Long weekend at hostel in Berlin.
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The story is very detailed since I might use the information myself if I would like to return.
You got a crisp bread and something to drink onboard the airplane. Not so good. Everything went really smoothly at Tegel airport in Berlin. You got your luggage quickly and could walk right out without any passport or security checks. You turn to right to terminal A, B, D and E. You have to walk some minutes over a footbridge. Near the entrance to the main terminal building is an information desk. To the left of it they sell tickets for metro and buss. I bought a Berlin City Tour Card which was valid for 5 days. The man said that it was better than the Berlin Welcome Card. It cost 34 euro. Region A and B is normally enough but I bought one which included region C since I intended to visit the palaces in Potsdam.
There are four bus stops, numbered 1-4, at the main entrance to the terminal. Bus 109 departs from bus stop 4 which is closest to the footbridge.
You put the ticket in a machine when you enter the bus and then you don’t have to do it again. It is really easy to travel with metro and busses in Berlin. You take your luggage with you onboard the buss so you don’t have to worry that it will be stolen.
I jumped off at the third stop if I remember correct which is Jacob Kaiser Platz. There you change to metro line 8, U8. You get off at Möckernbrücke and it is just a short walk to the hostel. It takes around 40 minutes in total from the airport to the hostel.
The hostel was really nice and I will definitely stay there when I visit Berlin next time. Reeta was ill and couldn’t go with me. I therefore had to pay the first night for her since I hadn’t cancelled her booking 48 hours in advance.
Another Swedish man in my age arrived a little later and stayed in my room. He, and two woman, should also stay until Tuesday. They were from Umeå up in north Sweden. He told me that there was an Argentina Tango festival in Berlin and they danced all days until Monday.
I went out around 7 p.m. for a 10 km walk all the way up to Hachescher Markt, Oranienburger Strasse and Alaxander Platz before I walked all the way back. I bought ½ l Coca Cola and ½ l Vodka at Netto on my way. The bottle of Vodka cost 5 euro.
Just some hundred meters from the hostel was a traffic accident. I heard a terrible sound and thought that a car had crashed into another car just 10 meters from where I was standing. I realized however quickly that somebody had been hit by the car. I was certain that the person must be dead and that there would be blood all over the place. There was a person lying on the street but no blood. The person moved like in cramp and I suppose that he or she must be in pain, maybe dying. After some time however the person, it was a man, managed to sit up. The first thing he did was to ask for a cigarette so I suppose he was quite okay after all. He had been driving on a motorcycle or moped which might have saved his life. Later he tried to stand up but I think he had broken one leg.
I went to the hostel, read my mail on one of the computers which didn’t cost anything, rested a little and prepared myself for going out and dance.
First I thought that the metro had closed for the night so I jumped onboard a bus but unfortunately it was the wrong line. I had to go back to the nearest metro station and passed again the place where the accident had occurred. An ambulance came and fetched the injured man. It had taken the ambulance quite some time to get there.
The U1 metro line was still open which was good since that was the line to the disco Watergate Club.
I had mixed 2.5 dl vodka in the Coca Cola bottle which I had to drink up before I reached the disco. I had not eaten anything, just a hamburger sandwich I had brought from home, so I got a little too balmy of the alcohol. I was not really drunk but I was probably quite vulnerable if I should have run into any problem. I tried to find Watergate but I am not sure if it still existed, if it was just closed or if I had been drinking too much so I couldn’t locate it. I had to go back to the hostel. I managed to catch a train back and went to bed around one o’clock.
I went out around 7 in the morning and walked almost the same way as the day before since I wanted to take some photos of the things I had seen.
I walked Stresemannstrasse and Ebertstrasse up to Brandenburger Tor.
I walked Unter den Linden and visited Museum Insel.
I walked up to Alexander Platz.
I walked to Hackescher Markt which is a nice area if you want to take something to eat in the evening. I continued on Oranienburger Strasse and passed the Fun Factory shop.
I ate another hamburger sandwich from home and fed the birds with parts of it. I was home around midday and had been walking around four and a half hour. I was a little tired and read a book while resting my legs.
I passed a shop where they had sewing machines in all the windows. I calculated that it must be around 1200 machines in total.
In the afternoon I visited the Erotic Museum near the Zoo and when I came back I bought a hot dog with bread for 1.5 euro at the festival area. There were probably around 500 booths where they were selling food, all types of alcohol drinks and of course clothes and many other things.
I was afraid of eating for instance vegetables due to the EHEC bacteria which had killed many people in Germany at that time and they still didn’t know where it came from. It was really pity since there were so much you could eat.
