To the Motherland!

Ireland is amazing. I may be biased in saying that as its blood does flow through my veins but regardless it's absolutely gorgeous. Its cities and towns are great and filled with lively Irish pubs, cute thatched cottages, and some of the nicest people I've met in Europe. Its countryside, framed by the ocean in some parts, has majestic rolling green hills roamed by hobbits and orcs. Just kidding. The hobbits and orcs died many years ago.

Wednesday morning I successfully made my Ryanair flight and landed around 10 am in Dublin. I then met up with Novack and Bailey who had snagged us second row places at the St. Patrick's Day parade, which is the largest of its kind in the world (Montreal's is second). Walking to the parade was insanity: everyone was decked out in green, white and orange and everywhere you looked there were people selling shamrock headbands, leprechaun hats, irish flags, irish chippendales outfits, etc. I picked up a simple yet edgy green, white, and orange braided headband because I was feeling particularly hip that morning. The parade was really awesome but definitely not what I expected. Instead of pots of gold and rainbows, there were floats with circus people, arabian genies, giraffes, giant mechanical insects, a DJ set on a turtle, and this bizarre egg/chef dance routine with a rooster Davie Bowie in the background singing "everybody wants to be a rooster". The people around us at the parade probably thought we were idiots because a. we thought an Irish goalkeeper riding in a car in the parade was the president and b. we kept asking where the leprechauns were.

After the parade we hit up bar #1 of 209 of the day and drank Guinness #1 of 127826 of the day. We wandered around the Temple Bar district, going into bars that advertised "traditional Irish music". I was shocked to learn that Bryan Adams is Irish. It was funny, during all our bar hopping we didn't seem to meet one Irish person. Apparently, they get pissed with the tourist influx on St. Patty's Day and peace the scene to their own neighbourhood pubs. Rightfully so, I'd probably be disgusted if I saw American frat boys pounding back Guinness wearing "Today I'm Irish, tomorrow I'm hungover" tshirts.

At four we picked up some classy drinks aka 2 L bottles of cider for 5 euros and headed back to Bailey's hostel to play McGill vs. Queens flip cup. Cultural experience right then and thurr. We chilled at the hostel until 8 when we met up with Samara then left to do more bar hopping. I lost track of how many bars we went into...or how much Guinness and whiskey was consumed. We eventually met up with Heather, Erin, Lonnie, and Mike at some point and then so much dancing ending off with a group hug singing to Imagine.

The next morning was a definite struggle but with the help of diner food, we were able to persevere. We walked around Dublin for a bit, visiting Trinity College, St. Patrick's Church and St. Stephen's Green before hopping on a bus to Cork. We arrived in Cork pretty late so we grabbed some food and drink and then headed out to a bar in the Green Light District of Cork where we met the party queen which is Yolanta. She reminded us of Lorraine from MadTV and definitely had some sweet moves. We closed down the bar and then the DJ got pissed when DJ EJ tried to continue the party by turning back on the music. I just wanted to hear Party in the USA one more time.

We took a short bus ride to Blarney the following morning to kiss the Blarney Stone. See I thought the stone was kind of like Stonehenge, like a giant stone in the middle of a field. But oh no it's attached to a very high castle wall. You have to lie on your back then lean over backwards while holding on to two bars to reach the stone. There's a gap between the floor and wall and even though there are bars across the gap, it is still slightly terrifying because it's quite high up. By kissing the stone, legend has it you receive the gift of eloquence however it is debatable whether that actually happened, judging by my two presentations on the Monday I got back.

After touring Blarney castle - highlights include the murder hole where people used to throw boiling water and knives at unwanted visitors through a hole above the entrance - we wandered through Blarney park, appreciating the greenery of the scenery and enjoying the misty atmosphere of the morning. We bypassed a gate to this sprawling field framed by a lake. tall trees, a field of daffodils and three horses. Erin and I slowly approached the horses; they seemed friendly but hungry as they tried to eat our cameras, hair, bags, jackets. It was such a perfect moment with the horses, the green countryside, and mist. I wanted to strap on a corset and petticoat and ride bareback across the fields just like Keira Knightly. I'm sure she's done that in some movie.

