01 September 2015

B E R L I N

AnCa and I went to Berlin this weekend. It's sort of our city; we went to school together from age 8-13 and then drifted apart. In 2010 we both wound up in Berlin and went out for coffee. We've been best friends ever since, and she's one of my favourite people. Always fun, always deep, always the best. It was great being back in our city; we went to our favourite places and old hangouts, and it was a great break from stressful everyday lives. I haven't photographed much, mostly because we had too much fun, and because I was hungover and melting a lot of the time....
We rented an apartment in Bergmannstraße and enjoyed the walks to Gneisenaustraße u-bahn every day.
Friday night was spent at Manouche (Grimmstraße 23, Kreuzberg) near our old apartment on Urbanstraße drinking several Moscow Mules and talking for hours. We woke up to a sunny Saturday and decided to start the day with eggs and avocado at Melbourne Canteen (Pannierstraße 57, Neukölln).
Afterwards, we took the u-bahn north to Mitte. We were going to a festival but had some hours to kill and decided to spend them browsing the shops around Münzstraße. We are Danes after all, and a visit to American Apparel is mandatory when in Berlin......
But we both got such a bad headache that we didn't really feel like doing anything related to loud concerts. So we retreated to Father Carpenter Coffee for some banana bread and ice coffee. Such a nice place. (Münzstraße 21, Mitte)
So we ended up not going to the festival. Instead we went to Prenzlauer Berg to pay a visit to one of my favourite places in Berlin; St. George's English Bookshop (Wörther Straße 27, Prenzlauer Berg). We spent almost an hour browsing, and I picked up a copy of East of Eden. Can't wait to read it for the third time!
We spent some time at Kollwitzplatz looking at people and getting the aspirins to kick in and clear our heads. After some sushi we felt good again, and an ice cream at Kauf Dich Glücklich (Kastanienallee 54, Prenzlauer Berg) did the trick.
Rosenthaler Platz looked pretty in the vanishing sunlight. And the Fernsehturm just peeks up over the rooftops.
Saturday night started with drinks at Klunkerkranich on the rooftop (Karl-Marx-Straße 66) with Berlin by our feet and ended at another bar further into Neukölln. I didn't get more than an hour's worth of sleep so Sunday was a little blurry. We headed to Friedrichshain to meet Cordula for coffee at Silo (Gabriel-Max-Straße 4, Friedrichshain). It was 33 degrees and we were melting.
We took a trip around Boxhagener Platz to look at the flea market, and then we went home for a nap before spending the night at Babylon Kino watching 'Amy'. Such a good film! I do blame my sleep depravation as well, but I had to fight hard to keep the tears from bursting.
Monday morning I went back to Friedrichshain. Here I met Flora Amalie for coffee at Coffee Profilers (Karl-Marx-Allee 136, Friedrichshain). What a great place! Fine coffee, fine service and a very fine location. I love love love Karl-Marx-Allee and the grandness of that street. So sitting there talking was great. I could have done without the heat, though. 35 degrees is too much for me.
Later, we stopped by Hallesches Haus (Tempelhofer Ufer 1, Kreuzberg). It was far too hipster for me, but I was glad we saw it. It's a combined café and shop in an old warehouse building by the canal. Good idea, just way too cliché for me.
Before catching our flight back to Copenhagen, we made another trip up to Klunkerkranich. Mostly to photograph the view, but also for the atmosphere. Despite the insane heat, it was good to be up there.
A little glimpse of our apartment.
Thanks again for a great weekend, Berlin!

No comments: