My last night in Berlin...

The evening started out a little gangsta and it was spectacular. In Berlin, the clubs don’t even open until 1 and go until dawn, so I went to Silvia’s house around 9 so we could grab a bite.  When I got there, she offered me a drink.  Gin and Tonic?  Eh, I don’t really like tonic, so I asked if she had any juice….so, yeah, I was totally sippin on gin and juice a la Snoop Dog at Silvi’s house. Next up, Döner Kabab for dinner.

Döner Dach is the best Döner Kabab in Berlin.  A Döner Kabab is a very traditional food in Berlin.  It’s basically a pita triangle filled with shaved chicken (gyro style), veggies, potatoes, a dill sauce, hot sauce, and lemon juice.  It was honestly the most amazing thing I’ve eaten in Berlin.

Silvia....killin' it.

Isn't it weird seeing me eat in a photo that is not a selfie?? I needed 2 hands for this.

Murdered it!

Guess who's in the clean plate club???  burp.

With a full stomach, we met up with Fanny, Kati and their friends for some drinks at a hipster bar in Fredrichshain called Habermeyer.  This bar was so cool.  All of the lights were red. It felt very much like a prohibition era Speakeasy.  

Fanny and Kati (my tennis partner). My iPod does not like the red lights....

Silvia

Silvia and I looking creepy in red

Kati and I making a date for South Africa

There were old pinball machines in the back and the DJ was literally spinning 45s and LPs from the 1940s-70s.  He would pick up a telephone to listen in on the next track that was about to play.  It was super retro and fit in perfectly with this bar.  Tunes like The Pink Panther, Secret Agent Man and the Jackson 5 set the mood to a very laid back chill scene.

They served lots of fun shots too. I don’t typically do shots, but we had a Mexican shot, (which was basically a Bloody Mary) and a sour shot that was unidentifiable, but delicious nonetheless.

Prost Fanny

Bottoms up, bitches...

After a couple gins and a couple shots and lazy oldies buzzing through my head, it was time for us to depart to the club. I’d heard amazing things about the Berlin club scene and it was my turn to jump right in.

We went to Suss War Gestern (Sweet was yesterday).  It was another one of Fanny and Silvia’s go-to spots.  There were 3 rooms of dancing, 2 electro, 1 80’s room in the basement.  Plus there were a couple chill out rooms with no music but were amply equipped with a bar and 1970’s mustard colored couches.

Ha, someone in our group was wearing a Dodgers hat. I have decided that anytime I see an LA hat in a bar, I will selfie with it as an homage to my peeps back home.

We started off in the chill room and quickly went into the 80’s room in the basement.  Unfortunately, the DJ down there sucked.  She was playing music that was too slow to dance to, but the room was filling up and it was nearly wall-to-wall people.  Had there been a fire, I would have been dead for sure.  What I can’t understand is why asshole next to me was smoking.  The room at 7 foot ceilings max and there were 100 people crammed into a 120 sf room Auschwitz style and his stupid ass was smoking.  There was very little air in the basement anyway and now he was poisoning the already mildew-filled room with his secondhand smoke.  My eyes were burning and the DJ was shit so we retreated back upstairs.  (And SHIT, the boys we were with gave up our seats in the chill area.)  So, into the Electro area we went.  The ceiling of this room was so trippy it was nauseating to look at. There was an LED board on the entire ceiling and fuchsia, pink and red lights chased each other throughout the room in rapid, darting movements.  I was mesmerized and decided I totally needed ecstasy or pot to make it tolerable, so I looked away.  I couldn’t stop. It was like crack. I sat down in a stool and chair danced while I stared at the addictive ceiling.  Then I made myself sick and got up and started bouncing to the electro music.

Obviously, these do not do the ceiling justice...

  

It’s really hard to listen to music without words for several hours.  I was spent.  I think I failed a little bit.  It was only 3AM.  I’ll have to come back to Berlin and try again.

When I got home around 3:30, I looked over to see if my Brazilian roommates were there, they weren’t.  So, I flicked on the light and a groan and an arm flailed up from the bunk above mine.  Oops, I guess I had a new roommate. I quickly turned off the light and crept into the room.  As an experienced traveler and late night lurker, I know the proper etiquette is to leave your PJ’s on your bed so you can quickly change without disturbing anyone.  I did and was asleep in 5 minutes.  My Brazilian roommates, however, did not get that memo.  They turned the light on around 4:15.  Our new roommate groaned, but they left the light on and started rooting around for their shit.  Then, an all out war started.  Bunk bed girl started yelling at them about the light, “You have roommates, you need to be respectful of others.”  Then they started yelling back, “It’s a hostel, get over it.”  The bickering continued for another 10 minutes or so during which I fell asleep with the pillow on my head. Good thing I can sleep through anything and chose a bottom bunk.  The light didn’t bother me and the pillow was sufficient at drowning out their bitching.  Bunk Bed girl was up at 8am to repack her shit and move out.  I slept in til 9:30 and was on my way to Frankfurt.