17 Days in Berlin
With this Berlin trip coming at the end of the year, it really came at a good time for self-reflection. Having made 45 revolutions around the sun, I’ve noticed the last ten or so have been really stagnant. Wake up, go to work, come back home, eat dinner, watch television, sleep, repeat. There might be some moments of disruption from this routine, but otherwise it’s the same mind-numbing thing.
One thing that I’ve known for a while but was made really clear while in Berlin was that I hate leaving the house. I’m not afraid of being outside and running into people – I would just rather not. Just let me sit and stare at the wall, I’m perfectly content to be empty.
Although I do like to think of myself of having been wild and fun in my 20s, I do remember moments of utter boredom and ennui. Instead of doing something about it, I just wallowed in it. Now it’s not about boredom or ennui – it just is a state of being.
It’s no wonder that one of my regrets was not moving to Berlin in my 20s – I’ve always been this way.
So this is something to work on.
I’m not saying that I just stayed indoors during the 2 ½ weeks in Berlin.
- The first week I rented an apartment in Yorckstraße in Schöneberg and an aparthotel in Friedrichshain in the second week. While both places and neighborhoods were lovely, I really preferred being in Friedrichshain. Maybe because I was close to Lab.oratory and Berghain?
- I went to a performance of programmed pipe organs at the Kaiser Wilhem Memorial Church. The first performer sampled organs and other sounds which ended up sounding like something Coil or Whitehouse would make. The second performer was up at the pipe organ that was programmed which ended up sounding as if JS Bach made techno. It was very interesting.
- To satisfy my Michelin-starred restaurant itch, I ate at Tim Raue, a two-star restaurant right near Checkpoint Charlie. I spent way too much, but I was there for 3 ½ hours.
- I went to Warsaw for a night for one reason alone: to see the works of Frederic Chopin performed live. As a pianist I fucking love Chopin, but because most of his works were only for piano they don’t get performed in these grand philharmonic halls and palaces. It’s basically salon music. So I went to a salon and saw a performance. I intentionally went and saw one that included the Ballade No. 1 in G minor. Just to prove what a simpering faggot I am, there I was crying like a fool right before the coda. Well, I also cried during the Heroic Polonaise. Who am I kidding? I was basically crying the whole hour.
- This was the most cashless I have seen Berlin. The only time I needed cash was for my tattoo artist. I was shocked since Berlin has historically been paranoid about privacy for obvious reasons, so they stuck with cash all these years. But man, the pandemic sure did a number on the city.
- People really like their furniture close to the ground here in Berlin. I don’t know if this is a worldwide trend, but I really felt my knees were too close to my face when sitting on the couches. And they don’t like arms on couches so reclining to the side was just a fucking pain.
- If anything says Christmas in Berlin, it’s this outdoor display at the Dark Matter museum.
I had a great time. After a week of being back in Los Angeles and going through my normal routine, I do miss Berlin. Perhaps next time I should go when it’s actually warm out?
