Berlin, April 2024

THE AFTERMATH EXCEPT IT’S BEFORE SO PREMATH IF THAT WAS A WORD BUT IT’S NOT.

So… I somehow decided on going to Berlin to eat a lot of currywurst.

Well, “decided” might be too strong a term, at least it sounds far too deliberate. The truth is that I was merely browsing on booking.com to see what options were available and found a really good offer and my usual airline also had flights that fit so rather than make an informed decision I got confused, then perplexed, then a little weary and I was kinda peckish at the moment so I just went ahead booked it to feel I had control of the situation. As I rarely do.

I think the peckishness sealed the deal and the thought of currywurst clouded my mind. As it often does.

Suddenly everything was booked and I was packed and ready to go! Which proved to be a mistake since I booked it in January and the trip wasn’t until April 4th so I unpacked and dereadified myself.

Now the waiting began and as that always goes, the event seemed so far in the future but suddenly was mere days away and it was time to re-pack and re-readify.

AT THE AIRPORT

I arrived at the airport a couple of hours before my flight was scheduled to take off and since I only brought a backpack and had no luggage to check in I went straight to the security checkpoint. One thing I gotta give the security people at Copenhagen Airport is that they’re actually pretty efficient so it’s always a fast, a minor bump on the road. I, of course, made that bump a little larger after putting my stuff in the trays to get a healthy dose of who knows what kind of radiation when I walked through the metal detector and every light and alarm went off immediately. The security guard asked me if I had emptied my pockets which I assured him I had at the exact same moment I realized I still had my phone on me. Those damn things, I swear. It’s a 250 gram hunk of glass and metal but so familiar I don’t even realize when it’s in my pocket, only when it’s gone. That’s not healthy.

Went back, threw the phone in the radiation tray and went back through the Detector of Metal and this time without a hitch.

There was still time before the gate would be announced so I looked at the shops, most of them deserted save for the single employees exuding boredom from every pore of their beings, as it always is (seriously, I wonder how those shops make a profit), and I went to get some Euros since I knew that Germany is still a very cash-friendly country, especially in the realm of street food vendors. Then I decided to get some coffee and had a short but interesting interaction. As I’m walking towards the coffee place there’s a young woman in front of me walking confidently on legs that didn’t seem to take orders from her but rather from alcohol. She was swaying and stumbling and fumbling a bit but walking with a definite purpose, betrayed by the booze though she was. Across from the coffee shop was a fancy store (maybe Dior?) and I exchanged looks with the man working there and we both looked at the woman as she precariously made her way towards the gates. The fancy gates, mind you, starting with ‘A’ followed by single-digit numbers, not the ‘F’ and three-digit numbers where I usually end up. The man from the store (was it Dior?) then followed her and I later assumed he got hold of security to check up on her because as I got my coffee he came back, looked over at me and gave a slight nod as if to communicate that things had been handled. By the way, the coffee was 42 DKK or €5.60 for a small latte but it was good. It was really good!

Soon thereafter (including a quick trip to the restroom because airplane toilets, ew!) I started on the journey towards the gate at the other end of the airport.

Boarding began soon after I arrived there following the epic trek to the Far Reaches and I was on the speedy boarding list (will you look at that?!) and it all went smoothly. I was traveling with EasyJet as I’ve also done every time I’ve gone to England and they know their stuff, it seems. Never had any issues with them.

And off we went.

I gotta say that after now ten flights in under two years, that moment when the plane is on the runway and the throttle comes on and you feel yourself being pushed into the seat from the G-forces, that never gets old, it’s awesome!I’m a little more undecided about the banking, there’s something slightly unsettling about seeing the ground below at those weird angles!The flight was short, under one hour and there I was, in the Land of Currywurst!

BERLIN – DIES PRIMUS (Thursday)

I made my way through Berlin Brandenburg Airport and down to the deepest pits of the S-bahn platforms and was greeted with information that was sorely lacking. They need to work on that. Only two platforms so it should’ve been easy but I still had to consult the official S-bahn website which also proved to be sorely lacking. More on that in a while. I was instructed to get on the S46 train but none of those figured on the maps so I finally just decided to get on a train and hope for the best.

Finally, I got the S-bahn website to fork over some useful information or so I thought. I was directed to no less than three different train changes before arriving at Messe Nord station, a 15-20 minute walk from the hotel. That’s not too bad, after all, but here’s where the aforementioned lack of proper information comes in because as I later learned, I could’ve taken the S-bahn to Warschauer Str. and then gotten on the U-bahn to a station a mere 5 minute walk from the hotel. Oh well, now I know.

I got to the hotel easily and check-in was awesome! The hotel (icke.apartments) had sent me an email in the morning with the room number and a code for a key box outside the main entrance so I could just pick up my key fob and go straight up to my room.

The room was nice, functional and, most importantly, clean. Points for icke.apartments throughout all of this!

It met the basic requirements for someone like me who didn’t plan on lounging in the room but would spend most of my time in the Outside. A big bed, clean sheets, a bathroom and a small kitchenette with a fridge and a microwave, both which came in handy in the following days. Besides that there was a REWE supermarket on the corner of the building, about a minute’s walk away from the front door of the hotel. That also proved quite convenient.

I got myself settled (that didn’t take long), put on my backpack and went exploring. Now, one other thing I had looked up on that Net We Call Inter was army surplus stores since my preferred one in Copenhagen had shut down during the summer of ’23 and I was in dire need of a new cap and found that there was one located a fairly short walk away from the hotel so after checking they were still open I decided to cross that off my list right away and off I went! With some detours and generally admiring the city it took me about 20 minutes or so and I started out by perusing or maybe browsing, I’m not sure which, the window displays when suddenly a voice sounded behind me, throwing insults towards my unsuspecting and highly undeserving person! What the fuck was this? I hadn’t done anything wrong, I was just looking at a shop window! I turned to see a man in his mid-fifties dressed in well worn clothes that had a sort of hippie-ish look to them and he was wearing sandals on top of that! Well, the sandals were on his feet so I guess they’re at the bottom. Ready though I was to defend myself against this verbal onslaught I decided to investigate a little further and it quickly became clear that he wasn’t actually insulting me, he was just speaking German. But the two can be easily mistaken. Now, my German isn’t good. Like, at all, and his English wasn’t the best, either, but we struck up a conversation despite this and he just wanted to inform me that there was a better army surplus store hidden out in Kreuzberg that he suggested I paid a visit. After chatting about this and that and me asking about an Indian restaurant I had passed (which he approved of) I went to a bakery. I did mean to go into the army surplus store but missed by a few delicious meters.
Got myself two slices of cheesecake and then made to the army store where I proceeded to acquire a new cap and a t-shirt.
Went back to the hotel with my loot, then to the supermarket to get some breakfast-ish foodstuffs and beverages. At this point it was around seven in the evening and I decided to give it a couple of hours before going to that Indian restaurant to pick up some butter chicken. It was decent.
Now, one thing I like about Berlin which I also noted when I was there back in 2009 is the mixed use of the cityscape. There are apartment buildings everywhere but almost all of them have some kind of shops at the ground floor, either small specialty shops of a wide variety or restaurants and food places and the latter are often open until midnight. It brings a lot of life to the streets, they don’t feel deserted, even late at night, and it’s nice to be able to go out and get real food at nine or ten in the evening, you’re not limited to a hot-dog from a 7-11.
Full from the day, the food and the cake I went to bed around midnight…

BERLIN – DER ZWEITE TAG (Friday)

I woke up early and got myself ready. Today Mission: Currywurst was set to go and after a quick breakfast and a shower I hit the streets! I started out by taking a walk through Lietzenseepark, a beautiful park surrounding a lake in the middle of Berlin and it was right across the street from the hotel. Furthermore, I could walk right down to the area around Charlottenburg S-bahn station and try and find the hotel I had stayed in back in ‘09 and maybe see if the currywurst place I had frequented back then was still around. Alas, it was not. The entire platz where it had been was transformed and was unrecognizable. Despite me having bought the Berlin WelcomeCard, a tourist pass that allowed for unlimited traveling on public transportation I didn’t feel too sure about jumping right into that after the train-related events of the previous day. Damn that autism! I opted instead for walking down to Kurfürstendamm, a famous shopping street, and make my way towards the first planned stop on Mission: Currywurst, Bier’s Currywurst at KuDamm 195.
Now I gotta say this about Kurfürstendamm, for it being a shopping street, it’s not the most pedestrian friendly street as there was not a single place to sit down for the entire span of around three kilometers. That’s not the biggest problem for me but it definitely could be for some. Not the greatest decision on the city planners’ side, to be frank.
I made my way to Bier’s Currywurst, a small place tucked away between fancy stores (there are lot of those on KuDamm) and the first currywurst of the vacation was soon ordered! For the ones who don’t know what a currywurst is, first of all, what the Hell is wrong with you? Secondly, it’s a sausage cut into bite sized pieces and covered in a delicious sauce (sometimes of their own making, sometimes just ketchup) and sprinkled with curry powder. Thirdly, there’s an order to this which, in my very tolerant mind, absolutely must be adhered to! Sausage, then sauce, then curry. And this guy did it wrong! He got the curry and the sauce in reverse. This will not do!
However, you came for a review and a review you shall have!
Bier’s Currywurst, KuDamm 195.
The sausage was really good. Firm, lots of texture and a good bite overall. The sauce, however, was more or less just tomato ketchup which is kinda lazy and the assembly was wrong. Furthermore, you had to pay extra for a roll which brings the experience down a notch.
Not the worst of the trip but definitely not the best, either.
2.5 / 5

I moved on from this rather disappointing start to Mission: Currywurst and ended up at the Europa Center, a shopping mall where I once had a delicious Jägerschnitzel but unfortunately that place had closed down but a lot can happen in 15 years. Like, a decade and a half can pass in that span of time, it boggles the mind!
At this point the Sun had cranked up the heat a notch and it felt almost summerly and I was wearing long pants and a jacket. I desperately needed a shirt since just a t-shirt would be a little too cold so I set the course for the one place that I could solve this conundrum, a place that has saved me before albeit in another country: Primark! Got me two shirts for €24, that’s awesome!
Sat down by the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, donned a nice striped shirt, subtle yet classic, and observed people for a while.
I then moved, an unsatisfied look on my face…
Not long thereafter I was down at Kaufhaus Des Westens, or KaDeWe as it’s called, and there I found the next destination, Original Berliner Currywurst. My hopes for the success of Mission: Currywurst improved significantly here! After chasing away some street peddlers I made it to the counter and put my order in. The pleasure of going places that serve very few but popular things is the speed with which it’s ready and I was handed the next currywurst almost immediately after paying and proceeded to find a spot at one of the tables.
Now, this was a currywurst! First of all, the order of the ingredients was correct so already there it was looking up. The sausage was delicious, similar to the first one but the sauce here was way better and there was more curry powder on it which all worked to bring it to a new level.
4.5 / 5

Then came a minor issue. The next place was too far away for me to walk there and I was still wary of the public transportation (thanks, autism!) but I had no choice so I purposefully walked towards the nearest station, passed it obliviously, got temporarily confused and then backtracked. How I missed the station building the first time remains a mystery since it’s literally in the middle of a square with no other buildings adjacent to it and a large sign above it but hey, it’s me!

I went down at Wittenbergplatz station and lo and behold, the signage here was oodles better than at the airport so it took me all but five minutes to find out where I was going and which platform to go to and soon thereafter I was in a train and on my way.

I managed to stumble out on the right station and made my way to the third and final place of the day, Mehringdamm 33, in Kreuzberg.
Here I decided to add fries and mayo to the mix as well as a Fritz kola, which turned out to be probably the best cola soda I’ve ever tried. Right up there with Jarritos.
The currywurst here was okay. Everything was decent and acceptable but nothing really stood out and made it truly interesting. The fries were good. Crispy on the outside but light and fluffy on the inside but could’ve done with a tad more salt.
Solid 3.5 / 5

At this point I was full and happy but also a little bit in pain since I had developed a blister on my right pinky toe which was pretty annoying so I decided that enough was enough for that day and started to make my way back towards the hotel. It was still early in the afternoon, only around 15:00 but I wanted to take care of that blister and do some exploring in the immediate area of the hotel and plan the next day. I wasn’t in a hurry and it took me another couple of hours before I was back.
The rest of the day was uneventful and during the evening it was SMNEU (those who know, know) and I went to bed before midnight.

BERLIN – TWO DAYS AFTER THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY (Saturday)

The first thing that I decided when I woke up is that I was sick of wearing pants. Or rather long pants and I was sick of wearing my backpack everywhere. I still needed a bag, though, but now I also needed shorts so it was the perfect excuse to find the army surplus store the non-insulting hippie had mentioned and after a bit of searching online I was confident I had found the right one and this time I went straight for the U-bahn after the obligatory shower and breakfast and all that jazz.
Thanks to what I now had learned was the efficient U-bahn network of central Berlin I made it out to Kreuzberg in record time. Well, compared to walking, at least, and I started to explore this odd neighbourhood. Of course, I got off at the wrong station so I ended up walking a lot further than actually needed but it was a nice day and I enjoyed the rather chaotic feel of this part of the city. Kurfürstendamm was a very polished, high-end part of the city while this had much more of a rundown feel but that’s the kind of place I know and it turned out to be a really interesting place. All sorts of odd shops and restaurants, small parks and plazas and colorful buildings. Some intentionally, others not so much. The streets were often narrow, some had been made into purely pedestrian streets and there were lots of trees and benches and other features that made it very welcoming. I liked that place.

I didn’t take me long to find my goal and before long I had acquired both a military style sling bag and a pair of military styled cargo shorts from the Airborne. The guy in the store asked if I needed to try them on to make sure they were my size but as I explained to him, Airborne was a staple in my wardrobe for many, many years, I know the sizes perfectly which makes them sort of a go-to because it makes shopping for clothes so much easier.

Happy in my acquisitions and the promise of relief that came with them I took a stroll and ended up at Lausitzer Platz by Emmaus Kirche and sat down for a while to watch the lazy life pass by, gathering the strength for my next task! I had to reach Schönhauser Allee station and an old friend. This old friend being the legendary Konnopke’s Imbiss and another currywurst!
Another speedy run on the trains later I was at my destination and true to my person, I confidently started walking in the wrong direction, replotted my trajectory and arrived unscathed, ready for a sauce-drenched wurst mit pommes!

Konnopke’s Imbiss looked the same as always, as it has looked for almost a century (as far as I know) and the service was efficient. I had to settle for a Coca-Cola Zero here because they didn’t have Fritz Kola but I didn’t mind that too much.
I went with fries, too, this time as my breakfast was just a small yoghurt so this kinda counted for breakfast as well and my carb deposits were running low.
The wurst itself, well, that was great. You rarely go wrong with sausages in Germany (though it happened later that same day) so there’s not much to say about it. Great bite, good flavour and texture. The sauce was good. Spiced but not spicy and the curry powder added a good flavour on top of it. The fries were magnificent, straight from the fryer and nicely salted. The mayo they use in Germany is a little different from what I’m used to back home but it just pairs so nicely with fries and especially towards the end when it has mixed unpredictably with the currywurst sauce and it’s just…. *drool*
Still didn’t beat Original Berliner Currywurst by KaDeWe but was definitely worth the trip!
4 / 5.

I decided to head back to the hotel to change into the shorts I had just bought because the day seemed to be getting warmer by the minute and I figured it might be best to quell the urge to just change then and there. If I’m going to Deutschland Jail for indecent exposure it’s gotta be on a vacation where I actually have the time for such nonsense.
Quick pit stop at the hotel, shorts on, new sling bag packed and then back out on the street.

Next up was the Spy Museum!
Safely off the station I continued the now proud tradition of going the wrong way and some ended up at the service entrance of the spy museum. Replotting a course got me back on track and soon after I was inside purchasing a ticket. I think it was €17.50 for a ticket which was okay. I could’ve gotten it cheaper if I had flashed the Berlin WelcomeCard in her face insistently but at this point I had kinda forgotten all about it since I wasn’t prompted to show it once on the entire trip.
The museum was quite interesting. First of all, you enter through a faux airlock. Doors slide apart, you go into a cramped little space, hear a low hiss as the doors close behind you and then the ones in front open up and you’re allowed in. The first part was a historical walkthrough of cryptography through the ages so I got some reading done there. Upstairs were the most interesting displays. All kinds of artifacts, tools, ideas and equipment used by actual spies, mostly concerned with the latter part of WWII and the entirety of the Cold War.

Some were really nifty, in other cases you were wondering who would ever fall for that ”disguise.” For instance, there was a lipstick gun, a single-shot pistol made to look like a lipstick but it was twice as big as a normal lipstick. Disguise kits, encryption and decryption devices, propaganda flyers and so on and so on. There were also more hands-on exhibit items, among those polygraphs, a radio device where you could try filtering out static to hear a message (in Russian) and different cipher machines and soforth. The kids there were having a blast! It’d make this already excruciatingly long post even longer to describe even half of what I saw but I definitely recommend going there if you’re in Berlin, it’s well worth the visit, particularly if you’re into history.

After exiting I noticed I wasn’t too far from Checkpoint Charlie, the old checkpoint in the Berlin Wall linking East and West Berlin, so I decided to cross that off the list. I had visited it it ’09 as well but it didn’t matter. This time I managed to find a fairly direct route and was there in maybe 15 minutes. I know it’s a historical landmark but it is kinda underwhelming and if you miss it when here you really haven’t missed much. It’s just the old guard building in the middle of the road with touristy shops littering the neighbourhood surrounding it.

Took a quick photo and then went back to a place called Charlie’s Beach, a sorta food court thingy a minute’s walk away. There I found the next currywurst, ordered and sat down to eat.
The sauce here was second only to Original Berliner Currywurst but the sausage was by far the lowest quality I had on the entire trip. It was so highly processed and so smooth that it practically had no texture at all, no bite to it whatsoever. Really disappointing. On top of that it was really thinly sliced which only served to further minimize whatever texture it might’ve had had the pieces been larger. The sauce was good, though. Lots of flavour, a touch of heat and it was warm which helped a lot.
The poor quality sausage and the high price of €6 took away a lot of points from this one and it was only the sauce that saved it from the lowest score.
1.5 / 5

It was getting into the evening and I had a show to run so I headed back to the hotel…

BERLIN – THE DAY BEFORE D-DAY (‘D’ As In ‘Denmark’) (Sunday)