That afternoon we bussed to Galway. Being budget divas, we made dinner at our hostel and drank our 2 euro wine before heading out into the night. After a failed attempt at one club where they said they would give us free shots and then didn't actually when we went in - rude - we ended up at the King's Head, a supposedly famous Galway bar. There was a live cover band that was conducive to rage dancing however they repeatedly refused my requests for some CCR so they lost some street cred.

On my last day in Ireland - a gorgeous sunny day I might add - we went to what should be one of the new wonders of the world, the Cliffs of Moher. These cliffs rise to a height of 214 m and run 5 km along the Atlantic. They were one of the most insanely beautiful sights I've ever seen: towering rock faces leading to turquoise water and topped with green gas. We wandered along the cliffs, attempted to fly a kite, and took many pictures along the way. I had a near death experience when I almost hopped over the edge of the cliff as I was trying to regain my balance after falling out of my tree pose. The grass on the cliffs was so cushy and comfy so I laid down and watched the clouds float by. Absolute zen.

On the bus ride to and from the cliffs we stopped at a burial ground, a castle, the small village Doolin for lunch, the rock faces at Burren, an old family fairy yard, and the mini Cliffs of Moher which were still pretty big and impressive. That night we made dinner at our hostel again and had some drinks before I bid adieu to the group and took the midnight bus back to Dublin for my 8 am flight.

I need to go back to Ireland. Although I am really happy that we didn't just stay in Dublin it did mean a lot of time spent on the bus and not exploring. I especially want to go back to the cliffs with a picnic basket and my guitar and spend the day there. I am going to Edinburgh tomorrow so I will get some British Isles experience this weekend. And I think I'm in the right place where I can stomach whiskey again.

ps. Parents, I only drink this much on St. Patrick's Day right?

New Favourite Kind of Bifteck

This weekend, I finally got the chance to hit up le Relais de l'Entrecote, the infamous steak frites restaurant. Even without the bottle of wine for an appetizer, the steak frites would be up there as one of the best meals I've ever had. The greatest part was once you finished your plate, they would bring out another round of steak frites. Such a great concept speaking to the fat carnivore in all of us.

Epic Fashion Fail

These are my pictures from Paris Fashion Week:

Yup, I missed it. Devastating. Turns out the three days when I was in my apartment being an amoeba recovering from Berlin/Netherlands and attempting to start work, I should have been at the Grand Palais looking for Lagerfeld. My life is average.

In other news, I finally found Colette, which is a store that Brandon told me was full of "cool things". If he told me it was full of the most amazing clothes ever, I would have gone there sooner. The ground floor has sneakers, cds, watches, phones, and more but the upstairs has tons of mannequins with impeccably styled outfits. I died. I wanted to take a picture of every mannequin but I thought that would just scream tourist wannabe tres gauche so instead I wandered around and salivated over a pair of Sergio Rossi heels. The more I'm in this city, the more I realize that perhaps business is not my calling and that I should go into fashion. After all, I've never salivated over a SWOT analysis.

Road Gouda in the Netherlands

To reiterate, Paris = beautiful, Barcelona = lively, Berlin = cool, and Leiden = cute. Cute like a golden retriever puppy. Cute like an Anne Geddes calendar minus the pedophilia. Cute like a diva on a good day.

If I was doing an eurotrip, I would never think to go to Leiden. I'm really glad that I have friends on exchange at smaller towns that would otherwise be off my travel radar. Leiden is so cute and pleasant. There are canals, windmills, walk ups, the best climbing trees, and bikes everywhere. I estimate the bike-to-person ratio in Leiden is 25 to 1. There is a market every Wednesday and Sunday with the most delicious food: sweet-tasting deep fried fish, gouda, pannekoekens, and stroop waffels which have replaced les petits ecoliers and croissant amandes as the bane of my existence.

Amsterdam is amazing too. Basically a bigger Leiden with more bikes, canals, and prostitutes. I wish I could have spent more time exploring the city but such is life and at least I got to experience both Leiden and Amsterdam.

