2 days in Berlin

Berlin, berlin… how fondly I think of you. Just letting myself melt back into the feelings and emotions that I had in that city makes me all warm and tingly. Berlin was 2 days of magic, the magic that happens when you have really great people together, all on the same string of consciousness. 2 days felt like a month and 2 seconds at the same time. I wish it could have lasted forever; it was a high, a high you only get a few times in your life if you’re lucky. It was Bryn, Ivy, and I with our German friends David and Matze from exchange.  Night one started with 5 pints of local beer followed by 5 hours of conversation, next our German “tour guides” led us to a fantasyland.  The outside looked like a big dead building, the inside guts filled with art and spray paint skin. The walls were thick with color and gloss. We ascended five or 6 flights to be led into a room of red light, a room where you instantly felt that you could leave all your inhibitions at the door, in this room you had the creativity to talk about whatever you may and be whomever you liked. It was total freedom tied up in a bow and delivered to us in the form of this squatter bar. We drank, conversed, and danced to dreamlike music that only belonged in an underground scene. The sun greeted us on our return to our hostel home. Two hours of drunken sleep were soaked in.  Check out was at 10.

To my surprise, after not much sleep and in a hung over state, the day 2 was just simply perfect. Our German masterminds with matching red rain jackets took us all over the city. We went to 3 different Berlin wall memorials, an old bombed church, the fanciest mall, 2 or 3 or 4 cafes, pizza, swings, bridges, swanky neighborhoods and back alleys. We did it all, it was as if the day was written for us, the day was planned out to be the most perfect day, moments of pure joy, moments of solitude, moments of reflection and bliss. I don’t really know why I am trying to explain this day to you. There is no way to let you into my world, my memories; I just know that I will never forget Berlin.

Swinging next to the thousand layer chipped Berlin wall.

Swinging for freedom and for remembrance.

Basking in the candlelight from the café with Cherries and Waffles from heaven.

Counting countless bicycles.

Squeezing 5 people into an old school photo mat.

Trying on silly hats.

Jumping and screaming frantically at trains.

Crying from exhaustion and joy.

Being limp and free in the red light.

Sharing shots of delicious Greek liquor.

Exchanging exchange stories.

Gallivanting in 99 cent stick on mustaches.

Coffee.  And then more.

Never forget Berlin.