To wrap up that weird weekend in Berlin, I forgot to mention that I couldn’t figure out how to work the shower at the Mercure Hotel near Tegel. I tried pulling, pushing, twisting, turning, but to no avail. I even looked around for other switches. There were none. I wonder if my buddy had more luck.

I can’t rave enough about Berlin. Unlike the typical High Street in London which is colonised by predictably boring chains, the cool areas in Berlin (KastanienAllee, Boxhagener Platz) have mostly kept their grungy character. Here are some pics that I took on my previous trips to Berlin.

Kwikshop: I don’t think you can actually step into this store. Purchases are made through their “drive-through” counter. I wonder how well they do when the weather sucks.

Dickie Dinger: Stuff for well-endowed women. I didn’t have the guts to enter the store.

Charlie barber: You gotta love the pay-as-you-want concept. I suppose homeless patrons are not always welcomed. 

There were lots more I could have taken. Unfortunately I’m a very passive photographer. I usually snap only when there’s no one else around. Very pathetic of me, I know.

Since I was also in Berlin for “work”, here a couple of neat poster designs that could sell well as T-shirts:

This one has great shock value, but it’s not the type of image we’re after.

Addresses
Kwikshop: KastanienAllee 44, http://www.kwikshop.de/, Rosentaler Platz
Dickie Dinger: Torstraße 68, http://www.dicke-dinger-berlin.de/, Rosa-Lux. Platz

Ps: another store I like is Berlinomat: Frankfurter Allee 89, http://www.berlinomat.com/, Frankfurter Allee, plus there are several others around Hackesche Markt.

It’s the most fitting word I can think of to describe the weekend in Berlin.

We checked in at midnight at the Ibis hotel at Ostbahnhof. Clearly designed with the night dwellers in mind, our room was one of two directly facing the elevators and wisely secluded from the other rooms on the floor.

Friday night was a typical night out. We went to a few places, didn’t get into one, and nothing really stood out. I’m still not in the frame of mind to form successive coherent sentences, so I’ll rely on point forms to recap.

Bistro Baghdad: We’re generally wary of street food but since we didn’t have dinner and wanted something quick, we went to the first kebab place we found. Although we intended to grab food there anyway, we playfully asked the owner about the quality of the meat. We expected him to reassure us, as any street food operator would, through platitudes. But amazingly, he proudly touted the review he got last month from the International Herald Tribune plastered by the entrance.

103 Club: First club on the list. Three guys, no girls, strict door policy. Yup, we didn’t get very far.

Watergate: located right off the south bank of the Spree, this Club has two floors both blasting electronic music. Lots of space on the dance floor when we arrived at 1am, but WG got busy at around 2am filled mostly with students and recent graduates.

Maria: Maria is situated right across our hotel, tucked behind a small passage off the An der Schillingbrücke bridge. The main room was mostly empty at 3am. You really had to enjoy the industrial music they were playing to stay there for more than a drink.

Sage: dubbed the Ministry of Sound of Berlin according to Hg2, Sage did not quite live up to the comparison (although I’ve never been to the MoS in London). We were disappointed to see a nearly empty dance floor at 4am. It may be because we got there too late but this was a mega-club and we were in Berlin. (Or maybe there were other rooms that we missed).

Saturday night was supposed to be a tamer night. The plan was to go to a club or two and then head home at around 3am. But Berlin being Berlin, the opposite happened.

Weinerai: we started off at this laid-back, self-serve, pay-as-you-like wine bar. Pay €2 euros for an empty glass and then serve yourself from any of the wine bottles aligned along the bar counter. Once done, you simply pay what you want by leaving (or not?) cash in their money jar.

Weinerai was packed at 9pm with a mellow, 25+ crowd of locals and, unsurprisingly, French wine aficionado. We had to stand awkwardly near the bar counter and just talked among ourselves. But if you can get a seat in the main room, I can imagine it being easy to mingle with the neighbours.

Felix: Touted as the place to go by members of an exclusive social network that apparently can’t be name outside of the community circle. Located in the basement of the opulent Hotel Adlon, Felix draws an older crowd with quite a few men clad in suits. I just don’t get the work attire at bars / clubs on a Saturday night. Did they dress up just for the club or are they coming off work?

