Das ist so Berlin??

My lovely friend Lotta and I just got back from a three day whirlwind tour of Berlin… we did the thing RIGHT, I have to say. I took a whole lot of Lotta photos (I’ll admit – I’ve been waiting to make that wordplay…) and Berlin graffiti. My entirely unoriginal take-away from the trip was that Berlin is one of the most visually stimulating cities I’ve seen, fun to navigate, and has a whole bunch of sass going for it. In addition to the jaw-dropping murals and continuous tagging / small graffiti art there are stickers and posters plastered to walls and light posts – anywhere you could plaster stuff really. The ubiquitous “DAS IST SO BERLIN” white and red sticker seems to succinctly describe Berlin attitude. It’s not a super friendly place but nor is it mean.

THEMES!
Graffiti

Aggression/intensity

Organization/anal-retentiveness

History

But first we had to get there…. Lotta and I had planned to meet at Nørreport station and metro together… I would bike there to save a tiny amount of money. It was POURING and windy and grey yet I decided it was still a really nice plan to do that. Totally soaked.

Being a stingy student I brought along quite a bit of random food… left over from Thanksgiving shopping mostly. A full head of lettuce, loaf of bread, three large bell peppers, two tomatoes, a round of brie and some havarti. Once on the bus from the airport we decided to play a wild card and start our meal, not knowing when the stop would be. The Germans were concerned with this atypical usage of public space. Another theme – “And you thought Scandis were solemn and organized?? Welkommen til Deutchland.”  Halfway through the ride we say a stop with a word that included the one we were looking for – so we practically leapt off the bus, lettuce in tow only to realize we were right in the middle of German suburbia. No matter, we continued our meal on the next bus. After hopping on a metro, being kicked again after a couple stops, wandering aimlessly a bit, figuring out there was construction and we needed to take a special bus we found ourselves in front row seats for the packed bus ride toward our hostel. On a stop along the way a man didn’t get on in time so pounded the door of the bus with his cell phone (can you say, “you’re only hurting yourself??”). For some unknown reason the driver let him on. Rather than thanking him and taking a spot the guy started screaming in German (and yes I have enough prejudices and historical baggage to be way more intimidated by German than any other language). Then he SPAT in the driver’s face. I was visibly shocked… and pretty impressed at how calmly the driver handled the whole thing.

Made it to the hostel. Whoop whoop! It was unbelievable... only about 12.50 USD a night and beautiful... huge rooms, 24/7 staff, nice lounge, adjacent hip breakfast spot... Go to Grand Hostel Berlin if you need a place to stay. It's in Kreuzberg too, which is one of the best neighborhoods.

Here are some photos cuz I have loads, so why not:

Wandering toward a metro station near our hostel...