Soufflé Days

Sitting on the S-Bahn platform at Friedrichstraße, watching people spill out of the doors, and then a new set of people shove in. The last straggler running up the stairs to catch the closing doors just in time. People on their way home from work grab a pastry at the kiosk, friends kiss hello and walk off, and I’m just sitting on a metal chair on the platform.

I always seem to have very bizarre experiences in Berlin and this trip has been full of random flashbacks, be it the chocolate castles I saw when I was sixteen or the sketchy night spent here last summer among the rail-side clubs by Oberbaumbrücke, with bottles smashing and voices screaming on the bridge. I must have seen that same bridge at least four times daily since arriving in Berlin on Friday.

As I’ve seen most of the main tourist attractions, we have mostly been bumming around East Berlin, having coffee, eating Korean dumplings and taking pictures of graffiti, which seems to adorn every inch of blank space. I’m eating Bulgarian fried eggs in yogurt-dill sauce on little slices of bread, with my hands, and falafel with chili sauce from the Turkish restaurant fronts. I am also eating Haribo gummies, speaking more French than German, and taking loads of pictures of art.

Well on my way to becoming Berliner hipster? We shall see.