The weather was really nice so it would probably be a nice festival. The hostel arranged a bar tour that evening with free shots. The tour cost 10 euro. I think they planned to visit 3-4 bars with live music and then go to a dance place. First I planned to join them but decided instead to go to the festival area. I mixed the rest of the vodka with Coca Cola in a half liter bottle as usual.
I went to the festival area around 7-8 p.m. and spent a couple of hours there. I then took the metro U2 to Senefelder Platz and walked to the nightlife area around Kollwitz Strasse Platz. There were not much people out on the streets. I found after some searching the Weekend Club around 11 o’clock. I was told that I was the third person that evening and I just saw the other two girls who entered before me. I decided to test Kit Kat Club ( info ) instead. If I didn’t managed to get inside I could always come back later to the Weekend Club.
I took the metro U2 two stations to Märkisches Museum and then I was completely lost. The streets at the metro station weren’t on my map. The map had only larger streets. It was dark so I had no idea of directions. If I only had known in what direction the channel was. I have to confess that I wasn’t completely sober but I don’t think that it was a problem. I asked a couple I met but they couldn’t help me. They thought that the channel was in one direction so I walked towards it. I met another guy who I asked and he actually worked in the wardrobe at the club. What a luck! He was nice company so we walked to the club together.
I asked about the strict dress code and he told me that I have to pass Kirsten at the door who decides who will come inside. She was very nice and I had no problem to get inside. The entrance fee was 10 euros.
I was early and almost alone beside all the people who worked there. I was informed that people arrived around midnight or one o'clock. I noticed that you didn't need to arrive before one o'clock.
What a place. I loved it. Erotic paintings on the walls. Very comfortable sitting places, you could even lay down on a lot of places. They had also beds and to my surprise even a full sized swimming pool.
I took a Cuba Libre drink for six euros while I waited at one of the bars. They had four or five bars. At one o'clock I started to dance and danced more or less until five in the morning beside taking another Cuba Libre in the bar.
Maybe half of the men didn't wear anything on the upper part of their body. Some girls were also topless or were wearing something transparent. One of the women took of her skirt and danced just wearing her panties and shoes. Many of the male visitors had something which looked like tight bathing trousers.
Some people took a bath in the pool, all of them nude I think.
A woman on the dance floor tried to tell me something when we were dancing. The music was quite loud so she had to speak close to my ear. Every time she had said something I got a kiss on my cheek. I could just hear a little thing of what she said. She told me for instance that she thought that I danced like a professional dancer and liked to see me dancing.
I noticed a strange man almost sitting on the floor close to the dance floor. He just sat there looking at the people who danced. He wore a skin hood over his head with holes for his eyes. Later he followed after a woman in a chain like a dog out onto the dance floor. He kneeled down in front of the woman and kisses or licked her shoes. She spanked him and one time she deliberately stepped on one of his hands, not with her full weight but probably enough so it hurt. It was obvious that he was some kind of slave but was she his mistress?
I left the place around five in the morning. On my way out my "friend" in the wardrobe asked me if I had enjoyed myself. I told him that I loved the place but it was difficult to get to know other people. He told me that club people came on Fridays. People who know each other and don't socialize so much with strangers. He said that there were more normal people on Saturdays. The people were maybe 30-40 years old or at least not teenagers which you find at many other dance places. I therefore said that I would come back tomorrow.
There was a long way to walk, 2.5 km, to the U1 metro station Schlesisches Tor where I took the subway and I went to bed around 6 in the morning. Next evening I found a much closer station.
I went up around 9 in the morning and ate bread and soft cheese which I had brought from home. I didn't want to miss the carnival which started 12:30 and you have to be there in time to get a good place for taking photos. It was a long way to walk and my feet hurt. I had unfortunately misunderstood the date for the carnival. I had read that there should be a children carnival and in London and in my city that meant that they walked the same way as the main carnival. Here they didn't walk at all so there wasn't any real carnival until Sunday. I had to walk back all the way to the hostel. I had walked 7 km.
Instead of the carnival I took the metro U1 and visited a part of the famous wall which had been painted by famous artists.
After that I visited the Aquarium. The weather had been lovely all the time but now it started to rain which of course didn't bother me when I visited the aquarium which was very nice and can be recommended. They had also reptiles and frogs but not many poisonous snakes which was a pity. I can only remember a rattle snake. The visit took a couple of hours I think and the weather was nice again when I came out around 6 p.m.
