(upbeat techno music)
- Amsterdam Central.
It's like 4:20 almost 4:30 in the morning.
This is super early.
I booked a train to Berlin for the weekend
to hang out with friends,
attend the Queer JS meetup
which I am super-duper excited about.
And just, you know, see what's going on.
I'm tired, I'm gonna,
I'm gonna fall asleep on this train.
(upbeat techno music)
Yeah, so I'm in second class.
- [Fellow Passenger] I'm
going to grab my stuff.
- Because I got a first class ticket.
(upbeat music)
So, yeah, train in Berlin
is a pretty decent trip.
It costs 10 euros extra to get first class
and it is absolutely worth it,
because you get at the end of the trip,
basically, a cabin to yourself.
(laughs)
Today was fairly busy.
This place did fill up but then,
everyone left at Hanover, I think.
So, yeah I got the place to myself.
Takes about six hours all up but I've got
about a half hour left.
I'm excited to check out
Berlin so let's do this.
(upbeat techno music)
- [Train Announcer] 42 on platform.
This place is huge!
I've already got myself a SIM card
because I was stuck on Edge,
which wasn't doing it for me.
Now I've got 4G and I'm gonna head over
to the geldautomat, geltuld, ATM.
I've heard Berlin is a
very cash oriented place
so, got to cover those bases.
(upbeat techno music)
So, this is Tiergarten.
It's a huge, great big garden that spans
like four metro stops,
in the middle of Berlin.
It is the, apparently, the third largest
open garden in Germany, which is,
an oddly specific claim to fame.
But, it's pretty sweet and my hotel is on
the opposite side so,
I am going for a walk.
(upbeat techno music)
Yeah.
It's a bit warm out.
(upbeat techno music)
So I have to admit, I
actually went to bed,
fell asleep, had a really good
nap when I got to the room.
So, that's the reason actually,
why I booked a hotel this time around
is just because I feel
like I've been doing
a lot of traveling lately and, uh yeah,
just wanted a place to
escape to this time.
It's a little bit of comfort.
It's about, what, 6pm?
Gonna to head out.
There's probably a festival
on in the gayborhood.
So, we'll see what's going on there.
But, I also really want food.
I've not eaten a lot today.
What?
Jesus.
(upbeat techno music)
(crowd murmuring)
Thank you.
(upbeat music)
(female singing upbeat music in German)
Wow, this is amazing!
This is Stadtfest, which
is a 2-day street festival.
Celebrates LGBTQ
everything in Berlin here.
The only reason I knew this thing was on
was because Google Maps
highlighted the streets in rainbow,
and I'm like, what's going on?
You click on it and it tells you.
Anyway, I've seen a few people,
walking around with currywurst
and I've never had it.
I'm going to give that a
go, we'll see how it is.
(upbeat techno music)
Yeah, this is pretty good.
It's not uh, not vegan.
What can you do?
(upbeat techno music)
This is so cool.
(upbeat techno music)
(rock music)
(crowd cheers and applauds)
(rhythmic rock music)
Okay, 10 pm forecast,
70% chance of showers.
That looks like lightning and wind.
All right, I'm done.
Which way's my hotel?
Pfff, we'll work it out.
It's this way.
This wind is intense!
Here comes the rain.
(rain falling)
It's just drops.
So, I think it's just this next street.
Should be there shortly.
(wind blowing)
Whoa!
(wind blowing)
What?
Ah, this is so much fun.
That's the hotel, we're good.
(elevator beeps)
So, that was like my first Berlin storm.
That blew me away, almost literally.
That was really cool.
I had a really great time
and I would not have known
about that at all if it
weren't for Google Maps.
So, pff, well done, Google.
(techno notes)
(upbeat music)
So, this is the Victory Tower
which was built, and then
rebuilt and updated and moved,
to commemorate a bunch of things.
Notably, the unification of Germany.
From a bunch of independent states
into what is now know as the
United States of Germany.
That bit's not true but,
mmm.
(upbeat music)
So, I'm back in Tiergarten,
which is amazingly large.
I haven't walked the same way
twice since I've been here.
I think my first order of business today
is to go and find some
breakfast, 'cause I am hungry.
And I don't really know
where to start with that
so I'll consult the Google Maps
which has done pretty good for me, so far.
