burbs in Berls

First weekend in Berlin was a little quieter than expected, but more wholesome - and a good chance to fully recover from an epic succession of weekends in Melbourne.



It seems the beautiful weather has come along for the journey. Melbourne was exceptionally beautiful during my last few weeks there, and Berlin was close to setting some kind of record this Saturday... 29ºC is almost unheard of during April.

South-West Berlin's forests, by Schlachtensee station (S-Bahn)

In response, we headed to the local lakes. In a word; beeeeeyoootiful. Without a doubt, the coldest water I've been in for a while. Literally breath-taking (as in muscle-tightening, hard-to-breathe... Just fine, so long as you keep moving).



A little hazy on the details after this, but I know I ended up at Kleine Reise a couple of times across the weekend... a bar in Kreuzberg. It was recommended to me by a friend when I said I was looking for something with the same kind of vibe as Killing Time (Windsor, Melbourne -  a second home). While it hasn't filled the KT-sized hole in my soul, I'll definitely head back there. My only complaint is that it hasn't got a big enough system - by half. Having had a chat with one of the bartenders/owners/mangers, this could be due to the noise complaints they've experienced recently.

half a shop sign eye-balled on my way home - jack your body ;)

Onwards... following this, I wound up at an unlikely venue. Set inside a spare room within an apartment block, Loftus Hall - run by the same owners of Kleine Reise - could be easy to miss. While I'm told it's only a recent addition to Berlin's club scene, it has plenty of potential (on the smaller, more-intimate scale of venues). Packing a bigger system, the only changes I'd make are to add a few couches to the bar space and some red cellophane to the bar lights (as they bleed white light into the otherwise-red-lit dance-floor, which kind of effects the intimate atmosphere going on in there). The sounds were oozing a raw-house vibe. Really cool. Perhaps a little cheesy at times, but good fun.
 

Wandering out of Loftus Hall, the next adventure was quite literally beckoning from the other end of the street. Following my ears, I came across a bunch of wild (and wired?) kids cranking tunes from some kind of battery-powered amp...


... caught the train home around 5am, catching my first sunrise in Berlin (the sun sets really late at this time of year, and rises pretty early).

here comes the sun...

An interesting night hearing a bunch of sounds I've never heard before : )

South-East corner of Templehof (Neukölln side)

Having slept most of Sunday, decided to go for a bike ride that evening. Despite getting lost, eventually made it to Templehof. Historically-relevant for those that way inclined, it's now a massive public park.Will have to visit again next time there's a proper event happening.




Come Monday evening, was invited to a small gig in a courtyard next-door to a comic bookstore. While the main act, Robin Sukroso, usually does a kind of one-man-band show with a modified electric guitar, tonight was an acoustic performance (as he recently had most of his gear stolen after a gig - shiiiit). Though not his usual show, his showmanship was top-notch - will make sure I get to his next electronic gig later in May.





Here he is doing his electronic thing:



While I failed to understand his intermission chit-chat (that damn language barrier) -he briefly described some of the modifications to his electric guitar; essentially he's added a bunch of velocity-sensitive drum pads to it, and also the top two strings (lowest in tune), can be used to transmit midi messages... so they can be used to play a synth, for example... and usually there are no intermissions, with one track leading into the next... a seemingly-endless succession of grooves... Will have to witness this first hand.


Here's the flyer:

Headed to Neukölln tomorrow. Should be a little more wild ;)

leaving Mitte

Was awoken early this morning by the bumping and grinding of a dorm-mate and the girl who works across the road from him. He works nightshifts, so they didn't lob-in till around 5am. After much huffing and puffing from the bed next to me, decided it was time to go for an early-morning ride :)


Took a detour off one of the main roads heading North (Prenzlauer Allee) - away from the TV Tower (Fernsehturm in Deutsche) - and found myself in an old cemetery. Apart from the distant hum of morning commuters, it would have been easy to forget I was in the middle of a city… Am really beginning to appreciate the amount of parkland remaining in Berlin - I'm sure it will make for some memorable, spontaneous park-parties come the warmer weather.


