Berlin advice

i know this is about berlin... but has anyone been inter railing? and does anyone have any recomendations or advice? im not thinking of taking my bike seeing as im going with friends but anything would be good.

oddsock

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stupidpony: how was it going on the train?
I'm thinking of going (pref. with bike) at the end of january
or in february and can't decide whether to go easyjet or not.

Hmmm.
Depart 7.pm Eurostar Waterloo, now St Pancaras, customs is delightful, no need to take your shoes off. Bike goes for free as long as in a bike bag. Change at Lille. Board mega efficient German train, deposit bike in luggage compartment, go to bar, drink beer. Retire to sleeper birth. Watch dvd on laptop. Sleep. Awakened with reasonably good filter coffee and croissant. Arrive Berlin Zoo station 7.30 am having had good nights sleep. Stick wheels on bike, deposit bike bag @ left luggage. Cycle to mates house. sorted.
I did this with my girlfriend, if you go alone you may have to share with as stranger, friend you have not met yet. Takes a day, so if time is of a premium then not for you. costs about £150, sounds like a lot but I'm cannot stand easyRyanJet™ & airports treat bikes worse than day trippers from Chechnya.
More or less door to door although we had to do a black cab to the station, they'll take a bike in the back in a bag.
I would highly recommend if you have the time and are good at train timetables. Plus you get to feel double smug about the ozone & riding your own bike in someone else's city rocks.

im going to Berlin in a few days, this info is awesome, nice one.
heres to using the search function!!

anyone got any updates to add to this list? im going to be there next week and although this list is good someone new might have some other recomendations.

Mrs Slain and I are there next weekend too... Can't wait, great city! :)

have you been there before? also, im goiong with a friend but neither of us have bikes with us, i know there are plenty of places to hire from, but does anyone know a particular place which is really good/cheap?

one more thing, i keep on seeing the word voku, but what does it mean?

voku is a cooking group, like in a squat

VoKü short for Volxküche (communal kicthen)

have you been there before? also, im goiong with a friend but neither of us have bikes with us, i know there are plenty of places to hire from, but does anyone know a particular place which is really good/cheap?

Yeah, I've been a coupla times but always on foot... Same thing this time, will be spending a lot of time at the Keirin Cafe tho', yes indeed!

Yeah, I've been a coupla times but always on foot... Same thing this time, will be spending a lot of time at the Keirin Cafe tho', yes indeed!

They have even sprayed your likeness onto the side of the joint...

i wanna move to berlin

fuck london

i wanna move to berlin

fuck london

Berlin has that effect on me too...
I've got a coupla mates out there, can't see them ever coming back, they love the shit out of it... :(

I loved Berlin. I even started looking at buying property there. Pity I speak fsck all German.

German tenant law is wildly different from UK law though isn't it? And more akin to Dutch. As a tenant, you get sitting rights, which means that (unless you do it on the grey market) a tenant has the right to stay in the rented house until they die. Still cracking city, I'm only there for 24 hours this summer :(

I would love to move to Berlin trying to get a week or so out there in the not too distant future, loads of amazing places to hang out. Haven't looked at property but considering everything else it is probably really reasonable compared to London.

i would say that berghain/panorama bar is the most essential place to go in berlin, just to see it. it's probably the most unique club i've ever been to in the world. don't bother showing up before 5 or 6 on friday night/saturday morning though. headliners don't usually go on til sometime between 7 and 9. also, the club is only open on the weekends.

103 and Tape are probably where you're most likely to hear music discussed on the Erol board, but those places do a lot of differents too, so your mileage may vary, caveat emptor, etc.

Cookies can be fun, though I usually had more fun in the sideroom. It seemed they often had a habit of booking people who'd never dj'd before, so you'd hear things like T-Rex, Farley Jackmaster Funk, Public Enemy and Joy Division all in a row. Depends on whether you like that sort of thing, I guess, though it's a nice contrast from the sleek and minimal vibe of the mainroom for me.

if you are after some clubs to go depending on music here is a bit of info..,.

Westbahnhof Gewölbe - Small and Charming, Modeselektor and dAta played there not too long ago. Techno or Electro.

Subway - Sometimes Techno, sometimes Indie rock party.

Artheater - Indie rock&Elektro, Minimal, Dancehall; generally good crowds I'd say.

Bootshaus - Electro and House, SebastiAn, Boys Noize, Digitalism or Tiga played there but sadly the crowds are generally much worse than the DJ's,at least imo.

Bogen 2 - Techno, electro, minimal. Cool location in the arc of a bridge next to the Kölner Dom, home to the Total Confusion party by Tobias Thomas and Michael Mayer if you're into minimal.

watergate is a really great place as well. the led's are really cool, as people have said. i saw andrew weatherall play there once and it was phenomenal.

maria is where a lot of the bigger stuff is, but varies a lot from night to night. saw oizo and modeselektor there once though.

white trash is a really good bar to pre-drink at or just to have some dinner or something, and if you go on the right night, you may hear some really good throwback rock & roll or country (live or via dj). also, 103 cafe is good food as well, but a bit on the bourgeoise side, probably.

picknick was, at least while we were there, the "new" "hot" "shit". probably have to know someone to get in, still, and you'll usually be disappointed, but on some fridays (only open fridays), they have really awesome guests.

Stolen from an electronic type music board...have been to a fair few of these places also worth a mention are magnet and a place called Icon - you would have to get somebody to take you to Icon though...

yeah, look for the 'skatehalle' skatepark, there is a nightclub thing beside, its mental....worth a visit.

its not even a nightclub, just a warehouse full of mahem

i'm also going to move to berlin one day. nearly did about 4 years ago, but didn't happen.

I also love Berlin, my gf lived in Germany from 10 years and we go 2-3 times a year, too see friends
I see two problems to Berlin, first the german, for me been spanish german is not the easiest lenguaje, and second the job, and in this a know plenty of germans that say that Hamburg or Munich are far more better cities to find a (good) job

yes, Berlin is full of slackers.

but i don't care, i run my own business. i'll just be relatively much richer when i move there.

relatively you'll be the same. Everything costs less - so you'll also get paid less and people have less.

yes, but what happen when their is no job in the first palce

no, relatively i'll be much richer, as i will make exactly the same money i do in britain, but i will live in a cheaper place.

thanks for trying to help, but i have thought it through.

.

there is, actually - i will have the same amount of money, but in practical, cost of living terms, i will be wealthier.

so i won't actually be richer, but my cost of living will go down.