Saturday 14 September 2013

The morning after the night before

I use the term "morning" purely for poetic purposes. After last night's events, it was after 2pm before I hauled myself out of bed.
Unfortunately the sobering-up process is now beginning.
Last night was my first German clubbing experience. A group of us, after a protracted afternoon in picturesque Potsdam, left the flats at about 2am - standard going-out time in Berlin, we're told. After nearly two hours of detours, pointless wanders and numerous questions asked to passers-by, we found the club we were searching for.
KaterHolzig had come highly recommended to us by my roommate. We were told it was a club on the riverside that played techno (like almost every other big German club) and was open well past the early hours. When we arrived at 4:30 this morning (and all got let in, miraculously), the place was still packed. We bought some not very competitively priced drinks and danced until around 7:30, when we decided it was probably time to go home. Having been up for over 24 hours by the time we returned to the apartments, I was out like a light when my head hit the pillow (the alcohol consumed may also have contributed).
As a first experience of Berlin's late-night life, it was pretty spectacular. We joined scattered others stumbling home on the S-Bahn this morning, taking advantage of the ever-reliable public transport, reflected on the night and decided that we had succeeded in having a cracking night.
The trip yesterday to Potsdam is also worth a mention. We visited Park Sanssouci and Friedrich II's summer palace, the Neues Palais, enjoying the unexpected afternoon sunshine and snapping as many photographs as was socially acceptable. The Neue Palais itself was something to behold; the building had a lived-in feel that is lacked by so many stately homes and palaces. It is a requirement that you wear peculiar slippers over your shoes in order to protect the parquet flooring. Owing to their cumbersome presence on our feet, we skated rather than walked around the Palais.
Getting home involved over an hour of waiting for public transport, during which we all wished for the efficiency and regularity of Berlin's trains and trams. However, it was most definitely a worthwhile afternoon.
Currently in St. Oberholz - again. I have the sneaking suspicion that I may have to head home soon; after spending significantly more than I had planned last night, I have no burning desire to stay here and drink marginally overpriced coffee. The prospect of camomile tea and biscuits at home is overwhelmingly tempting, not to mention a sofa to work on rather than a rigid chair.
And the autumn cold that I'm fast developing is not helping matters.

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