The is my first proper post since setting off from London a few days ago. The trip to Berlin went without problems, despite a 25-minute changeover in Brussels being reduced to 18 minutes due to a delay entering the channel tunnel. I spoke to my first fellow traveller on the train from Cologne to Berlin, who was going to spend the week in Berlin. He thought I was German and I just didn’t say anything (that wasn’t German), but it turned out that he had travelled from Nottingham that same day, so had covered even more distance than I had. We had a pleasant conversation about train travel (and how good it was), plus a load of other stuff that I can’t really remember. We departed in Berlin, with him wishing me luck with my travels and me wishing him an enjoyable stay in Berlin.
Night one of my stay in Berlin was spent queuing to get into Berghain, a famous club in the German city. I didn’t get in, but learnt a few things about the queuing process, mainly: don’t queue on Saturday and expect to get in. Parties usually go on until Monday morning, so the best thing to do it to amuse yourself on Saturday night and then go first thing on Sunday morning, trying not to look too much like a tourist. The queue on Saturday night was full of tourists, most with varying degrees of interest in the music being played, but all wanting to get in. After giving up and going home, Sunday was spent on an alternative tour of Berlin’s street art, which was very good. I now know the best place in Berlin to get a kebab and a Currywurst, but also how they both came into existence. The artwork was pretty interesting, too.
On Monday I got on the train in Berlin for Warsaw. I shared the carriage with 4 Polish women, a dog and a baby, but it was very enjoyable. The baby was very ‘hands on’, walking around and grabbing onto things, including one of the womens nacklaces. They all seemed to enjoy it, anyway.
Day one in Warsaw was spent walking around and finding somewhere to eat. I managed to find somewhere listed on one of my favourite websites as ‘belly-busting’, without even knowing it and it was very good. Day 2 was spent walking around on a rooftop garden on top of the university library, plus checking out the Neon Museum, in the nearly impossible-to-find Soho Factory. If you can get there, I highly recommend talking to one of the people on the desk. They’re likely to be either Ilona Karwinska or David Hill, both very passionate about Polish, communist-era neon signs. I got speaking to David and must have been there for another half an hour after the museum closed.
Tomorrow I’ve got planned as a Jewish-fest, in that I’m going to be walking around the old Jewish area, hopefully finding an old section of the ghetto wall and going to the Warsaw Uprising Museum. After that I plan to go to the Photoplasticon and maybe even watch a film in the Palace of Culture and Science. Who knows!
Links to the places that I was referring to above are as follows:
- The Pod Samsonem [http://www.podsamsonem.pl/en_about-us.html]
- The Neon Museum [http://www.neonmuzeum.org/index_uk.html]
- The Photoplasticon [http://www.fotoplastikon.stereos.com.pl/fotoplastikon/index-en.html].