21st July - Berlin

Woke up raring for the alternative tour. Decided to have breakfast in a cheap cafe not far from the hostel, was yummy! We were quite late for the 11’o clock tour so we chilled a bit before making our way to the massive TV tower in Alexanderplatz where the tour started.
We met our tour guide: Callum, a dreadlocked Scottish guy who told us some really cool stuff! We went to an old brewery first where there was loads of street art. We couldn’t see much though because it was pitch black and there were deadly holes in the floor!!

<-- Very Banksy like piece outside the old brewery

Next we went to an old railway station that was bombed in WWII. Artists took it over and painted the whole place. There’s a water tower with a climbing wall, rave clubs, a bar and the actual station is now the biggest indoor skate park in Europe. We sat there for a bit and got to know some of our group. There were three Brazilians, three English guys, an American guy, an Australian/Chinese woman, a posing Australian guy and a South American couple.

We then caught the tram to a place really close to our hostel. We walked down the road we’d gone down the day before. We found out that a regular looking kebab shop we walked past, often hosts secret raves thorough a passage in the toilets. We walked a bit further and found out that the day before we’d practically walked right past the Berlin wall!

We walked along the wall which was being renovated. Loads of artists had done huge, amazing paintings on the wall and it looked so cool! Also found out that Microsoft own a part of the Berlin wall... always useful in software...?

<--Pretty awesome piece on the Berlin wall

We went to the YAAM club next (Young African Art...something). It was a bar with loads of sand, comfy seats and volleyball. It was so nice to sit there for a bit before moving onto Tacheles bar. We’d heard from some guys at East Seven that Tacheles was really cool, so we were looking forward to it!

The building was a shopping mall before the war, but during the war it was used to store secret documents. When the war was over, the Nazis flooded everything to destroy the evidence and today it’s still damp inside. We visited loads of art stalls inside the building. It was all really original and interesting. There was also two cinemas inside and a beach bar on the bottom floor. The tour officially ended here, but Callum took us to an art gallery in a deserted swimming pool. The art there was amazing! At one point there was a bit the public could take part in: Many Germans collect empty glass bottles to recycle and get money for them. The gallery had collected hundreds of bottles and asked the public to write messages for the bottles. That way people who pick up the bottles get a (hopefully) nice message. Louise wrote “dwi’n hoffi coffee” and I wrote “something nice.”

We left Callum and went for a really nice (and cheap!) falafel and chips – we’d been craving falafel for a good two days! We also tries “spinat tasche” – spinach and cheese in pastry – yum!

When we finally got back to the hostel (after getting pretty lost) I bought an ice-cream from the best ice-cream place next to the hostel. We chilled for a bit and went to the YAAM club about 10.30, but when we got there it was €12 entry as there was a band playing. We looked for trains to get to Tacheles bar, but the trains were messed up. Instead we bought some cheap beer and did handstands against the Berlin wall, then went to bed!

<-- Handstands on THE wall :D
Me on the left, Alex on the right