Finding Feet

Where am I now. Well, still sleeping in a hammock. I feel a bit like I have jumped into Berlin and am still trying to find my balance. My summer has been crazy busy, I always felt behind with everything, now I have these long days which I'm not entirely sure how to fill and haven't yet found a corner to call my space to escape to.

Anyway, a gem of advice:

http://www.bvg.de/

Travel. If you come for a week or more then bite that bullet and get a travel ticket. It's incredibly tempting here in Berlin to outwit the ticket collectors and avoid paying. However, they are smart and not at all lenient with foreigners. You soon develop a minor phobia of suspicious looking men who travel in pairs. I found myself a bit jumpy every time I'd get on the train or pull into the station. After messing up the whole monthly ticket shenanigans I now have a beautiful, mit Fahrrad, travel pass. It cost a whopping 72 oiros. However, with a bit of perspective this is actually not so bad at all. This covers all U-bahn, S-bahn, bus travel which goes on all night and the trains are 24 hours at the weekend. The service is excellent, with very little wait. And I find myself zipping all over the city with a bike in tow. Wunderbar.

What have I been up to. Meeting lots of people, which is good, so I'm starting to feel I actually have some friends here. The city has a certain rhythm which I definitely haven't mastered yet. Many will generally start their day in the afternoon, but not really emerging into the world till early evening. Bars, socialising will fill up that sun-sinking period. It's at around 2/3 am however that the city really comes into life; the streets fill up in seconds and everywhere is buzzing. This is about the time that I start to flag and feel confused at the bright eyed energy of everyone else. They then will wander home with the rising sun, probably get breakfast en route to the sound of bird song, and sleep till the afternoon.

Soo:

http://www.rosis-berlin.de/
First club recommendation. Really cool venue, not massive but full of character. Found on Revalerstr it's at the heart of Berlin's night life. Check out the djs in advance though.

Find free classical musik, outdoors, every Sunday evening throughout summer at the Bode Musuem on the Musuem Island in Mitte.

Yesterday, I went to this place: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flughafen_Berlin-Tempelhof and it put me in mind of this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8626000/8626927.stm

Utterly magical. A giant, empty, Airport in the city centre! Not just any one, but the very first of giant city airports. Planes no longer roar along the runways, rather kite riders fly past the cyclists, rollerbladers and skateboarders. My friend Jakob is very skeptical that the place will last with it's increasing limitations to access and the competition in the area for expensive housing projects. However, I am so delighted that it even exists in the first place and really excited that it is right next to my future home. It was a beautiful evening, sat in the long grass with a beer and the brilliant sun throwing out long dramatic shadows behind us.

I think that there is an awareness of Berlin changing. Last night we were sat at Admiral Brücke, full of students, the ground sparkling with bottle top lids. The air buzzed with conversation in the warm evening. Around 23:00 the police came, with about 4 or 5 vehicles, to shift us all on. There was a feeling of frustration, that the police here are increasingly strict and perceiving a situation that hadn't arose.

Right. Now I'm off to try and fix my bike which is already having problems. Oh dear. Luckily, I have met a bike enthusiast.

Liebe Grüße, und bis Bald!

xx