28/05/2014

#189 Fail: How to not get to a Berlin club

This is a cautionary tale of Berlin

Welcome back,
If you like posts with detailed stories written out like in this one, then press the like button up here so I know next time.


To make up for not telling you the nights out stories in the last post and the one before, I took my time to give you a full report of last Saturday night, which wasn't special in other way than that the fact that nothing much happened. It could be called a fail. It is however a good account of how time disappears in Berlin, we went through 8 hours as it was nothing.

There's always something to see on the walls.

This weekend we decided to go to a club. The only available night for us was the Saturday and so we chose that. We met up at Kotbusser Tor at eleven pm and decided it was too early for a club and we should hit the bars first to go to a club later. The first stop was a bar on Oranienstrasse, which is quite a good street for going to a bar and I have witnessed more action here than at the Kreutzberg area (feel free to disagree with this in the comments).

Enjoying the park and beer.

We went to a bar I had spotted last weekend, but hadn't gone in yet. When buying beer the standard "also pay the DJ with the 1st drink" rule applied. We reluctantly accepted our stamps as we had planned to only stay for one drink and the DJ was playing some boring reggae or something else. The bar was packed and after circling it we found a sitting place on a ledge. Soon after sitting down I was asked to take a photo of the girls and a boy at the table next to us. They were using the "small" Fuji instax that prints out the photo straight away. It was a fun toy, but it takes forever for the photo to appear on the paper. It took significantly less time for a waitress to appear and to tell me it was forbidden to take photos, I forwarded her to the owner of the camera. This didn't faze them at all and as the waitress left they took a photo of us too and handed it to me, saying that it's very expensive.

The expensive Instax photo of us in that bar.

Soon after that we continued on. We had to decide between Berghain, Stattbad, About Blank, Louche and Renate. As Stattbad had Elektro Guzzi and Cassegrain playing lives and it was really close to our home we decided to go for that. We agreed that the night wasn't right for the Berghain line. We still had a bottle of bubbly to chug and we decided to take everything from being in the south before we headed back towards the calmer north. I managed to storm a rock bar only to discover it had a ticket when I backed out of there ten minutes later. We spent some time sitting in a park and tried out an obnoxious Australian accent we had heard on the street.

The bar where everyone drinks their own drinks.

We then continued to a bar in Kotbusser Tor where I was told it's "okay" to go there with your own drink. We got to a random door opened it and pushed a side the thick dark curtains. Inside there were people sitting and smoking on furniture made of wooden storage pallets. Old monitors were used as interior design and the vibe was strange. We finished our drinks in there and continued on to look for something more vibrant. By then it was around 3 am.

Rosenthaler platz bar.

We got the Ubahn to Rosenthaler platz at 3:30 to see if it had more action than the nights before. We stopped by a Spätkauf and got a couple of Sternburgs and Peeter whipped out a pair of sandwiches from his backpack. You see he had come straight from work and there were some catering sandwiches left over as he left. So we enjoyed the sandwiches and beer outside of the Späti and tried to out talk the loud Spaniard youths sitting at the next table. Needless to say we lost that competition.

Sandwiches are a good alternative to kebab...

So we continued further at around 4:30 am. I remembered from the internet that there was supposed to be Trust bar on Torstrasse. It turned out that internet was a senile liar and the bar had since moved. We found a bar with a mirror door on the way, which seemed to only let in models. As we approached the door a random looking woman denied us entrance because of Peeter's work clothes, which weren't dirty, just worn. We continued on to Chelsea bar and wanted to check if this was the night when someone would actually be there. Yet again we were denied entrance, this time because of his steel tip boots. I knew I looked fine, because just ten minutes ago a passing stranger had complimented my shirt to me. As I had mentally prepared myself to get turned down by Sven at Berghain, these random bars didn't hurt more than a mosquito bite after a broken arm.

...kebab is a good alternative to sandwiches...

