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Published: August 31st 2009
This trip has been a BLAST. I think we’ve worked in a month’s worth of drinking-and-fun quota in a matter of days… we’ve had fun with some great local people… and we’ve seen many sites.
As we arrived in Berlin on the train I thought and knew that we would continue the fun - more drinking, meeting great local people, late nights, and site seeing. However, rather than thinking of beer gardens, hearty German meals, or blonde German women serving beer in Bavarian dresses, I instead felt the gravity of the many atrocities that happened here during and after World War II weighing on my mind. Not to say that I would let these thoughts make the Berlin experience a downer, but that is the vibe I felt the first afternoon and evening in Berlin… but enough of that… I’ll save those reflections for a bit later…
Our first night we stayed in a HUGE hostel called “The Generator”, as the hotel we would stay at the rest of the time in Berlin didn’t have an available room for that one night. As we arrived in the cab at The Generator there was a huge crowd of what appeared
to be 15 and 16 year olds running rampant and giggling, with a handful of older teenagers and young 20’s crowd around the place as we walked through. I laughed hysterically as we walked through the place and checked in. I couldn’t stop laughing, to the point my ribs were hurting. 38 year old Drew Labbo hanging around with European kids.
The kids were looking at me strangely, with all my laughing, which made me laugh more. Rob began to laugh too. At the check in desk I had to compose myself between the laughter to check in… the whole scene seemed like spring break from high school (not even college!). Glad we were there just one night! We escaped and went for dinner and beers in the Prater Beer Garden that night, the oldest and one of the biggest beer gardens in Berlin.
An interesting note about Berlin is that it was 90% destroyed in World War II, so that there are not old, ancient structures around the city like you see in some other cities in Europe. The next day, we went to an area of the city that had a section of the Berlin Wall
New drinking buddies
Nina from Germany and Anna from Austriastill standing (it has mostly been torn down by now throughout Berlin) and the former spot of the Church of Reunification. Amazing to think that in 1961, the wall was built literally right through the city. Graves were dug up to make room for it, and families and friends that lived on opposite sides of the street were cut off by the wall and could not see each other. For 28 years many people escaped from East Berlin to West Berlin, but many lost their lives as well. Heavy…
That evening we bought a bottle of vodka and a few cans of Red Bull from a corner store and drank them as we rode the subway and walked through the city to the bar - that is okay in Berlin (and most of Europe it seems!) - you see people walking around at all hours of the day and night drinking beer. It is awesome.
The Bernauer Street area is fun - cool area with a few bars and restaurants... We found our way to a local's bar, Schwarz Sauer, and sat out front outside at a table by the sidewalk and chatted with a couple of girls,
Nina and Anna. We returned many nights while in Berlin to this bar. We seem to have a knack for stumbling upon "local's favorites" spots. Walking back to the hotel later that night we ran into Nina and Anna again, and they pulled us across the street and said, “we’re going to have another beer with you guys.” We stopped at a store at 3 AM, bought four large bottles of good German beer, sat out front of the store at a table, and had some amazing political and historical conversation - both of Nina and Anna are very educated.
Europeans have more necessity than Americans to speak more than one language, as well as more opportunity to practice more than one language. These girls each spoke four languages fluently. Their English was impeccable. The majority of people I’ve encountered in the several countries I’ve been in on trips to Europe speak at least two languages - many speak three or four.
Anna and I compared notes on skiing and snowboarding in Austria and Colorado. It’s nice that Colorado is very well known in Europe, known for the Rocky Mountains and world class snow skiing.
All of
the sudden we all realized it was twilight and all decided to call it a night. Rob and I bought a couple of beers for the walk home, finished those, then bought beers from a store at the subway stop near our hotel, and the guy running the place opened them for us at about 6 AM. We then went to the park near our hotel to drink them - then the sun came up. Ridiculous!!!
We slept until about noon (DOH!) and then bought cheap clothes at Woolworths rather than doing laundry. We then went to see checkpoint Charlie, which was a passage between East and West Berlin before the wall came down.
We also saw the “Topography of Terrors” exhibit, which is not too far from checkpoint Charlie - it is one of the finest exhibits I’ve EVER seen!
A bit of gravity here… I suppose it can’t all be about debauchery… thanks for bearing with me… I will get back to our escapades after a short diversion here…
The average person does not meditate on the holocaust and Nazi atrocities around World War II often I believe. When faced with it, for me
Topography of Terrors
Diagram of different badges that the many people that were persecuted were forced to wear anyway, the sequence of the thought process goes something like this.
• What happened is horrifying
• The fact that it happened is horrifying
• How could a whole country of people let this happen?
