BERLIN

After Katie's birthday weekend, I took the week to recollect myself, maybe did a little bit of schoolwork, and hit a lot of different cafes. On Tuesday, I biked down to Norreport and went to the Living Room to get some work done. A friend from Wisconsin was in town so we grabbed some lunch at Paper Island with her family (ate Turkish- ate same bazlama which was so good), and then went to Social another cafe in Norrebro. I was able to get a lot of work done and even submitted a scholarship application. On Wednesday, I had all of my classes and prepared for Berlin...

Thursday, March 2nd
It was quick hour long flight to Berlin and I ran into my good friend Jazz as soon as I hit the ground and walked off the plane. After Jazz had a brief run in with airport security (typical), we toasted to the weekend with some espresso, found the metro, and were on our way to the airbnb. It felt so great to be in the presence of Jazz and starting a new trip. I really missed her and was excited to take on the city with her. We arrived at the metro, hiked up 6 flights of stairs, dropped off our stuff at the airbnb, and walked to Boxhagener Platz for lunch. After walking around the platz we ended up getting falafel and halloumi salads, hummus and pita, and fancy gin cocktails at Fatoush. We started to catch up on each others lives and hear what we were up to. After lunch, we somehow made our to a beer shop, I got a BERL beer and Jazz constructed (correct verb) a g&t. We then took the u bahn to Alexanderplatz, walked around the area, looked at the TV tower, and made our way to Brandenburg Gate. On the way, we had a photoshoot in an empty fountain, saw Berlin Catholic Church, walked down museum island, and stopped at an ample(apple)man store. After the Gate, we saw the Reichstag and walked through Tiergarten to the Sony Center. The Sony Center was incredible- the roof was a ginormous glass dome and it changed colors. We got a pretzel and hot cheese at Lindenbrau and walked to The Memorial of Murdered Jews. This was interesting as it was completely dark out and there were a ton of cement blocks. I'm sure it is a great monument but there just wasn't much to see in the dark so we ended up going to Markethalle Neun for the Thursday Night Street Food. This was absolutely incredible, there were a plethora of options and we kept refueling at this beer cart. We ended up getting Arepas, Quesadillas, and this waffle-muffin chocolate mousse nutella dessert. I could live at this place. After sufficiently stuffing ourselves and living in heaven, we walked to Klunkerkranich. It took us a while to find it and we desperately had to use the restroom but this really cool bar was on top of a parking garage, which we had to take an elevator to the fifth floor and walk through a parking lot to get there, but it had great music and a total Berlin vibe. People were just vibing to this deep house but dance like music. The DJ was just switching between vinyl and it was great- probably my favorite place we went on the trip. Also- there was an incredible view of Berlin from outside the bar. You could see the TV Tower and the entire skyline. And while dancing inside the bar, for some reason we put chairs in the middle of the dance floor which was a stupid decision on our part because we were totally in everyones way. We thrived there, and at the end of the night we walked home which was kind of sketchy and Jazz almost got taken several times but we made it home. We had to knock and ring the doorbell to get inside the airbnb because we couldn't figure out how to open a door but we got in and eventually fell asleep.

Friday, March 3rd
We woke up refreshed and ready to take on the day (after spending about an hour just laying in bed, which was mostly my fault)- but still got out of bed eventually and went to brunch at Factory Girl. I ended up getting this cheese platter with bread and jam and Jazz ordered scrambled eggs. We shared our food and paired it with a nice espresso drink and it was all amazing. The spot was really cool inside and we enjoyed ourselves lurking in a window sill (theme to this weekend). Afterwards, we went to a weird lingerie store, walked to a closed gallery, and made our way to the Berlin Wall Memorial. We accidentally walked through it backwards but nevertheless learned a lot about the history and got to see remnants of the wall.  It was at this point that I learned the wall had fell in 1989- not so long ago!! Afterwards we went to a cemetery and walked around more. We made our way down this street in Northern Mitte, stopped in a smoothie shop for some coffee (made a fool of ourselves), and walked to a bakery to get a pretzel and a cinnamon roll. The cinnamon roll was out of this world- so good and the pretzel was great too and I snagged a solid photo of it in front of TV tower. We walked through this park and made our way to Checkpoint Charlie. We learned more about the history and then walked to Topography of Terror. We truly learned a lot of history- and we just rolled with it. It was really interesting learning about all of it, so sad at parts. We left Topography of Terror, grabbed some mulled wine (obviously typical Cam and Jazz fashion) and went home to regather ourselves. Jazz took a quick nap and ubered to the hip hop club. We stopped for dinner and walked into a random Vietnamese restaurant called Fam Dang.  I got this interesting noodle soup which I shouldnt have done because I always struggle with long noodles, Jazz got a rice dish, we got wine, and shared some spring (not summer) rolls. We attempted to get into the Kitty Cheng, a hip hop bar around 1am, and it was a no go. That's ok though- I felt pretty young in Berlin so we just rolled with it and ubered back to Klunkerkranich for another great night on top of a parking garage overlooking Berlin. We did shots of tequila and had Moscow mules, sombucca and limoncello shots and closed down the club. We had a really great time attempting to do this low key german bounce to a fantastic DJ. After getting kicked out, we ubered to Huhnerhaus 36  for an amazing chickenschnitzel. It was such a good move on Jazz's part- I owe all of the success to her on that one. We ubered home, enjoyed our schnitzel and fell asleep.