So we continued on towards Stattbad and watched the dawn near the Berlin wall at 5:17am. As our home was on the way, Peeter insisted that he could leave his backpack and change clothes before we go to Stattbad to start a fresh. We left our place at around 6 and headed towards the club. On the way I stopped a couple of girls and asked them about the state of the party. They told us that everyone was leaving and it was pretty much over. We were somewhat disappointed.

...all in all there's food lying everywhere.

Once we arrived there at 6:30 we were still asked to pay the full cover fee, the two live shows were over and the last Dj was about to go on. Didn't seem like it was worth it. So we went to check out Panke across the street. It was closed, but someone was having a party in the house next to it. We tried our luck on crashing it, but after ten minutes of looking for the right door, we realized they were already cleaning up the party. At that point the bed seemed like the best private club for me. Peeter still insisted on going to club Humboldthain and we split ways.

One of the last things I saw when I went home.

From 7 I slept till 11 to perfectly hit a sleep cycle and possibly go to Club Der Visionaere or another Sunday morning after party, possibly an Open Air. We however only had the energy to go to the Mauer park fleamarket, which was packed full because it was a beautiful day. The sun, a friend from England and Club Mate made the perfect Sunday.




See you,

18/05/2014

#188 stories of Berlin

Welcome back
Another busy week has passed in Berlin. As usual I make music and play ping pong every day and we walk in the parks when it's sunny and during night time we go to bars and eat döner kebabs. Instead of one big story I'll give you the mini stories with every photo from this week.

After a hard night of work, the best thing is to have a beer in the sun at Humboldthain park.

Jaan Toomik opened his video and painting exhibition this week in Berlin.

Trying on baggage for size at the display window.

Some CSI type of car accident around Hermannplatz.

Finding Admiralbrücke in Kreuzberg and enjoying the vibe until the police came over and kindly asked
us all to leave the bridge with the moderate noise, because the people had paid good money
to live with silence in the flats on the side of the bridge.

Late night drive through shopping on a rainy night.

Meeting people from New York when admiring her jewelry. She was
similarly enthused when I told her she would be on an Estonian
night life blog. This all happened outside of a spätkauf 
on Oranienstrasse.

The vicious alligators in the Neptunbrunnen.


Neptunbrunnen night dip.

See what happened last week or
See you soon!

11/05/2014

#187 Neukölln night

Hey welcome back,
Another busy week has passed in Berlin.

I love places like this, with the postered walls and the lighting.

First of all I finished the remix for Käärkäsi's track "Without You" and here's a part of it for you. It's somewhat dark and melancholic, so be prepared. Don't worry there will be summery tracks soon as well. The whole track should be released soon, it's not up to me.



I'll keep it short for words for this post and let the photos tell the night's story.

On the East side of Berlin, not far from us, there's a bar called Old CCCP.


The graffiti in Berlin's toilets form a kind of an aesthetic pattern.

Invite only event for the "culture people", launch of a magazine.

We also saw a film shoot involving a bunch of people getting into a white stretch limo.

The lights on the way were captivating, especially  after rain.

Modelling on the way to Neukölln with whatever we find.

Watching the early dawn from a new friend's Neukölln balcony.

Friends from Estonia made it.

A picturesque view.


At the market waiting for the local guide.

Click here to see more nights from Berlin.
See You soon!

05/05/2014

#186 Berlin 1st of May

Kein Bier vor fier

Hey, here's another post from Berlin.

Super hero girl shuffling.

The greatest outdoor party I have witnessed in Berlin was the 1st of May. I didn't quite gather why everyone was partying but I guess in Berlin people take any chance they can get.

Everyone should have a team.

We had been recommended Görlitzer park and that's loosely where we stayed. The Polizei was deployed and the sirens were wailing every ten minutes. We didn't see any rioting except for the time when someone smashed a bottle under the tires of the Polizei van.

Lost ninja turtle.

By accident I managed to come upon a friend from Tallinn, whom I hadn't yet met in Berlin. He told me that he had just come out for breakfast and gone with the flow of the crowd. I asked him for some tips on locations and left with a promise to meet up later.

Accidentally found a friend from Tallinn.

