Day 26: Berlin

Sunday, September 8

The conductor woke me up to ask for my ticket. I'd expected this, since he hadn't gone through the cabin before i fell asleep.
    This train didn't require a seat reservation, but it was "recommended," so i went ahead and made one anyway. It cost me 3 zloty (about 75 cents). The rail line had sent me a PDF with a QR code, so i showed him that. It didn't scan, so i went to pull up the QR code in the Eurail app, which is what i would normally show the conductor.
    It wasn't there.
    It was completely dark outside, i could just see occasional lights going by at a steady rhythm. "Are we in a tunnel?" i asked, thinking it was a connectivity problem. He didn't know how to reply to that, so he showed me the time, which was 00:18. Just past midnight.
    We were going back and forth, i kept telling him that i didn't understand, that i only spoke English, hoping he could get someone else to help me. I showed him that this train was included in my Eurail pass, the timetable was in the app, the toggle was switched on. A second conductor, moving from the other direction, met him at my seat, and the two had a heated conversation. She didn't seem to speak English, either.
    He pulled out a credit card scanner, set for 100 zloty (about 25 American dollars). I showed him the receipt for the reservation and said, "No, i already paid for this."
    He was becoming increasingly agitated, and so was i, woken up after less than two hours of sleep and not understanding why i couldn't get the QR code for my pass to come up. We were not in a tunnel; i was starting to see other signs of civilization outside.
    I was frantically going back and forth between screens on the Eurail app, getting focused in on that. After i refused to pay him, he moved along. I kept digging.
    Eventually i realized that the error screen i was getting where there should be a QR code was saying "no ticket issued for this travel day." I needed to make a transfer to another train in Kostrzyn at 5am, so i toggled that one on, and checked for a code.
    It was there.
    Okay, so literally this is happening because he came by after midnight. Nineteen minutes earlier, and none of this would have happened.
    Stupid way to program an app, god damn.
    I should really send them an email about this.
    I ended up cheating my way around the issue by finding the next stop on this route, Slupca, at 00:53, turning off the toggle for my ticket for Warsaw to Kostrzyn, and turning that one on. Now i had a QR code with the proper date, and the train that i was currently on.
    I tried to go back to sleep, but to no avail. I just sat there, upright, with my eyes closed. I'm not sure what time it was when the conductor came around again, but when i showed him the QR code this time, it scanned, and he seemed pleasantly surprised. His face lit up like he was happy about it, and he moved down the car. The other conductor was right behind him, as well as two tall, muscular men with black shirts reading "OCHRONA." You don't need to know the language, cops look the same everywhere you go.
    They stopped at another seat a few rows up from me. I watched intently, wondering if it was another Eurail passholder that was having the same problem as me, and if i could go up and help. I couldn't hear what was being said, and it probably wouldn't have made a difference if i could, but they seemed to get it resolved peacefully. The three men moved along, and the woman stayed for a few more minutes. I bet they ended up paying for that ticket. If that's the case, i hope they contact Eurail and get a refund issued.
    So beyond those issues, there was another mistake i'd made when i booked this seat reservation. I paid a little extra for a First-Class Eurail pass. In 2013, Amanda and i also had First Class, which i think was the default back then, because i can't imagine 2013 Amanda & Trevor purchasing anything but the cheapest option. But in 2013, all sleeper cars were Second Class. We only ended up in a few, but they all had hard plastic chairs with a very thin cushion to them, not comfortable at all. They're organized in pods with six seats, three facing three, and if both sides choose to lay down, the fronts edges of the seats touch. This worked out okay for Amanda and i, we would just sit across from each other and stack our legs in an awkward vertical cuddle.
    I'd been in a sleeper car on my way to Warsaw, even though it was not an overnight train, and no one reclined to sleep. The seats were much better this time around, with proper padding.
    I still felt that i would be more comfortable in regular seating. I'm not going to recline anyway, there just isn't any space to do that with a stranger in front of me, and on the way to Warsaw, i felt like it just got hot in that box. I'd rather be in the open air.
    On this train, the sleeper cars were considered First Class, and the regular seats, Second Class. So i just booked the journey as Second Class, by choice. Holding a First Class Eurail Pass, the seat reservation fee was the same either way.