Saturday, March 4th
We woke up on the later side, walked through the city and parks and stopped at Restaurant Bastard for brunch. It was a really beautiful day outside and it was so nice strolling around without a worry. We were also in a really cool area in Kreuzberg. We ordered cappuccinos, split an eggs with chives and eggs with salmon, and got a brioche with jam and butter. It was a very long but relaxing brunch- typical-  and we ended up walking to the Maybucher Turkish Market. I missed a Bruce Springsteen reference and Jazz will never let me forget it. After that we ended up going to Hard Wax Record Store and spent an hour or so there just listening to really cool music.  We then walked through some parks, people were chilling and drinking beers as it was a gorgeous day out. We ended up walking through Volkspark to Tempelhofer Park which was a huge abandoned airport. The project failed but all the infrastructure was built so people were using it as a park. I think this is a really great indicator of Berlin and what it's like. I wouldn't say it is a beautiful city but the culture and vibes are really great and they find beauty in the most interesting way (this even ties into the city's history). We watched this cute little baby wearing a helmet run around and he fell over several times and it was so funny. We took the train back to Boxhagener (which i forgot to mention there was a gin-chilla bar there- must go back to check it out!) and walked around. We went on a pastry crawl, ate a berliner, and walked into a really cool clothing/record store and listened to more music. The place was called hhv.de. We went thrift shopping afterwards, picked up a cider and jagermeister with fritz kola and headed towards a cheese store La Kaserie.  We stopped inside another cool record store and continued to walk up to the cheese store. Unfortunately they were all booked for the night, so we grabbed some chips and wine and ubered home. After resting for a little bit and considering restaurant choices for our last night in berlin for about an hour- we ended up going across the street to this fondue restaurant called Feuer und Flamme. They sat us at this table that was ridiculous- the largest chairs, in a corner, candlelight and it was just so funny- VIP seating. We ordered balsamic salads to start, and ordered the cheese, chicken, and chocolate fondue. There was fresh bread, potatoes, and fruit to dip in the spread. With the dark chocolate orange liquor fondue, we ordered sambucca and espresso and they served the sambucca to us in flames. The waiter was also so funny and so nice to us- it really was such a special dinner. We then walked around the platz, hiked the 6 flights of stairs and passed out.

Sunday, March 5th
We woke up super early on Sunday morning, went to East Side Gallery, walked the wall, and got to check out the graffiti. We then went to Beakers, got amazing spicy chais, and ordered these fluffy and crunchy pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup, cheese of the week, scrambeled eggs with tomatoes, mushrooms, and salmon, and a roll with a crunchy chocolate spread. We really id well. Again, we were sitting in a window seat with comfy chairs and candles and got to take in the brunch. We then went back to the air bnb, Jazz left for the airport, and I left to check out this flohmarkt near the air bnb. There was really cool graffiti, a rock climbing wall on a building, and cool outside clubs. I then took the metro to the C/O photography museum and saw two exhibit: one on personal surveillance and another on the art of vinyl record covers. I then walked through the zoo to another street market and it was just interesting seeing all these trinkets being recycled and people buying the most random antiques. I then took the metro to mauerpark and walked through another flohmarkt. This was probably my favorite markt as there were people just playing music and hanging out. I got this weir minced meat and horseradish strudel and later a hot chocolate. I looked through vinyl and walked around the market more. I left and walked towards the Berlin Wall Memorial, hopped ona metro, peed at a Burger King, and went back to Boxhagener Platz. I caught the tail end of another market and walked around the platz more. I eventually got dinner at this amazing burger place called Tante Biggie.  The place was so into craft burgers. I ordered this fried cheese burger with butternut squash, lettuce, tomatoe and truffle and it was so good. I also had fries with this sepia aioli and it was so good. I cut into the burger and this hot cheeze ooooozed out. I know i should have gotten currywurst but this was just so good. Afterwards, I went back to the air bnb and headed to the airport.

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I really loved Berlin! I know a lot of people who visit it don't entirely love it and I think it's because it isn't your typical old and beautiful European city. I really loved the vibes, the grit, and the diversity. Everyone was so nice and just so cool and I would really love to go back to this city in a couple of years when I'm a little older. I loved this trip so much and really want to see more of Germany because I feel like Berlin is an anomaly to it. The graffiti was great, I loved learning more about the history and I definitely learned a lot, and it was so so so so so incredibly great to see Jazz and be able to do everything with her.  It's definitely hard coming back after a great weekend but I have so much to look forward to as I leave for Helsinki and Tallinn tomorrow. There's just so much going on and it's so great and I am so grateful for all of it. Woo!!!