Because Berlin is cool... and also because I got sick 😞.
On the upside, I didn't get really sick, just knocked out for our first two days in Berlin.
As I mentioned in the last post, we had a couple of days in Berlin with Joelle before she moved on to Portugal. Unfortunately, this coincided with my feeling pretty average.
I did make it out of bed for our fancy lunch at Chipps - a vegetarian cafe with an interesting sounding menu and awesome write ups. The hype was deserved - a lunch menu of delicious tomato soup and 'Berliner mustard eggs' with mash was divine.
But I wasn't up for the band, which is a shame because Phil and Jo went - it was in a former brothel and sounded really quirky and fun.
I spent quite a bit of time in the apartment, which was also an interesting experience.
Apartment living
We have been booking apartments on airbnb for all our travels so far. Our apartments in Rotterdam, Budapest, Prague and Berlin have all been booked though airbnb. I love using airbnb because it adds an extra dimension of fun and surprise to travelling that a hotel just can't provide. You never know quite what you're going to get, especially when you're choosing on a budget!
The airbnb apartments fall broadly into two categories - (a) apartments used exclusively as rentals and (b) lived-in apartments - ie someone's apartment that they live in but offer for short periods while they go on holiday/ stay at a friends place etc.
The plus of a rental apartment is it tends to be set up for guests. They are usually spotlessly clean (usually covered by a cleaning fee) and have all the basics - decent towels, reasonable layout, an empty fridge & freezer etc.
Also, in my (limited) experience, these places are more likely to leave little welcome gifts - which of course, I love. In Budapest, we had sparkling wine, fruit, juices, chocolate, bottled water, microwave popcorn and Nespresso pods!!
The downside of these kind of places is that it's sometimes hard to cook "at home" due to a lack of basics like salt, oil, etc. They can also lack a bit of the homely feel.
Our two Berlin rentals, on the other hand, are lived-in apartments and positively brimming - nay, overflowing - with personality.
The rental we shared with Joelle (our last shared apartment - sob) was in Pankow - in the north east of Berlin, which turned out to be a lovely and cool area.
The actual apartment belongs to a really lovely but definitely eclectic burlesque dancer and her son... and it showed. Vintage jewellery, postcards, shoes etc covered every single available surface. And there was a distinct lack of blockout curtains (hail the eyemask). But I really enjoyed staying there not least because it was basically the dream apartment of my 16 year old self - before I realised that living in chaos feels, well chaotic.
Our new place in Neukolln is also awesome. A really big and bright one bedroom with polished floors and a huge kitchen.
It's actually really nice and clean, but again, has some quirky elements. Like the fact that there is only one pillow. And the shower curtain is a garbage bag held together by duct tape. And the uhhh... interesting photographs on the wall. Here is one that is safe for work (I'll leave you to imagine what the NSFW ones look like).
As I said, interesting.
To do in Berlin
As I mentioned, it is now just Phil and I once again. It was an awesome three weeks travelling with Jo - she brought lots of fun, laughter, amazing home cooked meals and introduced us to the aperol spritz - king of cocktails!
Our new hood
We're in Neukolln which is a vibrant spot popular with Turkish migrants and faintly reminiscent of Sydney rd in Coburg. Here's a couple of pics of the neighbourhood:
Eclectic shops
Fifty cent felafel sandwich - Phil was in heaven!!
We have no firm plans for Berlin beyond wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere.
Today we hit the Mauerpark flea market which was hugely popular and sold everything from broken watches and ancient LPs to up cycled tin can lamps and printed tote bags.
We're in Berlin til Thursday, so I'll let you know what we get up to. Personally, I'm keen to try and rent some rollerblades and skate around the former airport, Tempelhof park... And the avengers movie is calling my name...
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