The dilemmas started before we even arrived. On a ten hour train ride that left Krakow at 7:08am, without any connection, meant the seats we chose would be where are backsides would kiss until rocking up in Hauptanhof Central Station in Berlin. Those seats and the toilet seat. After thorough searching throughout each toilet in every carriage, it was determined. There was no toilet paper left. With three hours to go and needing to go, the decision was made. I was going to use Germany’s national newspaper. Can’t say it was the greatest way to enter a new city but it wasn’t as bad as what I remember when I was three and that the Manly Daily was dads idea of a substitute for toilet paper.
Arrived at Hauptanhof Bahn and got a bus to Rosa- Luxemberg Platz where Wombat Hostel was. It was there we would have bevvys in the Wom Bar on the roof, meet another load of friendly and just bloody all round good times people and start each adventure within an adventure thus the concept of inception being portrayed.
As she had done exchange in Berlin last year, Bel Sel gave me a massive list of things to do in Berlin; better than a Lonely Planet guide. One of them being the East Side Gallery. Anyone reading this would think I’m the least knowledgable person they’ve ever encountered but I’m an honest bloke and so happy to meet that I wasn’t fully aware of what the East Side Gallery was until someone told me about it. We got the S-Bahn (city train) to it and had a geez. There’s something like 1.6km worth of still upstanding wall where 111 artists from 23 different countries painted whatever came to heart on there. Some magnificent artworks on there and got a coupla sneaky photos. Only art on one side though which was a bit of a let down.
If you google search ‘best clubs in the world’, Berlin is somewhere up there if not number one. Many of these clubs only let Germans in and aren’t the biggest fans of tourists. I hate being the bearer of bad news but neither of us made it to any of these clubs. We got recommended a place to go which was pretty crap called ‘Weekend’. The plan was, after happy hour at Wom Bar everyone would go to this other place and then when the good clubs opened, we’d go over to them and then wait for this apparent awesome sunrise. Stay up to watch the sun rise they said. So many clouds we didn’t actually know whether the sun was up or not. As I’ve aforementioned, we did not go to any of the best clubs. I’m unable to share the story as to why this didn’t end up happening, not over the Internet at least anyway. Once again not until another pub or barbie banter session happens will Saturday nights antics ever be revealed. It’s better for some that they never find out. I’m sorry for the disappointment.
After a night of zero sleep, I went to bed after breaky as Eddie used my phone to try and find the best possible way to get his back as it was misplaced the night before. I met a Brissy girl called Zoe on my way out of breaky so told her after a bit of shut eye she should come with the Battlers to ‘flohmarkt am mauerpark’. This terrible attempt to create words was a flea market only happening on Sunday that Bel recommended. Phil also came, a Melbourne bloke in our room who made a striking resemblance to Billy Slater. I still have my suspicions. He also looked like David Schwimmer when he wore a hat.
So Billy and Zoe accompanied the Battlers to the flea market of which to me was a humongous garage sale. People were trying to flog boxes of absolute crap they found in their attics or basements. Heaps of vintage stuff and although most of it was crap, there were some pretty neat things. I bought five pairs of wool socks for six euros AND they were still in the packaging so I got a rippa of a deal there.
A dude had set up a karaoke thing next to it where he got anybody in the audience who was brave enough to get up and sing. Wouldn’t have minded a go but there was a massive line of people and it started pissing down with rain.
Next day had a bit of a sleep in before going with Zoe to the Lego museum we couldn’t afford and then to Checkpoint Charlie. Although there wasn’t anything really there anymore, you could see old photos of it and not much in the street has changed which was a little bit intriguing.
Throughout the whole city, a line of cobble, two cobbles wide, has been laid to distinguish where the wall once stood. Only some remnants of the wall remain.
This is starting to become a typical reoccurrence for the Battlers. We know the day we are going to another city several days before going yet don’t buy the tickets until the night before or the day we are leaving. Usually this means the tickets are double the price. We did it again. Knew we were going to Amsterdam the day we got to Berlin yet didn’t buy them until we were running around on Monday night looking for the cheapest way left of getting there. Planes were too expensive and buses turned out to be a no go so we ended up paying a bloody bomb for train tickets. It’s no good. Reckon it’s about the fifth time we’ve done something like this.
I keep referring us to those mice who keep getting electrocuted trying to pass an electric bit of wire to get to the cheese. The mice get zapped over and over again but never get the cheese. You look down at them thinking ‘how stupid could you be!’ We are those mice. Never am I ever bagging mice for repetitively getting zapped to get the cheese, it’d be too hypocritical.
Enjoyed Berlin even though it was pretty freaking cold. Like I’ve mentioned on other posts, there is some material that would increase the quality and value or these posts however having a fair idea of my audience, there are many things that each person will only be able to hear judged on the merit of the relationship. I do however have a big feeling that most of those reading who I don’t want to tell the stories to are older than me and probably already have a pretty good idea what they involve.
And now we move onto Amsterdam for the next four days where there is bound to be tonnes of stories that won’t be shared on the Internet! Don’t worry, we’ll stuff something up real bad soon to make it interesting to read, I can feel it in me bones