The streets were filled with crowds of people and at times I felt as if I was in a cyberpunk cartoon. There were punks, hippies and any other kind of subcultures you can imagine. From street to street there were different music being played on stages.

Police snipers??

Another cool thing was that Caipirinhas and Mojitos was sold everywhere and there were local men selling it from tubs they had brought from home. It was a strange sight.

Sparkling wine in the park.
As we were informed all of the small shops were we had hoped to get some beer, were turned into tiny bars with music, higher prices and occasionally people dancing.

Spätkauf (corner shop) party.
At some point we had to get a bite to eat and finally settled on a schawarma and of course a döner kebab. All the cafes and bars had improvised benches and tables outside for the occasion. Toilets were in a higher demand and so people just improvised.

Trashed bike.

While filming an old man on ecstasy dancing with a dachshund and then the black kids who were harassing him. One of them confronted me suddenly asking me if I was from the police and why I was filming.


The crowd dancing in the rain.

Otherwise the vibe of it all was positive and liberating and there was a lot of good music on different stages. Everything from rap to experimental performance bands were playing somewhere.

Creepy performance Dj.

The after-hours-man superhero.

As the rain was pouring over the open air crowd, who kept on dancing or took out their umbrellas, we decided to seek shelter inside and headed over to Neukölln.
See you soon

01/05/2014

#185 Berlin - Mauerpark und Photography Playground

looks really fun

The biggest event of the week was the underground rave we were supposed to go to. It was word of mouth only and we got the info through a Spanish stage worker.

Our three painted girl guides to the forest house party.

So on Saturday night we got ready, geared up and rode and walked for close to an hour to get to the outskirts of the city. The instructions were to silently crawl through the hole in the fence without using flashlights. As we approached the venue...

Smoking all the way

...we met people who told us that the police had gotten there before the party could have even begun and shut it down. We stood for a while, the others sipping on Club Mate vodkas, while I was drinking Ouzo with 7Up. We saw a slow Polizei car passing the lingering crowd and driving off. There was nothing left to do but...

Olympus Photography Playground photo taken with OM-D E-M10 camera

...to walk back into the town. We got a half-decent Döner from a place on the edge of Neukölln. We ravaged the meal and gave our thanks to the cooks, who responded with a shrug. Next stop a Spätkauf for beers and other needs. As a friend and I stayed outside we were greeted by girls with their faces...

Olympus Photography Playground photo taken with OM-D E-M10 camera

...painted like animals. They were asking us if we wanted to go to a forest (house) party. We didn't think twice and joined their direction, instructing others via a text to follow us. When we got there...

Olympus Photography Playground photo taken with OM-D E-M10 camera

...it took some time to get in as each room had its own music playing. The main stage even had a live Dj behind a table. There were blacklights and drawings on the walls. I also got my face painted with industrial paints and we found a spot at the window sill. The night continued until 5am when it was time to leave. So we wandered through the streets and the bahn grid back to our place.

Another kitchen session with wine.

One of the art experiences so far has been the Photography Playground - a factory building full of installations commissioned by Olympus to show off their OM-D series cameras. I got to try out the Olympus OM-D E-M10 camera. The main feature I embraced was the black and white filter.

Mauerpark flea market overview.

The coolest experience was going to the flea market in Mauerpark on Sunday. The whole field was covered with people enjoying themselves. I idly browsed through the counters of different things, old and new. The other part of the festivities was the ten or so acts playing around the field. Everything from hipster girls with guitars to a five piece African percussion band. Apparently one part of the field was reserved for karaoke as well.

Mauerpark flea market hippie girl act

On the hillside there were people spraying graffiti on the erected white walls in an iconic Berlin style. The other attraction on the hill were the swing sets. People from 4 to 70 were enjoying swinging overlooking the festivities.

Forest house party bathroom swamp.

One of the nights we got to enjoy Pastacas play a set in Jää-Äär the local Estonian cafe. He was good as usual and I haven't felt the relaxation power of a musician on such a scale for a long time.

The three Club Mate fans.

Greetings