Durch means before, right?

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So, apparently the whole transcribing and backdating of the blog thing was becoming a tad "confusing" for some people, so I am toying with a new way of cataloging. I apologize for the confusion.

The following is a transcription/re-construction of various notes and journals into a semi-coherent and mostly "accurate" journal of my time in Berlin Germany. Notes dated 7/22/08.


First and foremost let me say this. I loves me some Berlin. I've only been here a few hours, but I must say, I dig this place.

That's right folks. For the first time in many a decade a Dirkes man is in the Fatherland.

For starters, the German rest stops are, not too surprisingly, very clean and efficient. BUT.... Fuck-house these people have very strange taste in Gatorade. Not for nothing, but when I think sports drink GRAPEFRUIT FLAVOR is not first and foremost. But the sausage was great and I am finding that I have retained a decent amount of my German, but more on that later. I'll give you a hint, there may or may not have been a touch of a cluster fuck tied to my inability to remember some prepositions.

Our hotel is located in the former East Berlin right next to the awesomely named store "Technic Ass." This place either sells very shoddy electronics, or bionic asses. If not that place is guilty of FLAGRANT false advertising.

So, we head into town to have a look around. First off, the trains are kind of a pain in the ass to buy tickets for, so I decide to NOT wait in line and buy one and just hope for the best. Besides it's GERMANY, what's the worst that could happen?

We head downtown to the Brandenberg Gate. This place has the coolest combination of massive buildings and wide open spaces. It is almost disorienting. Imagine a very clean, but also very wide open version of New York City, but with more people who speak English and you've got Berlin.

The gate is awesome. I stood where a certain GREATEST FUCKING PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. OF A once stood and requested a certain man to come and tear a certain wall down. It was kind of cool. From here we take the short walk over to The Reichstag. The line was very long, and I ended up being the first person to have the door shut in their face as they closed the place to tourists. To quote my new friend Paul, this was the worst thing to ever happen in Germany.

From here we made our way to a bar our tour guide heard of. This is where the trouble began. We were trying to find this place relying very heavily on my 4 semesters of German. This would pose less of a problem were those 4 semesters to have occurred less than a decade ago. But as things stand, this trip was much, much longer than it should have been.

We got in the right neighborhood and I asked someone for directions. His response contained the word "durch," which according to my memory of the language meant before. So I though we had to turn "before" the park. However, the actual translation is "through." SO, we turned before the park instead of going through the park. A slight difference, yes, but hey, life, she is an adventure.

However, we did eventually find the bar and a grand time was had. I almost feel bad for the staff of this place. It is a local, neighborhood pub on a Sunday night. Now, imagine working there. It's Sunday night, you're expecting a few regulars maybe. Out of nowhere 20 Americans show up, looking to drink. Let's just say it changed the tone of the bar. I drank quite a few wonderful beers and had a really great time.

The walk home was surreal. As I said, our hotel was in East Berlin. Now, I know the wall is down, but after a certain time you would never know it. The streets were EMPTY. I mean, ghost town, post plague, Omega Man empty. But as we made our VERY long walk home a few of us were struck by a thought that made the night so much more meaningful. We realized that 20 years earlier we would have been, most likely, arrested for doing what we were doing at that moment. What were we doing? We were walking home in the middle of the night. Were we drunk? Yes. Were we disorderly? Not at all. Yet, the simple act of enjoying the night in a beautiful city, taking in the amazing German night, just enjoying life and enjoying the city would have aroused suspicion. It was the most amazing realization. We were enjoying more freedom during the span of walking home one evening than some of the residents of the buildings we were passing were allowed to enjoy during their entire lives. It kind of put a lot of different things into perspective.

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