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Published: August 7th 2007
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After a funny little 12 hour interlude in Frankfurt airport where we enjoyed our first meal in Germany of luncheon sausage and cheese slices bathed in extra mayo we landed in Berlin. A very very cool city.
We stayed at "John and David's Cozy Little Backbacker Hostel". The young man who checked us in was an indication that things were going to be a little different in the continent of Europe. Asia - or at least where we've been in it - is in many ways extremely conservative. After 4 months we had almost forgotten what alternative culture looked like, but Steve in Berlin was an excellent reminder: platinum blond mohawk, perfect uber punk outfit and he thought New Zealand was part of Europe... alright!
As soon as we arrived we discovered Berlin is absolutely filled with little restaurants- Turkish, Italian, German etc. On our first night we walked to the main street for dinner and stumbled on a street fair, which in fact lasted the entire weekend. So we were never far away from toffee apples, bratwurst sausages way too big for their buns and cheap and tasty beer stalls where the customers would spontaneously get up and
start folk dancing. How civilised!
It took very little time for Sarah and I to slip into European Culture-Vulture mode. She discovered that a mega famous pianist was performing with the Berlin Philharmonic that night. We joined a queue of young music types waiting an hour until rush tickets came on sale. Behind us was the quintessential rennaissance man- a German in his early 20s with a long fringe, he wore black ecco shoes (so practical!), tan pants, and a clean white shirt with a jersey over the shoulder. He made polite conversation with us in fluent English and the ladies behind him- in fluent Italian. I suspect he knew New Zealand wasn't part of Europe.
The pianist was an Argentinian lady, Martha Argerich. I, naturally, had never heard of her. So Sarah explained that what she is to classical piano, Eric Clapton is to electrical guitar. Nice.
We were lucky enough to get very cheap tickets to the concert, the only catch was we had a "standing" ticket. Standing!? Next they'll put us in breaches and tights and hand us a couple of pieces of rotten fruit in case we don't enjoy the show. And since
Berlin Park
Perfect for a packed lunch. the theatre was so well designed, the conductor and pianist were still well within tomato chucking distance.
Funky tomatos weren't necessary since the orchestra were superb. They perform different pieces almost every night of the week only needing one or two rehearsals, but they played perfectly. Argerich was good I guess, but the Ravel concerto she played was fairly unlovable. Still a great night out, even if we couldn't sit down.
I have been lucky enough to have visited Europe three times in my life and unlucky enough to visit Europe three times in the middle of winter, so to experience Northern Europe in May is quite something. The trees are so green! Our first two days in Berlin were actually warm. We ate a packed lunch by the canal near Hackschacher Market, which was filled with weekenders lazing around in the sun. Some were even in the nud... how European! It was the sort of weather that I presume would have inspired centuries of European poets. Then on the third day the weather turned to crap. Allowing time for centuries of European poets to perfect their poems about the previous day's great weather.
I know public
Checkpoint Charlie
The old border between East and West Berlin. Strange world. transport isn't a very sexy subject but the Germans definitely do do it right. One day on a whim after visiting one of Berlin's coolest streets with graffiti, small galleries and more cafes than I have ever seen, we took a random tram to visit the outer suburbs of old East Berlin. I am glad the weather was good because mile after mile of Soviet era tower blocks any other time could get distinctly depressing. Once we reached the end of the line we took the next train back as soon as it became available. Another slightly more successful foray on the public transport system took us to Potsdam just outside the city. Beautiful gardens, statues, Baroque palaces. As we say in New Zealand... it was choice!
The one hidden delight of this fine city was the joys of supermarket shopping, especially bearing in mind that we've just had four months travelling without the opportunity to cook for ourselves. Since noone in Berlin needs a car, our main street had at least 5 little supermarkets. Our supermarket of choice was filled... filled!... with bottles of wine for two Euro (NZ$4) or less. Another interesting feature was the German equivalent
of "No Frills" or "Budget" was "Ja!" And "Ja!" was absolutely everywhere. So in our shopping trolley for instance was "Ja!" Butter, "Ja!" Milk, "Ja!" brie, "Ja!" pickled cherries, "Ja!" instant coffee and "Ja!" bananas.
We had a couple of great nights getting rowdy cooking pasta and sipping vino with other guests at the hostel. This was also our first oversees encounter with dorms, and even that was quite good. The duvets had been through so many washes they were like the spare bed you would sleep in when you were staying over at your friend's house when you were a kid. And being Europe in spring, I had the pleasure of being woken up in the morning by a songbird pouring its little heart out!
Suffice to say, we had a great 5 days in Berlin. Anyone who didn't enjoy this city would have to be a bit funny in the head.
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Mark/Dad
non-member comment
Hoot
I love your humour, your pics and your stories. You should be published! Martha argerich! You lucky people!----Eric who?