay. We stayed at the A&O hostel in Friedrichshain, which I highly recommend despite the squeaky aluminum beds. You won’t get much sleep here, but the entire hostel is structured so that you will not have problems meeting people and making friends. To get anywhere in this hostel, you have to pass through reception and the bar, so whatever plans you may have originally had, are usually out the window once you have left your room.
Down the road, literally right next to the hostel is the cheapest Italian restaurant that also serves the best Italian food in the entire world! You can get a whole meal for 1 Euro 50. (It also doesn’t hurt that the waiters are gorgeous).The owners loved us as well coz we ate their so often so we suspect some cheeky discounts were involved.
All of East Berlin smells of sewerage. You get used to it pretty quickly. Freidrichshain is the area supposedly containing all the 'alternative' kids though I don’t really think this is restricted to any area in Berlin, there are plenty pierced, shaved, mohawked, leather clad youths walking around everywhere.
To add to our list of things that are cool, in Berlin we discovered an underground death metal record store nicely hidden under a flight of stairs (cheap records and cd’s too), and a starving artist singing the blues from his apartment balcony. Both events were appropriately timed. Every song we came across, whether it was blaring from the hostel speakers, or from the trance mixes at the love parade, or from a random stranger and his guitar on some rooftop somewhere, it was like those melodies were meant for us and only us. Berlin is a beautiful city. I was truly inspired.
Though the wall doesn’t exist anymore (mostly) there is still a massive metaphorical divide between east and west. The prices, and architecture, and general attitudes of the people here reflect this. The west, around Potsdamer Platz is shiny, and contemporary, and everything is expensive... lots of tourist stores (sort of the equivalent of the Rocks and Circular Quay, minus the harbour). Walking up to the Brandenburg Gate from Freidrichshain – everything is graffitied, and cheap.
My first night in Berlin was sleepless. Tired from a long flight, I was put in a room with two lovely Spanish siblings, (Fico and Elena) and a nameless snoring Indian! We kick his mattress, we ask him to turn over – nothing helps, within five minutes of sleep the Indian begins snoring SO DAMN OFFENSIVELY, that we do not get any sleep. At five in the morning Elena and I had reached our threshold and once again got up to ask him to be more considerate and perhaps sleep on his side. Storming out of our beds to tell him off, we get to his bed only to find the snoring Indian has a raging erection! Elena - more angry than shocked, taps his arm violently and says “Hey you! Can you stop snoring, sleep on your side!!!” (picture Elena, a very innocent looking little Spanish girl pacing the room, making big hand gestures, like something out of a pantomime or silent movie, the image is priceless)The Indian humbly apologizes (though not for the massive tent in his shorts) and goes back to sleep... only to begin snoring again 15 minutes later. My kicking his bunk from underneath, literally tossing him while he slept (NO PUN INTENDED YOU DIRTY BASTARDS!) did nothing to relieve the awful sound.
Sleep finally arrives at 9am when the snoring Indian wakes up, and we are relieved to get a few hours of shut eye. About three or so hours later, the Indian’s phone rings and he proceeds to have a very emotional and heated argument with who we can only assume to be his very recently ex-girlfriend. Overheard phrases included “just leave your keys in the mail box and go... you are not my responsibility anymore... I wish it could be different but just go...” then minutes later “ I love you so much, I think about you all the time... don’t be like that”. Too tired and grumpy to have any consideration for the rules of etiquette Elena screams “Jesus Christ, you have kept us up all night with your snoring, and now our morning soap opera – go talk on the phone in the hall!”. The Indian ignores her, but begins weeping.... weeping into his phone “don’t leave me, I love you!” We begin weeping.... no sleep was had that night or morning. Elena curses him later in the morning not realizing he is still in the room...The Indian was gone by the afternoon.
I always wondered what would happen to our economy if every Australian that was traveling and all the Australians planning to travel stayed home. It didn’t matter what city we were in, there were Australians EVERYWHERE!!! On our first night we went on a shitty pub crawl, and it was 90 percent Australian. (Though a little tacky, I do recommend the pub crawl. Drinking games under bridges involving Yeigermeister and free drinks, - it’s a lot of fun!) It can get kind of frustrating traveling half-way around the world to hang out with other Australians, but I recommend potential travelers to suck it up and enjoy it, coz it’s nice to make friends you can come home broke and alone (I'm kidding about the alone part).
