L-Town

14.-17.7 London



I didn’t really keep a track of th things that happened in London, since the whole time I spent there felt like a mini holiday from backpacking, cause it was just the maximum of chill. I didn’t really see any of the touristy stuff which didn’t bother me, since I’ve seen it already - although that was 8 years ago and I have no photos left of that class trip... The five days and nights I spent there were just about relaxing and delicious dinners with good wine and conversation. Tom’s uncle, Michael and his wife, Karen were so welcoming and I was just so grateful for their hospitality... It really felt like they were running a hostel with all the Aussies (+ dutchie Rob and me) they had hanging around at the house. We would always wake up pretty early but end up wasting the whole morning in bed anyways. Tom would make me breakfast, which was cool since I had no clue what Karen & Michael had in their kitchen and where to find it. Every night Tom also would cook dinner for all of us and come up with these random recepies on the spot that would always taste fantastic.



How ever, we did go to Camden market with Tom on Thursday and I just fell in love with the place. It was not an average market. They actually sold quality stuff for low price. I was actually a bit dissapointed that I couldn’t find fake black converse anywhere, which is a must thing in every market. I had noticed that my fake Connies had creased from the solum on the night of the rave.. Man, four euro shoes from Poland, should’ve guessed... But on the other hand, the previous fake Cons I purchased in Estonia for 10 euros lasted me FOUR years. Shoes well served. That night we also had dinner with Karen and Michael plus Tom’s mate back from home whom he was traveling with, Kabil, who had joined us to stay at the house. We had quite a bit of wine and left to go out with Tom. We had a glass of wine/beer at Blues Bar before admitting we were pretty nackered and left back home to East Finchley. We stopped at one pub for a beer before heading to the house. That night we had a pretty intense convo with Tom about ”us”. You know how you’re backpacking everything just happens very sped up? Such as relationships. Everything just happens on fast forward and this was no exception.. :) Although we were pretty ridiculous and rushing into things way too fast way too soon, at the time it felt right and I don’t regret what we talked about, although we both admitted later on skype that we were acting a bit retarded :) I blame the wine haha. JK ;)
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On Friday we left to town with Tom and Kabil. Can’t really remember our purpose but at least we went to Liverpool Street to the business section and walked around. I took a photo of that ridiculous ”egg” that is supposedly a business building !!! What the fuck. Design to the max. When we left back to the house, Kabil took the tube straight home but me and Tom took the path throught the park and got a bit lost but eventually found our way back pretty easily. Harry, Tom’s other mate, he was traveling with, had finally decided to come and stay with Tom’s uncle too and I was happy ro see him cause I had been talking with him about photography and video cameras at the party on Wednesday. Also Rob, the dutch guy who had been the dj at the party came over. All the guys knew Rob from back home – his big brother worked at Botanical - the bar with Tom and Rob had also visited them in Adelaide and stayed for a month. So they were talking about Adelaide to the extent that I was getting bored. But then Tom cooked everyone dinner and all of us backpackers ate with Tom’s family again and had a lot of wine so it was very pleasant. After dinner we went to look for Tony, another mate of the guys from back home who had been traveling e.g in South America (jealous!). We went to this hostel bar to wait for him and man was that bar horrible. There was this one super lame black guy that was using this same lame tie technique to all the blond chicks. Me and Harry were observing him work his magic and finally when Harry went to the bathroom and the others were out for a smoke, the guy approached me looking very innocent and wanting me to tie his tie. ”Hell no, I know what you’re trying to do.” :D He was just so incredibly lame but thank god left. Tony finally arrived and we bounced. We were pretty poor so we decided to just buy beer from the shop. IT was past midnight but the Indians running th seven eleven didn’t care we just bought it form under the counter..!



Saturday was very chill. All the guys had stayed over so we just spent the whole day in. The boys left to buy beer but I didn’t mind just drinking water. Later on I did though have some drinks as Michael told we could use his bar since he never drunk that stuff anyways. There was a nice collection of everything and almost anything and Tom was loving it. He was really on fire doing all kinds of random drinks and frying banana on a pan in absinthe and such. He was in his element – he is a bartender after all. It was pretty cool watching him experimenting with all these fluids like a chemist. He did miss a couple of times though, and one druink stunk so bad I decided it was better not to drink that stuff :D



So Sunday came. Last day for the boys. Sucked to know it was all coming to an end tomorrow. I would’ve wanted to just spend the day with Tom, just the two of us, but instead we went to Camden with the boys. I did how ever eventually get my will :) And I finally bought AUTHENTIC Converse cause I just couldn’t give a fuck anymore. Cost me a fortune compared to my four euro cheapies but at least I didn’t get any more water in my shoes from all those paddles through those hge cracks in my shoes. We also went to this coooool shop with Tom, Rebel Clothing I think it’s called. I was in a I-don’t-give-a-fuck –mood (and also because they had AMAZINGLY RAD prints)I bought two sick tops that cost me 1,5 days budget ! SIIIIICK. That is NOT the way to backpack ! But i figured, I don’t shop home anyways ever, since i’m constantly saving for my next trip (as I will once again when I get back), so why not buy this fucking sweet top or two that I know i’ll LOVE until the end of time ?



After we got some food from th market and ate it at the park, Harry and Kabil left home and Rob went to visit some oher friends. Me, Tom and Tony left to this cool café/lounge place that seemed more like someone’s living room by the atmosphere of it. We met Darren, Tom’s/Tony’s mate and some four more Aussies from Adelaide/Melbourne and some English people. Someone ordered everyone a jäggermaister shot cause it was someone’s birthday, but other than that it was very relaxed. I was just sipping my beer and wondering why we never had chill Sunday session like this back home, where you would meet our friends all fresh at some cool hang out spot and have a couple drinks without the idea of planning to get fucked up? Just then one of the guys leaned over and asked me, Tom and Tony whether we wanted to chip in for a gram of coke. Okaaaay, so that’s how they roll in England... Sunday and doing coke, aight. (We didn’t though, don’t worry mom !) Tony left to chuck his luggage at Darren’s house and we parted ways. Tom wanted to show me Sunday roast cause I’ve never had that so we went to this pub and split a meal since neither of us was feeling that hungry. It was a nice relaxing evening and like I said, finally got to spend some alone time with Tom :)



But over all, I had a good time. It’s all about the people.

 

London and UG Rave

First day in london UG RAVE 13.7

The past five days in London... I've totally been violating my blogging, but I guess it's just a sign that i've had too much of a good time to be sitting on the computer. But, I'll try to write as vividly as I recall.



Wednesday - The day I left Amsterdam, I woke up to the sound of my alarm, feeling as if I had been on stand by the whole time, not sleeping. I was still feeling a bit under the weather and sleeping only four hours didn't help the matter at all. I had decided two days prior that I would definetly go to London to see Tom and cause the under water train would’ve cost me _90 euros_ on top of my Interrail ticket, I decided to fly as it was the same price and sooo much more efficient. I made it to the airport and swore to myself that this was the last time i'd rock up the airport with only 45 minutes before they closed the check-in. I had under estimated the que, but thank god I made it, with only 2 minutes left for the check-in to be open. The whole time though, that I was on the plane, I just kept saying to myself ”wtf am I really going to London.. what the hell I must be fucking crazy, wtf sandra”. But i’m glad I did. :)



I arrived to London Stansted airport at 9:30 and proceeded to get my bags and headed out to the arriving hall. By that time it was only thirty minutes that Tom's flight would land, but I knew it would still take him another thirty minutes to get through the customs or what ever. Time passed quickly and when it was 10:40 I started to get a sensation of fluttering butterflies in my tummy. It was nerve wrecking to see the automatic doors open just a couple of seconds before you would actually see who came out carrying his bags. Finally I saw Tom :) He said he didn't think I would actually come to London, and he was happily suprised I did though. I told him, that if anyone of my mates would've seen me now, they would not be suprised cause i'm just crazy like that and I love a bit of an adventure 8)



I was laughing at Tom and calling him a flashpacker the whole way to his uncle's house, cause he was dressed in a fucking _suit_. Such a little confussed backpacker hey.. He told me he only did this that he would get through the customs faster. He hadn't actually brought the suit from his home from Australia but tailor made one in Poland.



When we arrived to Tom's uncle's house his uncle's wife, Karen, was there to greet us. She seemed like a lovely English lady and she was very welcoming. They lived in East Finchley, on the Nothern tube line, and had this amazing, big and modern house with a big yard. I was in total awe.  After a quick nap and some grub, around four o'clock we left to Tom's mates TJ's b-day party. Tj was this Canadian guy Tom had met with his mates in Vang Vieng, Laos a couple of months ago. They were predrinking in a park and it full of people from England and around the world who TJ had met in Vang Vieng and on other trips. It was pretty amazing how many people were there to meet him. I counted some 25 people..... Only from his travels. Pretty sick. There were a few Canadians, some English people, one weird Sweed, a dutchie and so on. I thought of having to arrange something like this too.



I quickly made friend's after shot gunning (a skill everyone should learn) and especially cause I bet Tom time-wise in it ;) haha. People were getting pretty drunk and such and so at 8 everyone packed in cabs and proceeded in the underground venue they had managed to sort out for this rave. First there was a band playing but soon the dutchie, Robbie, started DJ'ing. Everyone was having a good time dancing and doing shots and shit. It would've been a good night unless Tom was so fucking out of it. I was pretty fucking mad at him and there was a lot of drama and so forth and only at 11:30 pm we grabbed a black cab (yeah probs not the best idea especially when you are drunk) back home (although going home was the best idea). It was pretty awkward to wake up Micheal, Tom's uncle, but because he is so laid back he was just laughing when he opened the door to let us in. Thankfully:D

Day trip to Utrecht & Heineken Museum

Day trip to Utrecht, 12.7



I was a bit over Amsterdam, since there was nothing really there for me since I don't smoke weed. I probably had the most tamest time (bu certainly not the lamest!) of all people in Amsterdam - I didn't do drugs, didn't sleep with prostitutes nor even got drunk ! Still doesn't mean I didn't enjoy myself :) It was so nice to just relax. Love it how Melanie and Marty are on the same page with me, since they too have traveled, all of us are just SO over drinking. Couldn't really give a fuck to get drunk. "Impulse fest", quoting my almost-relative Liina-Lotta, is alright, but I just hate hate hate it when people plan on getting drunk... In order to achieve the right mentality and feeling for the night, people predrink to get tipsy  so they can get drunk.. Doesn't make sense to me anymore (after excessive drinking in Australia).  Impulse festing on the other hand - you go out with your mates to have a beer and if you like, you can buy another one, and if it just happens so, that you are in the right mentality and feel like it, you can go ahead and get drunk. Impulse fests are way better anyways. Sorry this rant, but I've just been trying to get this to my Finnish mates' head who have no idea what i'm talking about (cause they didn't spend almost a quarter of last year INTOXICATED). Marty said something that i've been feelign but just haven't really figured how to put into words: "After I came back from Mexico in 2008, after that I haven't been able to drink the same way anymore. Something inside of me just broke on that trip." That's exactly how I feel.



Anyhooo, enough ranting for this entry.
SO yeah, I was ovr Amsterdam and wanted to do a day trip somewhere. I figured I should go to Utrecht since my mate Jasmin, who lives in Holland, has been talking about that place. It's a student town and some o he friends study there. I was actually gonna meet Jasmin there, but then she told me she wouldn't make it until late at night.



I took the train to Utrecht and started exploring the city. I liked it immediately more than Amsterdam. It was just more intimate and cute. Reminded me of Jasmin's village, Terneuzen in Neu Zeiland, near Belgium's border. I was there in 2009 for two weeks and it was just so adorable. It's freaking tiny (although according to Jasmin it has the Netherlands' largest coffee shop, Check Point ?) and I was the ONLY tourist there. I swear :D



So I was just strolling on Utrecth's streets and looking for a café to eat at but I ended up finding this cool Second Hand store !!! It's called Episode, and they have one in Amsterdam, London and some other places. It was two storeys and they had EVERYHTING. Everything was categorized - hats, old converse shoes, "bell shirts", fishnet tank tops ans so forth. I found exactly what I had been looking for - some high waisted jean hot pants !!! I just had to buy them only they costed 20e :S:S:S They were perfect except i'm not sure if they'll fit me when I go back home and when IF i gain some weight (I've lost a lot I think...). I also bought this bellyshirt (shouldn't have had, still after 2 weeks haven't used it) and this lovely, colorful, cool, crazy shirt-y thing, that just screamed my name. It's so me. I was so bad, I wasted freaking 50 euros on that shit... CAN YOU IMAGINE? My whole day budget...