Next mission was to find a basket for my bike, so that I can lug more stuff around. Found one, care of a beauty-product-department-store… quick stroll in & out and I was up a complimentary bicycling accessory (and looking around town, I'm not the only one to have reached this conclusion - all I had to do now was find some zip-ties…).


Attempting to hurdle the language barrier, I next decided to hunt-down some occy straps  (according to the girl at reception, that's 'gepacktrager-gammieband' in German)… done & dusted, the afternoon's mission was a cross-town adventure with all my bags.


Having found a couch to crash in the South-West of Berlin, it was time to check-out of the hostel and time to exit Mitte. Thanks to the kind generosity of a host on couch-surfers.org, I had a place lined-up not far from the S-Bahn station in Lichterfelde West… getting there proved to be a bit of a mission. Carrying about 30kg of stuff, I can safely-say that I need to lighten the load!   

Later in the afternoon my host and I rode down to the local 'supermarket' to stock-up on food. Never has grocery shopping been so interesting! So many unusual foods - from packaged goods to veggies,  there was a lot of things I didn't recognise. What's more, I've noticed that cheese is much cheaper here. So is Jagermeister (€10 a bottle)… interesting : )

my host's backyard - think I'll catch some rays & Vit D

this part of town is very picturesque and quiet…  come the weekend, I think I'll be hungry for some oonce-tst-ooonce-tst sounds and vibe… maybe Berghain is on the cards for Sunday?





And here's the audio environment:

day-one in Berlin

goooood morning!

Arose at 8am feeling pretty good. Think it was partially due to the solid sleep brought-on care of a Zanex (a friend's farewell-Melbourne present for me). When it came to lights-out time last night, that did the job... Even if fellow dorm-mates had been rustling plastic bags or screaming out drunkenly at 2 in the morning, I was thoroughly oblivious. As a result, feeling pretty in-sync with the immediate world.

Managed to hunt-down a push-bike today. Bit of a chunky beast, rather than a sleek machine - but it goes, and it didn't cost me the world. Now I'm free to roam the streets - just have to keep in mind which side of the road they cruise down here!

space-age apartments in Kreuzberg, alongside a DIY hostel?

 Had a few language-barrier moments... busting-out my pocket-sized English/German dictionary in a department store, while trying to find a bike chain (all the while, freaking-out that someone is outside stealing my recently-purchased, disguised-to-look-locked-while-actually-being-unlocked bike).


Don't feel like I've really got to know Berlin as-yet. Still sorting out the logistics of it all - and probably spending too much time in Mitte to get the real Berlin-vibe (as that's where the hostel is).




footnote: for anyone else looking to buy a second-hand bike, I got mine from Der Altladen, (Bürknerstrasse, 23, Kreuzberg). I'm sure you can find cheaper rides at the fleamarkets, but I didn't know when/where they were happening (and was keen to get a set of wheels quickly).

almost in Berlin

ticket to ride

Made it as far as Frankfurt's main railway station - a short trip from the airport. My Frankfurtian friend, Luca, described his home-town as ugly and industrial. While my own experience has been limited to the airport and main railway station (so probably a little biased) - maybe he has a point? On the other hand, the plane flew in close to some pretty widespread forestland - and the train from the airport to main station took us through similar-looking terrain…

Frankfurt train tracks in the rain

Apparently it's 12ºC here, but it feels warmer than I expected it to. Maybe that's because I'm lugging around half my body-weight in baggage? Will see if I can lighten the load soon.


Was fed and watered during the flight, feeling ok. It's about 4pm in the arvo here, and I feel like I've got 4 o'clock-itis - so I think I'll be ok with jet-lag ;)



Edit: have now arrived in Berlin. Staying in right in the centre (Mitte). Will try and find somewhere more exciting to reside in the next few days. Finding a second-hand pushbike seems like a good idea too.