I was only in Berlin two days so I’m going to try to make this short! I tacked it on because I’ve wanted to go since Bowie recuperated there. And it was an easy train ride back to AMS from there.

I flew from Bergen to Berlin and it went pretty well. There’s a fabulous tram directly to the airport on Bergen and everything went smoothly for me. 

On the Berlin side, I had no idea it’s almost an hour drive to the center from the airport even if you have a car, but obviously much longer with public transportation. So it took me awhile on a bus and several metro rides. And of course I had problems getting into my airbnb but it worked out fine in the end. 

My host was very kind — we didn’t meet much during my time there as she went to work very early (and thus also to bed early) — but her cat often kept me company. He was hysterical and a little evil looking. I’m not sure what he thought about all the people moving in and out of the apartment but I guess he was used to it. 

Olga and I tried to chat one night but she only speaks German and Russian and my German is awful. I managed to say “Du bist Russki?” — which is wrong on so many levels but she thought it funny. 

Anyway. Berlin. It’s surprisingly huge. Not so much the population (3.7M, I think including environs so smaller than Chicago) but the s-p-a-c-e …, it just felt so spread out. (Or hey in Bowie non-Berlin terms, soooo spaced out). Every time I’d check to see how far I was from a place I thought was nearby, I’d see it was a 45 min-1.5 hour walk or 20/35 min train ride. And things looked so close on the map!? 

I finally realized it’s partly because the streets are like ALL boulevards. Well maybe some smaller side streets but I guess this is what Mussolini was impressed with and wanted to replicate in Italy! They’re massive, imposing and intimidating.

I did two tours. Berlin really is an ugly city but I liked it a lot. It’s got a great vibe in my opinion. I was expecting grungy/gritty and it was — but also very surprisingly inexpensive, laid back and just cool!?

Of course coming from Norway it looked crazy cheap for food and drink (like under half the price for comparable stuff?) though lodging was pricey. Don’t know why. The two guides I had — one Scottish and one American —  both said they could live on their free tours income alone!!?? Which they only do part-time. But one said he had a rent controlled place and they’re phasing that out apparently. He seems to pay next to nothing and as I said, food was cheap. 

The tours were interesting though I would’ve liked to go on the ones that were more political. Instead due my timing I did the general tour and an “alternative Berlin” tour which was not that great. 

The general showed the major museums and civic bldgs, mostly on museum island in Mitte neighborhood and went through hundreds of years of history ending with the Berlin Wall. They said most of the buildings were bombed and rebuilt to look just like they used to… I guess for history’s sake, not for beauty’s sake! Though ironically, the guide said the old rulers mostly wanted to emulate the old Roman Empire so loved columns, statues and white marble buildings.

There are newer installations that were built to commemorate the various groups of people targeted and murdered by the Nazis. They had ones to the Romani (aka Gypsies), LGBTQ, blacks, dissidents, and of course Jews.

The alternative was more about street art basically. And maybe alternative neighborhoods. Interestingly, they said all the historic and more beautiful/important parts of Berlin were on the east side. Stalin’s army captured Berlin and he camped out and chose where to establish the border. I guess he was not stupid!? He left the poor, even uglier ‘hoods to the West.

I didn’t try to verify any of this but Berlin really had a chill vibe without pretension or focus on money and rules. I’d go back for longer! Sadly the American guide said he has been there 8 years and still barely speaks German. A bit horrifying but in fact I never had to use it except with Olga! 

After the tour was over, I was close to the East Side Gallery and I checked it out. There was a downpour so I did an overpriced (but still cheaper than Norway) burger and waited for the rain to abate so I could chase Bowie sites.

But sadly no Bowie so I did that separately on my own. 

When it stopped raining I did a lot of bus/tram/metro rides to find Bowie’s old Berlin apartment and recording studio.

But here’s the sad thing …

Definitely getting the 24 hour or other unlimited public trans pass is a good idea there. They have a ton of trams, metros, and buses (though the airport is in a further zone than what normally tourists would need so I did a single ticket for that). Many buses had outlets to charge your phone and free WiFi. And many metro stations also had WiFi. I think I was toured out so sometimes I just got on a nice tram that took me to different areas of town — saw the Tiergarten and other further out hoods that way.

I did no museums, went to the same craft brewery place twice in my Friedrichshain hood and did a very long (and long lasting) mani pedi on my last morning there. (It’s been 1.5 very rough weeks and they still look ok! No chipping. They took their time but I appreciated it and know it was cheaper and better than anything I’d get in AMS or probably Italy.) I felt I had the time and could use some pampering.  

The one very interesting thing I heard about Berlin was the reason why it’s so different from the rest of Germany. Less cute. More gritty. Definitely not a beautiful city or setting. Too much concrete. No Oktoberfest here! But cool.

They said when it was still East/West Germany and West Berlin was surrounded by East Germany, no westerners wanted to live there. For one thing, all the pretty historic parts were in the East side. And West Berliners had to hop over East Germany to get anywhere and it was far — plus uglier, more complicated, and less free. Perhaps also jobs and the economy weren’t so great — they didn’t get into that. Thus the government, to entice people to move there, said anyone who voluntarily moved was exempted from otherwise mandatory military service. This attracted the arty, hippy, counter culture, non military people. They moved into the ugly, cheaper parts of West Berlin and did their arts and music in peace. And apparently created a more free and liberal culture.

I’d definitely go back!