I had made some rough plans on things I wanted to see this time around, but I knew there would not be a lot of time to do them. If you compare my WanderLog days in Berlin to places like Budapest and Brussels, then you’d see very little was on the agenda.
Jerrad’s morning calls ended up going longer than he had planned, and I just lounged around the flat and relaxed. I did take the time to research some things to do, and I settled on going to the Neue Nationalgalerie museum.
When I came up the escalator from the train, I saw an advertisement for an exhibit they had on the debauched times in Berlin between the world wars (Cabaret, old chum!), and then while researching, I read about the experiential, site specific art installation by Fujiko Nakaya called Cloud Sculpture. Basically, Nakaya installed misting machines and tubing all over the existing sculpture garden at the museum, and every hour, on the hour the garden is flooded with a mist of fog that changes how your view the sculptures. It was a strange and beautiful experience.
After that, we went into the 1920s exhibit that was very interesting, but since both Jerrad and I have limited patience for most modern art, it was a fairly quick trip through the rest of the museum. Though we did take an opportunity to watch the Cloud Sculpture from above from the outdoor space at the museum main level.
I would be remiss to mention that the museum building was designed by none other than Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who had such an impact on Chicago architecture. You can bet that was another reason I wanted to go.
From there, we stopped off at St. Matthew’s Church, which was next to the museum. We saw it from outside the museum, and we decided to check it out. It is a Protestant church that has been repurposed as a gallery space. It was pretty interesting, but since it was getting pretty late in the day, I wanted to run by the Rausch chocolate shop, that I had visited on my last trip, to pick up my German chocolate for the family. I just love that store soooooo much from all the choices to the chocolate sculptures.
After a quick stop at what I thought was a church that was closed by the time I got around to it in 2024 (it turned out to be another repurposed church with a museum inside abiotic the history of the Bundestag, the German Parliament). It was pretty cool on the inside, but it was definitely time for a cocktail before we decided what we were doing with our Friday evening.
We started to head towards one bar, but then realized that it didn’t open until much later in the evening. Jerrad suggested Bessenkammer, which sounded familiar. Then it clicked…
When I was staying in Alexanderplatz in 2024, there was this tiny LGBT bar situated under a transit overpass that I walked past frequently. It definitely struck me as a townie bar, and after reading that they didn’t treat tourists that well, I decided to not risk it, but with Jerrad there, now a local, I figured we could make it work.
The bar itself was probably no more than a 10×10 room dominated by a wooden bar that sat maybe 5 people all told. There were a couple tables squeezed in, but most of the seating is two picnic tables outside. This was a godsend because the smoking was pretty oppressive inside, but the drinks were cheap. We stayed there for a while talking to some other Americans that were there, and we also ended up talking with a visiting Brit and Ukrainian expat who now lives in Florence. It was a pretty fun afternoon talking to them and interacting with the locals.
By then, it was getting well into the evening, and we walked to the Alexanderplatz U-Bahn to head back to Jerrad’s place. We picked up a kebab sandwich in the subway (surprisingly good), and then we ate and got ready to head back out for the evening.
The first stop was Möbel Olife, which was a largely mixed bar, and it was packed, and it was another smoke filled bar. I wasn’t really feeling the vibe that much (or the smoke), and we decided to head to the Schöneberg area, which I thought might be more of the nightlife that Jerrad was seeking out, and as you may recall from the Part 1, the bars in that area are largely smoke free, which was a bonus for me. In a bit of a throwback, a lot of those smoke free bars actually had smoking sections.
There are several bars to choose from, but since we were getting to the area after midnight, we mainly stuck to Heile Welt (A Perfect World), and we mainly sat at the bar enjoyed some good cocktails and the music which was mostly Lady Gaga and/or throwback 90s music. Also, of some odd reason, Pina Coladas seemed to be VERY popular there. Eventually, the Ukrainian expat from Bessenkemmer, Alex, joined up with us from the remainder of the evening.
We decided it was time to move on to another bar, but since it was approaching 3 AM, we discovered that most of the bars were closing, but we did find one, Hafen, that was still open, and we spent the rest of the night (morning) there. Jerrad tapped out, and I stayed out a bit longer with Alex, but then it was time to head back. Alex as staying around Alexanderplatz. We took the U-Bahn to that stop, and I continued on to Jerrad’s.
This was likely my last major night out on this trip, and since I was out on a Sunday evening the last trip, it was great to see a normal weekend night in Berlin.
