berlin.

we shouldn't even try to describe berlin. we should have just snuck a camera into that club and taken a picture of those people having sex in the middle of the dance floor and posted the picture and just wrote the caption: 'berlin'. that would have been easier.

bryn was, in a way, brilliant with this idea. berlin was that kind of crazy. a chaotic crazy party swirls of color and light and different accents and lots of smoke and bucchus, really, is what it was.

when bryn & india were in london, they met their friend echo's amazing boyfriend david. it turned out that david was going to be in berlin with a group of his boyfriends the same weekend that bryn & india would be passing through. because, apparently, berlin had such a nightlife, it had turned into a weekend destination spot for hard core house music loving party goers. david and 20 of his friends were going to be dancing all around berlin and they wanted to give bryn & india tour.

even more of a surprise: india got a message from david knowles, an amazing friend from high school who she hadn't seen since about then, saying he was living in berlin and would love to hang out. for obvious purposes, from here forward, the blog will specify friends by saying british david and american david.

bryn & india stayed in a hostel recommended to them by girls in prague. the wombat was really modern. their window looked out onto the spiking t.v. tower and a wall of detailed graffiti. bryn & india met up with british david their first night. white trash fast food was decorated like a chinese restaurant and served greasy hamburgers. there was a bizarre band playing; a handful of older guys in pleather short shorts and vests strummed electric guitars as sexy middle edged german girls in matching corsets sang back up off key. the weirdest part: the crowd went wild! loved them! cheered them on, screamed in adoration! bryn & india didn't get it. so they laughed and drank and then went to a smaller bar where a guy played bob dylan on the guitar and bryn talked to british david's friends about techno music and so forth.

the t.v. tower framed by the wombat's window.

modern architecture dots the sidewalks.

the next day, bryn & india walked towards the center of the city. they were looking for the holocaust memorial. after walking for awhile, they found a pile of large wooden white crosses hanging posted to a fence. confused, they soon realized it was a homemade memorial to men who had died attempting to escape east berlin's communism in the 1960's. it was a strange realization for them. here they had been, searching for a memorial for one war, and here they were, accidentally finding one for another (more recent!) war that had taken place in the same city. this sort of awful shock had a lasting impression with bryn & india in berlin. for some reason, the dark history of the city held a serious cloud throughout the entirety of their stay.

impromptu memorials surround the icy parks.

the memorial to the murdered jews of europe.

the holocaust memorial, or the memorial to the murdered jews of europe, was difficult to say the least. the modern history of berlin is so rough. bryn & india talked about how bizarre it must be to go to middle school there and learn about your city's history. in your grandparents time, we really messed up, and let a lot of horrible things happen. and then in your parents time, we really messed up again, and let a lot of other horrible things happen. they guessed they must find some way to glorify it. (after all, they did learn about horrible stuff in american history class, too.)

at night, they met up with american david. david was in germany getting his mfa in public art. it was so exciting to be hanging out with a real american artist living in berlin in a real german apartment, trying to start a life there. to see their young friend become a hard-working expat was exciting and great - and american david was both of those things.

american david took bryn & india to an amazing dinner spot where the three mused about opening their own business. communal pasta bowls and help yourself bottles of wine got them ready for the late night that lay ahead.

because berlin's nightlife is not like the life that one lives during the day. it is a completely different, totally separate kind of life. your day life and your night life don't even necessarily need to get along to coexist. they can remain totally disconnected. perhaps, actually, that's the right way to do it.

american david took bryn & india to some amazing bars that first night. they were all packed full of beautiful, tall people who smoked cigarettes and drank gin and tonics. one neighborhood they went to had a large housing complex in it, and right next to someones front door, was a sort of secret bar, tucked in among the apartments. they party hopped around the many bars that were built into said housing complex for a few hours. in one, they crashed an argentenian birthday party, and american david made friends with a xylophone player. there were bands at every bar. they took the subway home when they got too tired. that wasn't until around six am.

german graffiti will you keep you warm.

backpacks grow heavy with collected glow sticks.

the next morning, bryn & india took american david's advice and walked to the west side of berlin. they walked along a mile stretch of the old berlin wall that had been restored and turned into a sort of public canvas. a group of artists had painted murals down it - bright graffiti and big portraits and very lose but gorgeous interpretations of the violence that had brought about the wall. what's funny is that american david, the public art major, mind you, wasn't that into it. oh, you could go see that if you want, but it's not that cool because it's not the real berlin wall, it's just the same height and where it was standing. you can't see the history of the wall behind the paint. bryn & india did like it though. the bright paint in the grey city made them glow. they walked to a big park where there were puppies and babies and kids biking through the snow and skateboarders jumping on the rails and it felt so sunny and wonderful and really great in berlin for the first time. they ate burritos and bryn found india some clunky combat boots in a second hand store and they felt so good.

the berlin wall, decorated. 

a frosty park in west berlin.

that night, their last night in berlin, cannot be spoken about. at the clubs they went to that night, watergate and the panorama bar in berghain, bryn & india were patted down before they entered. they were forced to check their cameras into a separate coat room to ensure they didn't snap shots in the club. as mentioned previously, they saw things in these clubs that they cannot even begin to describe.

they watched the sun rise. after that, they went to another club. around noon, exhausted, grumpy, they decided to give up. they went to the bus station and bought tickets to amsterdam. just like that. goodbye berlin.