The day started out like the previous ones but I was soon to learn that this would be no ordinary day.
On my way back from Charlie’s Beach the previous evening I chanced upon a small currywurst spot manned by an elderly German gentleman which is always a good sign but since I had just eaten and he was closing up shop it had to wait so I decided to go there this morning. Little did I know what fresh hell I was would be facing…
I exit the hotel with a plan to cross the street and enter Charlotte-Sofie-Platz station on the other side than usual because that would bring me right down to the platform I needed to be at but when I came up to Kaiserdamm something was off somehow. Yesterday there were cars on the street but now it was crowded with people all going in the same direction. Running, actually, as foreign as that might be to me. And all them brandishing a number on them (they actually were numbered during this event, they didn’t just tag it on later for clout…) and there were spectators. People lined the street on both side, hoo-ing and haa-ing and playing obnoxious Eurodance music from these hellish soundboxes, the most demonic invention known to man. Flags were waved, horns were tooted, ears were shattered ad hoc and I was petrified, paralyzed by this crude display of barbarian behaviour. It was the Berlin Half-Marathon! Lazy fuckers couldn’t even commit to a full marathon and properly honor Pheidippides and his Athenian brothers. Pathetic.
I figured it is what it is, the train will take me away from this so went to Potsdamer Platz, the nearest station to my goal of a morning currywurst, but when I exited the station there they were! More of these maniacs running around wildly as if chased by debt collectors! It took a while to navigate the blocked off streets and underground passages to get to the other side of the platz but by some miracle I made it. Ah, sweet solace of the less traveled road. Well, street, I guess.
When I arrived at the currywurst place the elderly gentleman had only just opened so the delay ended up serving me well, after all. It doesn’t mean I forgive these modern flagellants, I merely recognize the providence of the delay.

I made my intentions of currywurst clear to the well-mannered man behind the counter at WurstBar (Stresemann Str.) and was served what proved to be a delightful breakfast.
The bratwurst used was amazing. Everything you want in a proper sausage. Chunky and textured with a great flavour and crispy casing. The sauce was a lightly spiced ketchup and even though he put on the curry powder before the sauce I forgave him because he also added a generous sprinkle of hot paprika powder which proved to be a very nice touch that added both depth and heat to the experience. And it came with a free roll, something I hadn’t seen anywhere else so that just made it even better. At €3.50 it was also the cheapest.
Definitely going back there next time as this was on par with Original Berliner Currywurst.
4.5 / 5

Stomach full of deliciousness I journeyed out to Alexanderplatz, another famous site, and while I had been there before I recognized nothing at all. My memory of it was completely different than what I saw there but okay, I’m used to that, so I loitered around frivolously and ended up getting a coffee in a fancy coffee shop with the worst muzak ever. Downtempo versions of classic hits played on acoustic guitar and sung by a guy who sounded like he was on the verge of crying. The staff wasn’t too keen on my presence, I think. I ordered a latte and specified that I would be drinking it on the premises and while others (sat outside) were served at their tables with coffee in real cups, my order was in a to-go cup and was just placed on the counter for me to pick up myself. Never going back to Exclusive Coffee at Alexanderplatz, that’s for sure!

After this I had nothing much planned so I decided that going out to see Brandenburger Tor might be a good idea since I didn’t see that the last time and it’s one of those classic Berlin sights. Also, I would be able to tell my mother that I had in fact Seen Something rather than risk her disapproving gaze.
Down stairs, onto train, change train, and up stairs and that’s when I realized I had made the biggest mistake of the entire trip. The fuckin’ half marathon ENDED AT BRANDENBURGER TOR!
Runners and spectators and their families every-fucking-where! It was a madhouse, chaos… Bedlam!

Rather than going straight down to the trains again and make my escape I decided to explore the surrounding area for a bit. Another big mistake. After walking around for about an hour I had circled back to the station but at this point the runners were slowly leaving as well so I got stuck on a train full of people who had just been running in the hot spring sun for over two hours! When I made it off I was sticky in all the wrong ways and there was only one way to ease my mind: a consolation currywurst!
Back at Wittenbergplatz (the hallowed grounds of Original Berliner Currywurst) I went for the alternative option, Currywurst Manufacture right across the street
The sausage was okay and so was the sauce. Nothing amazing, nothing scale breaking but I had expected more given that this by far the most expensive one coming in at €10 for currywurst mit pommes und mayo. The fries were the steakhouse type fries which I’m a little undecided about. On one hand their ratio of crispy outside to fluffy inside is off and not as balanced as regular fries but on the other hand the larger surface area makes them better conveyors of delicious mayo.
2.5 / 5. It would’ve been 3 if it had been cheaper, it wasn’t really worth the price.

