Nostalgia and Black Out

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Nostalgia: nos·tal·gia
näˈstaljə,nə-/noun
1.a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations."I was overcome with acute nostalgia for my days in college"


I always loved that city. It is a little shy and a bit strange like any teen. It does things you can't understand and it makes you proud when you stop expecting it. It has this little "je ne sais quoi" that make it unique. Never before trashy appeal, never before, the oddest pub look fantastic ... Berlin you are great and I love you. This is the story of a night out with a mate, or what I remembered from it. By the way, we only live once and there is no better time than now to be wild and be a bit like Berlin, young. We were walking out hackescher markt S-bahn on our way to a pub call Yesterdays Bar. We already had a few beers and walking in the last few days became a lot associate with sipping a beer, so have a guess what we doing. We were going on another of those hostel tourist pub crawl thing, you know the one you have been doing all over Europe not really knowing why, but kept doing. Well we were doing one that was self-proclaim special tonight. It wasn't the first time I heard the word special or best in the last six years. In fact, every city has the biggest park, the biggest church, the oldest pub, the cutest hooker, etc. you get the story, but Berlin is Berlin and God only knows how special that night was. We found the bar, it was some kind of retro American pub, full of old electronic games from the 70s. It had this crazy American/German twist. It is really hard to describe, but the kind of place you thought would fit in Amsterdam ... We didn't stay long. A German girl called us all and split the entire crowd in two. It was not your usual pub crawl crowd and you noticed it right of. Most, if not all of them, are 90% OZ and 10% drunk American girl. In that one, there was a bunch of Germans, some of them look like they were just getting out from a death metal gig. There was also a bunch of Spaniard who were enjoying their summer break. She then told us we were going to take the U-Bahn a few times and go to three bars, before closing out the night in a club. We head down the station we just came in from, it was much easier to find this time by the way, and head towards the first pub. It was only one station away and our leader highly suggested we don't buy a ticket. She said no one will give a shit anyway. Anyhow, five minutes later, we were in front of a building which probably looked good in the 50s, but now more the kind you shouldn't be too close to if there is storm. The bar was something else. You know the typical one you would pass by every day and never stop because it looks so shady. Well it was shady, but full of people who were looking for a good night out and it was a tiny bit special. I mean, a ping pong table in a bar ain't classic stuff, but why not. The fact everyone in the bar was playing at the same time going in circle and hitting the ball one after the other was also quite unique. Ah, also, before I forget, the beer was only one euro and it was called bier. Easy, straight to the point, why making it hard when the obvious is good enough.

The second pub was way different. You were getting in by a really small red door and going down about two floors to some kind of cellar. Everything was red and black and the only source of light was from the many candles everywhere. It had this really creepy dark atmosphere. There was a girl on the bar dancing and slowly taking her clothes off. There was a guy dressed like Amy Winehouse in a corner. We sat at the bar and ordered an Astra. I don't really remember what happened after. It is probably a good thing I don't remember ... The third pub was a classic metal bar. If you ever thought of a club full of people wearing leather and stuff you normally only see in porno, well that was that kind of place. I know it's a tiny bit cliche, but I didn't do them. Never thought I could see 100 persons dance to some Marilyn Manson, but check. I was even one of them. I probably had my fair share of bier at that time, but even though I can't remember the details, I remember I had a blast and I was walking around with a huge smile. We then walk for what felt like forever and stopped in front of a furniture shop. Everyone looked lost and there was a small line up in front of what looked like a shipping door. She made us line up and we slowly made it inside the bar. Everyone was really confused and there was someone wearing enormous purple glasses. We were all in a tiny room and had almost no room to move, when it started moving down. We went down a good three floors and were pushed out of what was the craziest elevator I ever saw. There were a few doors in front of us and it was extremely dark. No one was there to tell us which way we should go so we started walking. When we passed the first door, we realized there was corridors leading in all directions. Every room was different and crazy in his own ways. There was at the very least 20 of them. Some were full of couches, other were serving Japanese food and showing cartoons, other had bands and DJs. Many of them, I can't even describe. I wish I could have taken picture of every room, but they were so dark I couldn't. It was really humid in the bar and they were no windows or any kind of natural light coming in. I have no idea how long we stayed there, but we completely lost it after a while. We kept walking from one room to another and lost each other at one point. It took a good 30 minutes to find my mate again and we left after. We took the crazy elevator back with the purple glasses dude and got some fresh air. Our clothes were so wet, it was like getting out a pool. We were slowly walking back to the metro, when we had the good idea to keep going. We couldn't call it a night even if it was the only smart thing to do. We took the tube for a good 15 minutes and walked another 15 to the Berghain. This club in known as the current techno capital of the world. It's been open for 10 years and it is located in a former power plant. When we made it in front of the club there was a huge line of at the very least 400m. We soon realize we would never make it in and slowly made our way back, but before we leave I wanted to try to get in another way and walk beside the line and cut in about 10 meters in front of the door. We waited for 20 minutes before getting turn down by the bouncer. It has a reputation of having a really weird door policy and it is extremely hard to get in or understand it. What happen after was quite spectacular. We started walking back to the hostel, not really knowing where we were going and we crossed landmarks after landmarks. The sun raised and we watched the sunshine with a bunch of guys getting in and out the clubs. People were from everywhere in the world. They were all there standing in front of the sun, drinking their last beer of the night. They were sharing this moment with a stranger and wishing him good night before getting in a hotel, a bus or the metro. Berlin is a unique city. Everyone must visit it one day. I visited four times and only seen 10% of it. Whether you are in to intense electronic raves, war and postwar history, art and culture, technology or like a bit of a geek for laid-back vibes, you will be served like not many can. Cheers,Nick

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