I bought more Coca Cola and a bottle of rum. I went for a walk at the festival area where I bought a hot dog with bread which was my dinner that day.
I took the metro to Havana Club and arrived a little after 10 p.m. The entrance cost five or six euro. There were already a lot of people and they just finished dance lessons for beginners. The dance floor became quickly quit crowded and it was very hot inside. They had more dance floors one flight of stairs lower down where they danced disco. I danced with some women during a little more than an hour before I left for another visit at Kit Kat Club.
On my way I stopped at the hostel and fetched my usual bottle of Coca Cola and vodka/rum which I drank on my way to the club. The club is situated next to the subway station HeinrichHeineStrasse at line U8. You have to walk a little down the Brückenstrasse to find the club if I remember correct.
A man in front of me wasn't allowed inside due to the dress code. Kirsten told him that she should think a little more about if she would let him in or not. She let me in without problem. This time it cost 20 euro which was a little surprise but I didn't think so much about it. The important thing was that I came into the club.
To my surprise the club was already crowded with people around 11 p.m. Most people were really good looking and a little younger than me but no teenagers, maybe 30-40 years as yesterday. Many of them had lovely leather dresses. It was nice just to look at them. Some people were actually completely naked with the exception of shoes. Some girls could be wearing a bra and suspenders but without any panties. Some of the guys similarly walked without anything which covered their sexual organs. Several men were wearing string pants of for instance leather. Several woman had just tiny things covering the nipples such as crosses of black tape.
It might be easy to get the impression that it was a sex orgy at the club but that was not true. I have written down all the things I saw during the six hours I was there. Mostly people danced, talked and took something to drink at the bars like in ordinary clubs. I thought that people at such places should be old and fat but most of the people there were instead really attractive. The atmosphere was really nice and everybody behaved really well.
The man I met yesterday had told me that there were more ordinary people on Saturdays. I wondered then how it would be during special nights with not so ordinary people. I talked with him on my way out and asked if it was an ordinary Saturday. He told me that it was a special Saturday which they had only once a year. It was a fetish party he told me. I am glad that he didn’t tell me that last night because then I wouldn’t have dared to come.
There were a lot of people when I left after 5 o’clock in the morning. The party will be going on until Sunday evening according to information on their website. I went to bed around half past six on Sunday morning.
I slept a couple of hours and went up around 9 in the morning. I charged all camera batteries and moved all photos to my mini PC and USB memory so I had empty memory sticks in the camera. The carnival started 12:30 but you have to be there some time in advance if you want to have a place where you can take photos. I think I arrived before 12 which was okay.
On my way I met the Swedish guy and the two women. They planned to take a guided boat tour. I had told the Swedish guy about the evening at Kit Kat Club and he had told the women. Now they wanted to hear more about it. One of the woman thought, like me, that it had been a really exciting night. I am quite sure that she hadn't hesitated to go there herself.
I took a lot of photos and stayed until around 4 p.m. when my two camera batteries where empty. I walked towards the carnival so I saw the coming carnival groups. There were a lot of more groups so I think the carnival continued for a couple of more hours where I stood close to the start of the carnival.
The woman with the sexiest bottom!
I went back to the hostel and rested an hour before I prepared myself for the evening and a visit to the festival area. I stayed there until midnight when the persons who were selling things started to close down. People who were selling food, beer and alcoholic drinks had still open since there were a lot of people out. I planned to go to bed but run into some beautiful girls on my way home to the hostel. They asked me if I wanted to go with them to the club called Candela and dance salsa. We would then take a taxi. I said no since I didn't know them. I have read about girls, for instance in Budapest or Warsaw, who work for clubs and their job is to bring customers to the club. I also didn't know where the club was located. Maybe it was outside the city. If I go somewhere I take the metro and walk.
I went to the hostel and checked my Hotmail account. It was a little boring to go to bed so early. The time was around 1 in the night. I used Google and searched for Berlin and Candela. I saw that the U1 line went almost all the way to the club. I decided to go to the club and check it out since you have to make the most of your holiday in Berlin. They had however changed the end station of the U1 line so instead of Uhlanstrasse it went to Zoo. I walked from Zoo to the Uhlandstrasse and continued up a street on the right side where I easily spotted Candela club. On Internet I read that there was an entrance fee of 5 euro but there wasn't anybody at the entrance so I just walked right inside.
The girl who had asked me if I wanted to follow them to Candela was really happy when she saw that I turned up since you couldn't mistake that beautiful smile. She was originally from Cuba. She had injured her foot at the festival so she couldn't dance. I therefore danced with her friends instead.
