If I were to sum up my trip to Berlin this past weekend in one word I would say, schmutzig...but in a good way. The kind of schmutzig that makes you wanna publicly urinate on the nearest graffiti stained building, or throw a burrito at something...I don't even know what I'm saying anymore.
Side note - Hanky Panky is the name of the strip-club that was just a few doors down from my hostel in Berlin!
Our trip started with a Justin Vernon and the Volcano Choir concert (it's the dude from Bon Iver) on Thursday night. Now I know what you're thinking, "How was the concert Ryan!?!?!?!". Well I wish I could tell you but, being the oh-so-clever person that I am, I bought a ticket to see them on Friday night in Düsseldorf! Winning! I could tell you about all the crazy cool dreams I had as I was sleeping alone in the hostel while my friends were in the concert, but I can't remember them (They were good though, I've been having some really awesome dreams lately).
On Friday we began our day the only way American college students know how; with some cheap, filling asian food. After significantly overeating, we had a couple of options: 1. go to Mitte and see the Brandenburger Tor, Bundestag, and Berlin Wall and 2. go to a giant thrift store and buy loads of clothes that you've never heard of so we can look almost half as hip as the Berliners...no not the jelly filled doughnut ones either. Natürlich, we went with option 2. After spending approximately two eternities in the thrift store, we left to go do what else? more shopping. This time at a Turkish flea market! There's just nothing quite like getting barked at in one language that you barely understand and another that sounds like...well I don't know what it sounds like but I don't understand it at all. Nevertheless I was able to walk away with some Norwegian wool socks and a gnartacular hoodie. Woot! woot! Friday night was spent at a beach bar. And by beach bar, I mean a bar with sand covering the entire floor. If you happen to besuchen this bar please do not attempt to build sand castles in the bar-floor sand...bar-floor sand is dirty and will make you dirty.
Side note - Some street performers in Berlin will enter your U-Bahn car and proceed to play clarinet to the the tune of "Let's Get it Started in Here", while you are trapped inside the moving U-Bahn jukebox. So no sir, I will not give you my Geld simply because I am trapped inside of the same U-Bahn car as you and your snazzy clarinet.
Saturday began with a trip to Waffly...the 50's themed waffle diner that plays early 2000's hip hop (Berlin may be the hipster capital of Europe but its music is severely outdated). Having filled our bellys with the waffliest of waffles, we decided we should actually see the sights worth seeing in Berlin. So yes we saw the Bundestag, Brandenburder Tor, and Berlin Wall...and well, they look just like they do in all of the pictures in the interweb. There was a protest going on outside of the Bundestag though! I saw lots of dancing Turkish people as well as many, unsmiling, attempting-to-look-cool, Berlin Polizei. We then visited the Topography of Terror and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The Topography of Terror is a museum where the old SS headquarters used to be. The entrance is free and it was quite moving/terrirfying. It basically shows how the Nazis came to power through terror. The Jewish memorial was really cool! When you first see it, it appears to simply be a bunch of cement blocks spanning an entire city block. As you walk into the blocks however, you gradually sink into them until you are surrouned by an eerie silence as the blocks are way over your head and you have no idea where you are. Very cool.
And now here I sit, writing a blog post because homework sucks...especially auf deutsch.
Side note - How is no shave November going for everyone?
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