I figured to be a good backpacker and buy some postcards to write back home for friends and family. I asked the shop keeper of Episode, whether he knew of a cheap café that had soups, and he asked whether I knew where place X was "no.." "Well do you havea map?" "Nope, I like getting lost :D". Anyhoo, found this café, wrote ten postcards and left back to Amsterdam.

I met Mel and her family and went to Heineken Museum with them. Her dad was so nice and paid the entry fee for me :D Learned a bit of the company and got two beers for free. I thought it was totally fucked that the museum had HORSES in it !!!! I just ran up the strairs holding my breath... Not gonna go into detail about this thing again, I think I had my horse rant already in a Magnetic Island post :D

Red Light District

Amsterdam 2nd day, 11.7



I was planning on sleeping late but I got up at 11 already.. fml. Blogged a bit (finally) and waited for Marty and Melanie to come back home as I couldn't leave without the keys nor had I a cellphone. When they did come back, we went to the market which had EVERYTHING... Veggies, meat, fish, pastries, clothes, nuts, jewerly etc... We bought some vegetables and meat for our picnic. I also got myself a Stroopstraat, this very thin two sided waffle with toffee in it... love it ! I've had it once in Poland (though it wasn't made on spot) but it was cold and I think I liked it better cause all the flavour was more distinct (: But it was delish!



We went back to the house and Melanie prepared her mushrooms, I made the salad (of course) and Marty grabbed the meat and the portable grill. We walked to the park just next to them -Safari Park if I recall correctly- and set up out picnic. It was nice just to relax in the sun with a couple of beers, some music and a quilt.



Marty and Melanie decided to take me to the Red Light District. I was prepared of being trully shoked. I was actually pretty scared of what I might see - crack whores selling themselves just for the sake of another dose ? I'm pretty sensitive and things like that come to haunt me so I was trying to gather myself to encounter what ever might come on our way. But did I really get shocked - The Red Light District was nothing what I had had in mind... There were no skinny, worn out women in the windows  - some of the girls were actually pretty attractive in the red light. It was a Monday so not all the windows were open but we still managed to wonder around for almost an half an hour. I was in awe. It was just so incredible to think, that this kind of place actually exists on earth. I was actually a bit impressed by the Red Light District, if that doesn't sound too far off.

Amsterdam

1st day in Amsterdam, 10.7



I had only been to Amsterdam for a night when we had to do a stop over here with my parents, and the flight got delayed. That was like over ten years ago. So Melanie showed me around :) Amsterdam had a total different feel to it than Berlin: All the houses were very narrow and tall and you could get lost pretty easily, cause everywhere looked the same. But Amsterdam is a very cute city i reckon. Although I do prefer Berlin more - Amsterdam lacks all the art.



We were walking in this park and we saw this guy planking ! It was hilarious. He was laying on the ground with his face turned down and his mates were photographing how people were reacting :D I went to chat to these guys and told them "great planking". We continued to walk to a coffee where we observed the street. Nothing had really changed since Australia - We still went to the pharmacy to buy the same stuff for me (Strepsils - when wouldn't i have a sore throat/lost my voice), I still steped on Mel's feet and she still was scared to death of anything flying (thanks to Magpies) :D Good times.



