Berlin: Tschüss!

Greetings! Unfortunately, my time in Berlin came to a close. Nevertheless, I will be back. Berlin, you left me speechless and longing for more.

I knew going into this trip that five days would not be enough. While not exactly the largest city globally, it is rather massive. I visited eight or nine museums in the days following my last post. Berlin is famous for its number of museums. However, it’s a bit of a scam. Before any Berliners or Germans get mad, let me explain. The Museums on Museum Island are great and full of interesting artifacts, art, and information. However, beyond that, the museums are generally filler content with one or two things worth looking at. Lastly, most museums are pretty small compared to those I have visited in the US or Russia. I do still recommend visiting museums if you plan to come to Berlin. I would recommend purchasing the 30€ Museum Pass. The pass is good for three days and grants you access to over 30 different public museums. Also, be prepared to be a bit surprised about the contents of museums. The spy museum had almost nothing about the spies of Berlin during the Cold War, even though their advertising centers around this. The photography museum is merely a tiny exhibition and has nothing about the history or techniques of photography/cameras. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the museums, and I would recommend anyone spend some time walking through them (with my warning, of course).

Museums are not all Berlin has to offer. Berlin’s food scene is wicked. Being an international city, Berlin is not known for its German cuisine. On the other hand, it’s better known for its international cuisine, predominantly Turkish and Greek food. Following WWII, Germany accepted tons of migrants from Turkey and Greece to import cheap labor to help rebuild Germany. Many of them stuck around, making Döner a sidewalk stable in Berlin alongside Currywurst. While I made sure to try both döner and currywurst, I made an effort to visit the Russian restaurants here. After having been outside of Russia for over two months, it was comforting to be able to order Russian food in Russian. The two restaurants I tried were Datscha (formerly Gorky Park) and Pasternak. The food was incredible at both restaurants, but I must say that Datscha stuck out to me more.

However, the food adventures did not end there. I’m not sure which stars aligned, but my friend Lydia just so happened to be passing through Berlin on her way to Riga, Latvia, where she’ll be studying Russian. I went to Pasternak the first time and Datscha the second with her. We had bigger plans to make reservations for the restaurant in the Berlin TV Tower. While service was a bit slow, the food was incredible, and so was the view.

Wait, let me clarify a bit. I came to Berlin to celebrate my birthday, and celebrate, I did. So, Tuesday was my first day in Berlin. Wednesday was the primary museum day. Now, back to the blog post!

Thursday, my birthday, I spent in two different museums looking at artwork. I grabbed sushi at a place on my way from the first museum to the second. After recharging a bit, I met up with my new friend, Janis. Janis essentially volunteered to take me out for food and drink for my birthday. It was a great night, and a birthday I will remember. 

The peak of my adventure in Berlin had yet to come. Lydia and I had discussed what she would like to do or see before her arrival, but we had no other solid plans beyond dinner on Saturday. Lydia and I expected her to be quite jetlagged upon her arrival on Friday, but she messaged me, saying she would skip napping altogether. Who was I to complain? So, I wrapped up what I was doing. I had been down a couple of U-Bahn stops from our two hostels (we were at neighboring stations) shopping at this gender-neutral shop. I found them after they liked a few of my photos, and I decided to head down to see what it was like. The people, the clothes, and the property were just so distinct. I ended up buying something.

After heading back to my hostel, I went down one stop to finally meet Lydia in person. We went down to Pasternak to grab lunch. After lunch, we walked around a bit and saw some sights. Afterward, we went back to my hostel to recharge and plan the night. We made the crazy decision to give going to Berghain a shot. Berghain is a club in Berlin famous for both its music, the space, and its difficulty getting in.

The head bouncer even has his own Wikipedia page. We made our way down there, getting there around 22:30. For a Friday and Berghain, it was pretty early. It was a good decision, and the line was short. After 20 minutes, we were at the front of the line. The bouncer at the door seemed tough and rugged. The bouncer had asked the girls in front of us which DJs they were here to see; I couldn’t recall a single name even though we had looked it up earlier. The girls got in. It was our turn to face judgement. My stomach was in my throat; my heart was ready to explode. The bouncer confirmed if we were just two people and then asked the same question. Luckily, Lydia had said Lil Snake to me after the girls were asked this question. I answered the bouncer, admitting I didn’t know any of the other acts for the evening beyond Lil Snake. She sized us up and gave us the approving wave to come in.

It was surreal. We could not believe it. We got into Berghain. WE GOT INTO BERGHAIN.

Unfortunately, that’s where I will have to leave it. It is an experience you have to go and have for yourself. Before moving on, I will say that Berghain was unimaginable.

I think both Lydia and I would have liked to have stayed longer at Berghain, but it wasn’t in the cards. Lydia had just gone through a trans-Atlantic flight with two layovers, and my sleep schedule hadn’t been the greatest. After about five hours in Berghain, we went back to our hostels. The next day, we spent it mostly chilling out. We stopped back at UY Studio, that gender-neutral clothing brand I had gone to before meeting Lydia. They were hosting an open market with Ukrainian food. We had some lazy dumplings, which were divine. Afterward, we grabbed a late lunch at Datscha, which probably wasn’t our best idea because we did not have enough time to digest our food before heading down to the Berlin TV Tower.

Walking past the TV tower so many times the past few days only added to the excitement of finally going up top. This tower, which once was a symbol for the Eastern Bloc and held so much history, was now a symbol of pride and unity for Berlin and Germany. We showed the attendants our tickets and took our elevator to the observation deck. I’m proud to say that I hail from the 203 area code (sorry, 860), and it was comforting to find myself at Bar 203 at the Berlin TV Tower; I think you know why it’s called Bar 203 (meters). We checked in with the restaurant attendant, and she told us to come back in 10 minutes to be seated. While the weather wasn’t perfect, the views from the observation deck and the rotating restaurant were unbelievable. The food was fantastic, and it was a wonderful experience, even if the service was a bit slow. I would recommend everyone go to the observation deck since there aren’t any other options to get a view like that in Berlin.

With our visit to the TV tower in the books, it was time for us to head back and prepare to go our separate ways. Lydia had a very early flight to catch to reach her final destination, Riga. (Lydia, thank you for joining me during my time in Berlin and good luck learning Russian!) On the other hand, I had bags to pack with a 10 AM checkout time. With our farewells, we parted ways at Lydia’s station. I went one stop further on and got myself ready for bed.

On Sunday, my last hours in Berlin were spent walking about and admiring the city. I had checked out at 10 AM and left my stuff in a luggage locker at the train station I would use to get to the airport. I made a beeline for Alexanderplatz. Most people use Alexanderplatz as a starting point when visiting Berlin because of its “central” location and proximity to the TV tower. I, however, was much more interested in ending my trip here and seeing the history that still lies there. While part of East Berlin, there were many soviet additions made to the area. I saw buildings that would fit right in if they were Moscow, like the Kino International. The brutalist block architecture felt surreal and almost alien, but at the same time, it fits right in.

I grabbed one last meal at Datscha, bidding farewell to Berlin. I grabbed my stuff and headed to the airport. Today, you can find me in Thessaloniki, Greece, sweating. More to come soon.

Stay cool out there; it’s a hot one.

Aidan