Berlin (Words)

Berlin was amazing*

Day One: Stayed awake for what felt like 72 hours. Rediscovered the Mitte district, doing everything in my power to stay awake. German food at Ballhaus (a restaurant/ballroom dancing studio).

Day Two: I am a tourist! Hiked up the Siegessaule (freedom column statue thing). Walked through the serene and green and quiet Tiergarten (park). A Lebanese guy starts hitting on me as I'm eating a Wurst on the Kurfuerstendamm. First, he tells me his name is Ahmed, five minutes later it is Hussein. Pay-as-you-wish wine bar (best idea ever). Naan-avacado-arugula pizza (brilliant!) at McImbiss. Drunken photo booth shoot with Emma.

Day Three: Emma's day off from gallery and artist assisting work! Rediscover Prenzlauerberg district. Emma discovers hot American book store guy, Jonathan. I ride the U-Bahn (subway) without a proper ticket and don't get caught by the undercover subway police (i'm shaking my ticket out of nervousness, so he can't read the time stamp). I buy Birkenstocks. We go to Edda's (Emma's mother's friend) apartment and water her plants and check on her apartment. She owns a Gerhard Richter painting. I hyperventilate.

Day Four: Neue National Gallerie has a Bruecke (German Expressionist group) exhibition. Amazing. Breakfast with Emma's two roommates, Ina and Johannes (both theater junkies and super nice people), in an American-style cafe that serves big slices of cake and bagels. Rediscover Potsdamer Platz, which boasts brand new buildings that nobody inhabits. Memorial to the jews. Dinner with Marion at the Madchen Italiaener near Hackescher Markt. Olives! Marion and I close that chapter in our lives, which is fantastic. Emma and I ride to Kreuzberg (Turkish neighborhood) for the Freiluftkino (open air movie theater) for "Crossing the Bridge" - a documentary on the music of Istanbul. Emma falls asleep half-way through the film. We are attacked by mosquitoes, but don't have any visible bites the next morning.

Day Five: I visit Emma at work at the Gallerie Barbara Wien. Her boss is this Power-Frau, totally self-assured and put together. On top of her shit. She has an amazing rare art book store in the bottom of the gallery. I spent two hours there, thumbing through everything.

Day Six: I go to the sale at the A.P.C. store. French clothing is my new obsession. I go to the small flea market at Bergmannstrasse. Emma, Ina, Marion, and I head to Oststrand to see a band. Unfortunately, it rains and we never get to see the band, but we have a good time anyways. We drink Coronoas that only cost 3 euros. Everyone thinks that's expensive, except me.

Day Seven: Sunday brunch in Kreuzberg at Rote Harfe. Superior to many of the brunches I've had in New York. Brunch lasts over three hours. Emma buys a crocheted shirt in the Osloer Strasse U-Bahn station. Visit Edda in the Jewish Hospital. Coffee at Morgenrot in the afternoon for a pick-me-up. Salad and Paprika chips for dinner. Emma's slideshow of her Greece pictures.

Day Eight: Meyerbeer cafe (my old haunt with Erin when I lived in Berlin) is still near the Humboldt University (where I studied)! Emma and I go to the vegan cafe and it tastes amazing. We go to Kaffee Burger (bar) at night and dance until 4. I drink Beck's Green Lemon (mmm) and at the end of the night it turns into gay night somehow.

Day Nine: It rains (for the first time), so I go to the Pergamon Museum and bum around Mitte in the rain.

Day Ten: I buy my French coat at the Galleries Lafayette. I also buy a ton of German candy at Extra (grocery store). I try to go to the Hamburger Bahnhof (contemporary art museum), but they're between installations (boo). Emma and I go to the sauna. I'm no longer a sauna-virgin.

*this is roughly how the trip went. i scribbled notes in my filofax.