As we were strolling the street, we saw this cool looking guy playing guitar and singing with his -assumably- cute  girlfriend standing next to him. He had a nice folky sound so we went to chat to him.... An Aussie ! Suprise Suprise ! His girlfriend was from Germany and they were extempore in Amsterdam. He had a band (www.facebook.com/betweenborders) but he was also doing his solo stuff. Gotta check his band out when I get back home :) It's so funny though, when I was in Australia, I mainly hung out with Europeans, on this trip on the other hand - I've only been chatting to Aussies and hanging out with them.  I'm writing this entry 15 days later and I can honestly say, the amount of Europeans I've met can be counted with two hands where as I've made some 25 new friends from Down Under :D



We went back home for a second and left to go to Castricum - Melanie's home town some 40 km away of Amsterdam. I was exhausted. I seriously can't remember when I've felt to worn out. I don't know why I felt like that, but I just thought that my body might betray me if I wouldn't rest. Melanie insisted that I didn't have any time to sleep since I was staying only for such a short time in the Netherlands, and so she dragged me with her. Luckily I realized some water and a quick take away pasta wouldn't hurt and man, did I feel better after that.



The reason we went to Castricum, other than meeting Mel's parents, was that there was this band playing in the tiny square and everyone would gather there to party. Melanie's town was cute and I enjoyed it how almost everyone knew each other. People were having a lot of fun although the minimal beer cost 2 euros (!). I finally got to meet Mel's folks and they were so nice :) They wanted me to come over one day so they could cook me but because of my tight time schedule I told I'd coem visit next summer. I also met Melanie's cool cousin, Anouk, who is going to go to Vietnam to travel by herself ! She was asking me all these questions about traveling and I was trying to be as helpful as I could by telling her some tips. The only thing I remember telling her is to be open minded... Yeah, with that you get pretty much by with everything :)



There as this one annoying girl who kept bugging me about sending me photos of the event to her e-mail. Ok, I will and I understand when you remind me a second time, but srsly, after that showing up randomly like a stalker monkeyto the joint i'm eating at (this really dutchie thing i can't remember) is just creepy and plain annoying. I told her I WOULD SEND THEM but it might take me a while as i am traveling and I have a life also... fucking hell.

 

Hookers and Chiropractics in Amsterdam

Arriving to Amsterdam 9.7



Caught my train from Berlin to Amsterdam which was a 6 hour ride. Met this cool New Yorker, Jake, and sat the half of the trip with him. He caught my eye cause of his skatebaord (:D) and we got into talking when I asked where the restaurant wagon was. Had a couple of beers with him and listened to pete & bjorn john’s classic album. Jake was pretty cool ! He had studied art and was a furniture carpenter. He had been in Berlin for a couple of days but really he had come to Amsterdam for this interview for an Art school, which PAID for you to study at their school.They also apparently pay for your ACCOMMODATION???????. He told me he had been pretty confussed with my origin, since my accent is a mixture of everything. Apparently I have a strong American accent but you can also tell that I’ve been traveling in Australia for a long time by the way I say my A’s :D (I think hanging out with Tom for the two days straight might’ve also had an impact.) Mission complete ! I’ve always wanted an aussie accent :D haha.



As we approached Amsterdam I got this flutering feeling in my stomach – I was so happy to see Melanie. When I finally saw her on the platform I ran up to her and we hugged for a long while. I cried a bit because I was so happy. I wear my heart on my sleeve hey.



We went to Marty’s, Melanie’s Australian boyfriend, whom with Melanie is currently living with. He had a nice pad in De Pijp – the hip part of town, which has no tourist what so ever. The house was almost like an hostel – Marty lived with another couple from Adelaide and they had some Aussie mates over. So yeah, it was me, Mel, Marty + this Canadian Jonas and eight other Australians. We got some beers from the local 24/7 and I saw my FIRST EVER LIVE PROSTITUTE (i’ma s excited about this as I was when I saw real live Jews... Not being discriminating or anyting but I had just never seen them in real life.. hope no one gets offended...). She was this slim, dark skinned woman and she wasn’t even that bad looking. She was wearing heals and a white top as a dress. It barely covered her ass and we were pretty sure that if you would look at the shiny floor, you could’ve seen her cuca ! That’s how short her top was. Anyway, she was with this fat nerdy looking guy with glasses and it was just so obvious what was going on. They were buying beers (I would need a fucking bottle of ABSINTHE if I were in her shoes) and I was just a bit shocked but also a bit fascinated about the situation. I’ve  read a couple autobiographies on call girls and women that sell them selves to fulfill their heroine addiction so it was just a bit intriguing to see it happen in real life. Anyway, enough of hookers.