Wednesday: Wake up to a sugar high leftover from the road trip and discover that Michela has arrived sometime during the night. We walk to the train station to meet Novack and Alyssa then go get tasty pannekoekens, some tastier than others (Novack ordered banana, whipped cream, and bacon...questionable). We walk around the market and meet up with more McGilligans. Then we head to Amsterdam for Dave Matthews Band (see post below).

They may seem small but their power over you, ohhh it's dreadful.

Thursday: Nous faisons la grasse matinee then grab some cute brunch at a patio alongside the canal. We then explore the town and find the alley where Rembrandt was born with accompanying memorial as well as the cemetary where Van Gogh's mom is buried. I find a sweet climbing tree which would be my place of all life's reflection if I lived in Leiden. We have a chill afternoon and grab some coffee then we get food for dins and make supper in Heather's res. That night, after getting Jag'd, we head to a Leiden band showcase where we see a couple bands. One band's singer looks like a dwarf version of David Bowie/Jon Bon Jovi/Steven Tyler but he plays the harmonica so he was sick. I hate on the next band, the Apollo Project, and find their bottle of Jaeger more interesting than their music. Novack becomes their chief groupie and gets a tattoo of the Apollo Project stamp. The last band is pretty cool and then there is a dj set with your average mix of slam dancing and fist pumping.

Friday: We head into Amsterdam for the day (fyi Leiden is about a 30 minute train from A-dam). We hit up the Anne Frank House which was very...I can't think of the word right now as brain cells are low...but essentially very affecting? Basically I was standing in the annex thinking not even 70 years ago there were people hiding for their lives in here. It moved me I guess you could say. After we go to the Electric Ladyland Museum which is the weirdest/coolest thing I've ever seen. It's a fluorescent light museum run by a hippie from Brooklyn who took 6 years to build this cave neon sculpture thing. He travels around the world looking for fluorescent rocks in places like the Himalayas; I have no idea how he finds the rocks, whether he walks around with a portable UV light or what. He also shows you objects like money, passports, and paintings that have fluorescent qualities. Bottom line: you have to go if you're ever in Amsterdam. After that we go to Barney's burger place for burgers that rival White Trash Food and then go to the Red Light District which was insane. Then we go to Heather friend's res to party with some dutch people. I won't go into too many details of the night but basically it amounted to me running through the red light district by myself at 3:30 am searching for an atm and a mentaal breakdown at Amsterdam centraal. It's alright, parents, I made it through and I'm here now writing this thing.

Saturday: Somehow we find it in ourselves to return to Amsterdam after the mess which was the previous night. Not only are do we go back to Amsterdam but we hit up the Heineken Experience aka the greatest marketing ploy/propaganda machine. HEINEKEN IS THE BEST BEER IN THE WORLD. Apparently. We go on the brew you ride where we are treated like Heineken beers and then cheat the system by using our beer tokens multiple times to get many delicious brews. Afterwards, we go out for dinner to celebrate Michela's birthday at a delicious Italian place then head back to Leiden to party at the Aside of Leiden. Much speaker dancing and beer drinking ensue.

Sunday: Successful and smooth trip home to Paris. Excited face to sleep in my own bed that a. does not inflate and b. is not in a room with person who when snoring sounds like pigs mating but devastated to learn that I actually have to do school work in March. Oh well I'm heading to Dublin in a week to finally reunite with my heritage. This one's for you, Granpa!

Peace, love, and cheese.

Number 26 on the Bucket List

I had been wanting to see Dave Matthews Band forever but he only seems to tour in the summer and he never comes to Vancouver. I could drive down to the Gorge to see him and I would love to but that's always on Labour Day Weekend when I'm back in Montreal. So when I found out back in October that he was playing in Amsterdam during my reading break I went mental. Novack, Michela, Heather, and Alyssa also booked tickets so it was going to be a funsies McGill reunion in the Dam. Yes!

