Part 7: Berlin, London, and home

This will be the last bulk e-mail I send since I'm back in Toronto now and returning to work on Monday. It sucks, but it was a good time.

What can I say about Berlin? I spent a week there, and loved pretty much every minute of it. I'm not going to give a day-by-day account because that would be boring. And, besides, at this point its all blurred together. Berlin is one of the great cities of the world (possibly THE). It's one of those places that just exudes energy and life at all times of the day. Theres tonnes of cultural offerings, the nightlife is amazing, but mostly, just walking around is enjoyable Not to mention the beautiful women with excellent style, riding around on their bikes - all big plusses.

The average day would begin with me waking up, possibly a little hungover, enjoying a cup of tea, and then going out to see the city. I was staying at a very relaxing hostel in Prenzlauer-Berg, which is a real hipster neighbourhood filled with millions of cafes, bars, restaurants, and cool little shops. Generally I would walk down Kastianenallee before deciding what to do.

Sightseeing wasn't really a priority, and several times I would make way to one museum only to decide that I wasn't really up for it. Last time I was in Berlin I spent every day jumping around from museum to museum and this time I wanted to do it differently. Thats not to say I didn't go to any. I visited the Pergamon Museum one evening when it was free to admire the ancient Greek altar that they had so carefully dismantled from its original location in Turkey. I also popped into the German History museum to satisfy the history nerd in me. The Berlinische Gallery was also quite impressive with some very good modern art and photography exhibits. And, how could I miss the worlds only Ramones Museum, with its 300 bits of Ramones memorabilia? Mostly though I spent my time wandering between Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte and Kreuzberg, with one foray to the East Side Gallery in Fredrichsain. I never did head west of the Brandenburg Gate - hopefully I didn't miss much.

Nights were always busy. After spending a month in Turkey and only spending two nights out in my whole time there I wanted to enjoy the Berlin nightlife. Sometimes I would hang out with people from the hostel, others I would make my own fun. My first night I went out on my own to Kreuzberg to catch the Mojomatics at Wild at Heart. The show was pretty good and I met Alberto, a Spanish guy who was about to open up his own record store. It was good timing because I was about to leave when I started chatting to him and his friends. Three hours later I was finally on my way back to the hostel, and I dozed off on the tram but fortunately woke up only two stops too late.

That was Wednesday night. Thursday I found out that a friend of a friend was DJing at this place near the hostel called Dr Pong. I gathered up a few people, telling them I had no idea what to expect and off we went. And it was great. The bar had a ping pong table in the front room and a communal game was being played. People walked around the table in a circle and took turns taking shots. If you missed, you were out until a winner was decided, and then a new game was begun. David played music "that was good for walking around a table to," as he put it. I made the final once, but really, there was one girl who dominated the table and would flash you an evil grin every time she'd knock you out.

I also spent another night hanging out with Alberto, and his two, beautiful, Spanish lady friends. We went to White Trash Fast Food Bar where he seemed to know everybody, included the wait staff and free drinks were common. It all culminated Saturday night as a group of people from the hostel were going out on a pub crawl and I agreed to join them. We were two Aussies, a Quebecois couple, and two Danish girls. I can't go into details because my parents are reading this, but it was a good night that lead to a lazy Sunday and a delicious, all-you-can-eat brunch.

I'm sure there are things I'm missing here. I bought a pile of books at a really good English bookstore, and Alberto let me into his record store to spend some more money there, though not as much as I could have. One thing that kept going through my mind while there was, "I wonder if they hire non-German speakers?" It is a place I would like to move to for a bit. I guess its time to sign up for German courses and send out some resumes.

That was my week in Berlin. Before flying home I had to go back to London for two days. I stayed with my friend Guy and we started a band called Les Bagles. We got drunk, played music, went to see the Borat Movie and that was about it. The flight home was delayed by three hours, which was no fun at all. Yesterday it was cold and rainy, and I had to walk to the post office to pick up the package I had sent home. There was Turkish apple tea in the parcel, and drinking it brings me back. But seven weeks is a good amount of time and hopefully going back to work won't completely drain out my soul.