The Cuban girl asked me if I had cigarettes. I said that I didn't smoke. She told me that there was an automat outside the toilet. I bought a packet of Marlborough for her which cost 5 euro. Normally I don't buy things for woman if I don't know them since it is important for me to know that they like my company and not only the company of my money. I pretended that I didn't have much money and I had after all taken the metro and not a taxi to the club. The cigarettes were the only thing I bought for her at the club and I had a really nice time so I suppose that she was a quite okay girl after all.
The time passed by and the sun started to go up outside. The Cuban girl told me that she could drive me home for 5 euro. I said okay. She said that she lived just 2 km from my hostel. We went in two cars. I went together with the Cuban girl and another guy followed with us in the backseat. Two younger, coloured girls went together with a little other man in the other car. I thought they should drive me home to my hostel but they stopped at a restaurant./P>
She could hardly speak any English so I didn’t know what was going on. They ordered a bottle of wine, a bottle of water, bread, cheese and sliced meat for everybody. I wondered if this was some kind of scam and that they expected me to pay for everything. Fortunately the other two men seemed to pay most of it. I paid 10 euro and I was prepared to pay a little more but one of the younger girls stopped me and indicated that 10 euro was enough for me. The other guys talked at least German so they must have been aware that we should stop at the restaurant.
The Cuban girl ate bread like she hadn’t eaten anything for days. She even made a doggy bag of the remaining bread, cheese and sliced meat.
The younger guy had danced almost all the night with one of the very beautiful and sexy young girls. She could all tricks to seduce a man. The guy obviously thought that he should spend the night with her I think. The girls started to joke about it and say that it would cost 200 euro. I am not sure if it was a joke or if there was some truth in it. I didn’t understand most of what they said since they spoke both Spanish and German. Anyway, the guy felt betrayed, I think, and walked away without saying much outside the restaurant. I don’t think the girls treated him fair. They seemed only interested in his money. He wasn’t exactly the most handsome man and the girl was really beautiful and sexy. Maybe he should have understood that it wouldn’t work.
After the restaurant I went together with the three girls. We stopped at a petrol station and I filled petrol for 10 euro even if I only had agreed to pay 5 euro. The Cuban girl, who drove the car, had misunderstood where I lived. She had to drive some kilometres extra due to this. I told her that she could drop me off when we were near my hostel but she wanted to drive me all the way.
The girls treated me good after all and I had had a nice night with some beautiful and funny girls. I was really tired when I arrived at the hostel. It was the third night I arrived around 6 o’clock in the morning.
I don’t like to spend a lot of money on unknown girls when I go out since then I don’t know if they like my company or if they just like the company of my money.
The Cuban girl seemed to be very popular at the dance place and a lot of men tried to get her attention. A lot of people also asked her if she had cigarettes. Didn’t they have any money so they could buy their own cigarettes at the machine?
Monday was a holiday in Germany so the shops were closed. I went up around 9 and had just slept 3 hours. I chatted a little with the people from Sweden who were sitting outside the hostel before I went to Potsdam to have a look at the beautiful palaces. I had bought a ticket also for zone C especially for my visit to Potsdam which is a little town outside Berlin.
I took the S1 train from Anhalter Bahnhof a short walk from the hostel. I couldn't find the train to Potsdam so I asked an elderly couple. They explained that you take S1 to Wannsee and there you have to change to S7 for Potsdam. Some people took rented bicycles with them onboard the train which is quite easy and probably not a bad idea. You could probably also rent bicycles in Potsdam but I didn't look for it since I like to walk long distances.
It was difficult to find the direction at first in Potsdam. I went out of the station building on the wrong side. Luckily my map was marked with north, east, west and south. I went out towards south but should have gone out towards north.
Outside the train station was a woman selling bus tours for around 15 euros. You got it a little cheaper if you had a Welcome or Berlin City Tour card. It was a 25 km long tour which stopped at three places, 30 minutes each time. It was still 45 minutes left until the bus departed. I told the woman that in 45 minutes I could walk a long way so I didn't take the bus. It was a good decision since I cannot stress when I walk around taking photos. It takes time to shot from the best directions and distances so you have to walk a lot.
It was a really long way to walk. It is over 6 km to the palaces so be prepared to walk at least 15 km in total. I didn't know which way was best to walk towards the palaces but now I think I know a good way. You should cross the bridge and continue along the Friedrich Ebert Strasse. Cross Charlotten strasse and take left towards the palaces on Brandenburger Strasse. You will see a church in one direction and Brandenburger Tor in the direction towards the palaces. It is a walking street with a lot of places where you can take something to eat and drink.
