The Good Side of Berlin

The day after Jowen showed up I was ready to see Berlin Properly. Also, the weather had cleared up a bit though it was still pretty damn cold. I guess you take what you can get. We met up at the Brandenburg Gate, a sort of victory arch for a victory over the Austrians. I know that at some point Napoleon rode through it but not much more than that. It was totally packed with tourists, but that's to be expected.

On the way to our next stop, we dropped into a somewhat remote metro station that was used to film the final fight scene in the first Resident Evil movie. I only vaguely recognized it. A guy who worked at my new hostel mentioned it after we talked about the new RE:Afterlife movie that came out.

A lot of backpackers that have been to Berlin mentioned an 'underground artist community' and tried to describe it, but words come short of achieving that. I guess I had the idea that it was a lot bigger and more organized than it is, but that's where we went next. It's composed of a decrepit 5 story building next to a vacant lot, and both are filled with squatters. We were there around 11 AM so most of the artists weren't awake yet but some were and they had their doors open to let visitors see and buy their work. I liked some of the paintings upstairs, but the sculpture garden outside was a kick.

The blacksmiths of the community do their work outside and also offered classes to beginners. That would be a lot of fun but it looked more like a welding studio than a hammering event. I'm sure they must do both somewhere. One of the artists talked to us for a long time but he was mostly spouting conspiracy theories and I can't recall too much of it. He also had a lot to say about graffiti styles and didn't care for a lot of the Berlin graffiti scene as he used to live in NY and felt it was better there. Whatever.

Jowen and I also got to visit Checkpoint Charlie. When the wall was up, this was one of the gates that travelers would have to pass through to get into the American sector. I don't know exactly why it's so famous, but at some point in '61 the NATO and Soviet tanks faced off there but nobody shot. To mark the place, a recreation of the American checkpoint was placed in the middle of the road and actors pose for photos.

Though the shops around the checkpoint sold chunks of the wall (not cheap) we weren't done seeing it so we traveled a bit south in the city to an area where a long section of wall was allowed to stand and be painted by artists. It's not graffiti'd like the original wall was but I guess it was ok. Also, I made a point of drinking a 'Berliner' beer in the subway. The locals do it all the time. I've seen a group of 14 year olds passing around a bottle of vodka while waiting for the train on a party night. Freedom!

On this night of the week, the museums were open for free after 6pm so Jowen and I headed to the archeology museum. I recall being there with my father 18 years ago and was thrilled to see the gates of Babylon once more. They also had 90% of a whole temple from Pergamon which I think was one of the cities that I visited in Turkey. I've seen the very spot that it was removed from and the signs showing what it used to look like. Most of this temple looting occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries by all the powers on Europe.

In the evening we lined up to go into the Reichstag, the center of the German government. It's an amazing building with a great glass and steel dome over the main parliament hall that's representative of government transparency. We got to walk around on a spiraling stair in the dome. It was pretty cool.

After that it was pretty damn late and so we agreed to reconvene the next day to visit the Potzdam palaces outside of town. Before we left, I met a guy at my hostel , Harry Ho (what kind of name is that?), who's from my home town in Moraga. Small world. I checked with Erika and she doesn't know him either.

The palaces at Potzdam were country retreats for the local ruling elite of German in the 18th century. Back then, the country wasn't unified I think so there are no shortage of palaces and castles all over the countryside. There were a couple nice palaces there but a lot of them weren't super impressive in general. I guess that I'm getting palace saturated. Too bad.

I wish that I knew more of the local history about the place. Also, the park that they are all located in is absolutely huge and we would have been better off with bikes but I think that we feared rain and ended up walking with our umbrellas at the ready. I think that the whole area was probably a royal hunting ground, just like the Tiergarden park in Berlin.

At the train station in Potzdam we stopped at a small hoffbrau (deli/beer restaurant) and had by far the best currywurst we'd seen yet. It's the local Berlin specialty... a brot with curry in it, cut and covered in ketchup or spicy tomato sauce and then sprinkled with curry powder. The one at this place was deep fried too and was seriously awesome. Also, the beers came with little sausages on the rim of the glass. What a great culture this is.

Later that night after getting back to Berlin we had a few beers back at my hostel and went to the Sony Center to see the new Resident Evil movie in 3D. It was pretty decent if that's your sort of thing, but the building that it was in is absolutely amazing and of course they sell beers in the theater. They're so far ahead of us. We parted ways once more since I was going to Amsterdam the next day and Jowen is spending more time in Germany. maybe some day I'll run into hi again, but that's mostly likely to happen if I went to South America after SE Asia

(unlikely) or Jowen came out to SE Asia (also unlikely) so I guess I'll just have to hope. Jowen's a good friend. Safe travels man!

A couple of days previously I had found a popular ride sharing website and emailed a couple people driving from Berlin to Amsterdam. The trail was about $140, the bus $70, and I found a guy who drove me for $50. The guys who picked me up at the prearranged spot were really cool too. The driver, Michael, is from Poland and is going to university in Amsterdam. The other, Nir, is Israeli and after doing his army service he's over here studying music and visiting friends. We had a lot to talk about on the 7 hour drive and at the end Nir and I walked around for a while as I tried to get a hostel that I foolishly failed to reserve in advance.

I found a bar with free wifi, and I called a more than a dozen hostels over Skype before I found one that's a good deal and close to downtown. When I checked in and walked to my room, I met some students in the hall and they recruited me to help them finish a couple bottles of liquor. I don't know what came over me, but I got in the spirit and drank a bit too much chasing vodka with Malibu. But hey, it wasn't mine so why not? We went out, someone rolled a joint (it's Amsterdam!) and I vaguely remember taking a cab home and puking in the hallway before going to bed. Classy. I'm taking it easy since then; seriously.

The next day I met up with my Dutch friend Femke who I met on the train into Belgrade a month or two ago. It's good to know a local. I found her at the retro fashion shop that she works at in a touristy area. It's got some cool stuff for sale (Sam would love it) and I'll try to get a pic some other day. After chatting for a good long time there we went back to her house to get a second bicycle for me. I really appreciate it, the bicycle is king here.

Femke lives in student housing that's 20 minutes away by bike. The apartments are made out of recycled shipping containers... those long steel ones. They're more comfortable than you'd expect and run very cheap for this city. Afterwards we went back to town and got some dinner at a dimly lit restaurant and had an uncomfortable but slightly comical run in with her ex who was there with his friends. He doesn't know that she's dating someone else now and probably thought that we were seeing each other. It was awkward.

What can I say about this girl? She's a student (grad I think) and is studying painting restoration. That's unique. Her English is good and she dresses very well. I don't want to say too much more now as I'm still getting to know her and I think she may read this. I have to say, I enjoy her company very much and I'm learning a lot about the local culture with her help. These are good times. I'll have to get a decent pic of her later.

Later that night we also went to a couple bars that her friends work at and I had a great time. The beer here is really really good,and the first one specialized in only Dutch beers while the second only did American beers. Thankfully not any of our national brands... the only one that I recognized was the Anchor Steam. After midnight she led me back to my hostel and we parted ways.

The next morning I slept in late and now it's 4pm and I still haven't left the building... I've just been typing and uploading picture. Femke is meeting up with me later tonight and we're going to a club that she frequents. I'll let you know how that goes.