    I realized very early on in the trip that, even though the train was scheduled to depart at 10:25pm and arrive at my transfer at 4:22am, this was not officially considered an "Overnight Train." I think those are usually point-to-point, and all of the genuine "Overnight" routes require reservations.
    This one had 20 stops during the segment i was riding.
    This is considered a regular commuter train.
    Only the sleeper cars get the lights turned off.
    And it's still much too hot in here.
    Damn it.
    So i would drift in and out of sleep the whole night through. Sometimes when i'd awake, i would look around, and notice that the people around me had completely changed. When i'd booked the reservation, the seat next to me was empty; at least that held true all night.
    We'd departed Warsaw about 20 minutes late, but we actually hit Kostryzn a few minutes early, right at the very memorable 4:20am, which left me 45 minutes to make my transfer.
    Uneventful. There was a gentle breeze, and it was the wee hours, but again, i did not feel cold. I thought about putting the sleeves on my jacket, since i was going to be sitting out on the platform for so long, but i never needed them.
    Made my connection. Arrived in Berlin at 6:24am.
    I could've walked from the train station to the hostel, that's what i've been doing everywhere else, even when it's an hour walk or more, but i was so exhausted from not really sleeping that i thought i'd just hop a train. The city rails leave from the same station, so i was able to get on one of those practically right away.
    I arrived at my transit stop before 7am, and there was loud dance music booming across the neighborhood. People still up raving past sunrise? Or getting an early start? Incredible.
    I'm at the Sunflower Hostel. It's kind of a funky, artsy place, which makes total sense for the neighborhood. Everything is covered in art, both officially, and graffiti. Not a surface has been spared.
    Part of the reason i had selected this hostel was for the 24 hour reception. I walked in, and there were two people behind the bar, chatting with a woman seated on a stool. One of them broke off to help me.
    "Hi, i'm sure it's a little too early to check in..." i opened.
    "Oh, yeah," he laughed.
    "...but i was hoping i could at least drop my bag off?"
    "Sure, we have lockers this way. They cost 2 euros for 12 hours. You have coins?"
    "No."
    "Oh, i can make change, you have cash?"
    "Only American."
    "Oh. That's not really gonna work."
    The other host broke in. "They take PayPal now," she said.
    "Oh! You have PayPal?"
    "Yeah, i can do PayPal," i replied. What a weird system. Also, this is the first hostel i've been to that charges you to leave your bag before check in or after check out.
    He led me to a hallway full of lockers. Each had a QR code on the front. "Yeah, you just scan this, send the payment, and then it opens, and you can take the key. If you have to go in and out of it later, though, it will charge you again to lock it back up."
    "Okay," i said. "In that case, do you mind if i just sit in the common room for a bit and use the WiFi before i lock this up?"
    "Yeah, that's fine."
    His shift must've ended at 7, he said his goodbyes and took off as i was getting my laptop set up.
    So i sat at a table for a bit and finished typing up my log from yesterday. I couldn't get the internet to connect, though. I was definitely on the WiFi, but nothing was coming through. I'm starting to get annoyed about this, my last few trains have also supposedly had WiFi, but i haven't gotten any internet out of them. I got a message this morning from T-Mobile that i had blown through all five of my gigs of international data, which will reset on the 27th. I've been trying to use the slower data they provide, which is at 256kbps, and it is atrocious. You could argue that, yeah, we got along fine with 56k modems for a long time, it'll just be like that, but it's not. The internet was optimized for slower connections back then. Nowadays, they just expect everyone to have a high-speed connection, no one optimizes shit. The internet is borderline unusable at 256kbps today.
    I'm just kind of shocked that i've run out already, i just got the message that i'd hit 4gb two days ago. How the hell did i go through another entire gig in two days? I guess i've increased my mobile data usage, since so many WiFi connections haven't been working for me the last week or so.
    I ended up tethering the laptop to my phone to upload the blog after it was finished. The 256kbps connection is unlimited, so there's no sense in avoiding tethering now.
    I decided to grab breakfast at the hostel, too. They have all you can eat breakfast here, which, naturally, they're charging an additional fee for. I went up to the bar to ask about getting something to eat.
