The kids are alright.
It has become abundantly clear that Berlin will take far than a few more days to cover, and today is to be my last. I reason that the major monuments and historical attractions will be there the next time I’m in Berlin, and I’ve already decided there will be a next time. What I want to see is Berlin now, the Berlin that’s been labeled as the place to go if you’re a creative youth in Europe. The epicenter of this movement is a neighborhood called Prenzlauer Berg, a former socialist neighborhood that has been completely transformed in the last few years by twenty-and-thirty-somethings into a pleasant utopia of very affordable and stylish living. It’s a bit of a hike to the Berg, and I stop for Berlin’s most traditional street food, the Currywurst, a white sausage smothered in curried ketchup. I’ve got to say I prefer NYC’s dirty water dogs any day. I’m soon in the heart of Prenzlauer Berg, and it’s very, very, cool. With the fall of the wall less than twenty years ago, this is the first generation of youth in Berlin who have been able to grow up in freedom, and are now able to express themselves in ways that no previous generation of Berliners have. They have taken this section of Berlin, with some beautiful old buildings, and made it theirs. The streets are lined with small cafes, bars, and seriously hip boutiques, many run and owned by the designer. In America we call these people hipsters, but I realize that all these kids in the Lower East Side in their skinny jeans, second hand jackets and slip on Vans are just trying to look like the people of Berlin look everyday without putting any though into it. There’s wild art on every wall, vintage shops a plenty, and kids whizzing around on old Vespas with a smile on their faces. I don’t see anyone over 40 years old for miles, and I know I’ve overused this word, but the word that these kids have created for themselves is just so damn cool it’s mesmerizing. You want to sit down at one of these cafes and stay forever. Not wanting to come off as a brash American tourist, I’d left my Yankees cap at home. I shouldn’t have- they’re everywhere, in all the stylish streetwear shops, and the “I heart NY” shirts are ever present. What a disappoint it must be for these kids to get to New York and find out that we’re not any cooler than they are, we just pay five times as much to feel like it. As I move further through Prenzlauer Berg, it gets leafier and nicer, and I notice an influx of strollers and playgrounds everywhere. This is also the area where young families have chosen to move, and I learn you can get a great deal of space in a gorgeous old building for less than a thousand dollars a month. The locals are quick to tell you that this is where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have said they will move to raise their little model United Nations. I stop and grab a beer in a park that still holds a rare piece of the Berlin Wall. I have found the people of Berlin to be very proud, I have heard at this point the city referred to several times as “The greatest in Europe,” and “Germanys finest.” There are ping pong tables throughout the park, made of huge slabs of stone with metal nets. I play a game with an elderly man, who tells me he has been in Berlin for 58 years. “You must have seen a whole lot in this town,” I said stating the obvious. He sighs and makes a gesture that appears to be of a wall coming up and then coming down. “But it is the greatest city in the world, and gets better every day.”
A Slight Change of Plans.
I was planning on heading to Prague that evening, so I find an internet café to look for tickets. I have found it extremely easy to fly on short notice throughout Europe, and there are a number of no frill airlines that will regularly take you around the continent for incredibly low fares. However this does not seem to be the case with Prague. There’s only one flight, it leaves in two hours, and its five hundred bucks. At this point I get an e-mail from Simon. He and his Brother are heading to Riga, where his father has an apartment. Do I want to come out there for a few days before the rest of his family arrives? Yes I do. I check out Easy Jet and find a flight out the next morning for ninety bucks. Latvia here I come!
The hotel had been storing my luggage, so I go back to see if they can put me up for one more night. They tell me they have no more regular rooms, but they do have one of the apartments available, and the woman at the desk agrees to give it to me at the rate I’d been paying before. After the last room, I’m really not expecting much. I wheel my luggage into the building across the courtyard, and stick my key in door number one. This place is huuuuuge! Its got a king bed, a desk, a sofa, an armoire, a dining table, two chairs, two bathrooms and a kitchen. It’s easily twice the size of my first New York apartment. The first thing I do is draw the blinds, then I take all of my clothes off and jump around the furniture. Pure, childlike glee. I check out a few bars in the neighborhood, including an awesome Judas Priest themed Heavy Metal bar complete with a wall made of Marshall stacks and a super modern stark white lounge where the bartenders are in latex nurses outfits and give you shots of Liquors out of huge syringes. Berlin clearly takes it nightlife quite seriously, and this too will need to be examined further at a later date.
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