Achtung! I had a wonderful time visiting La Cantina in Berlin from March 9-11. I arrived to the airport a million miles away from the city and took a train to the Zoo train stop where we were supposed to be meeting. Well, I guess there was a mis-com because I later learned they were already there and didn’t find me. After magically communicating I needed a phone card (and a nice woman who helped me use it), and 4 phone calls I got in touch with Thom and hopped two trains to his host family’s place.
Just outside the station and Thom and Alec were sitting and waiting happily. They greeted me with a German beer at noon. We all know I don’t like beer, but it was kind of perfect. I checked out his host family’s place which was SO cute and wonderful, then we got the best roast chicken from a stand outside
Then Thom took us on a walking tour of the city. It was perfect and good to just have a chill evening and see Berlin. It’s really interesting how creatively they do their monuments. It’s weird too because Berlin is a new old city since so much had to be rebuilt. It will be interesting to see it grow in the next 20 years.
I begged for a traditional German dinner around Alexazanderplatz and was reminded and pleased with small European portions. We cleaned up real nice and got swankyed up and hit up a cool German club in the Sharp building. I guess after the war old movie theaters and warehouses adied the clubbing boom there.
Our night ended at 5 and started up at 11 when we hoped to find Drew and then Kristin at the airport. With success by a hair we made it back to Thom’s host sisters place in E. Berlin where we stayed. After much needed showers and naps we had really delicious Indian (a little germanized) dinner with Thom’s host sister Judith and her friend. On the way to dinner there were Punks rallying in support of other Punks in Copehagen. Gotta love E. Berlin!! We were hoping to get into a pretty elite club, Panorama Bar to see the Junior Boys, but in short… Nein. Tatoo faced bouncer surprisingly said no to my cute face, just kidding.
Still a good night because I had my first taste of Donner, a turkish pita/meat snack thing. Can you tell I barely eat in London, EVERYTHING was the best food I ever had. Of course, how would I see these boys without me jumping and snuggling all over them before bed. The three of them were cramped on a pullout couch and Kristin and I scored the huge cozy bed. But, it was nice to be tucked in by my boys.
Another night ending at 5 and starting at 11 led us to pick up Paul from the airport. I insisted on a second Doner before Pauly could even get back to the apartment. So good.
With only a few hours before I left we got to check out some cool Markts (markets) and I had amazing Blood Orange juice, warm wine with chestnuts, and a cheese and green onion crepe.
Berlin, like Barcelona, had really awesome graffitti everywhere. There’s no doubt that styles were different. But art for arts sake, or taking almost any opportunity to be creative is something I will miss when I leave Europe and the UK. Look, my friends are hipsters, hahaaha:
Thom, Alec and Drew took their little Pinta to the train station-bahn-platz-strass-haus and saw me off. It’s always so hard to leave these boys, they’re so good to me. I’m also glad I knew they were amazing far before I ever left them. I hope they have a good week in Berlin, I’m looking forward to showing Alec around London in a few weekends when Annamarie is here.
I am thrilled that I got a relatively cheap flight, but RyanAir is killer. They make it worth it no doubt.
