without a doubt my favourite place for coffee in berlin. it felt like my little home when I went every day that I was in berlin.
if you ever find yourself in berlin, and missing coffee like we have in melbourne, go there. corey, one of the baristas, is fabulous and knows his shit.
other amazing coffees to mention
– no fire no glory
– bonanza coffee
– passenger espresso
– antipodes
– the barn roasters
berlin.
I have totally fallen in love with this city. four and a half days is so not long enough to fully experience a city, but I feel like I’ve done pretty well. I said that about paris, but I really mean it. even though when people speak german to me I get all flustered, worry about not understanding them, and instead of trying to understand (like I manage to understand when rowdy speaks german to me), I say something like “uh… australian… only english…” and then want to apologise but don’t know how in german so I splutter out “desolée” (clearly french). how embarrassment.
it’s not surprising that I’ve received more than just a few weird looks in four days.
this is another city which I feel I have conquered by foot – and later, by tram. and in staying true to myself, I have sought out so many cafés whilst being here. I’m certainly not coffee-ed out, but I have definitely had my fix. even if most of the beans they use are from kenya, I have a feeling coffee might not quite be the same when I get there.
also, berlin is super weird. there was one point on saturday night when I was walking around aimlessly, that I felt like I was in that scene of mean girls where they point out all the cliques. the main square at alexanderplatz had all these groups just sitting around; pretty obvious to see the emos, the bums, the tattooed and pierced, the school kids, the athletes (they were hardly athletes but were all wearing roller skates).
berlin is full to the brim of absolute loonies, hilarious characters who don’t care what they look like, but they are happy! berlin is full of creativity, musicians and street performers doing what they do best, artists showing off their works – some on planks of wood, others with chalk on the pavement.
and then there’s this guy. the guy who thinks its a good idea to wash his clothes in the grotty fountain in the middle of alexanderplatz. with washing powder. the same fountain where the following day I saw not going, being emptied, scrubbed and refilled. but hey, he was happy.
my favourite experience was going to the sunday flea market at mauer park. it was amazing. full of dirty hippies with dreadlocks, random stalls that sold everything from lampshades to couches to old guitars to half used bottles of shampoo to intricately hand crafted bracelets. it had more than just a couple of beer gardens in it, as well as being able to just wander around with your beer. I spent nearly 4 hours walking around, sitting, drinking, getting my hair almost dread locked (then I chickened out and got one of those hair wrap things), buying anklets from the guys below, drinking more beer, watching karaoke and making it back to my apartment to have a quick power nap after drinking too much beer (code for having an accidental early night).
I want to be them when I grow up.
travelling alone 