On vacation, the end (May 25th-26th)
Waking up in my hotel room at noon, still drunk (got back to the hotel at around 9am or so) was the perfect way to start the day. I also remember that passion_noire called me at around 10am to ask if I was coming to Berlin with their bus or not. Maybe next time I visit WGT I'll book hotel for one extra day just to recover :-D. Luckily there are nice parks in Leipzig where you can take it easy and enjoy a soda, and when the sun was also shining waiting for the 4pm train back to Berlin wasn't that bad at all.
Berlin was cool, just like last week. There was a great vegetarian döner place right next to my hotel, it was called Vöner. You have to go there and order the vegetarian döner which is really great, they have some kind of fake meat that feels and tastes like meat. Their bio-burger was not much to write home about, but the experience all in all was just great. I also spotted some guys painting graffiti at a playground, the playground looked pretty colorful:
I wish we had had playgrounds like this when I was a kid
Vegetarian döner
Bio-burger
Was quite tired and didn't feel like going out partying that night so the evening was spent strolling around and exploring the Friedrichshain district. The streets were filled with kebab shops and pizzerias, the competition has to be fierce in that business which also reflects in the prices - a standard döner costs 2-2,8 euros here while in Helsinki the closest you can get to it, although a lot worse in terms of taste and quality, "pita kebab" costs 4,9-6 euros. It seems like the only things that are priced on the same level in Finland as in Germany are computers and mobile phones, in every other business the companies have just gotten used to too big profit margins.
From a North European pedestrian's point of view the traffic in Berlin is totally crazy. There are very few traffic lights and the green lights don't last as long, nor do the cars even slow down if they from a long distance see you crossing the road (even if you're walking on a zebra crossing, that is), which means that you have to cross the streets running.
Run for your life whenever you see cars
May this acid house'sque photo be dedicated to vzio
Slayer rules in Berlin too \,,/
Wednesday was the last day of my trip but luckily I had a very late flight so I could enjoy one more day all around Berlin. I checked out the usual alternative clothing stores and found a perfect farewell gift to a dear friend of mine who'll be moving back to Germany from Finland - a drinking horn in the authentic German gothic style.
A meat döner. Really good. Don't feel like having pita-kebab back home anymore.
A shitty picture, but I still had to post it. A plain black t-shirt at X-tra-X store in Berlin. Wonder how many gothic clothing stores have ever though of this :-D.
Cool that they post advertisement space prices like this. Hopefully this becomes something of a trend, as it'd prevent companies from building buffers into their prices.
So nice they say it in a direct way like this ;-).
I remembered my flight departure time wrong and so I ended up being at the airport one hour too early, but I could easily keep myself entertained by replying to e-mails and updating this journal. The flight back was a little less painful to my ears thanks to hem1ola 's hint regarding stabilising air pressure in my ears, I need to work on it and maybe I'll be able to fly without feeling extreme pain.
Knowing how ridiculous this thing about security and flying has gotten and the strict 100ml limit on fluids, a very good place for a beverage ad (taken at Tegel airport in Berlin). I can only imagine how many people have had their newly-bought Coca-Cola confiscated 5 minutes later at the security check.
At Tegel airport they seem to take this thing called airport security very seriously and 100m to the left from this point there was a 2-meter tall fence without barbwire. But atleast they can have the illusion of keeping out the unwanted guests ;-).
All in all it was a perfect trip, very much needed. Thinking about it afterwards I really should go abroad for vacation more often just to get a break from all the stuff happening in Helsinki, so maybe in the future instead of putting all my money on sound system, lights and other equipment for the club, or bringing over bands that can't even cover their own expenses, I'll just rather invest it in myself as that right now seems to make me more satisfied with my life :-).
Maybe I will post a photo-only entry later as there's a bunch of photos that weren't included in the entries, but that I (or someone else) still might want to see in order to bring back memories.
Berlin was cool, just like last week. There was a great vegetarian döner place right next to my hotel, it was called Vöner. You have to go there and order the vegetarian döner which is really great, they have some kind of fake meat that feels and tastes like meat. Their bio-burger was not much to write home about, but the experience all in all was just great. I also spotted some guys painting graffiti at a playground, the playground looked pretty colorful:
I wish we had had playgrounds like this when I was a kid
Vegetarian döner
Bio-burger
Was quite tired and didn't feel like going out partying that night so the evening was spent strolling around and exploring the Friedrichshain district. The streets were filled with kebab shops and pizzerias, the competition has to be fierce in that business which also reflects in the prices - a standard döner costs 2-2,8 euros here while in Helsinki the closest you can get to it, although a lot worse in terms of taste and quality, "pita kebab" costs 4,9-6 euros. It seems like the only things that are priced on the same level in Finland as in Germany are computers and mobile phones, in every other business the companies have just gotten used to too big profit margins.
From a North European pedestrian's point of view the traffic in Berlin is totally crazy. There are very few traffic lights and the green lights don't last as long, nor do the cars even slow down if they from a long distance see you crossing the road (even if you're walking on a zebra crossing, that is), which means that you have to cross the streets running.
Run for your life whenever you see cars
May this acid house'sque photo be dedicated to vzio
Slayer rules in Berlin too \,,/
Wednesday was the last day of my trip but luckily I had a very late flight so I could enjoy one more day all around Berlin. I checked out the usual alternative clothing stores and found a perfect farewell gift to a dear friend of mine who'll be moving back to Germany from Finland - a drinking horn in the authentic German gothic style.
A meat döner. Really good. Don't feel like having pita-kebab back home anymore.
A shitty picture, but I still had to post it. A plain black t-shirt at X-tra-X store in Berlin. Wonder how many gothic clothing stores have ever though of this :-D.
Cool that they post advertisement space prices like this. Hopefully this becomes something of a trend, as it'd prevent companies from building buffers into their prices.
So nice they say it in a direct way like this ;-).
I remembered my flight departure time wrong and so I ended up being at the airport one hour too early, but I could easily keep myself entertained by replying to e-mails and updating this journal. The flight back was a little less painful to my ears thanks to hem1ola 's hint regarding stabilising air pressure in my ears, I need to work on it and maybe I'll be able to fly without feeling extreme pain.
Knowing how ridiculous this thing about security and flying has gotten and the strict 100ml limit on fluids, a very good place for a beverage ad (taken at Tegel airport in Berlin). I can only imagine how many people have had their newly-bought Coca-Cola confiscated 5 minutes later at the security check.
At Tegel airport they seem to take this thing called airport security very seriously and 100m to the left from this point there was a 2-meter tall fence without barbwire. But atleast they can have the illusion of keeping out the unwanted guests ;-).
All in all it was a perfect trip, very much needed. Thinking about it afterwards I really should go abroad for vacation more often just to get a break from all the stuff happening in Helsinki, so maybe in the future instead of putting all my money on sound system, lights and other equipment for the club, or bringing over bands that can't even cover their own expenses, I'll just rather invest it in myself as that right now seems to make me more satisfied with my life :-).
Maybe I will post a photo-only entry later as there's a bunch of photos that weren't included in the entries, but that I (or someone else) still might want to see in order to bring back memories.