Berlin

Background: I went to Berlin with my best friend, Clare, and 11 of her friends from school... I'd only ever met a few of them once at Clare's birthday party with the exception of Alice who I have known for years.

Day 1: We arrive at Berlin Schoenfeld and take the S-Bahn to Warschauer Strasse station without paying. There are no barriers to use the S-Bahn or the U-Bahn so we didn't pay; the only risk is a €40 fine if the ticket inspecter catches you. Half an hour and a short walk from the S-Bahn later, we get to the Sunflower Hostel. As I walked into the hostel, the first thing I noticed were the the orange and red mottled walls and the green felt ceiling with milka cows and flowers stapled to it. We checked in but had to wait until our 2nd room was ready, so Clare, Alice and I went back to the train station to have our first taste of Berlin cuisine: the currywurst.
Currywurst is a big sausage, deep fried (no batter) and covered in curry flavored ketchup with curry powder on top. Sounds disgusting, I know, but I thought it was delicious.
The rest of the day passed without much activity. We got settled into our rooms, found the local supermarché (and a new currywurst place just outside of it that played German hip hop!). But later that night (much later because the Germans dont start going out and about til after midnight) we all went out to a beach-themed bar which had a sand covered floor. There was a cocktail special (€4.50 for all cocktails between 11pm and 5am). I had one called a Boca Chica with lemon bitters in it and then a cherry pina colada which was disgusting so I couldn't finish it.

Day 2: Some of the group got up early (obviously not me, ha ha) to go on a 3.5 hour free walking tour of berlin (http://www.newberlintours.com/nbt/), but they missed the 11 o'clock one so everyone else got up to meet them for the 1 o'clock tour. One of the girls, Sally, had been to Berlin a few weeks beforehand and said the free tour was fantastic, and it was fantastic. We saw the Brandenberg Gate, the Hotel Adlon, which is where Michael Jackson held his child out of the window, the Reichstag, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. We stood in a parking lot which was above Hitlers bomb shelter and where he committed suicide. The German government decided not to excavate the shelter so that Neo Natzis wouldn't have a place to congregate.

After the tour everyone was, obviously, exhausted and so Sally directed us to a Russian tea house called Tadshikishe Teestube that was inside an old, weirdly empty building. Inside the tea room the walls were dark green and there were paintings all over. Tables were close to the floor and shoes had to be removed before sitting on the cushioned platforms. I had Rooibos Vanilla tea for €2.80; it came in a terra cotta pot with a little cup without a handle, a tiny jug of cream and two cookies, one vanilla and one chocolate orange. The room was cool and the far window was open, blowing a breeze that lifted a pink, sheer curtain almost in slow motion up and down creating a rather beautiful scene.

Anyway, back to what really matters. That night we went to a night club called Cassiopeia "where hip-hop meets house" which had a large outdoor garden (including a tree house!) with a cheap cover and relatively cheap beer. They had a funny deposit system and when buying a beer they kept an extra euro from you and gave you a pin. If you returned the beer and the pin you got your euro back. Clever, clever. The dance building had obviously been restored because there was a similar one next to it that hadn't been which had broken windows and moody looking Berlin teenagers sitting outside of it. Unfortunately, I wore high heels so I only lasted until 3am, which sounds late, but most of the girls stayed til 6!

Day 3: A late morning for most of the gang. Currywurst for breakfast at 2pm.

...couldn't be bothered to finish it so here are two and a bit of my five days in Berlin!