Since we were 3 guys, the best chance to get in was to get there at 11pm when the doors open. The place was empty when we reached the bar, but it filled up very quickly with beautiful creatures and was packed until 4am shortly before we left. The DJs played mainly R&B and hip-hop with two 30-min to 1-hour interlude of electronic music.

Our night excursion was supposed to end at 5am when we returned to the hotel. At that point it would have been a normal weekend if we went straight to bed. But a friendly chat with the person working the graveyard shift at IBIS led us to Berghain, where parties apparently linger until mid-afternoon. Without us having to ask him, he volunteered to extend our check-out time to 3pm. I suppose he’s used to it since the hotel is near the big party venues of Berlin.

Berghain / Panorama Bar is a mixed gay and hetero club that has a strict no-camera policy (use your imagination). It’s definitely a place to experience if you’re curious about Berlin’s underground /alternative scene.

I stayed at Berghain until 10am (11am if it weren’t for daylight saving) and practically sat alone at the bar the entire time waiting for my friend’s signal to leave. Nothing outrageous happened - although I was hit on by a guy who managed to “accidentally” drop his drink right into the pocket of my coat and politely declined an invitation to the dark room, which my buddy stumbled onto earlier when he needed to use the loo (he decided to hold it) - but still a weird weekend in my mind.

Addresses
103 Club: Falckensteinstraße 47, http://www.agentur103.de/, Warschauer
Berghain: am Wriezener Banhof, http://www.berghain.de/, Ostbanhof
Felix: Behrenstraße 72, http://www.felixrestaurant.de/, Brandenburger Tor
Maria: An der Schillingbrücke, http://www.clubmaria.de/, Ostbahnhof
Sage: Köpenicker Straße 76, http://www.sage-club.de/, Heinrich Heine
Watergate: Falckensteinstraße 49, www.water-gate.de/, Warschauer
Weinerei: Veteranstrasse 14, www.weinerei.com/, Rosenthaler Platz

Off to Berlin tonight, for the 4th time this year, to check out the alternative scene and to get some inspiration for our T-shirt series in January. I actually haven’t been to a bar or club there at a weekend. Should be interesting to see how Berliners enjoy the nightlife.

Ten Ten Tei seems to be a popular place as people were queuing when we arrived and when we left. Overall, the food was good and affordable for London, but it was short from being spectacular.

Business Partner ordered a tonkatsu set, which also came with chicken fillet, miso soup and sashimi. We both found that the sashimi was bland and a bit rough. BP assured me that it was better before.

My tempura udon was a bit of a disappointment as they served the tempura in the soup. I can’t remember if they actually do that in Japan, but my crispy battered shrimp and vegetables turned out soggy and were stripped of their taste.

After dinner, we headed for drinks near Piccadilly Circus. We met a very charming and talented singer, Tara McDonald, who graced the remix of Armand Van Helden’s My, My, My and Axwell’s Feel the Vibe. Turns out she’s on MySpace (the geek that I am, I had to ask), and now we’re going to have our first friend on the site other than Tom from MySpace. (Still not sure if MySpace is an appropriate vehicle for us to develop our brand).

Ten Ten Tei: 56 Brewer St. Picadilly Circus. Dinner for 2 was £25

Back in London, after a brief but fun trip in Düsseldorf. My friend S. brought me to a couple of nice places – a Jazz bar in AltStadt and Moguls in Oberkassel – that were busy on a Monday and Tuesday night. Was definitely pleased to see that people there go out on weeknights. My next trip to Düsseldorf might be next week if S. needs help to move, otherwise it’ll be in February for Carnival.

I haven’t talked business with Business Partner for a while as he’s been busy at work. Yup he hasn’t left his day job yet. We’re grabbing dinner at Ten Ten Tei in Soho. He claims it’s one of the best and affordable Japanese restaurants in London. Now that I’ve lived in Tokyo, we’ll see how good the food really is.

ps: apparently the world’s longest bar is in D.