We went back to Marty’s flat and don’t think I even finished my first beer cause I was just so sick of drinking. I was talking with Jonas and he too is a chiropractic just like Marty and when I told him I had never been to one, he asked if I wanted him working on me. Of course I said yes, I mean fucking hell, my body was violated by all that Deadmau5 raving, partying in Berlin and carrying 20 kilos of shit in my backpacks. And my god, did he fix my body. I was just laughing the whole time cause I had had a couple of beers and I just found the whole operation so funny. He probably worked an hour on me (normally take like 15 minutes..) cause every freaking muscle in my body was just so fucked. When he finally asked me whether I still had some muscles that were hurting, I thought for a second. I was sure I ad been complaining about some pain somewhere.... OH YES, my cheeks hurt cause I’ve been smiling too much :D :D: D:D:D:D  So he fixed that too 8D oh  god. But so worth it, lying on that chiropractic chair for an hour would’ve really cost me 200 fucking euros, so yeah, it’s good knowing people and getting that sort of expensive treatment for free.



And yes, I felt like a total newborn child the day after.

Berlin's Secrets

Berlin 9.7



I was really excited in going exploring Berlin. It would be just me, my iPod and my camera. It would really be my first real moment alone in Berlin, since I had been spending all of my time here with either the Belgian boys or Tom. So I woke up at 9, got ready and checked out and at 11 left to wonder around the city. I had enough time to walk around, since my train would leave to Amsterdam at 15:36.



I went to Alexanders platz and decided to go a way I had never gone to before and maybe get lost. And man, was I in awe of all the things I found. I could've spent the whole day photographing the beautiful urban art the city had to offer: various tags and a lot of grafiti. I think I really discovered what Berlin was about. Beautiful secret gardens, vast art scene, hidden doors and rabbit holes. It's such a lovely, vast and liberal city that has a mixture of old and modern, that I would really love to live here. And everything is so well desined here... The architecture, city structure and the green, cozy parks.



As I was taking a picture from a distance of this old construction worker sitting at some café, he noticed me and waved. He came to talk to me about photographing and he was telling me how I should take a photo of him standing in front of the bank with his fist clenched. Unwillingly to do so, I told him I only liked to take action shots which to he replied: "Maybe we should shoot an action shot this afternoon". EW WTF, PERVERT. I just bounced. Fucking creep.



Next to the Cinema Café, I had been photographing with the jerk sitting in front of, was a cinema of some sort, and they had e.g "Bansky" written on it so I just had to check it out. But I didin't get very far, cause I was trully amaized with the posters, tags and grafiti people had left in the tunnel... I probably spent an half an hour photographing the art scene of this in yard bar / gallery. It was so fucking amaizing.



I went into this staiway case only to discover an Anne Frank museum I wasn't thrilled to check out. But I noticed the rugged stairway case continued and although I was pretty sure there wouldn't be anything at the top of it, I just had to keep on climbing up. See, I just had this idea in my mind of Berlin having hidden secrets that I might discover if I just looked hard enough. Turns out at the end of the staircase wasn't a rainbow but just someone's door. Oh well.



I was getting hungry after my 1,42€ breakfast so I decided to eat at this CHEAP asian restaurant (2,5€ oh yeaah) and enjoy a German beer, cause I hadn't really been doing that. After the meal and just looking at people I got up and was so incredible happy I was almost thinking of getting my tattoo done here but I just decided get a bracelet or something as a souvenier for myself. I love jewerly but I don't like to buy some if it doesn't have some sort of symbolic meaning or memory to me.