The concert was held in the Heineken Music Hall which is a really sick venue because it's not a stadium, so not too big, but wasn't packed either. Great sound too. The Dutch are not rowdy concert goers but apparently they do not appreciate when you push past them to move closer to the stage so we didn't try to get right at the front. Regardless we had a very fine view of Dave and his band.

I had been peepsing the setlists from his European tour and I was getting pretty excited as it seemed like they were playing a decent mix of older songs and stuff from their new album. The setlist they played in Amsterdam wasn't the best I saw of the tour (I really wanted to hear Everyday and Stay) but it was still pretty amazing and they played sick covers of Burning Down the House and Sledgehammer.

Here's the setlist:

Lying In the Hands of God *
Funny The Way It Is *
Seven *
You Might Die Trying *
Spaceman *
Squirm *
Crash (Into Me) *
Jimi Thing *
Why I Am *
So Damn Lucky *
You and Me *
Crush *
Burning Down The House *
Sugar Will (tease)
Don’t Drink the Water *
Shake Me Like a Monkey *
Ants Marching *
__________________

Baby Blue +
Sledgehammer *
Grey Street *

My favourites were Crash Into Me, Shake Me Like a Monkey segwaying into Ants Marching, and Grey Street. Here are some vids I took of the concert. My camera work may not be the best thing in the world as I have issues keeping my hand steady when I'm excited as hell at a Dave concert.

Nein! or How I Ended Up in a Rental Car on the Autobahn

This was bound to happen. I'm sure my parents were just waiting for the call from me (a la the one from New York) saying I had missed my flight and was stuck in a foreign country. Luckily for them, my phone was dead at the time of this incident. The following is a more or less accurate account of how Heather, Alex, and I missed our flight and ended up driving across Germany aka Ryanair, S my B's.

6:15 am - Our alarm wakes us up. We are not pleased as we had been awaken at 5 am by drunken hostel roomies. Life is a struggle right now.

6:50 am - We finally get our luggage together, check out, and leave the hostel. This should have happened 20 minutes ago.

6:55 am - We realize our flight is 5 minutes earlier than we actually thought. Regardless, we get on the metro with an optimistic mind.

7:15 am - We are still on the metro and 10 stops plus bus away from the airpot. We have to be at the Ryanair desk by 7:30 in order to check my bag. Our optimism switches to uncertainty.

7:25 am - Still on metro. I start to panic.

7:30 am - Off metro and running towards a cab. Busses are for people who are on time.

7:31 am - Although we told him to hurry up, the cabbie is going about 30 km/h lower than he should. I decide that the crazy German driver attribute is a gross misrepresentation.

7:35 am - We arrive at Berlin Schoenefeld. I feel like there is chance I can still check my bag as I'm only 5 minutes late. I power into the airport with a surge of adrenaline.

7:36 am - I realize I have no idea where I'm going. I run to terminal B. There is no Ryanair.

7:39 am - We are told Ryanair is in terminal D in another building. I run to terminal D.

7:43 am - I see on the screen in terminal D that Ryanair is in terminal A. I run back to the terminal A/B building. I have had no food or coffee yet and my muscle has turned into pastry. I almost pass out.

7:47 am - We finally find the Ryanair desk. I rush up and explain to the man that we were stuck in traffic and I need to check my bag. He tells me that is not possible. I say that I need to make the flight to catch our connecting train in Dusseldorf. He tells me Nein. I ask if I can put my bag on a later flight today. He tells me Nein. I ask him when the next flights are. He says he doesn't know. I say "Can you please help us? Obviously we have no resources available at our disposal and you have a computer in front of you. Can you please check when the next flight is?". He says Nein. Heather tells him that any other airline would help us and put bags on the next flight. He tells us that Ryanair is not any other airline. Evidently. Air Canada may be cheap but at least they're not douchebags.

7:50 am - We frantically discuss. I say to Alex and Heather to go ahead as they don't have to check their bags. Heather says that she can't leave me here. I love Heather. We tell Alex to go ahead as she had a bad time getting to Berlin. She asks the Ryanair desk when is the last possible time to go through the gate. The Ryanair woman tells her to stop yelling. Then tells her Nein. This officially makes Ryanair Satan.