    "Sure, that's fine. What's the name on your reservation?" the clerk asked.
    "Trevor Triggs."
    "Oh, it's you! You're the one with the cool name!" she said. "I was kind of excited to meet you."
    "Oh!" I was a bit taken aback. Not something i'm used to hearing.
    I don't remember what all was said at this point, but she did take my money and hand me a bowl and a plate, plus a coin, which i'm not sure what that is for. I accepted it, unsure if it had been explained and i'd just missed it, because i'm so damned tired. I probably should have asked for a clarification.
    "By the way, i know it's too early now, but when do you think i might be able to check in?" I asked.
    "Oh, um, usually check in is 4, but if the room is ready we can get you in early. We were full last night, so i'm not really sure."
    "Ok, that's fine, i'll just check later."
    "Hold on, let me just check something." She conferred with another employee. "Are you going to be staying around here?"
    "Um. I don't have any plans until later tonight, i'm going to the film festival. But for now i thought i might just walk around and see what's close by."
    "Okay. Well if you're here, i can let you know as soon as it's ready. Otherwise, i guess, come back by about...two?"
    "Okay, i can do that."
    Breakfast options were a little slim, to be honest. I had two slices of bread with hummus, cheese, and salsa; an orange; and a bowl of fruit muesli. It was alright. Probably wouldn't have been a bad idea to go back for seconds, but i did not do that. The salsa and cheese were particularly good.
    With my bag finally stowed - although i think i ended up paying four euros for 24 hours in the locker? I'm not fully cognizant here - i headed out to see what sights were nearby.
    There's not much on the Atlas in this area, but what there is seemed fitting for my first stop. When Anna and i had talked about Berlin in the planning stages of this trip, she said, "Well, make sure you see the Wall."
    There is a two and a half kilometer stretch of the Berlin Wall that is still mostly standing very near to the hostel. They call it the East Side Gallery, and it is covered in murals. These paintings were originally done in 1990, just after the wall came down. Restoration work was done on these sections of the Wall in 2009, and all of the original artists were invited to come back and retouch their works. Of the 118 original artists, 113 accepted. The murals of the five declining artists were painted over in the original color of the wall. Those works of art no longer exist.

    I always have a bit of a problem filming museums. I never know what to shoot, so i end up overshooting and having hundreds of video clips that i am never going to use for anything. I've been trying to go into the museums on this trip with the general rule to grab just a few shots which portray the experience of being there, and a few shots of pieces which speak to me on a personal level. I have been failing at that. Every museum i've visited, i've done the same old thing, create hundreds of gigabytes of videos that no one is ever going to see.
    The Berlin Wall is not only no exception, but i think i've gone even further overboard with it. For a long stretch, i was just shooting everything. Every single panel. Every bit of art. Even though, whenever i cobble together whatever movie or YouTube series this project turns into, i will likely only include a few minutes, maybe even as little as 30 seconds, of this footage. Plus, with great art pieces, the East Side Gallery included, i know there's tons of other photos and videos out there, done by professionals who had the time to get it right, that look much better, and are often in the public domain. So if i need a shot for my video, i can probably grab one of those.

    But everything on the wall is just so damn interesting. Every work feels so personal, and emotional. It all captures the moment of elation that Berliners from East to West were finally reunited after decades kept apart by armed guard. It's a fantastic document to a specific, important moment in history.

    After maybe half a kilometer, i had to force myself to put the camera down and turn it off. If i see something that speaks to me, i'll get the shot. Otherwise, i can rely on what's available on the internet. Each one of these murals has a QR code to a web site where you can learn more. I can check that out later.
    At first, i thought i would just spend a few minutes at the wall and move on to something else, but i did end up walking the full length of the East Side Gallery. When i reached the end, i was feeling completely run down, though. I hadn't had any water today; i didn't get a chance to fill my bottles at the hostel. I thought maybe some food and some caffeine would help, so i thought i'd look for something nearby.
    There's actually a restaurant close to the Berlin Wall that's on the Atlas Obscura.
    Burgermeister.
    I felt like i had heard of this before, but none of the details sounded familiar. It's a hamburger stand built into the shell of a decommissioned public bathroom.
