First of all, may I just politely ask: “Where the hell did the time go?!
I can’t believe it was three years ago that I last visited the oh-ever-so-cool city of Berlin.
It’s a quick 50 min flight from Copenhagen to Berlin and I got a window seat on the plane, so it almost felt like taking the train:). Just shortly after we took off, the landscape has already changed from a lot of lakes to a lot of trees. We were already 25 mins delayed when we took off but landed on time. Basically, we were teleported from one country to another.
Hi sunny Berlin!
I always had this very familiar feeling towards this capital city, ever since the first time I visited. It’s so down on earth, but also ultimately cool. My friends keep telling me that I need to come here when it’s summer, it would be really nice. As if Berlin is not beautiful enough for me already!
It’s never the look that matters right? It’s what you have inside!
If I am completely honest, my silly little plan for this trip was to sit on the sofa somewhere else with a blanket and feel sorry for myself. I did spend a lot of time on my friend’s company sofa and the home couch too, and my friend did leave me and the dog in the house and went to Frankfurt for work. But for the pieces of memory that I was out and about, I had a great deal of fun too.
The Walk
I’m pretty good with direction and I even found the same cafe I went three years ago! The afternoon I walked from Mitte to Kantstrasse was something special. I was recommended to check out the new photography show in Camera Work Gallery. Google Maps shows it would take 1.5 hours to walk. I don’t know what gets to me that I decided to walk down there. I mean If you check my daily steps back home in Shanghai, it would shamefully show three digitals only, like today, 684 steps to be precise. But that cold windy afternoon in Berlin, I decided to walk.
Of course, two blocks down, I was willing to give up. It was too cold, Uber sounded so tempting, and I forgot my headphone, I can’t even listen to music! But somehow I just kept walking, I put one foot in front of another, and continued my journey. And while I was walking, I started to think about things, I chose to walk along the river by German Chancellery to Tiergarten, I noticed homeless people who’re sleeping by the river, I smelled weed, hipsters were talking to me. But somehow, I felt they couldn’t really see me, I’m not here, and as long as I’m moving, all these would disappear.
And it did eventually. I don’t know if you can call this a meditation, but I definitely reached a higher place. I didn’t even remember where I was. I guess I don’t need to go to a mountain to find my inner peace, I can find it among the noises in the city, but maybe just not my city. Like the movie I watched many years ago–Anywhere but here.
Side note: Mobike is everywhere in the city! I was so happy to discover them in my last 15 mins of walk, I was freezing and decided to take the bike. Same as what we would do back home, scan the QR code through WeChat and the same old unlock sound and voila! Bear in mind though that it would cost not 1 yuan but 1 Euro at the end.:) Also, you might want to adjust the bike seat.:)
The Place
It was the perfect place to watch the day die.
I wouldn’t know that there’s this little hidden gem a bit outside of Berlin. Only David, a great friend, and more importantly, a wonderful human being, an interesting soul, would know what I like and take us here.
David works in Fashion and has an apartment to die for, not in the sense that it’s so big or all designer furniture pieces but the feeling of it. He has a piano in the living room while all the books are causally sleeping on the floor. Giant green plants from the bedroom to the door.
Right, back to the place. For some, it’s just a hill with nothing around. For me, it’s perfect. I like the openness, the emptiness, and look down, there’s a road goes up to somewhere I can’t see, I’m pretty sure that’s the path to the amazing OZs! It was surely windy, and David has two cashmere scarfs from Tibet prepared for us already, what a sweetheart.
I let them talk, and walked around listening to the wind kissing my ears.
A day is almost gone.
I’ve had this theory since little, before people telling me that we can’t actually see time. I always felt that the wind is the host of time, or a carrier, or whatever you like to call it. If you put your hands out in the air, you can see it, smell it, feel it, hear it, and touch it even, that’s time passing, fast. Also, when I was in elementary school, the only time in my life that I’d bike home everyday ( I can bike with both hands off:) #awesome), I would always stop somewhere and wait for the sky to fall. But it was always a mere moment of time, I tried so hard not to blink, but never captured that exact second when the day turns into night.
Everybody loves a sunset. I love it that it reminded me of ” everything comes to an end, everything will be fine eventually, if there’s tomorrow, tomorrow is another day, and what would you do if it’s your last day on earth? ” Along with the day goes by, we die a little too. And while life is a journey and we are just passing through, let’s make it count each day, shall we?
The People
The reason why I love a place is always because of the people (not the animals), People make up a place.
Berlin is so cool, because of the cool humans living in, they are just generally at ease and chill, creative and fun.
P.s. German techno is the only music I listen to if I’m at a deadline or really try to get some work done.
Little did I know that an eye contact 5 years ago on the street of Shanghai would lead to a friendship of a lifetime. (How to? Hint: It involves a lot of international flights.) I won’t trade with anyone or anything for MY germans, they are so unique and cool, and I love spent time with each of them. I won’t shout out your names but you know who you are.
Some people just feel like home and if there’s indeed such thing called safe harbor, I definitely have one here in Berlin, a city without sea.:)
Ugh, I hate to get all sentimental, but Ich Liebe Dich?
All photos my own shot in Berlin, Germany.