As I was looking for a a place to buy my Berlin-memory from, this random Brazilian guy started talking to me. He was cool. He had been living in Sweden and now was living in Berlin. "I love Berlin, but Germany is shit." :D He has been a professional football player but after his knee got injured, he has just been training people. He gave me his business card and told me to come see him sometime in Berlin and travel with him to Brazil :D



Anyway I bought my anklet from this Argentinian guy at the market place and headed back to my hostel. I met my little Belgian guys there! It was nice to see them before I left :) Told them to remember to "Fuck the system". I had to go online though before leaving, and as I was sitting upstairs on the public computer, this girl ran to me and started saying something rapidly in German. After I explained that I don't speak German, she just blurted: "THEY GUYS DOWNSTAIRS CAN SEE YOUR UNDERWEAR" :D OH FUCKING HELL. "Oh well, we're in Berlin" A random girl sitting next to me said. True, True.



Note to self:
Don't sit like a fucking man, sit like a lady !

Serena van der Cuntzen

8.7 berlin day 2



Today was a good day. Just walking around all sleep deprived with Tom :D We were pretty much just wandering around the city the whole day, laying in parks and admiring Berlin. Such a laid back day. Don’t know, there isn’t really that much to write about this day although it was pretty awesome for it’s easyness. I had this cool feeling of never being as in contact with life as I was then. For once, I was really just in the moment, and not looking forward to something else. I’ve noticed I do that a lot. My life is about expectations and build ups. Being home it’s always just looking forward that the work day is over, that my saving account is growing, in other words just looking forward to that next trip. And when i’m traveling, I just keep looking forward to the next location – or actually just that part i’m getting there. It’s the movement that I like, I guess. What matters is not the destination but the journey. I just can’t seem to enjoy myself in the moment that much. Unless i’m at a gig. That’s when I feel alive. But today was different. FOR ONCE I WAS ENJOY THE MOMENT AND NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO SOMETHING ELSE.



We were laying in this park in fron of the big az church, enjoying life, in our own thoughts, just minding our own business, when this fucking DOG ran up to us and liked my arm ! THAT FUCKER. Ok, i’m glad it didn’t lick my face – that’s why I blocked it with my arm. But fuck. Thanks to those fucking lousy dog owners, I got a nasty hives in my arm. It was crazy how fast it happened. In 30 seconds the skin, that had been in contact with the saliva (although I washed my arm staright away !), got red with white bumps appearing on it. Thank god not on my face though.



Anyway. We saw these really cool looking bunch of people near a park with the Berlin Fashion Week tent (yeah didn’t know about this before I arrived) that were really trendy. Wanted to snap a picture of them cause from one look at this mixed group of Berliners you could tell what the city was about – fashion and liberalness. When Tom pleasantly asked, whether we could take a picture of them, all we got was a dramatic FUCK YOU from this obviously gay guy. Apparently we had intruded in the middle of some nasty drama that was going on between the kids. Too bad, they were really desperately stylish in their own ways.



Then. God damnit. I spotted Serena van der Cuntzen aka Blake Lively, the star from Gossip Girl. That bitch ruined my day. Don’t think I hate anyone’s character as much as her’s on TV :D



Anyway we got some asian food at the train station and I said bye to Tom who was heading to Switserland for the weekend. He asked me a couple of times to come to London (he’s going there after the weekend) so I might just do that...

 

Fuck the tour @ Berlin

You know how you meet people on your travels and you can categorize them into two different groups?

The first group consists of random cool people you meet, talk on the street to, sit on the bus with, share a hostel room with and so on. People you have fun with and whom you like but know won't stick out so much out when you're thinking about all the people you met on your trip. The people that belong to the second group, on the other hand, are the ones that you also meet randomly at a hostel/party/train/what not, but you just know, that will matter and you’ll remember.

Well today I met someone pretty sweet.



We were sitting in the lobby with Dan, Peter and Jonas, the three Belgians, and waiting for our free tour of Berlin to start. A guy shows up to the reception and turns around asking us whether we know when the tour starts. I could tell straight away from his accent, that he was from Oz. So when we were walking with our group to the train station I started talking to this Australian guy, cause I noticed he was also traveling alone. Tom was from Adelaide and alright.