I cannot help but reflect upon the really positive moments that we take for granted...
I went searching for a doctor while I was in Berlin. I asked a random man on the street for directions and he abandoned whatever plans he had to help me navigate the city and acted as translator for me at the doctor. I wouldn’t have even found the doctor let alone got the correct antibiotics had it not been for his selflessness. These are the travel moments people long for. This is the good stuff. (Some advice to future travelers, - forget what your mother told you, talk to strangers, be as honest as possible at all times and say yes to everything. Push the boundaries – go on do it! Yes you! *cough* Now that we have the travel clichés out of the way…)
The doctors appointment felt more like an interrogation, “Vot is wrong wit yooo?!” the German dialect is so aggressive, (comparable to [wait for it – another pop culture reference] the Simpson’s episode where Lisa gets lost in the Russian quarter. She asks a man for directions and he proceeds to presumably yell at her whereas the subtitles say “hello little girl, how are you, go two streets down and turn left”) Tee hee so funny! Anyway...
On the way to the doctor I got to see a side of Berlin I would not have ordinarily been able to see, we walked by an anti-capitalist slum of punked up squatters. My guide (whose name eludes me) got into an argument with some kid on the street over the t-shirt he was wearing which was a designer label made by a fascist fashion house (I’m not joking). He also told me they should round up all the punks and the fascists and Nazis and kill them all - I couldn’t help but notice the irony. I tried to explain to him the concept of karma... I’m not sure how successful I was but that last comment aside, good things will definitely be coming to him. He was polite, and lovely and selfless. He made sure I got back ok, and explained everything in detail, despite his English being very limited...
I put my foot on the wall! Well at least where the wall used to be. It is very strange seeing a 'pimped up city' of shining buildings and Gucci and Prada stores covering the ground where so much history has occurred. Besides the tourist kitsch 'own a piece of the wall' Berlin has gone to lengths to conceal its violent past... there is very little physical evidence that surrounds Berlin city now that would even suggest the extent of its complex past....
Down the road, literally right next to the hostel is the cheapest Italian restaurant that also serves the best Italian food in the entire world! You can get a whole meal for 1 Euro 50. (It also doesn’t hurt that the waiters are gorgeous).The owners loved us as well coz we ate their so often so we suspect some cheeky discounts were involved.
All of East Berlin smells of sewerage. You get used to it pretty quickly. Freidrichshain is the area supposedly containing all the 'alternative' kids though I don’t really think this is restricted to any area in Berlin, there are plenty pierced, shaved, mohawked, leather clad youths walking around everywhere.
To add to our list of things that are cool, in Berlin we discovered an underground death metal record store nicely hidden under a flight of stairs (cheap records and cd’s too), and a starving artist singing the blues from his apartment balcony. Both events were appropriately timed. Every song we came across, whether it was blaring from the hostel speakers, or from the trance mixes at the love parade, or from a random stranger and his guitar on some rooftop somewhere, it was like those melodies were meant for us and only us. Berlin is a beautiful city. I was truly inspired.
Though the wall doesn’t exist anymore (mostly) there is still a massive metaphorical divide between east and west. The prices, and architecture, and general attitudes of the people here reflect this. The west, around Potsdamer Platz is shiny, and contemporary, and everything is expensive... lots of tourist stores (sort of the equivalent of the Rocks and Circular Quay, minus the harbour). Walking up to the Brandenburg Gate from Freidrichshain – everything is graffitied, and cheap.
My first night in Berlin was sleepless. Tired from a long flight, I was put in a room with two lovely Spanish siblings, (Fico and Elena) and a nameless snoring Indian! We kick his mattress, we ask him to turn over – nothing helps, within five minutes of sleep the Indian begins snoring SO DAMN OFFENSIVELY, that we do not get any sleep. At five in the morning Elena and I had reached our threshold and once again got up to ask him to be more considerate and perhaps sleep on his side. Storming out of our beds to tell him off, we get to his bed only to find the snoring Indian has a raging erection! Elena - more angry than shocked, taps his arm violently and says “Hey you! Can you stop snoring, sleep on your side!!!” (picture Elena, a very innocent looking little Spanish girl pacing the room, making big hand gestures, like something out of a pantomime or silent movie, the image is priceless)The Indian humbly apologizes (though not for the massive tent in his shorts) and goes back to sleep... only to begin snoring again 15 minutes later. My kicking his bunk from underneath, literally tossing him while he slept (NO PUN INTENDED YOU DIRTY BASTARDS!) did nothing to relieve the awful sound.
