Maybe Berlin Is A City That Never Sleeps – Berghain

In the wee small hours of  Saturday, July 30, 2016

Maybe Berlin Is A City That Never Sleeps as well

That first Sunday brunch in Berlin at Pasternak (Wi-Fi password Perestroika), I asked the waitress about going to clubs.  She looked at me (gray-bearded me) and laughed and said, “You want to go clubbing?”  I said, “Sure, why not?”  She smiled and wrote down a list of clubs for me.  I kept it but didn’t really think about going until I was in my last few days and wondered what I hadn’t done yet that I should do before I left.  Clubbing came to mind and what I took to be a challenge by the very young waitress.  I went on the Internet and saw a list of the top ten clubs in Berlin.

http://berlinclubs.com/

Nearly all the clubs on her list were in the top ten.  And  #1  was Berghain & Panorama Bar – “The Church of Techno.”

Berghain was not the only one that looked like a fun place to go that didn’t have any dire warnings such as the description of KitKat.  Sysyphos looked good and I liked the name but physical access didn’t look so easy at night in an area I wasn’t sure I was familiar with.  So it came to a coin toss between Berghain and Tresor (“Berlin’s Techno Legend”), which was number 10.  Why not go with number 1?  It was a good choice.

I guess this really is a Saturday, July 30, 2016 adventure because I didn’t leave the apartment until after 12:30 a.m.  According to the website, it didn’t get started until 11:59 pm.  Also it said don’t wear your best clothes.  I wore dark Joe’s Jeans and an old thin round neck black sweater  (Okay, it was Armani cashmere but who would know). I got to Berghain about 12:45 a.m.  I was thinking that when A took me  to Urban Spree on a Sunday night the reason it was so dead is that it was too early.

Berghain is in a building that was a former power plant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berghain

There wasn’t a line and I entered easily.  The first guy who checked me was a big black guy from New York.  Michael.  He was very nice.  He told me apologetically he had to put dots over the camera holes in my phone.  No pictures.  I guess what happens at Berghain stays at Berghain.  I’m also very sure a lot happens that I missed, but I had a great time.  Michael told me to go up to the third floor.  I noticed there was one more floor.

When I walked in it wasn’t very crowded and no one was dancing.  A DJ was playing.  I remember the website had them changing DJs at 2:00 am 4:00 am, 6:00 am and 8:00 am.  I got a beer and chatted with a nice couple from Manchester.  Young.  She didn’t look like the Oxford type, mod haircut, tattoos,  but she’s going to Oxford studying medical imaging.  She brushed against my sweater and then touched my arm.  It wasn’t me, it was the cashmere. The place began to fill and the dance floor began to get crowded.  After two beers (one with a shot of tequila) or was it three, I ventured on to the dance floor.    There was not a single overweight person on the  dance floor and I don’t think in the whole club.  Berliners asked me if everyone in America was fat.  Indoor smoking is not prohibited.  There were lots of smokers.  Occasionally I smelled weed.  I went to the bathroom and I saw four peoplem three young men and a young woman come, out of a stall.   Then, I noticed couples coming out of stalls, some adjusting their clothing.  I thought, hmmm.  As I stood at a trough to pee (it was against the back wall but a couple was sitting on a bench facing the trough.  Oh, well.).  I recalled someone mentioning to me the KitKat – was it when I was at Kaffe Burger (which doesn’t serve coffee or burgers but instead serves alcohol and has live music) – saying they probably won’t let you in.  In the list of bars, Berghain was first and KitKat was four.  The write up said, “it’s a sex club.”   Gay sex there.  I passed on that as an option, so I won’t know if I would have been rejected. It was not for me, but I don’t judge others. As to Berghain, it was mostly heterosexual, but there was this one young guy who seemed to be protected by a small, young Asian woman.  He was wearing a very tight body suit, so tight that but for the fact it was bright green (green enough for color blind me to recognize the color) it looked like he didn’t have anything on from behind.  He also had very skillfully applied eye make-up.  He really looked smashing.  I told him so.  He thanked me.  Later on he saw me again and kissed me on the cheek.  There were probably other people there besides me who were over 30, but I didn’t see even one of them.  For the entire time I was there, the techno beat was insistent, pulsating, unrelenting, unbroken and at times hypnotic.  I danced, from time to time having a partner (actually twirled a few) but basically people dance without touching.  Each time the DJ changed there was a cheer so each DJ must have his following.  The crowd was getting larger and larger and many were wearing backpacks so the dance floor got really jammed.  I headed downstairs after 4:30 because I started getting tired and I knew today, I should get packing first.  I made my way back down to where I had entered.  Michael, the bouncer, told me that Saturday night (Sunday morning) they have the big speakers on the top floor (we were on the next to top floor) and that I should come back.  I wouldn’t have to stand in line.  Pointing to some white bruisers who resembled skinheads, he said, “Just come right up here.  They knew you now.”  Studio 54 passed through my mind.  I said I have a flight out at noon.  He said, just come for an hour or two.  It’s cool.

When I left Berghain, the sun was rising and I was tired.  I walked, thinking I was going in the direction of the train.  After walking a while, I realized I was not walking in the direction of the train I took to get there, if any train at all. I was really feeling tired, so I said, what the hell, hailed a taxi and got a ride back to Prenzlauer Allee and Belforterstr.

I got home and felt exhausted. I took off my clothes.  My sweater smelled of cigarettes.  My jeans smelled of cigarettes.  I have no idea how or even why I noticed but even my underwear smelled of cigarettes.  The one thing that didn’t smell of cigarettes was my SmartWool merino wool socks.  They are as good as advertised.  I crashed.  Woke up a few hours later because I hadn’t closed the sunblockers on the windows and the bright sun awakened me.  But I went back to sleep.  I woke up at about ten.  Soon enough to make Lululemon yoga if I rushed but I wasn’t about to rush.  I knew I should start packing.  But then I wrote this before I started.  I didn’t want to lose it.