Berlin -- I Heart You

To preface the Berlin tales, I think it's worth mentioning my history with the Berlin Wall.  When I was a kid, like a lot of other kids, I was absolutely fascinated with the Cold War and watching the demise of communism playing out on the tele.  In my school career, I was only ever proud of one school project that I did (most of "my" projects were done by my parents -- Thanks Mom and Dad!!) -- a Berlin Wall project that I did in what?? Middle school, maybe?  The project included a clay Berlin Wall that snaked around a map of the divided city. 

Also, in those days, one of my prized possessions was a "piece" of the Berlin Wall that my parents gave me right after the wall's collapse.

All this is to say that once Christian offered to have me join him in Berlin for a few days, though it wasn't on my original itinerary, I jumped at the chance.  Unfortunately, I only had two nights and three days to hang before heading to Cairo, so I was determined to make the absolute most of it. 

I grabbed an EasyJet flight from Amsterdam to Berlin and was on my way...

My first thoughts of Berlin were mixed.  The train from the airport to "downtown" (Berlin is HUGE and has several neighborhoods, so I'm not sure I was really in the "downtown" area though I was staying in the middle of the city) exposed me to some crappy parts of city.  Unlike any other city in Europe that I had experienced thus far, graffiti adorned nearly every building; electrical box; or anything else that was stationary and had space to be tagged. 

However, the more I delved into the city, I realized that nestled within this "crappy" feel, a sense that the place was evolving was ridiculously apparent everywhere -- after-all, it's "only been" what? a little over 20 years since the wall came down??  So, where one block looked like crap, the next housed some sort of high end retail establishment or snazzy development.  The best way I can describe it is that it was like East Austin without the hipsters (everyone in Berlin dressed well -- even the anarchists) and significantly more history.  That's what I really liked about it -- at first blush, the city looked rough around the edges (even the weather was cold), but a style and sophistication lurked just under the surface.

                                  [I think we need to change, "TGIF" to "TFIF"!]

I arrived mid-day on Friday, and Christian was back at work for the first time since returning to Berlin from Sydney. He let me know that he had a pressing deadline, so we decided to meet up around 10pm.  Oh yeah -- screw that Vegas or NYC stuff; this is the city that never sleeps -- let's meet for dinner at 10pm and get the night started! ;p