• Once it was stopped by the Allied forces, what happened next?
• How did the German’s deal with it all when it was all said and done?
• How are the German’s dealing with it now?
• And then, to add insult to injury, the separation of east and west Berlin after World War II with the wall? WTF?”
Well.. the exhibit was amazing... and for me it complimented with its sequence my thoughts, feelings, and emotions on the whole matter as I experienced them. I ended up writing several pages on my experience at the exhibit, but I will spare you all of those details and just touch on the high-level.
The exhibit, which is on the site of former Gestapo and SS headquarters that are no longer standing, started with gruesome depictions of the atrocities and political order… how it started, the laws that were passed… the arrest and extermination of not only Jews but ANYONE that resisted the
order. They messed with EVERYONE - including ethnic Germans and fellow Arians - basically there was a “reason” to mess with anyone based on race, religion, beliefs, politics, etc. There WERE resistors in Germany for certain that stood up and spoke loudly against the Nazis and the atrocities of their “answer to the Jewish question.” They and their families were dealt with cruelly and swiftly.
Enough heaviness… switching gears…
It has been very warm in Berlin. One night we sat out front of what became our spot, Schwarz Sauer, and a couple of German guys just a bit younger than us walked up just after we sat down. They asked if they could sit on the other side of the table, as the place was packed.
We told them it was fine to have a seat, and after a while we all started talking. There names were Richard and Lars. We could’ve been offended by some of what they said, but we knew the spirit in which it was intended - it was said man to man and not German to American… like friends or brothers or drinking buddies busting each other’s chops… they were not insulting
us or saying anything bad about Americans. They were just funny and messing around… and we threw it right back at them, and we all laughed a lot and had a great time.
At one point one of them, Richard, said “F yourself” and I said, “No… in America we say ‘go f yourself’... so ‘go f yourself.’ He laughed and said, “You guys are funny guys… great guys!” and slapped me on the back. Of course there was a bit of a drinking challenge that developed.
So, we found ourselves here in Germany, with a couple of hard drinking Germans, with the honor of the United States of America on the line.
We drank beer after beer, each of us pushing the pace at one time or another. Richard started getting louder and rowdier and slurring after each beer. He then suggested that he order us all a round of shots, some type of German tradition. Although obviously a shot would add to the drinking contest, Richard obviously meant it more as a gesture of friendship. I think he was surprised when we didn’t flinch and instead said, “great, thanks, let’s have a shot then.” I
don’t remember what the shot was but it was a good sipping shot.
Richard said in pure jest at one point, “Oh, you are from America - you think you are big drinkers huh?” He leaned to grab his beer with an “I’ll show you” gesture and his chair tipped over and he tumbled off onto the ground with the chair landing on top of him, scraping his elbow.
A guy at a table next to us leaned over and said to me in English, “It looks like you’re friend is done.” I laughed and said, “Yes, I think he is.” I added, “and thank you for having us in Berlin, it is a great city." With respect he said with a smile “Well, you Americans have been welcome here since 1945.” And we tapped beer glasses and said “Prost” together.
Richard was having a hard time standing up after falling over in his chair so I helped him up. At that instant his cell phone rang and he said, “SHITSA! (that’s “sh*t” in German, to state the obvious). This is my girlfriend, I was supposed to meet her at 2 AM and now it is 3
AM!!” and he stepped away to answer the phone.
Lars looked like he was getting pretty sloppy, swaying a bit in his seat. Rob and I were definitely strong into a buzz and having a great time, but at this point in the match we were much more composed. Lars attempted to speak to us but had a terminal case of the hiccups at this point and was having difficulty.
Richard walked back and sat down right as I ordered another round of beers.
“You two… you are crazy! No more beers!” he yelled, slapping me on the back.
Game… set… and match. Thank you.
**This is what you get, when you MESS with us!** Haha!
They stumbled out after a warm goodbye and Rob and I had a few more beers.
In all three countries we’ve visited on this trip we’ve been called “crazy” - and come to think of it we’ve been called that in the US too… well, it sounds like its unanimous… then so be it…
We’ve had a blast, and I have not once felt as if we have been slighted or treated poorly because we are
American.
We fly out of Berlin tomorrow afternoon and head back to the the US. Until next time then… I’m thinking about heading to Japan in the fall… stay tuned for more Travelblogs then.
Prost!
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jewce
non-member comment
The Germans are not afraid to tell you how things are in America. They are going to let you know that they don't agree with American politics, but, as you say, it should not be taken personally (though it can be a bit hard not to take it that way, especially since they are so blunt).