Berlin Baby, Berlin.

Before I get started on about Berlin I’d just like to say that I had a blast on my second outing into London. There’s just something about this city that draws me in. There isn’t anything I can really pinpoint about the city, but just the entire atmosphere and history of those streets. I originally tried writing this entry before I went to Berlin while I was sitting outside the British Museum (my favorite museum ever btw) but there was just too much bustle to really bog down outside a pub a bang out some words that weren’t there. So what did I do? Well in lieu of my plane leaving at 6:25 in the AM meaning a bus ride to the airport at 4:10, I decided to booze the night away on what may be my favorite city in the world. Along with some newfound cousins (go figure) and old friends, we had a raucous night starting with dinner at the Museum Tavern and moving into the city of London (the business district) to cap the evening off. Anywho, it got to be so late that I ended up staying up all night making Thorburn vs London Round 2 a very memorable experience.

So on to Berlin.

As the title would suggest, I came in expecting Europe’s version of Vegas. To my disappointment it was more Detroit and less Vegas (I did spot some casinos!). I even went in with a positive mindset (no sleep, all go) yet the city just never won me over. Don’t get me wrong this is a great city, but it needs to rebuild some more and really capture the history it possesses. Most of the historical information I saw in cathedrals and museums seemed to omit the 20^th century which I feel like deserves more attention from the city. It wasn’t Germany’s brightest 100 years, but it was one of their biggest and should be treated that way. They owe it to the remaining and deceased people involved in the wars of the 1900’s.

The mantra for my weekend was “Berlin, City of Love” due to the fact that everywhere I turned I was accosted by some couple snogging or groping one another. Before I even got all the way into town from the airport, I came across a couple in the station making out with more tenacity than I’ve ever seen, and this is at about 10 in the morning mind you. I don’t know what it is about Berlin that caused this epidemic outbreak of PDA (public display of affection as Briesemeister Middle School called it) but I definitely wasn’t feeling the love. Berlin is one of the stranger cities I’ve ever been to. It felt like I went back 15 years in the past, and the strange clothes and dreadlocks confirmed that feeling. I’m not sure if it is still struggling from the effects of WWII or the Cold War, but this definitely wasn’t the party extravaganza I was expecting.

Berlin felt like a city on the verge of either collapse or greatness. To its credit Berlin is much cheaper than England, but as the old saying goes you get what you pay for. They have great buildings and museums, but they don’t seem to mix with the new array of post-modern structures scattered all over the place. Even the Jewish Museum (one of the most emotionally effective structures I’ve been in) seemed to be missing something once inside. I don’t want to criticize too much, there’s simply too much history there but for a world class city Berlin felt as if it lacked the soul of a London, New York, Paris, or Mexico City. I definitely had fun there but it was mainly due to the people I was with, not the environment. At the very least I can say I’ve been there.

Story of the weekend goes to Friday night when a friend of a friend (yeah one of those) got so scared in this sketched out dark alley way (it was lit by black lights) that she ran out of it dropping her wallet which sent the group on a backtracking goose chase. Her fright came with good reason, I mean this definitely felt like a scene out of the opening of Triple X where the secret agent is killed by some chain smoking Eastern European metal-techno/terrorist group. Strange right? Well not as strange as second nod of the weekend which goes to the 60 year old man walking around Zoo Platz in grandma clothes. I think I found a more conservative relative of Leslie.

Nod for best exhibit of the weekend goes to the aquarium which was really a lot of fun despite its small size. Any place that has crocodiles in a close enough proximity to eat a patron gets my vote.

So that’s it for Berlin, not the greatest weekend ever but definitely worth the trip. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures cause I just don’t think that far forward, but at least I have the shirt to prove it.

In other news…

• Beaver Bus Lines is a company in Leicester with transport for rent. Apparently they’re pretty cheeky with the signage because the joke isn’t lost in translation, it means the same in thing in England and the US. So with my detective duties for the week fulfilled, I’ll have to find something new to investigate. Oh and thanks to Michael Kantor for looking that up for me, Holmes could have never done it without Dr. Watson just as I could have never done it without Kantor B.S.

• Ryanair is scary. It is seriously a bootleg version of Southwest. Yes the prices are dirt cheap, but from now on I think I’d like to have reclining seats and free bevies when I jump on a 2 hour flight hung over with no sleep. I will give them props on the flight attendants who fit that old legend your grandpa tells you about when they were young, but I haven’t quite figured out if youth and beauty beats age and experience yet. I’m leaning towards the latter because they come with complimentary peanuts.

• As a final side note, England needs to chill out on the train prices. I just had to dump 50 pounds on my train ticket (sorry Mom and Dad) back to Leicester because I originally bought the wrong one in advance, go figure that being under 26 doesn’t make you a young person unless you actually buy the rail card to prove it.

So that’s about it. It’s going to be a busy next few weeks with Scotland coming up next weekend and UT’s spring break the following week. meaning Adam is in town and we’re hitting up London and Paris. So maybe we’ll be able to teach that youngin some culture.