Day 21 in Europe (Berlin)

At this point I'd given up sightseeing in Berlin, so on Sunday I decided that at least I should head to Tiergarten for a nice relaxing day.

I have to say this place is rather amazing. It's like a forest in the middle of the city. It could be a beautiful summer day and a few steps later there's nothing but trees and shade. Absolutely wonderful.

The other thing to note were the sunbathers. I'd heard about them from people at the hostel but it was still amusing to see. I'm not sure that it was meant to be a *gay* area exactly but certainly there were only guys lying around, and in a certain area of the park they were also naked! Yep, naked men lying in the grass in the middle of Berlin! Winner!

I can deny it all I want but I suppose it was partly the reason that later in the afternoon I decided to revisit Tiergarten. Nonetheless it was very worthwhile, as I ran into a couple of the guys from the hostel, one of whom is a Tai Chi instructor, so I got an introductory lesson from him. The experience was rather magical; the yellow rays from the sunset piercing through the trees, the soft grass beneath my feet, a quiet afternoon reconnecting with my chi.

Dinner in the park followed, the venue being a beer garden that could have felt at home in some small Bavarian town. I actually forgot to take pictures but it was the perfect way to cap off my day. (Oh and I should note at this point that in the spirit of Oktoberfest I have consumed more beer in the last three days than I have in the last three years - I'm more of a wine person.)

Briefly went to a club called GMF as I was told it had some nice views from the Terrace. Took some pictures and had a drink at which point, being the lightweight I am, I got pretty drunk. Luckily one of the guys had to go leave early as well so I got home OK. All in all, a pretty damn good trip to Berlin even if there wasn't much sightseeing involved :)

Day 20 in Europe (Berlin)

I was feeling a little off-colour in the morning so I decided that the best thing to do was to have a light beer for brunch. The other fellas in the hostel found this rather amusing, and I put it down to my Aussie-ness. In all seriousness though, I find that a little bit of alcohol does wonders after a big night.

All I ended up doing on Saturday was to take a short walk through various parts of the city, before getting really tired and heading home for another quiet night in.

But of course I fail miserably at quiet nights in. A few of the guys had each individually decided they wanted to go to a club called Schwuz, so I figured that it must be pretty good and tagged along for the ride. To put it in perspective it was like Stonewall but with a much better floor plan and a better crowd. A few hours of dancing and drinking later and we were once again heading home in the daylight.

Loving it. I wonder why I don't do this in Sydney, but then I remember that I live more than an hour away from the city by public transport. What a waste :/

Day 19 in Europe (Berlin)

I fell behind a bit with my daily updates but we'll get there. My time in Berlin hasn't been much dedicated to sightseeing, as the last few days have melded together in a mix of 7am nights, beer, and dance music of various kinds.

Friday I found out that I actually needed to leave on Monday rather than Tuesday. Met up with some friends from Melbourne and we went out for dinner. Had a really bad mix of food and alcohol. Ended up throwing up in the bathroom of the restaurant. We took a good walk through the Berlin city centre, where I got some nice pics, and then we parted ways. I went back to recover at the hostel and have a quiet night in.

Some notes on the hostel:
It was a gay hostel, small and cosy so we got to know everyone at least by name. English was the language of choice but there were a variety of accents, as the backgrounds of the twelve guys who stayed there at some point over the weekend included Irish, English, American, Russian, Latino (Ecuador), Dutch, Cuban, Hungarian, Polish, and of course Aussie.

Anyway, someone suggested that at least a couple of drinks would be appropriate for a Friday night, and that turned into going to a chilled-out club on the other side of town.  The end result: drinking, dancing and getting home at 7h. Not what I expected but good times!

Day 18 in Europe (Madrid to Berlin)

Sad day for me. Madrid has been great and I really don't want to leave! The city even turned up the heat today to a cool 39 degrees by the time I hopped on the plane.

Not much to say about the total travel time of 11 hours including flight delays etc. Also my German U-barn map seemed a bit off so it did add some traveling time.

The part of me that became Madrileños wanted to have dinner at midnight so I obliged. Found a place that sold 'pommes frites, scampi, mayonnaise, and 23 Karat Goldstaub'. Had no idea what that was until it came; gold flakes! I found it rather neat.

The other fun thing I found out is that people will happily walk around with bottles of beer in hand. I tried it myself and I felt like I was an alcoholic. But still, pretty cool huh?

