Chapter 2: Day 1 and 2 in Berlin

First day in Berlin is dark, cold and overcast. My room won't be ready til 1pm so I started wandering the streets outside the hostel, but it began to rain so I snapped a few pics and went back into the warm. Soon, hopefully, I'll get to a net cafe and let people know I'm alive and well (sorry it took so long). The cabbie on the waz here spoke very little english but we still conversed well as he attempted to explain some things about Germany and German to me - it is a testament to how small Berlin is in comparison to Sydney, as, while walking the streets, I looked in the window of a turning cab, and there was the same cabbie.
The people look different here. Katie's comment was most apt, "they look cranky...and cold." and that's pretty right. They all look meanly efficient, if a person's face can betray that kind of description. Later that day I went to bed at 4pm and awoke at 9pm. I found that my new roommate is an old German man with a terrible cough and scrawled in the Journal is "Great. Fuck Berlin."

Day 2: Breakfast alone in a Youth Hostel is a boring, strange and lonely experience. Most of the people here are Germans on a school trip or in Berlin for a day or 2. I got up at 4am and couldn't sleep anymore, as a result of my bedtime the night before. I showered awkwardly, as I was unable to figure out how the showers worked so I washed my hair and face in the sink. I soon figured out the shower and hopped in for the 1 minute burst the water comes out in. I don't have a towel, so I used yesterday's t-shirt thus, in my mind, cleaning it.
I spent a few minutes on the internet downstairs after awkwardly clambering in the dark trying not to wake my old roommate.
Breakfast was various cold foods, none of which were particularily fun or exciting. After killing as much time as possible in the cafeteria, I left on my first museum expedition. It took me 20 mins to reach my first destination - which was closed so I killed time in a park til it opened. As I watched my breath condense on the air, I noticed it began to rain. But, it looked strange, the drops were falling clumsily. Side to side motions that didn't befit rain at all. I paid attention as the drops fell and landed on my scarf and I smiled. It was snowing.
The Gedenkstatte Deutscher Widerstand, or the German Memorial of Resistance Against the Nazis. It detailed the people within the Third Reich who attempted to assassinate Hitler or subvert the Nazi party, all of whom failed. There were also memorials to the men and women who helped save and shelter the Jews.
The floors all had a Swastika like pattern as it was once the Third Reich headquarters building - I will upload photos later.
After using the very limited english Audio tour, I stepped out and headed up to the Gemäldegalerie which was fille dwith 13th to 17th C European religious artwork - it was pretty, but after a while is all started to run together. At the least the audio tour was better this time. In the same building were two more museums, the Kanstgewerbermuseum ß of some modern art (an exhibit by Thomas Man or something, I don't remember his name) and of ancient European knick-knacks like drinking horns and chests - and the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin's (or Germany's) biggest collection of ink and line drawings, which were very impressive. Across the row lay the Neue Nationalgalerie which had special Exhibits by Jeff Koons and Paul Klee. Further up the road I walked to the Legoland Discovery Center which was complete with a 10ft tall lego giraffe, an almost life-size firetruck and a couple of Santas to top it all off. Just up from there I climbed to the Museum für Film und Fernsehen which chronacled German film history and stars up until the Second World War. This took me to one thirta p.m. and I was hungry. I went to the ground floor of the building and his a small restaurant called "Billa Wilder's" which - as you may have guessed - is dedicated to and contains paraphenalea of, Billy Wilder. I had an Oreo Cookie smoothie and a steak sandwich. Now, this must be a German thing, but EVERY sandwich had Fresh Cream on it...it was fucking WEIRD, man. It even had a sweet salsa dipping sauce - a SANDWICH had DIPPING SAUCE! Okay. Sure. Germans. From there, I paid and went to explore the Potsdamer Platz shopping mall. It just reminded me of a German Westfield, but covered in Bright and appropriate Christmas decorations. I left there and decided to leave the Holocaust memorial for tomorrow and headed back into town via Potsdamer Straße, picking a second hand flap hat - picture Kyle from South Park, but grey - and a pair of second hand insulated boots - converse are NOT the best shoes for winter exploration. Afterwards I went back to the hostel for a mild repose before heading out again. I also met my new roommates for the night, Jan (Yaani) who was in Berlin for 2 days for a job interview and to find apartments, and a silent Asian fellow called Yeu (You). Jan and I arranged for us to meet back at the hostel at 7 to go drinking.

