Even as a person who comes from a large city (Toronto) and
still lives in a fairly big one (Hamburg), I find Berlin to be somewhat
daunting. It’s not spotless or beautiful. It lacks tall buildings to lend a
skyline or easy points of reference for orientation. It’s got a train map with
so many lines it looks like the veins on my grandmother’s legs and the construction
going on is so profound that it’s really hard to imagine what anything
looks like without pylons, cranes and scaffolding everywhere.
I think anyone will agree with me though, when I say that
what Berlin lacks in superficial grace is made up for in history and soul…. Oh,
and street art!
I have a friend here in Germany who recently took a job and
a furnished apartment in the heart of Berlin. Last weekend I decided to take a
train to visit her. Berlin can be reached from Hamburg in less than two hours
via Deutsche Bahn’s ICE (inter-city express) trains. I scored an awesome deal and
paid just 25€ each way, but apparently last-minute offerings of around 27-29€
are not uncommon. Despite their relatively close proximity to one-another
(close at least in the mind of a Canadian), Hamburg and Berlin could hardly be
more different.
The faces in Berlin are a bit more colorful, the gypsy
population a bit more visible, the clothes a bit funkier and English can be
heard more frequently on the streets.
If
Hamburg is a city of classic homogeneity, Berlin is one of juxtaposition and funky-mod
chaos.
Everything I ate in Berlin was reasonably priced or even
cheap in comparison with other German cities I’ve visited. The large number of
immigrants means more variety. I found the cocktails to be delicious everywhere
and naturally we went to see the typical tourist draws like the Brandenburg
Gate and the Dom (big church). If you’re planning to visit, make sure you also
check out the East Side Gallery, which is where about a kilometer of the mural-bedecked
Berlin wall has been left standing. There are several areas in the city where,
on the weekend, little flea markets pop up and you can get some crazy things
from the past (like wartime documents, passports, photographs and old money),
original art and vintage clothing and jewelry… all for a steal.
In the evening I would recommend heading to Ostkreuz, which
is another transit hub in East Berlin (the formerly Soviet-controlled area).
Here you’ll find a lot of great cocktail bars with a mature-but-not-too-old clientele
and a mildly hipster vibe. Again, tasty food is in no short supply. We found an
Italian place in this district where meals for 2 people, plus a salad to share
and two beers cost €14 (CAN $19.50).
If you feel like taking the party up a notch after bouncing
through the Ostrkreuz cocktail bar area, head on over to Ritter Butzke.
One of Berlin’s more well-known
night clubs, this place opens at midnight – which I think is good indication of
the type of party you’ll find here. Three rooms play different varieties of
house music and all three have great atmospheres. Germans tend to like really
minimal house (no build, no drop, just monotonous beats and the
occasional random vocal sample), which is played in the largest room. I don’t
like it much but that’s just my preference. I found the music in the other two
rooms just fine.
A lot of people in here are on drugs and are chewing madly
on nothing, but after my many years of raving in Toronto that doesn’t frighten
me… and it shouldn’t frighten you either. People on ecstasy or MDMA are always
friendlier than sober or just drunk people. We met some really nice Swiss guys
who bought us several rounds of drinks (something rare in Germany) and I was
hit on by a 22 year-old who, after asking my age, quoted an old German saying
that goes:
“If you want to learn how to cook, you need to use an old pan.”
I didn’t teach him how to cook that night, but I had a great
time in Berlin and I’ll be going back soon.
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