I pick my clique and set to go to work but the only thing they care about is to whom to play the Turk
Days don´t always (or usually) go as planned.
Monday morning I woke up, took a bath (yes, a bath, not a shower) and set out by myself (for the first time in Berlin) to a modern art museum about which I had been anticipating all week. I was so proud of myself: without Sarah´s assistance (she was at work) I navigated the U-bahn system, made no mistakes and got all the way to the museum relatively early in the day. Unfortunately, on Mondays almost all of the museums in Berlin (as in Warsaw) are closed. I had the same bad luck with the German Film Museum on Potsdamer Platz so decided to take Jannes´s advice and go past Alexanderplatz to Kothusser Ter, which according to him is the center of Berlin´s Turkish neighborhood.
And as we ALL know, Berlin has the largest Turkish population outside of Istanbul! In the world!
There wasn´t so much for me to do of course. I ate a doner kebab and wrote a postcard (which i´ve done everywhere else), I walked past some fairly monumental women with head scarves and stopped again for a bread and spinach based food (I don´t have any idea what it was called) and a coffee while I read Foucault´s Pendulum.
But at 2:30, I realized that I had told Sarah that I would be back to the apartment in Kreutzberg between 3 and 4! What could I do that wouldn´t take so long?
In almost every city I have visited, I have made an honest effort to at least once, place myself in the highest point in the city for one of those oh-so-memorable "breathtaking views."
In Berlin, the highest point is at the top of the formerly East German television tower located near the Alexanderplatz. It was expensive (7.50!) but they took credit card so I wasn´t too bothered. The view WAS amazing. I looked down upon the Berliner Dome, upon which I had stood just a few days before, thinking of what a terrific view of the city I had.
I did make it home, only an hour late, and chatted in the kitchen with the girls for a bit before calling Angela (who coincidentally is in Berlin at the same time). Even more coincidentally, she was living just a few blocks away, so it was especially convenient to meet up at the corner, grab a drink with some friends of hers and finish off the night with a currywurst at Curry 36.
When I got back to the apartment, everybody was still up, so we watched some Don Hertzfeldt videos ("Rejected", so funny...but scary), roomate Monica´s college silent film (in German) explaining the basis behind and method for revolution of the oppressed proletariat and proof by roommate Suzy that she is not a hipster (in response to my accusation) by naming several Dave Matthews bands albums by title and even coming up with the name "Tim Reynolds."
And that was that for Berlin. I liked it, and among the places I´ve visited would consider it one of the most liveable. It´s got everything a big city should have: good food, art, all sorts of interesting people, extensive and efficient public transportation, and a good music and film scene. Unfortunately, I still speak no German
Bitte?
Monday morning I woke up, took a bath (yes, a bath, not a shower) and set out by myself (for the first time in Berlin) to a modern art museum about which I had been anticipating all week. I was so proud of myself: without Sarah´s assistance (she was at work) I navigated the U-bahn system, made no mistakes and got all the way to the museum relatively early in the day. Unfortunately, on Mondays almost all of the museums in Berlin (as in Warsaw) are closed. I had the same bad luck with the German Film Museum on Potsdamer Platz so decided to take Jannes´s advice and go past Alexanderplatz to Kothusser Ter, which according to him is the center of Berlin´s Turkish neighborhood.
And as we ALL know, Berlin has the largest Turkish population outside of Istanbul! In the world!
There wasn´t so much for me to do of course. I ate a doner kebab and wrote a postcard (which i´ve done everywhere else), I walked past some fairly monumental women with head scarves and stopped again for a bread and spinach based food (I don´t have any idea what it was called) and a coffee while I read Foucault´s Pendulum.
But at 2:30, I realized that I had told Sarah that I would be back to the apartment in Kreutzberg between 3 and 4! What could I do that wouldn´t take so long?
In almost every city I have visited, I have made an honest effort to at least once, place myself in the highest point in the city for one of those oh-so-memorable "breathtaking views."
In Berlin, the highest point is at the top of the formerly East German television tower located near the Alexanderplatz. It was expensive (7.50!) but they took credit card so I wasn´t too bothered. The view WAS amazing. I looked down upon the Berliner Dome, upon which I had stood just a few days before, thinking of what a terrific view of the city I had.
I did make it home, only an hour late, and chatted in the kitchen with the girls for a bit before calling Angela (who coincidentally is in Berlin at the same time). Even more coincidentally, she was living just a few blocks away, so it was especially convenient to meet up at the corner, grab a drink with some friends of hers and finish off the night with a currywurst at Curry 36.
When I got back to the apartment, everybody was still up, so we watched some Don Hertzfeldt videos ("Rejected", so funny...but scary), roomate Monica´s college silent film (in German) explaining the basis behind and method for revolution of the oppressed proletariat and proof by roommate Suzy that she is not a hipster (in response to my accusation) by naming several Dave Matthews bands albums by title and even coming up with the name "Tim Reynolds."
And that was that for Berlin. I liked it, and among the places I´ve visited would consider it one of the most liveable. It´s got everything a big city should have: good food, art, all sorts of interesting people, extensive and efficient public transportation, and a good music and film scene. Unfortunately, I still speak no German
Bitte?
posted by Jed at 4:37 AM
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