Return
Finally, a little downtime. The last thee weeks have been crazy, but fantastic. Basically, filled with non-stop running around various cities with friends, and then bringing them back to Berlin to show them around town. Everyone who came to visit seemed to really like it here, which is nice; I'm glad my friends from Chicago and New York understand why I love this city so much.
To pick up where I left off, Amsterdam was fun. It's not my favorite Dutch city (I really like Rotterdam for some reason), but it was great to explore again with a bunch of friends. We only had a couple days there, but that was long enough for me; I was surprised by how excited I was to get back to Berlin. We walked around a lot, shopped, ate (chocolate-covered waffles, conveyer belt sushi, amazing Indonesian), and giggled. Once again I learned that shopping is only fun for so long if you can't spend any money, but that's OK. I plan on hitting some thrift stores here in Berlin next week.
In Amsterdam I can't help but feel like a tourist, so I just went with it, which was fun. Usually when I travel I am quiet, but running around that city with a huge group of people, being rowdy and not worrying about anything, that was a nice change of pace. Then after two nights, it was time to go to Berlin.
Having friends here was pretty cool; it gave me an excuse to do all of the touristy things I had been putting off. In a week of hosting visitors, I went to the Brandenburg Gate, the top of the Reichstag, the top of the Fernsehturm, saw the Melancholie exhibit at the Neue Nationalgalerie, and headed an hour and a half south to the Bauhaus School in Dessau (pictures from that forthcoming).
It was also really fun to take friends out to the clubs here (Watergate, Panormabar, and a few other random places). When Atom, Nicole, Brian and I arrived at Arena at 8am Saturday and there was still a full-on party happening, they agreed that Berlin is an awesome place to be right now.
Most of my American friends left on Sunday; it was weird saying goodbye to them. For traveling with such a huge group for over a week straight, there was no drama. Everything just worked out. I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's company, and I think we all agreed it was the best vacation ever. I already miss them.
Kris stayed until Thursday before going back to London, which gave the three of us an opportunity to run around town more. One night we went to Nocti Vagus, a restaurant where you eat in complete darkness, and are served by blind waiters. I guess some people get very anxious in that situation, but I thought it was a lot of fun and enjoyed the experience. It wasn't even difficult to eat in the dark, though I suspect years of yoga has helped familiarize me with my corporal and spacial boundaries.
On Thursday afternoon before Kris left we walked up to Prenzlauer Berg, and I found an outdoor market by an old church that I am excited to patronize. It was small, about one stand each for cheese, bread, fish, wine, meat, and produce. But really, what more do you need?
After Kris left it felt a little empty here; that's when I realized I had been surrounded by old friends non-stop for three weeks straight. I do miss them, but I am kind of excited to get back into a routine: daily yoga practice, three hours working on writing and other projects, and an hour a day of language lessons. I bought a German workbook, which is helping a lot in conjunction with Rosetta Stone. I can speak in some complete sentences now instead of just blurting out what I want, though of course my strongest verbal ability pertains to buying food and eating out at restaurants. Everything in time, I guess.