Poor, but sexy. Berlin, la Montréal de l'Europe.

On 2-4 February, with a couple colleagues we went to the capital of Deutshland, Berlin. We had a great time finally being in a big city, enjoy the cheap life in Berlin and not feeling like criminals for jaywalking. (note: jaywalking is a big deal in Germany. the cops are fining offenders, like, a lot.)

Nous sommes restés dans une auberge de jeunesse représentant bien la 'renaissance' de ces endroits privilégiés par les voyageurs. Dans ce cas, l'auberge s'accomederait bien sans 'de jeunesse'. Nous y étions agréablement logés et sans les inconvénients typiques des ces lieux. Mais le mieux reste que l'auberge est située au coeur de l'ancienne partie Est de la ville, historiquement chouette.


Most of the city is located in the former East Germany, also called before 1989 the German Democratic Republic. Democratic is misleading, this was actually the Soviet part with its love of imposing state architecture and disregard for personal comfort. Berlin is therefore refreshingly free of the typical European sight: antique buildings with their fancy stoneworks and a certain pursuit of perfection that gets to me at times. One person captured well how Berlin looks. It has three colors: brun, gris et brun-gris.

We took a brilliant walking tour around Berlin. We saw the sights, learned about its history. My favorite was the Memorial for the Dead Jews of Europe. From the streets it looks like a field with flat black stones. But as soon as one gets closer, you realise that the flat stones are only the top of giant stone columns forming maze that one can walk through.

We enjoyed some serious night out especially at the "Zu mir oder zu dir" literally meaning "My place or yours" ou "Chez toi 0ù chez moi". The next night we hit "Broken Donuts" an electronic music place. The exact kind of night spots absent from my town, Freiburg. It was fun to take a look at what seems to be 'the scene' and pretend for one night to be a berliner out in a bar on Sunday.I am really thinking that perhaps Berlin should be my next home. I'll see.


Many more photos online @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jean-olivier/sets/72157594528043091/