In addition to going to see the Erotik museum, I saw the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche which is the bombed out shell of an old church, charred and broken after WW2; a solemn monument. I removed my glove and felt the stone with my hand and felt strange.
Entering the Erotik Museum is probable the mose awkward part - besides exiting. The bottom floor is a Sex Kino (Sex Cinema) so it looks like your just walking in there - "9-24hr" it boasts. Once in, you walk up the stairs to Bar 69 and the Erotik Shop, buy your ticket and head up to the third floor in the tiny lift and begin the tour of the art (I will insert more info on this later, or if you really want to know, you have only to ask me direct).
I then descended the last staircase, to end up back at Bar 69 and I decided I couldn't leave the place without buying something. Unfortunately, without knowing Anna's g-string size off by heart, I ended up buying a stack of postcards with artworks on them. I walked down the stairwell to the Sex Kino only to realize, I'm walking out of a Sex Kino/Store with a bag. I've bought something, and people will assume the worst. Walking out is worse than walking in at this point. I step towards the automatic doors and they slide open to let me through; immediately people turn their heads to see who is coming out and there's me with my bright red "Bar 69: Sex Up Your Life" bag. Hi. I continue on the road back to the hostel which is the road I took TO the museum and pass another Sex Kino which I photograph. And guess what was next to that Sex Kino? You guess it, A Chinese Restaurant! What? Don't you see the relation between the two? I do!
My leg was playing up so I went back to the hostel to rest and at 7:30 Jan got back and it was time for beer and dinner. He walks in, brandishing 2 Becks beers - 510mL each.
"One for each of us" he smiles. I take the beer and marvel at it. He pops it open using the apartment keys.
"My house search has been successful, we go out now!" We pour over a map for a few minutes, plotting our night. We deicde to catch the U-Bahn to Alexanderplatz and walk to Hackecher Markt, allowing me to take in the Dome (cathedral) and the Neue Synagogue along the way - both magnificent, enormous stone buildings. We finish out first beers and passing throuh a Christmas market, "Have you ever had Glühwine?" Jan asks. I shake my head. He smiles, "Come with me". We weave through the stalls and he takes me to a stall marked "Glühewine", "it is hot red wine mixed with...urm...sugar and either rum or brandy."
"Rum." I nod, and he nods too. He orders two and we drink. It is a strange and wonderful drink, sweet yet potent. We finish those off in the biting cold of the night as walk to out destination - somewhere. As we walk, he gets a phone call and begins speedily speaking in German - and honest to God it sounds like there are no SPACES in German sentences. Along the side of the road stand groups or single girls who appear to be smoking and waiting in the rain with umbrellas, eyeing passers-by. I eye Jan enquiringly, "Yes," he says, "they are prostitutes." I turn back to look at them - all tall, platinum blonde (some more obviously dyed than others) and all wearing expensive winter coats and boots and tight jeans. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were just trendy girls in fashion from back home. Compared to the decrepid, junkie prostitues from back home, it was very strange to see pretty ones. "Fancy a date with two German girls?" one leans in and asks as we walk by. I thumb the ring around my neck, "No thanks." Jan smiles, implying that if I were single I'd be tempted too, and I don't know if he's wrong.
We stop at a schwarma place along the way and fill up our stomachs before hitting a bar somewhere. I haven't had one since Israel and it tastes good.
On our journey we see a small, underground bar called X-Terrain. Outside another girl yelles after us, "Please! Stop! Come on..."
"Did she just really beg us to stop?" I ask.
"I...I think she did." Jan says and we walk into the bar.
The bar is tine and smoking is allowed. We order a couple of local beers and sit down. The guy at the cash is smoking a joint. On our table is a candle supported on a talle mound of dried, dripped wax, underneath which was a candleholder - somewhere. It must have been the wax of 50 or 60 candles, if not more. Candles just never cleaned up.
After our beers we left the bar, having spoken of our loves and our prospective careers and wander through the Berlin night. The streets are dead and the wind and air have become much colder and I shiver in my insufficient coat. We look for a good bar but find none as they're all empty. We come across a Uni party, that for 9 Euros you get entry, coat check and 6 drinks, "Don't you have a job interview in the morning?" I ask. Jan nods sadly, "Maybe another time, yes?" and I nod.
We get back on the U-Bahn back to Kurfürstenstraße and walk back to the hostel, picking up two more beers along the way. Back at the hosel we finish the beers and brush our teeth and tip toe to our beds, trying not to wake the sleeping roommates. We exchange emails and I fall asleep before my head hits the pillow.

- from the Journal 10th and 11th Dec.