Keep Calm and Eat a Banana: Berlin
Arriving into Berlin, we knew we were entering a mysterious place. I was eager to see its rich and harsh history, and Jamie was intent on its art and nightlife. Yet Berlin was not a mystery to figure out - and we left the city not knowing it still. How could we? It was larger than we imagined, and its culture far from the surface. But it romanced us non-the-less.
For one, it is one city of many that has immortalized the Holocaust by giving it form in most streets you turned on. In two days, you get a better understanding of the culture and economy of Germany pre and post WWI, the years of the Holocaust and WWII, the cold war and division of the country, and then the reunification. Through the museums and memorials for the murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin gave strict facts, accountability, and the victim’s stories with as much rawness as one would expect of Berlin. We are told it is a city that is every changing, always moving forward - yet I appreciated its rigidity in this particular past.
In its architecture we saw a different change. Bunkers built in WWII are now private art museums and/or raging nightclubs. On one fateful day we got into the exclusive art display of the Boros Collection, where a private collection of sculptures and art were protected by thick walls and tight corridors, and later we entered into the selective and seductive Berghain. This highly sought after club was Jamie’s main objective, and after being told “not today” by the bouncer at the door, we arrived four hours later and tried a second time, only to be successful. There are articles out there on how to gain entry into Berghain. Our advice: look like crap, like you’re ready to rave; comfy shoes and big clothes - things that can be taken off if need be; look the bouncers in the eye but don’t linger; be eager but cool - cigarettes are a bonus; and if they ask you if this is your first time, you say “no.”
Berghain was our first club since before the Pandemic. The sea of bodies, most of them scantily clad, under beams of light and speakers the size of cars, moved to a rhythm that was otherworldly. After being in the club for 5 minutes, I saw a woman in mesh tights and leather lingerie coming down the stairs eating a banana, and you knew that the music and the woman had a stamina to be reckoned with. And this world we saw in many other avenues in Berlin, particularly the vibrant alleyways and the gothic skate park and climbing walls, rooftop beer gardens, and art walks. We ate currywurst and had raspberry in our beers. We touched the Berlin Wall and walked along parts where it used to stand, our friend Stefanie telling us about her memory of watching it fall while she sat on the shoulders of her father.
Berlin was an introduction to Germany that we were unprepared for, and will go back eager to unearth more of its secrets — if it will allow us!
