Berlin a Go-Go

After relaxing a little, Pinar came and met us at the hotel and we decided that rather than eating our calories for the night, we would drink them. So we decide to try and find Boystown In Berlin.

We pretty much had no idea where we were going, but we knew it was a street called Fuggerstrasse, which I'm not sure what that means, but it somehow felt appropriate. We were having trouble finding where to go because lets face it, I get lost at the mall.

Eventually we found what we thought was a gaggle of gays moving like they were on a mission. I say "looked like" because gay and European look like pretty much the same thing. But we made a command decision to follow them and lo and behold this is the first sign we see...



Clearly we were on the right track. We passed a place called Princeknecht and decided to check it out. It was very bear-y inside. We sat down at a table and the burly, somewhat scary looking Israeli bartender came over to get drinks for us. We never got his name, so for the purposes of this story we will call him "Avi the Butch", he is the one on the right...



Its a little fuzzy because it was a sneak attack, you know where you pretend to take a picture of something else, but you're really taking the picture of someone in the background.

So we told "Avi the Butch" that we were there to see the Eurovision semifinal on tv. We weren't sure what to drink so he said he would surprise us. That never ends well.

I just assumed at that point given his size and scary-ness (he had lots of tattoos, which I couldn't tell if they were prison tattoos or just for decoration) that were going to be drinking some sort of protein booze shake with a shank on the side. But this is what showed up...



He put it down with a big smile on his face and said, I kid you not "this is an Elizabeth Taylor" and then he skipped away! Clearly looks can be deceiving. So we tucked into our Elizabeth Taylor's...





Mmmmm boozy deliciousness...


And then "Avi the Not as Butch" brought these over, apparently they are called Hemingways, uhm, yum...


Then the show started, as did a 2nd and 3rd round of good ole Liz...












This is when a thing happened. Why does a thing always have to happen when I'm around. Here is a sneak attack pic of "the thing"...



Again no idea what his name was so for the purposes of this story we will call him "Captain Fritz Von Creepy". We are there minding our business, cheering on Irleand, Israel (for Avi), the song from Holland (because there was a gaggle of gays in the bar from Holland)

Anyhoo that is when "Captain Fritz Von Creepo" drunkenly stumbled over to talk to us, not like it mattered to me, ironically enough drunk German sounds exactly like sober German. So I sat and pretended like I cared while he prattled on to Asan and Pinar. Turns out "Captain Fritz Von Douchebag" was insulting Turkish people saying that they weren't real Europeans (just a refresher, both Asan and Pinar are Turkish"

Then he turned his creepiness on me, I had yet to say a word, so he tried to figure out where I was from...apparently I must look like Ghengis Kahn because he thought I was from freaking Mongolia! Really!?!

Pinar politely told him to piss off and he literally stumbled to the next table and started all over again with someone else.

With that the show came to an end, Ireland made the finale, but sadly, Israel and Holland didn't. Whomp whomp...



With the show over we were drunk and hungry so we went to a Turkish place down the road, but not before seeing this on the way...


I have nothing witty for this I was drunk and it made me giggle.

So, back to drunk food, after we ate, Asan decided to read Pinar's fortune in a cup of Turkish coffee, which basically consists of reading the images made from the left over grounds when you flip the cup over...






And this is what was in the cup...



A perfect heart, meaning love, which pretty much sums of our time in Berlin, love all around (well except for Captain Fritz Von Fucko).

We're off to bed, catching an early train to Dusseldorf for the Eurovision extravaganza part 1!

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Location:Berlin

I Got Culture Comin Out My Ass! Or Maybe I'm Just An Ass, Hmmm

Waking up this morning took a little longer than yesterday, if you aren't sure why, see the previous nights festivities. If i had driven last night, my parking job might have looked something like this...



I mean really?!? I am not the best driver, but I at least make an effort.

Needless to say, after drinking Turkey, we decided to take it a little easier today and skip breakfast because if I keep eating for 12 I am going to need to start shopping here...