7:52 am - Alex leaves to catch the plane and Heather and I return to the airport to check out our options.

7:58 am - The woman at the information desk knows nothing. She tells us to check with the travel desk.

8:01 am - The man at the travel desk tells us the cheapest flight from Berlin to Dusseldorf that day is 180 euros. A train costs 150 euros. Considering our original flight was 5 euros this is incredibly sadface to hear.

8:05 am - We see a sign saying busses to Dusseldorf are 33 euros. The man says they were 33 euros a week ago and we should have booked then. We tell him that we did not plan to miss our flight a week ago. We discover that the bus to Dusseldorf is 14 hours. The woman at the desk keeps saying Nein under her breath. She scares me.

8:12 am - We go around to various airlines and they all tells us flights out of our price range.

8:13 am - We sit down at the most annoying internet terminal. We search various flight websites. All flights from Berlin to Dusseldorf are very expensive. We find an option on a site where we can search for flights from Berlin to anywhere. We consider clicking on it.

8:30 am - We have a brainwave and go check out the rental car place. It seems to be the cheapest per person option and everything seems fine and dandy until they tell us the only cars available are ones that are standard. We cannot drive stick and certainly are not stupid enough to try and learn on a German highway.

8:35 am - We are defeated. We retire to the airport coffee shop to get fuel. I turn on my phone to call Samara who is still at the hostel. I find a text from Alex saying she missed her flight. I call her. She is on her way to the Berlin train station. At this point, Heather is walking to the bathroom. She suddenly whips around and runs back to me excitedly. She yells "Alex can drive stick!". I tell Alex to get back to Schoenefeld immediately.

9:20 am - Alex meets us at Europcar. The Europcar woman is actually helpful and seems like she wants to get us out of Berlin. It appears that she does not know the word Nein. We get the cheapest car at 144 euros plus gas. We pay and get the keys. Hope is restored.

10:30 am - We refuel with more coffee and food. We get in the car and are off. Our train from Dusseldorf to Amsterdam is at 3:15 pm and since we are told it's only a 4 to 5 hour drive, we believe we can make it.

11:30 am - We come to a fork on the highway. We go left towards what we think is Highway 2 aka the Autobahn. We learn later this is wrong.

11:50 am - We are driving through a cutesy German town. Signs tell us that we are heading towards Beelitz. This is wrong.

11:57 am - We see a grocery store and pull over. We get out with map in hand. We pick up apples and ritter sport. We ask the checkout lady where the bathrooms are. She stares at us. We ask her where the toilets are. She stares at us. We ask here where the WC is. She stares at us. Then says something in German. I swear I heard some Neins. Later I learn that the German word for toilets is toilette but from my experience with the German language, it's probably pronounced toilesstrassenwitz. We decide checkout lady is probably not the optimal person to ask for directions

11:58 am - We are about to head next door to ask for directions when we are distracted by a miraculous sight. CHEAP CHEAP LIQUOR.

12:05 pm - We debate over the merits of Vodka vs. Wodka. We find Faux Jaeger called Jag'd. It looks questionable but its only 6 euros. We end up with 6 bottles of wine and 4 26's for 23 euros. The checkout lady thinks we are insane. We still don't have directions but at least we have booze. Celebratory pictures ensue.

12:10 pm - We get directions and more snacks from the bakery next door. Turns out we were heading in the absolutely wrong direction. We head out once again. We are confident.

12:40 pm - After many failed attempts at getting on the right overpass to the right highway entrance, we are on the Autobahn!

12:41 pm - A mercedes passes us in the left lane going approximately 200 km/h. I decide the slow cab driver was an exception, not the rule, and that Germans are in fact crazy drivers.

12:45 pm - More sonic booms pass us. This is slightly terrifying.

1:15 pm - Snack break #4. We pick up more caffeine and - despite the fact that we still have ritter sports - Magnum ice cream bars. We are pleased.

