6th and 7th of September, 2021.
“Berlin. Fuck.” Charlize Theron, Atomic Blonde. For me Berlin it is much better than that, but still it worth the quote. I love her and I love that movie. I love her in that movie.
For so many reasons, Berlin is much better than Paris. Maybe also because I have in my mind that it would be better. I would make it better. I wish I had some kind of clue of that for Paris.
I stay for only one night in this really nice hostel. I mean, for the quality of the place, the location and the size / importance of the capital in question, I think it could not be a better place to stay. I reserved one bed in a 4 bed female dorm and for that I paid less than 25€. The size of the room it is just perfect. And the bathroom is amazing! Honestly, as good as some hotels I staid before. And they even give me towels! Which they do not mention in the website or Booking.com but it does not matter! Stop everything because they have elevator! It basically looks like a very nice place for a cheap price. It is only 2 minutes walking from the Berlin Central Station. The guests kitchen is clean, tidy and equipped enough. Now, the staff might not be the most friendly one for a hostel but they are friendly enough. I could leave my backpack in the locker room when I arrived earlier than the time for check-in and on the day of my departure for the whole day. And for the few hours I spend there using my computer before I actually leave the place, I did not feel at all as I should finish and leave it quickly. So based on that, I totally recommend this hostel: Menninger Hotel, Berlin Central Station.
With a map of Berlin on hands, I quickly make a plan for my two days in town. On the first day I visit some of the monuments; I buy a rain cover in Decathlon; I buy 3 pairs of socks on Prymark; I go to this very old, family bar called Metzer Eck for a Berliner Pilsner (very good beer, by the way); and I see the City of lights, special kind of thing in a few different spots, which is kind of nice. In the end, even though I walked a lot, I am not exhausted or in pain. I am happy and fine. I prepare some tortellini I have bought for dinner, and the only bad thing it was this beer I also bought it, Berliner Weisbier Original, which is yuck! I know the green and red ones are quite popular and maybe they taste better but this one is disgusting! Chocolate and movie night for Lei! I do not know but even though I was tired I felt like a movie. One in particular, about people who deny the Holocaust ever existed. The movie is called Denial and it is quite bad. I wished that was the only bad thing on my day. I receive and email from whom should supposedly be my host, and she is saying I cannot come now. Fucking stupid people who do not read my profile and disappear after the first message for one week, after saying I could come, to say that there is a problem with the dates. It is a total lack of respect!
Second day it suppose to be much shorter because I will leave Berlin in the end of the day to camp out of town and hitchhike next day early morning. So I basically walk a long way to the East Side Gallery, to see the the longest remains of the Berlin Wall; I pay attention to some old buildings and then I come back to the hostel. After doing everything I have to do on my computer (trying to decide where to go next, and what to do even if I do not have a place to go), I get changed and ready to leave.
Unfortunately I struggle a little bit to find a place where to camp. Quite a few people walking around, and a weird guy too, but I managed after all. Then next morning a funny situation about the hitchhiking spot. The wikihitch suggest this place because you supposed to be picked up fast. It is a traffic lights place, with a very tiny hardshoulder area. They suggest you stay at the traffic lights and use the red light to ask the cars. Bullshit! If you stand under the traffic lights, facing the cars they will be in your left, where is also the hardshoulder, so how the hell they will even see you or how the hell will you cross in front of all the other cars o go talk with whoever stops? Luckily for me, because of construction, one of the three lines was blocked (with pillars to block the passage but away from each other just enough for people to park), and where this blocking started, the cars have to slow down a lot. So I was standing in there. It is freaking cold and my hands are freezing! I have to keep my backpack on my back because it is the only way the driver can see it. But at least there is a lot of people who smile and support me even though they do not stop. I think it take a bit more than half an hour to Mathias stop for me.
P.S.: To go up to the dome in the Reichstag Building (photograph below) for free, you have to book really in advance. When I tried a few days before going to Berlin, the only dates available were for a month ahead. I sent them an email asking if there was any other way, they suggest me to go to their stand, just beside Berlin Pavillon, which is basically across the street from Reichstag, and try there early morning because sometimes they have some places available. When I got in there around 2 p.m. all the places were already taken.