Day 17 in Europe (Madrid)

Panic stations! Having originally thought that there wasn't much to do in Madrid I've somehow left two art museums and a rather large park to visit today.

The Centro Arte Reina Sofia may focus on contemporary art, but its collection is certainly no pushover. Took me a good three hours to cover a couple of floors. The keystone piece is probably Picasso's Guernica, one of his most famous. But beyond that there was a lot of depth and range in 20th century art, more than I had thought was possible in one museum.

Had to drag myself away from the Reina Sofia without fully exploring all the pieces due to the fact that I really wanted to visit the Prado as well. So with lunch and a single tinto in my stomach I headed onwards to the last of the three great museums.

I probably didn't enjoy the Prado as much as I could've. One thing I've learned about my taste in art is that moving back in time is hard.

Anyway by the afternoon I was all museum'd out and it was time for me to step into the searing heat of the Madrid summer. I explored the huge block of green on my map called the Parque del Retiro, and it didn't disappoint IRL. Beautiful long paths through what is essentially a forest led to intersections with pretty fountains. An awesome way to spend an afternoon really.

I did run into a bunch of shirtless guys working out and chatting. I think it may have been a cruising spot but I didn't stay long enough to find out!

The night was rather sad as I had to pack, but luckily I found a Spanish boy from Mallorca to cheer me up!

Day 16 in Europe (Madrid)

I thought it was a good idea to sleep with the fan off for a night as it wasn't very hot. Unfortunately I didn't realize that the soft droning sound of the fan masked a viciously snoring person in the room adjacent to mine. In any case I woke up feeling drained and thinking oh no it's 'one of those days'.

Actually the day started off with a small win. I managed to have desayuno (breakfast) without saying a word of English. Granted there wasn't exactly a conversation but still...

Today was meant to be museum day. I was gonna do three art galleries. The first was Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and just wow. If you ever need a high quality crash-course through the history of European and Euro-American art then this is it. From a beautiful 15th century diptych by Jan van Eyck to 17th century Dutch realism to Monet to Van Gogh to Picasso, there was something nice in every room. My favourite being this piece by Gustave Courbet. The only downside was not being allowed to take any photos at all so other than telling stories here I have nothing to show for it.

A little hiccup during the visit was when there was a super cute Spanish museum-staff guy distracting me from the art in one of the rooms. My conscience kept pestering me with 'grrrrrrr concentrate on this art dammit'. I caught him looking at me many times while I was checking him out but didn't end up finding out what that was all about. Story may be worthy of /sadface but who knows.

By the time I was done with the Thyssen it was almost 16h00, perfect timing for lunch in Spain! At this point I was really feeling the lack of sleep so I gave up on the other two museums and headed home. On the way I stopped by for some jamon and huevos fritos and tinto de verano. Ok a couple of tips for future travelers; 1, jamon is theoretically delicious but if like me you don't like meat, then don't try it; and 2, many glasses of tinto de verano can be pretty lethal when it's a hot summer day and you're dehydrated!

So by the time I went for my siesta I was quite happy. :) :)

Have to cut this short, way too long already! In the evening I was on the internet, sitting under the air conditioner at my hotel lounge when I started chatting to a nice fella and we hooked up (yeah yeah too much info, but this is my trip diary too). At night 22h00 I went out for a dinner of paella and a copa of cuerveza.

I'm glad I dragged myself out of bed because I had one of the best days of my trip so far. Maybe not THE best but it would be close! (Dammit museum guy you ruined my perfect day!)

Day 15 in Europe (Madrid)

What better way to feel better than doing a bit of retail therapy. I'm not a shopper but with all the 'rebajas' signs around I can't really help it can I?

Wandered aimlessly for a while. Outside of the very centre of Madrid the city isn't catered towards tourists,  and there are thousands of streets to wander. I went up to the heart of Malasaña barrio and then back down to Chueca in my search for something to buy.

I eventually walked past a store I liked the look of, and bought five items of clothing. The number is relevant because I think I bought five items of clothing in the whole of last year haha.

Had a delicious sushi dinner at a restaurant with waitstaff that were Chinese. Had a half-decent conversation in Cantonese with one of the waitresses where she exclaimed that I had a very thick accent (obviously I know this already!).

Dinner was followed by another totally random incident where a Chinese kid asked me for directions, and after a lot of effort we discovered that he only speaks Mandarin and Spanish only, whereas I only speak Cantonese and English. Awkward. I showed him my map and he nodded and thanked me before walking off. I have no idea if I was of any use but it sure was funny.