Who lives sees much. Who travels sees more.

Berlin. Oh Berlin. How I love you. Minus the cold.

Where do I begin? The nine days I spent in the city were filled with so much culture and things to do. It’s hard to pick a favorite thing. Even trying to write about the trip seems daunting at this point, almost as if I could never do it justice.

Let me start with the easy stuff. It was cold. Dang cold. Even for two Canadian girls, whom many probably thought we should be able to handle the temperatures... but honestly I have never worn so many layers of clothes before. It started off innocently enough, but by the time I was leaving they were predicting minus 20 degrees for the upcoming week. We supposed it was about minus 10-ish, although it felt much colder (dang wind-chill factor). There wasn’t any snow, at least until it gave an inch the last couple of days, it was just dang cold.

It was great to see Kim again. We hadn’t seen each other since parting ways in front of the Kits LuluLemon after spending some time getting giddy over a Henrick/Daniel Sedin sighting (we weren’t sure which one) back in late March. She went on her way to Toronto, I stuck around in Vancouver and we both left our respective cities for European cities in early September. We spent the first night getting caught up over drinks in this bar called Becketts. I honestly really missed seeing her everyday as well as having someone to talk to on a daily basis, something that is kind of lacking here. Don’t get me wrong, I have people to talk to, but it was great to talk to someone who probably knows me better than most others (so clichéd, I know).

We basically spent the next 9 days taking in culture, wandering around Berlin and negotiating the S and U bahn’s (the uber-sufficient Berlin train system… Translink, look here for ideas for the skytrain).

The first day was spent walking around the city, we saw Christmas markets, churches, memorials and generally took in the culture of the city. We also took care of the one thing I was jonesing for ever since I left Vancouver… Starbucks. I had my first macchiato in months, it was glorious. Although I believe that the good Italian espresso has somewhat ruined the Starbucks taste for me.

I also discovered a life outside of Starbucks. There is a huge café culture in Berlin. While here in Italy we have bars where you can get coffee/espresso, but the main problem I find is that it’s not really a place where you can go by yourself and sit and just nurse a coffee over a period of time. In Berlin they have cafes everywhere. People sit for hours talking or sitting by themselves reading. This is one of my favorite things to do, just sitting and people watching while pretending to read the paper or a book, I so miss that here in Italy, so I was so happy to sit in cafes for hours, just talking, drinking lattes or cappuccinos and just watching life happen. Kim could quite possibly be the biggest café lover I’ve ever met, and while cafes are fun in winter, summers are better, so it became the most common thing out of her mouth (aside from nein, which means no in German) for her to say “I can’t wait for summer… this will be such a cute café in the summer.” It’s apparent Kim has decided to spend the whole summer biking from one café to the next.

Don’t even get me started on the bars/lounges. I honestly believe after seeing what they have in Berlin and even where I’m living that the nightlife culture here is far more superior than in Canada. I mean, I’ve always thought that Vancouver lacks a nightlife for those that aren’t 20 or yuppies in Yaletown, but they have a great variety of things here for people and suits so many different people’s styles. Future business ventures may be trying (a futile attempt I’m sure) to bring this to Canada.

As for the culture here, it is insane. There are a million different memorials or museums or other places to visit (I was told later there is over 150 museums, I saw 3). The history in the city is everywhere, from memorials from the war or reminants of the wall to churches and synagogs. One can't help but constantly think about where they are and the huge amount of history that was played out in the city. It truly was an amazing and humbling feeling. While we tried to see a lot of the city in my time there, I’m sure there was a lot that I missed. Again, trying to compare this to Vancouver is impossible. There is history here everywhere, we would go home exhausted each day after cramming in so many different things that I had to see before leaving.

I’m going to write more on this in the coming weeks, maybe it’s better and less daunting for me to write, and others to read, if I try to rely this in bits and pieces. Right now, as the snow falls heavily outside here in Italy, I’m still mentally trying to get over all this (if that is possible… yeah right) and figure out how to write about such a memorable and wonderful trip.

Btw, there are pictures to be seen, a lot of them, but due to slow internet connection cannot post them right now. Hopefully they’ll be up on Friday.