(upbeat music)
So this is Brandenburg Gate, it's huge!
Also full of bullet holes.
When I was initially coming
in I was looking at the map
and I thought I wouldn't
be able to make it here,
because Brandenburg Gate,
Brandenburg is like, down south somewhere.
It was built on the site
of some city gate which,
marked the road to Brandenburg.
So, there's a fact for ya.
(upbeat music)
Yeah, so this one is the Reichstag
Reichstag?
Reichstag building.
It was the German Parliament basically,
until 1933, when a mystery fire broke out,
which let Hitler declare a
whole bunch of emergency powers,
take over Germany and start the Holocaust.
It's pretty real.
(rhythmic thumping bass)
(upbeat music)
(children squealing)
(upbeat music)
So the Holocaust museum
is just a short stroll
down the road from both, the
gate and from the building.
Yeah, it's actually quite
confronting, really.
It's a memorial for the fact that,
over six million Jews were
killed in the Holocaust.
But the thing for me
is, it wasn't just Jews.
It was also the incurably sick,
ethnic minorities, it was the gays.
No one was really safe in this time.
A really scary is you
see a lot of similarities
in current-day politics with
the rise of the far right
in Europe, around the world.
What's happening in
the U.S. at the moment.
The internment camps in Australia.
All it takes is one or two
dominoes to fall the wrong way
and none of us are safe.
But enough of that.
Yeah, I found a patch of grass,
enjoying spending time with the pigeons.
Yeah, I think it's
about time to head back,
maybe take a shower, and yeah,
find something for dinner.
(upbeat music)
There's a boy, man, woman, child, girl
or otherwise, it's BNE in Berlin, BLN.
(upbeat music)
(relaxed jazz music)
So I'm about to start a street art tour.
This was recommended by a few folks.
It's like 28 degrees
today, direct sunlight.
I'm not having a great time but,
got a few liters of water, should be good.
(relaxed jazz music)
Anyway.
Correction, it's now 29.
Pfffff.
(relaxed jazz music)
- [Tour Guide] What do
they want you to know?
There's a fixed and (music
drowns out guide) around the city
That things happen to them
but (music drowns out guide).
(upbeat music)
You guys want to stand in the shade?
Would that be better?
- [Host] Yeah.
(upbeat music)
- [Tour Guide] So guys,
this piece right here
people have stated that
this is about the fear
of the foreigner.
The fear of the outsider,
fear of other cultures.
(siren rings)
- So, the walking tour
was actually really great.
It was so interesting to sort of,
to get a little bit more
of an understanding about,
sort of, the culture and all of that stuff
of both graffiti and street art.
I asked the guy about sticker art,
specifically, BNE was
here, and he seem to think,
yeah, it's just some
guy who travels a lot.
But yeah, if you're ever in area,
I highly recommend
Alternative Amsterdam Tours.
Wait, no.
Alternative Berlin.
They are fantastic,
fairly legit, I suppose.
The only down side is it's
thirty something degrees today,
the sun is just blasting.
All of my sunscreen melted right off
because I'm sweaty as heck, and so,
I'm going to be in a lot of pain tomorrow.
(rhythmic music)
It's the last day of my trip.
It's about 8 am and I'm heading
to the train station now.
I caught an Uber bike.
They're actually really
good for this sort of thing.
Like, it was going to take me 30 minutes
on public transport, took me 12 on a bike.
Little electric bike.
And now I'm not too sweaty.
Anyway, it's been a really great trip.
Didn't see everything I wanted
but these things happen.
It's been a little chaotic but you know,
I really, really enjoyed it
and it was good to get away.
Very relaxing.
Anyway, I'm here, found my platform,
train arrives in 15 minutes.
I am damn well, on time and it feels good.
Yeah, I guess it'll take
about 6 months to edit
the but hope you enjoy it.
- [Train Announcer] The train is arriving.
(upbeat music)
(bells tolling)
- Yeah, so last time I was here
I did not see the Berlin Wall
which was a bit of an oversight.
It's like, the big one.
This time around, I figured I'd pop by.
This is, I think it's called Mauerpark.
I think it translates to Wall Park.
And that, that's the Wall.
(bells tolling)