Our group was taken to this kind of sqaure and I was a bit wtf, cause the square seemed to be full of tourists waiting to get on that same tour as us. There was like 50 people and I had thought we would only be with our 8 people group from the hostel. Seems like the tour was free for all. Anyhoo, the tour guide lined us up (hey just like in school trips..) and suddenly a girl with a very American accent standing behind me and Tom started talking: "Ummm, excuse me, do we like  have time for Starbuck's ? I wanna chai latte." We just looked at each other with Tom and I was like omfg, I wanna get the fuck out of this tourist hell.  I hate twats like that (you are in Germany do you really needa fucking Starbuck's??! Just enjoy the city.) and I also find Starbuck's so over rated. "Do you just wanna bail?" Tom asked. "Yeah, let's FUCK IT". "Fuck it!" And so we just bounced out of the que away from the tourists and "Chai Latte".



Tom told me that he had been in Berlin for a week already and he knew a fair bit of his way around the city, so he could show me around. Sweeeet, better than a class-trip-kinda-tour ! We decided to head to the East Side Gallery, where the Berlin wall had been. Tom knew quite a bit about history so he was just telling me all this info and being such a tour guide. We walked for like five hours talking non stop, and at one point I noticed I hadn't actually been even paying that much attention to the city, cause I was just too focused in our convo.



But I had such a good time with him. The most awesome thing about Tom was, that he was sooo easy to talk to. We just talked and talked and talked for hours non stop. It was sweet. We went into this suburb to visit his friend at a hostel, but he wasn't there so we just decided to go cook at my hostel. (Tom had been staying at the same hostel as me, but he was changing hostels to be closer to the train station since he was leaving tomorrow night.) I stayed in the hostel while Tom went to buy food and I gave him total freedom t cook what ever he wanted. I actually felt a bit like a fancypancy when I noticed Tom was cooking us meat with gravy. We even had salad, bread and Aussie wine ! :D:D Thought of taking a picture of the meal just to show Melanie and Laura that for once I wasn't eating noodles. Although I was scared that I woulnd't be able to eat thanks to my loss of apetite, I found out I had got it back ! Finally!



Tom asked if I wanted to come party with his mates since it was his final night in Berlin and so we decided to meet at nine in Alexanders platz after we both had taken a nap at our hostels. Somehow I just had a bad feeling about meeting him and just as I suspected, he still hadn't showed up after a half an hour of waiting. I was fucking pissed off cause I felt like an idiot all dolled up and with the guard at Newyorker waiting with me. He must've felt sorry for me :D I also wasn't that discrete with my PINK mini shorts, standing in front of the store in the middle of Alexanders Platz... Some random old guy tried to come pick me up IN GERMAN for his son who was standing a couple meters away. Or at least I think that's what he was trying to do, by the look of how they were checking me out.



The whole way to the hostel I just kept replaying this mantra in my head of fucking dickhead australian cunt wanker. I was just so pissed off. At the same time i knew thought, that he must've just overslept, cause there was no reason what so ever why he would've bown me off. I mean, he was the one who asked me to come out. A couple of times acutally. I bought a beer at the train station to calm my nerves and by the time I was at my hostel, I was fine already. Just wanted to check my Facebook in case he had left me a message. And there he was, online, sitting at some internet café telling he was terribly sorry for oversleeping etcetc. And that he would be waiting for me in Alexanders Platz if I still wanted to come. If not, I could just blow him off in turn.



So I put a bit more hair spray on, bought another beer and headed to meet him. Tom told me I could slap him if I wanted, but I just decided to call him dickhead cunt a couple of times and hit him in th stomach : ) Anyway, cause I think it's unnecessary to be angry at someone for an honest mistake plus i'm such a good person, I forgot about the incident and headed with him to party. His friends were cool enough to fade him so it was just the two of us. Tom took me to this (what I think is an) underground club where they were playing drum and bass. I like dNb but it's not really my scene in terms of dancing so we went to Suicide Circus which was also an underground club in the same venue, near the rail tracks. Danced to electro and oddly slow loungey house music. Oh yea, cause i'm so clumsy and awesome, I fell on my chair, when me and Tom were sitting outside having a beer at the stools. I was just laughing too hard and leaned a bit forward so I lost my balance... Now I have battle wounds.

But yeah... Awesome day/night.