1:30 pm - The German countryside is gorgeous. There are wind turbines everywhere. I am obsessed.

2:15 pm - We look at the map and find out where we actually are. We are not close to Dusseldorf. We decide making the 3:15 train is slightly unrealistic.

2:30 pm - Heather calls her friends in Leiden to find out more train times. There is one at 4:10 pm and one at 6:10 pm. We can make it.

3:00 pm - Even though we just consumed a disgusting amount of ritter sport and pretzels, I get a fry craving. It has been 9 days since my last meal and I need McDicks. We all agree we need McDicks. With a new found sense of purpose, we power ahead keeping our eyes peeled for the golden arches.

3:30 pm - After many failed attempts at getting off on the wrong exit or missing the exit completely, we finally arrive at McDonalds. We are beyond happy. We ask a woman to take our photo in front of the McDonalds as a commemorative picture.

3:45 pm - We are back on the road and feeling good.

5:00 pm - We see a sign saying Dusseldorf in 80 km. We are going to make the 6:10 pm! Celebrations ensue.

5:05 pm - We hit traffic. And a lot of it. Depression ensues.

5:45 pm - We make it through the traffic and after snack break #6, find ourselves on the road driving into a beautiful sunset. We play Tiny Dancer. We decide life is good.

6:10 pm - We find a sign saying Dusseldorf next exit. Life is very good.

6:20 pm - We are in Dusseldorf. We have just over an hour before the 7:28 pm train to find a gas station, refill, then find the train station. This is ample time.

6:25 pm - No sign of gas station.

6:30 pm - Still no sign of gas station.

6:35 pm - Still no sign of gas station. We ask cab driver for directions.

6:45 pm - Gas station located! Inside we get directions to train station.

6:50 pm - We follow the signs to the train station.

7:00 pm - Still following signs.

7:10 pm - Still following signs. It appears that the train station is not in Dusseldorf but in Dortmund, which was passed an hour ago.

7:13 pm - Train station located! We drive up the ramp to the Europcar drop off parking lot.

7:15 pm - We frantically fill up our suitcases with the booze and run around trying to find the key drop off place.

7:18 pm - We drop off the keys and run madly through the train station looking for the platform for the 7:28 pm train.

7:23 pm - We discover that their is no 7:28 pm train but a 7:40 one. We will be on that. We are so happy.

7:30 pm - We get real food in the form of salads. We discover that we still have ritter sport left over. We are slightly devastated but slightly thrilled at the same time.

7:40 pm - We collapse on the train. We cannot believe we are here.

7:45 pm - The train lady comes and gets mad at us because our tickets are for the 3:15 train and not the 7:40 train. We explain what we've just been through. She says stuff in German. I am waiting for the Nein. Finally she let's us off with a warning, saying next time we will have to buy the right tickets. I don't plan on ever traveling through Dusseldorf again so I am not concerned.

7:50 pm - We eat our salads and the ritter sport. We reflect on what just happened. We laugh, we cry. Life is good.

Some notes:

First of all, Germany is massive. I thought Berlin was in the centre of Germany but it's wayyyyy east. And Dusseldorf is practically on the Germany-Netherlands border. You can see from the map how far we drove. And most of it was on the Autobahn.

Our trip was marked by episodes of manic depression. One minute there was so many lolz and the next, we were hating life. I attribute this to excessive ritter sport consumption.

Also, huge props to Alex, our driver. We were running on very little sleep and driving in a foreign country is scary. The fact that the foreign country drive was on the Autobahn where there are massive trucks and Mercedes and BMWs going 19289 km/h makes it that much more impressive. The only time I felt a little afraid is when she said, "I need caffeine soon. I am exhausted and my eyes are starting to close". This was when we were going 130 km/h.

The whole trip - including car rental and gas - ended up costing us 68 euros each. Even though we probs spent 30 euros each on snacks, it still was cheaper than the cheapest flight option. And who says I'm not conscious with my money?

PS. I'm flying to Dublin next week with Ryanair. I plan on arriving at the airport 2 days in advance.

Mastering the Meisters (burger, jaeger, etc.)