Sleep finally arrives at 9am when the snoring Indian wakes up, and we are relieved to get a few hours of shut eye. About three or so hours later, the Indian’s phone rings and he proceeds to have a very emotional and heated argument with who we can only assume to be his very recently ex-girlfriend. Overheard phrases included “just leave your keys in the mail box and go... you are not my responsibility anymore... I wish it could be different but just go...” then minutes later “ I love you so much, I think about you all the time... don’t be like that”. Too tired and grumpy to have any consideration for the rules of etiquette Elena screams “Jesus Christ, you have kept us up all night with your snoring, and now our morning soap opera – go talk on the phone in the hall!”. The Indian ignores her, but begins weeping.... weeping into his phone “don’t leave me, I love you!” We begin weeping.... no sleep was had that night or morning. Elena curses him later in the morning not realizing he is still in the room...The Indian was gone by the afternoon.
Fico and Elena
I always wondered what would happen to our economy if every Australian that was traveling and all the Australians planning to travel stayed home. It didn’t matter what city we were in, there were Australians EVERYWHERE!!! On our first night we went on a shitty pub crawl, and it was 90 percent Australian. (Though a little tacky, I do recommend the pub crawl. Drinking games under bridges involving Yeigermeister and free drinks, - it’s a lot of fun!) It can get kind of frustrating traveling half-way around the world to hang out with other Australians, but I recommend potential travelers to suck it up and enjoy it, coz it’s nice to make friends you can come home broke and alone (I'm kidding about the alone part).
Tritan's Fountain
Tritan's Fountain
The Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor)
The Holocaust Memorial
Parliament
Humboldt University of Berlin
I cannot help but reflect upon the really positive moments that we take for granted...
I went searching for a doctor while I was in Berlin. I asked a random man on the street for directions and he abandoned whatever plans he had to help me navigate the city and acted as translator for me at the doctor. I wouldn’t have even found the doctor let alone got the correct antibiotics had it not been for his selflessness. These are the travel moments people long for. This is the good stuff. (Some advice to future travelers, - forget what your mother told you, talk to strangers, be as honest as possible at all times and say yes to everything. Push the boundaries – go on do it! Yes you! *cough* Now that we have the travel clichés out of the way…)
The doctors appointment felt more like an interrogation, “Vot is wrong wit yooo?!” the German dialect is so aggressive, (comparable to [wait for it – another pop culture reference] the Simpson’s episode where Lisa gets lost in the Russian quarter. She asks a man for directions and he proceeds to presumably yell at her whereas the subtitles say “hello little girl, how are you, go two streets down and turn left”) Tee hee so funny! Anyway...
On the way to the doctor I got to see a side of Berlin I would not have ordinarily been able to see, we walked by an anti-capitalist slum of punked up squatters. My guide (whose name eludes me) got into an argument with some kid on the street over the t-shirt he was wearing which was a designer label made by a fascist fashion house (I’m not joking). He also told me they should round up all the punks and the fascists and Nazis and kill them all - I couldn’t help but notice the irony. I tried to explain to him the concept of karma... I’m not sure how successful I was but that last comment aside, good things will definitely be coming to him. He was polite, and lovely and selfless. He made sure I got back ok, and explained everything in detail, despite his English being very limited...
One of the many random things I got to experience on my walk to the doctor
I put my foot on the wall! Well at least where the wall used to be. It is very strange seeing a 'pimped up city' of shining buildings and Gucci and Prada stores covering the ground where so much history has occurred. Besides the tourist kitsch 'own a piece of the wall' Berlin has gone to lengths to conceal its violent past... there is very little physical evidence that surrounds Berlin city now that would even suggest the extent of its complex past....
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