After getting some much needed coffee we decided to hit up Checkpoint Charlie, which was way too touristy and pretty hilarious when you consider the "American soldiers" posing for pictures, were I believe, a German, a Greek and some other guy from Eastern Europea.









After last nights debauchery, we decided that it was time for a little culture in our lives, so we hit up Museum Island starting with the Pergamon Museum...



I have to say I was pretty impressed right off the bat, once you walk inside their is a huge altar...


Equally as cool were the little audio guides to help us get our learn on...



But the thing is, the chick, Greta, just rambles on and on and on, it can get a little distracting...



So of course we started doing bits...






And then the weirdest thing happened, maybe it was from hunger, or Greta prattling on in my ear, but the statues started doing bits too...

























RUDE!! After the Museum we decided to grab a bite here...hot!



Asan wanted to introduce me to a staple in Germany, Currywurst! Which is Bratwurst and homemade ketchup mixed with curry, it was pretty tasty...









After stuffing our faces we checked out the Reichstag, which is the German Parliament building...



It's pretty fancy, just like this thing which was a hundred years down the road, despite looking fairly close...



Now that we have got our historical culture in, it's time for a little pop culture.

We are heading back to the hotel to rest our weary bones, aka drink, while we wait for Pinar to meet up with us again for dinner and to watch the Eurovision semi final at some random gay bar which is actually pretty close to the hotel.

And then we are off to Dusseldorf tomorrow morning. Peace out!

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Location:Berlin

Turkish Delight

we got back to out lovely little abode after walking all over Berlin today, and promptly passed out. Though I do LOVE the Ellington hotel, I wish we had a smidge more privacy in the showering department...



Yes that is the sink next to it, but what you can't see is the rest of the room is about 6.2" out of frame to the left. So uhm, yeah you pretty much get in the shower fully clothed and whoever in your room has to watch tv and only the tv, so there isn't some peep show action going on.

After the tight rope walk that was showering and getting dressed, we decided to have a pre pre dinner cocktail, with some sort of orangey lemonade vodka concoction...





Then we headed down to the cocktail bar to meet Asan's childhood friend from Turkey, Pinar, which I am pretty sure is Turkish for "awesome"!

We chilled and had a drink at the hotel bar, our waiter told us about the special cocktail, which all I could understand was that it had "herbs" in it. So feeling brave I gave it a shot. I pretty much expected an Oregano or Parsley cocktail, but what showed up was this deliciousness...



Mmmm Raspberry herbiness! Did I mention that Pinar is awesome?



After cocktails, we decided to grab a bite. Seeing as that I was surrounded by Turks, I suggested we go have Turkish food for dinner. We headed off to this place...



I left it up to them to order a traditional Turkish dinner, so they order a ton of food. I wasn't exactly sure what we were eating, I think there was a cow, a lamb, possibly a Unicorn or a Chupacabra. Whatever it was it was it was beyond delicious! With enough food to feed a small country came enough laughs to annoy everyone within a 10km radius...





And then Pinar and Asan ordered something called Raki...






It's in Turkish and I have no idea what it means, but it tastes like licorice and I'm guessing it means any variation of the following... "why can't I feel my feet?", "what happened to the last four days?!?", "my insides taste like burning!", "why are there four of you!?!", "I just ate an entire cow, how am I still hungry!", or, "mmm licorice booze!"

As the Raki started flowing, so did the hilarity...
























Once we finished the Raki, we decided to get some Turkish dessert...



Mmmm once again, have no idea what it was called (blame it on the Raki), but it tasted as If the Shredded Wheat guys had a torrid affair with Mrs. Butterworth and then covered it with cheese and pistachios, in other words, HOLY CRAP YUM!!!

We were having such a great time, we didn't realize that we had been eating and laughing for about 4 hours and ended up closing the place down...



Another great night with great peeps...





Serefe!! Which means Cheers in Turkish. Night night.

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Location:Berlin, Germany