I've been lucky enough to travel quite a bit in the past 6 months - probably due to my newfound decision to say yes to (almost) everything... which has more or less landed me in fantastic situations thus far. So when my lovely bestie suggested we take a Euro-trip to Berlin, I was initially quite doubtful. Bearing in mind she was preparing to make a permanent move from Tex-ass to London, and I was in-between freelance gigs (read: disgustingly unemployed), thus both of us facing an unpredictable period of impending broke-ness.
"We could do it on the cheap..."
"We could do it on the cheap"
"Oh come on you'll love it..."
"I do love vising cities... and I've only heard amazing things about Berlin"
"It'll be our last splurge - we'll go out every night, visit all the coolest places and eat great food... look I made a list"
"A list??? Well if you've made a list..."
I was sold. And I regret nothing.
Chezza did all the leg work, I'll admit I'm so not good at these things. She found us an amazing place to stay via Air bnb in the lovely neighbourhood of Prenzlauer Berg. Prenzlauer Berg was decidedly laid-back, full of intellectual artistic types and dare I say it - hipsters (which is most of Berlin to be fair). Our lovely host had an amazing apartment choc full of great books and beautifully decorated - she ended up being a lecturer of film at a nearby university.
Prenzlauer Berg was all lovely and leafy, with ornate apartments and wide tree-lined roads.
We hung around Kreuzberg mostly, but I decided to film most of the trip on my camera and take photos on my phone... which got stolen after a night out in
Cassiopeia. Brilliant. After crying my soul out all the way home, which was just totally awkward for everyone else (I'm an ugly crier), I sucked up my tears and started taking more photos on my Olympus.
We joined the
Alternative Tour of Berlin which was fantastic and I 100% recommend for history nerds like me who enjoy facts as well as cultural and social knowledge. We were educated on Berlin's tumultuous and varied history, social history and most interestingly Berlin's graffiti culture. I'll admit, I didn't think much about street-art before Berlin, I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. But after a week in what I can only describe as one of the world's largest free art-galleries, I feel in love with it. I became unashamedly insufferable and began taking douchey photos in front of amazing walls.
Chez and I also met an awesome chic on the Alternative Tour who was travelling Europe alone. We ended up hanging out and ambling around Berlin - valuable lesson: get talking to strangers, it's worth it. Obviously, keep an eye on creep-levels, and only do what you're comfortable with, duh. Navigating Berlin was so easy - the U-bahn has to be the most navigable metro system I have ever used. Much cleaner than the sprawling NYC Subway, more straightforward and relaible (and 24-hours) than the London Underground, devoid of the piss smell on the Paris Metro and more understandable than the Tokyo Subway (arguably this was more due to me er, me not being able to speak Japanese).
We ate so much damn good food. Damn good food... MarktHalle in Kreuzberg had an amazing food market, we stumbled on amazing burgers at
Burgermeister in Schlesischen Tor at 4am and hit up Maria Bonita for the best Mexican food I've ever eaten.
Danziger Strasse 33, Berlin 10435
I absolutely fell in love with Berlin and could totally imagine myself living there, hipster bearded boyfriend and all. I enjoyed the recent history of the place, the art that was everywhere. I was intrigued by the re-purposed buildings and areas - formerly derelict and abandoned, now art. Full of folk who saw the importance of what was below the surface as well as its outward appearance - after all isn't that what art is about?
Go to Berlin, if you can.