First Palace
Second Palace
Third Palace
Other nice buildings in the area.
You don't have to pay anything just to walk around and look from the outside. I didn't go inside but I will probably do it next time I visit Potsdam since I am sure I will come back. I was told that some palaces are closed on Mondays which can be god to know.
I was back around 6 pm. I rested my legs, read a book and tried to get an hour sleep before I went to the festival area after 8 p.m. They had stopped selling things and started to pack everything for departure. There were still some people in groups on the grass field in the middle of the area but there wasn't much going on. Most people were probably tired after been out partying during three or four days. There was a man playing with drum sticks on wood pieces on an instrument which looks like a piano. I don't know what it is called but I am sure you have seen it and know what I mean. He was really good and I listened when he played for a long time. I almost regret that I didn't buy his CD since that music would have been lovely for slide shows.
There were some people sporadically dancing at another place. A well developed Latin African teenage girl with lovely hair down to her bottom caught the attention of at least the male audience including myself. She could dance like a god. Her whole body vibrated to the music. I would have taken a photo but I didn't have my camera with me.
I have heard about a disease called restless legs and I must have been contaminated since I just had to go out for a long walk in the warm evening when the sun set down. It was after all my last night this time in Berlin. I walked from the festival area, passed the subway station Hallesches Tor and continued up along Friedrich Strasse. I took off towards right at some place and went to the TV tower at Alexanderplatz. It looked as if the tower was still open but I didn't go up. I had walked around 5 km and that was enough so I took the U8 line from Alexanderplatz and changed to the U1 line at Kottbusser Tor.
I was home before midnight. Luckily the room was empty so I could have the light on and pack my things. I went to bed around 1 o'clock in the night but first I went back to the metro station where I bought a ticket for the trip to Tegel airport the next day. You can buy the tickets in advance since they are valid from the time you stamp them in a machine which you only do once. I bought the ticket in a machine for 2.30 euro. The machine accepted coins, bills and credit cards.
I woke up early as usual and waited until 7 o'clock when I went down to the breakfast. I was told that it didn't start until 8 a.m. so I had to wait another hour. The breakfast cost 5.90 euro and was like a good hotel breakfast.
Half an hour later I set off for the airport and said goodbye to the persons at the reception who were very friendly. I had just bought one ticket for the metro and wasn't completely sure if you could use it also for the bus. The man in the reception told me that it was valid two hours after it was stamped in the machine. You could travel in different directions during that time without problem.
I stamped the ticket when I entered the subway and not on a train. I took the U7 from Möckernbrücke to Jakob Kaiser Platz. I had planned to take bus 109 to the airport but X9 came first and it also goes to the Tegel airport. It is really easy to travel between the hostel and the airport. I read later that X9 takes less time since I suppose that it doesn't stop so often.
At the airport I checked in at a machine used by Air Berlin. You find them at the main terminal building and also at terminal C. I inserted my passport as instructed but my booking wasn't found so I therefore had to give my booking number. Something happened so I didn't get my booking card. I could see that there was a booking card stuck inside the machine. I started from the beginning at another machine and this time I got my booking card.
I walked down to terminal C and could see that I already could check in although I was very early. It was 3-4 hours before my plane departed at 12:50. I checked in and passed the security check. They have a lot of really cheap alcoholic bottles at the airport and the perfume might be a little cheaper also compared to Landvetter airport at Gothenburg.
I bought a bottle of Ouzo for 13 euro and Havana Club rum for 20 euro. They had rum for around 15 euro but I bought a little more expensive sort.
I also bought 90 ml Gucci Guilty for 61 euro and later also 100 ml Givenchy Gentleman for 539 SEK at Landvetter airport. Both Eau de Toilettes I thought smelled good when I tested different types at Landvetter airport on my way to Berlin. I dance several evening each week so I thought that it was time to buy some new brands. My favourites have otherwise been Drakkar Noir for ages and later on also Minotaure. I also like Van Gils Beteen Sheets. I love an Eau de Toilette l'Homme from Versace but couldn't find it. Maybe they don't make it anymore. I found something from Versace but it was a different smell.
The flight home went without problem. I put the parking ticket into a machine at the terminal building and after that I inserted my VISA card. I didn't have to give any code. I had to pay 525 SEK for the parking from Thursday until Tuesday. It is really expensive I think. The return airplane ticket to Berlin cost for instance only 859 SEK. Usually my father drives me but this time my parents were on holiday in Italy with their caravan car. My brother worked.