Saturday 23 July 2011
We were ready by 7 AM for the very long (770 km/460 mi) drive to Berlin. Jerry, in yet another act of kindness and generosity had warm croissants on the table at that early hour and even packed some for the road. We got out of Brussels after a few misplaced wanderings, then felt the whoosh of cars going REALLY fast as they whizzed by us on the autobahn (no speed limits most of the time). At last some chance for good tunes, courtesy of Nicole’s iPod – Huddie Ledbetter, Grisman and Garcia, Dr John, Lovin’ Spoonful, Of Montreal, Stones, The Harder They Come, Gipsy Kings, Stevie Wonder.....on the road again.
Stopped to use wi-fi at McDonald's but couldn’t make it work – almost nine bucks wasted on a bigger, flatter, still-crappy burger. Got gas and oil (old vans often drink oil like water, and a liter - not quite a quart - costs 14-32 euros/$20-45), then traveled on with downloaded directions and a not-detailed-enough map.
By 6 PM we were NEAR Mareike’s apartment but after three more knuckle-whitening, marriage-testing hours and many friendly strangers with directions lacking one piece of correct information, like sending us the wrong direction when we were 10 minutes away, or saying “follow this street all the way till it ends” and turning around somewhere near Denmark because it never did end and exits are sometimes as rare as English-speaking Frenchmen, we finally bought a map of Berlin ($12!) that came with more advice that would have been disastrous, but Charles looked at the map and figured it out. We finally understood why all our European friends said you MUST have GPS -- it’s because most Europeans do not know how to direct you to someplace 10 blocks away (of course, those blocks do look like spider webs).
As was the case with finally finding Jerry’s, we three zombies revived with some delicious food from Mareike, and champagne, and tequila for dessert, and after catching up with our friend (all were shocked to realize it had been 15 years), fell into bed… well, Charles and Nicole didn’t, because they accepted an offer they couldn’t refuse.
They went by subway at midnight to Mareike’s friend’s gay bar (Serene), and saw the trains packed with nightlife denizens. Per Mareike’s description it was a very friendly place where 17-yr-old Nicole and only-man-in-the-place Charles felt quite comfortable. Mareike said she doesn’t go that often, but a dozen or more people greeted her like an old friend, and owner Mona and the barkeeps let her scoot behind the bar for huge smiles and hugs. Charles was so happy to be a Berlin NightHawk that he even danced. Then to bed by 3 (4 for Charles and Mareike, who had more catching up to do).
We were ready by 7 AM for the very long (770 km/460 mi) drive to Berlin. Jerry, in yet another act of kindness and generosity had warm croissants on the table at that early hour and even packed some for the road. We got out of Brussels after a few misplaced wanderings, then felt the whoosh of cars going REALLY fast as they whizzed by us on the autobahn (no speed limits most of the time). At last some chance for good tunes, courtesy of Nicole’s iPod – Huddie Ledbetter, Grisman and Garcia, Dr John, Lovin’ Spoonful, Of Montreal, Stones, The Harder They Come, Gipsy Kings, Stevie Wonder.....on the road again.
Stopped to use wi-fi at McDonald's but couldn’t make it work – almost nine bucks wasted on a bigger, flatter, still-crappy burger. Got gas and oil (old vans often drink oil like water, and a liter - not quite a quart - costs 14-32 euros/$20-45), then traveled on with downloaded directions and a not-detailed-enough map.
By 6 PM we were NEAR Mareike’s apartment but after three more knuckle-whitening, marriage-testing hours and many friendly strangers with directions lacking one piece of correct information, like sending us the wrong direction when we were 10 minutes away, or saying “follow this street all the way till it ends” and turning around somewhere near Denmark because it never did end and exits are sometimes as rare as English-speaking Frenchmen, we finally bought a map of Berlin ($12!) that came with more advice that would have been disastrous, but Charles looked at the map and figured it out. We finally understood why all our European friends said you MUST have GPS -- it’s because most Europeans do not know how to direct you to someplace 10 blocks away (of course, those blocks do look like spider webs).
As was the case with finally finding Jerry’s, we three zombies revived with some delicious food from Mareike, and champagne, and tequila for dessert, and after catching up with our friend (all were shocked to realize it had been 15 years), fell into bed… well, Charles and Nicole didn’t, because they accepted an offer they couldn’t refuse.
They went by subway at midnight to Mareike’s friend’s gay bar (Serene), and saw the trains packed with nightlife denizens. Per Mareike’s description it was a very friendly place where 17-yr-old Nicole and only-man-in-the-place Charles felt quite comfortable. Mareike said she doesn’t go that often, but a dozen or more people greeted her like an old friend, and owner Mona and the barkeeps let her scoot behind the bar for huge smiles and hugs. Charles was so happy to be a Berlin NightHawk that he even danced. Then to bed by 3 (4 for Charles and Mareike, who had more catching up to do).
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| Serene (the club) |
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| Mona, Mareike, and Nicole out past her bedtime - it's Berlin, it's Saturday night! |
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