Berlin - Days 1 & 2
The itch for seeing Berlin has been a pestering one for some time, probably coming from my first introduction to techno history and the city’s fabled similarity to Detroit, a city close to where I grew up. Lucky enough to have found someone down to share the experience with, my girlfriend Emily and I figured now is a better time than ever to both take some time off from work and see Europe for our first times.
Unsure how to approach a city that seems, and almost prides itself on, a certain impenetrability—whether that’s a product of a horrific history of fascistic dominance or a learned appreciation for selective discrimination to retain itself as a guarder of its culture and attitude, we’re appreciative of Tyler who was kind enough to meet us for coffee on one of the coldest days I’ve ever experienced for coffee to give us some advice. Sharing plenty of good recommendations on places to go and forewarnings on what to expect, he gave as a great document a friend of his wrote for first-timers.
Download the Berlin Everything List.
The first two days were spent traveling from Chicago to Frankfurt, dealing with a flight cancelation leading to a 10 hour layover, and eventually landing in Berlin around 21:00. Lost luggage was one last blow once we got to our first Airbnb, but thankfully it was shipped to us a day or so later.
Most of what I can say about these two days other than the expected feeling of exhaustion was how cold, metallic, and for a lack of a better word, strong the Frankfurt airport felt. Impressive in how cohesive these feelings stood across interior design, signage, and employees, I got the immediate impression of how much Germans appreciate hardware and industrial design.
A lot of our time was spent sleeping in empty terminals across bench seats, reading, and walking around.