Paris is beautiful, Barcelona is lively, but Berlin is just downright cool. It's dirty, covered in gravel and grafitti, and smells like piss half the time but it's an awesome city. It's a mix of the old and the new and the west and the east into one totally bitchin good time of a place.

I stayed at a cool artsy hostel in the Mitte district (side note - it took me four days to realize that it was pronounced mit-tay and not meat...sad). I met Heather there late on the Thursday night and we spent Friday and Saturday exploring before meeting Samara on Saturday night. We saw tons of cool stuff and here's some things for y'all to do if you ever go. Which you should. Because its awesome. Just maybe wait until it's a bit warmer, unless you want the true Eastern European oppressive winds experience.

Places to go!

DDR Museum - There's a bunch of famous museums like the Pergamon Museum and the Neus Museum in one area called Museum Island and we went into the Pergamon but those museums mainly housed ancient artifacts and I was just interested in finding some straight up German shiz. The DDR (not Dance Dance Revolution but Deutsche Demokratische Republik or German Democratic Republic) Museum was great because it showcased life in East Berlin during the Cold War. The museum was small but there was a lot to look at and everything was interactive. We even got to sit it and faux drive a Trabi, the east German attempt at creating a car to rival the Volkswagon Beetle.

The Jewish Museum - Another really great museum. The building itself was really cool and the exhibit was super extensive and interesting.

The Wine Bar - Apparently there are a couple of these in Berlin and they're not called The Wine Bar but I never found out the true name. Basically the concept is this: you pay 2 euros at the door for a glass and then fill up said glass as many times as you want throughout the night. When you leave, you pay as much as you think you drank. They had a really tasty selection of wine and the vibe was super chill. If you want to find Berlin hipsters, this is the place to go.

Mauer Park Market - There's a bunch of flea markets in Berlin but apparently this is THE one to go to. It's on Sundays at apparently Mauer Park. They sold errthing here. From cameras to shirts to photographs to hanging light fixtures to balaclavas and baklava. I was half expecting to find AK-47s here. The food at the market was delicious; I had a really great Turkish cheese crepe roll...yum.

White Trash Food - My guidebook described it as a mix between an Irish pub and a Chinese restaurant so I had no idea what to expect. I was for sure not expecting that I would have the BEST VEGGIE BURGER EVER THERE. It is pictured below. Please admire it in all its glory. The menu had no chinese nor irish food (potatoes?) but lots and lots of delicious sounding fatty North American food. The place itself had a great vibe; ET played as we ate our dinner and then a band was playing while we were leaving. Our waiter was a younger paler version of Crispin Glover circa Charlies Angels so that was a plus too.

Mr Vuong - Another amazing restaurant. Delicious vietnamese food with yummy booze milkshakes. It's kind of sad that of the four nights I was in Berlin, I did not go out for German food. However when I found out what schnitzel truly is, I was not so down.

East Side Gallery - The longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall covered with amazing murals. The day we went it was windy, rainy, and very cold so we definitely got the 4D experience of East Berlin.

Tacheles - An artist squat in the Mitte district on Orienburger Street. Every square inch of the building is covered in grafitti and inside you can find artists selling their paintings, jewelry, posters, etc. Outside in the backyard is a crazy sculpture garden with sculptures made of bathtubs, computers, busses, and a lot of tin. There's also a bar and cafe inside. Just don't go to the bar on a slow Sunday night or you'll be the only peeps there save for 6 possibly crackheads, one of which is trying to light his girlfriends' hair on fire. Not the best scene in Berlin

The Reichstag - We went up the Television Tower and that was a sick view of the city however I think it's way better to go up the Reichstag. You don't get as high as a view but it's still really decent and the building itself is gorgeous, plus its free to go up.

Burgermeister - Last but not least, the second best burger I've had in Berlin (and the second best in life). A girl in my class recommended this to me. It's a tiny shack tucked under a railway track in the Kruezeberg district. Absolutely delicious. Close to bmeister is some really cool clothing stores where I scored more vintage finds. Woot.