    Sure, why not. This can be my cheap & easy German meal. Although, on the way there, i passed a couple of currywurst stands, which is a German street food that i already had on my radar to try while i'm here.
    Burgermeister is a bit like In-N-Out, i think. Their menu is very simple, only a couple of options, basically pick a burger and get some fries and that's it. Their signature burger is the Meisterburger.
    My god. After growing up hearing my dad say "Burgermeister Meisterburger" on the regular, completely unprompted, for seemingly no reason at all, to get to Berlin and find out that Burgermeister is a well known burger joint and in fact their fucking flagship burger is the got dam Meisterburger is fucking stabbing me in the aorta right now.
    The burger was fine. Nothing to write home about, although i did write home about it; i dropped a message in my family's Discord channel about the thing my dad used to say. I didn't end up finishing the fries, which seems like a statement in itself. I don't throw food away. That is not part of my character. If food is put in front of me, i eat it. But today, i couldn't. The fries were too much.
    It didn't help that there was no seating in the shade. Also, there's not really seating at all, i guess? They have a bunch of tables outside the burger stand, but instead of actual chairs or benches, there's just a pipe in an upside-down U shape with a flat top that you can lean against. I was able to sit on it, but it is not ideal. My guess is that it's so people don't linger? They need to turn those tables quickly around here? But it sucks.
    Anyway, i don't really recommend it, unless you just want the experience of going to a burger stand built into a toilet. There's better ways to spend your time and money.
    I was still, as mentioned, at absolutely zero water for the day, so i walked across the street to The Drink Shop. I grabbed a 1.5 liter bottle of water and brought it to the counter.
    "There's a €7 minimum on card purchases," the clerk said.
    "Ok," i replied, leaving the bottle on the counter, and grabbing a second one, plus a Vanilla Coke Zero. This is maybe not the most reasonable response to that, but it is the one i chose.
    The burger and caffeine had failed to re-energize me, so i just headed back to the hostel, thinking i'd sit in the common room until they could give me a bed. I had half of that first bottle of water down before i got there. It was a ten minute walk.
    As i approached the hostel, the clerk from this morning was sitting outside, smoking a cigarette. She looked up, staring at me as i approached, holding her hand over her eyes like a visor, as if to confirm what she thought she was seeing. I waved.
    "Trevor, isn't it?" she called as i started crossing the street.
    "Yes it is," i replied.
    "Oh good, i was trying to find you! Your room is ready!"
    "Oh, amazing, thank you!" i said.
    "Do you mind if i finish this?" she asked, indicating her cigarette. "Then i can get you checked in."
    "Yeah, take your time," i said. "I just...i need to sit down."
    "Of course," she said. I went inside.
    I had barely taken a seat when she came rushing in, and around the corner. I got up right away and approached.
    "Sorry, um, i didn't mean that i was 'searching' for you exactly, you know, i just mean. I got your room ready, and i wanted to tell you, you know... I had it ready at 11:30, actually..."
    "Yeah, no, that's awesome, thank you so much, i really appreciate it. I'm just so tired."
    "And i mean, like, i didn't personally get the room ready... But i know how tired you were, and i wanted to get this done for you."
    Chat, is she flirting with me? Probably not, right? Probably no?
    I should really get her name, at least, next time i see her.
    My room is on the third floor. I climbed all those stairs, set down my bounty of beverages, put my vest and camera into the locker...and realized my whole-ass backpack is still in the other locker, downstairs.
    Down. Up again. Now all my things are in one place.
    I changed into my comfy shorts and was asleep as soon as i hit the mattress.
    I knew i was too exhausted to do anything else this afternoon. At this point, my plan was just to chill at the hostel until it was time to go to the theater, for my first European film festival experience! I've got two movies tonight. Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person starts at 8:15pm, and Dark Match at 10:15.
    After waking up from my nap, i realized this was probably the only chance i was going to get to complete my log without entirely sabotaging my sleeping schedule tonight, so i pounded this out quick. It's just about time for me to head to the theater, so i timed this pretty perfectly. I'm gonna get ready and head out.
    I think i'm going to put the film fest experiences into separate blog entries, so they can stand on their own later. So that's how i'm going to end this one, but hopefully i have the brain space to write down a few thoughts after the movies tonight, and get that posted right away!