At this point it was into the afternoon and I slowly made my way back to the hotel, spend a few hours exploring the area around it while talking to my cousin on the phone before going back to the hotel and packing up my stuff and that, as they say, was that.

BERLIN – DAY OF SADNESS (Monday)

The day I had dreaded was here. I was leaving and going back to Denmark but since the plane didn’t leave until 19:05 I had almost a full day ahead of me. Checkout time was at 10 in the morning but icke.apartments had a box for self-checkout by the entrance so if you’re leaving earlier, as I was, it was only a matter of dropping the key fob in that box and it was done. I was out of there by 9 and started my trek to who knows where. I sure didn’t. Passed the Deutsche Oper (opera house) and kept walking. The Sun was out, the morning was warm and it a beautiful day. After walking for an hour or so I wanted to go back to the army surplus store in Kreuzberg to maybe snatch up another pair of shorts since their prices were a lot more agreeable than what I’m used to in Denmark. Alas, they didn’t really have any other I liked but I was back in Kreuzberg to explore more of the neighbourhood. Sat for an hour or so in Görlitzer Park and was only once offered to buy drugs and a stolen perfume. I declined both.
After this I went back to Wittenbergplatz for one final bon voyage-currywurst before my voyage that I hoped would be bon.
The currywurst (this time mit pommes) was as good as I remembered and I was happy. After eating I walked down a random street just to see what was there and had a funny little exchange with a couple of guys in their sixties sitting outside a bar. As I’m about to pass one of the men asks me “Ist es echt?” (“Is it real?”) while stroking his own beard, smiling broadly. This I understood and I responded in the affirmative. He then gave me a thumbs and said “Es ist sehr schön.” (“It’s very nice.”). I thanked him kindly and started to walk on when I heard the other man say in a kindly mocking voice to his friend “Ist es echt?!” and huffing at him. It was clear that these two knew each other well. The exchange left me with a smile on my face that returns every time I remember it. It’s amazing what such a little thing can do for the mood.
At around 14:00 I was making my way back to Wittenbergplatz and after a pit stop to use the restrooms at KaDeWe I headed towards the airport. I had to change from the U-bahn to the S-bahn at Waschauer Str. Station and getting there was no problem. Getting on the right S-bahn? Problem.
Safely on the S-bahn platform at the station the Great Waiting began. I was sitting on the platform I had been directed to and watched this info screen keenly so as to not miss my train. First train? Mysteriously canceled. Another twenty minutes of waiting. Next train? Never showed up. Third train I managed to get on but only because I discovered at the last minute that it was on the platform behind me, not the one I was waiting at. Okay, annoying but I made it on to the train and off we went. For a while. A short while. Then the train mysteriously stopped in the middle of nowhere. After about twenty minutes, an announcement came on the speaker system but it was so muffled, low and distorted not even the Germans onboard had any idea what was being said. Finally, after probably half an hour, we were moving. Slowly. At this point I was getting annoyed. I’ve never entered through Berlin Brandenburger Airport, I had no sense of where to go or how efficient they were and I was starting to cut it a little too close for my comfort because of this delay.
In the end it took over an hour to go three stops but then whatever problem had caused the delay cleared up and the rest went by without a hitch.
I got to the airport and while it wasn’t quite as efficient as CPH it wasn’t too shabby and I even had time for a coffee before going to the gate. My first time ever at Starbucks. It was thoroughly…. Alright.
The plane was 30 minutes delayed but it didn’t matter at this point. I was leaving Land of the Currywurst, my mood couldn’t get any lower.

Just past 20:30 in the evening I got on the Copenhagen Metro, the trip was over and unlike this post, it had gone by much too fast and I had loved it all. Except for that shitty train ride.
Berlin, I shall return, hungrier than ever!

As for you, dear reader, if you have made it this far I applaud you your focus and determination. I couldn’t’ve done that and I wrote this rambling mess.
Thank you.