Sunday 27th of December 2009 – Berlin Day One – Karl Marx Allee
We landed at 14,30, local time and one hour ahead from London. Got a taxi to hotel we’re staying at Greisfwald: 211 Greifswalder St in NE Berlin. The guy in reception who greeted us is quite a character, he wasn’t too impressed when we said we spoke English, but I think he was just joking. Very friendly and chatty. He later on recommended us many places to go to, did lots of drawings on our map, told us how he used to be on Love Parade… The walls in the Hotel are full of signed photos of musicians, none that I know, probably mostly German. And breakfast, well, brunch, is served until 12. So we can have lie ins!!! One of the reasons we booked this place was the late breakfast. Very bohemian.
We left the hotel around 4:30 and walked down Greifswalder St, turned left to Friednstr, then found ourselves in Karl Marx Allee, with rows and rows of wide, tall buildings, which reminded me a bit of the residential areas in Brasilia, Asa Sul and Asa Norte, only these buildings were taller and longer, but had a similar layout and sense of space. Shame it was dark. We ended up at Hackesher, in a shopping center, and ate lasagne and ravioli. We looked at the guide and went to nearby oldest pub in Berlin, 1621. We hadn’t booked a table so were only allowed to stay for an hour. The owner didn’t seem convinced we’d finish our bottle of wine in an hour but we did! We sat next to Australian girl, who also lives in London, and talked to her for a bit.
We headed back home, desperately trying to find a normal bar, and it turns out the only one we found was very near our hotel. A heavy metal bar called Access. Imagine our surprise when we walked in and smelt the nicotine! Turns out in Berlin you can still smoke in bars, and restaurants have separate areas for smokers. They should have done it like that in London… Drank the local beer, had a few fags, I’ll have to start stopping smoking again on new year’s day!
Sights of old buildings along Greisfwald Street, Knaack Club, Karl Marx Bust, jewish candles on many windows in the apartments along Karl Marx Allee, a Hackers convention outside the Shopping Centre Markaat. Tried currywurst for first time.