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Berlin, March 2008 I have visited Berlin twice before. Once during the Cold War, when I stared at the Brandenburg Gate from both sides of the Wall. The second time in November 1989, when, by chance, I was in the city the day the Wall fell. Now friend Chris, on his first visit, and I were spending a long weekend here, culture vultures by day and clubbers at night. We made the mistake of coming during ITB, the world's largest travel fair. Beds were at a premium, and we ended up paying �110 (�85 / $170) a night in A&O - a chain of hostels masquerading as a hotel - in Köpenickerstrasse. Yes, we were teenagers once, but that didn't mean we welcomed their noise echoing through the walls and corridors at 7 in the morning. And we were not impressed to arrive at lunchtime and be told that rooms were only available after 4pm... But we were within walking distance of Unter den Linden, the cultural heart of Berlin, and we decided to stroll there to get a feel of the city. The skies were leaden. The apartment blocks lining the streets were a lighter shade of the same grey. The streets were inexplicably empty. We passed a large power station and the entrance of an apparently deserted underground station. In the distance we could see the occasional car and pedestrian. "This is Thursday, isn't it?" I asked Chris. "The early afternoon? Near the centre of a capital city with a population of over three million people? So why does it feel like the sequel of Twenty-Eight Days Later or I am Legend?" Later we learned that there was a bus and underground strike but that was only part of the answer. We were in old East Berlin which, almost twenty years after reunification has not yet shaken off its aura of desolation. As we headed further into the heart of the city, we came to an large deserted site where a massive concrete structure was frozen in the midst of destruction, its rusting iron girders thrusting through empty space and its concrete walls silent and motionless. On Unter den Linden a few brave souls, all apparently tourists, braved the cold and wind. We found a restaurant in the basement of the the Staatsoper - State Opera. It was large, warm, baroque and empty apart from a bürgerliche couple at a well- plenished table, complete with towering glasses of beer, and two tall well-built, handsome and shaven-head waiters. We sat back on comfortable seats and worked our way through red wine, large plates of well-presented and strongly-flavoured quiche, herring, potatoes, salad, apple strudel on swirls of custard and chocolate and a cappucino. The bill came to �55 (�42, $84) for the two of us. We still didn't understand Berlin, but we knew we were beginning to like it. Daytime Berlin Berlin may be young in European terms - it only came into being in the late thirteenth century - but it is above all a city of history. That rich past can be glimpsed through many different windows... Early civilisation is on display on Museum Island. Many of its Graeco-Roman style buildings are currently under renovation, but the exhibitions are still accessible. We spent a couple of hours in the Altes Museum, drawn there by the Nefertiti bust at the heart of the Ancient Egyptian exhibition. The bonus was the extensive section on ancient Greece and the dozen or so vases and plates displaying several sexual activities where only men were involved... Behind the Altes Museum are the National Gallery and the Pergamon Museum with a breathtaking collection of Near East and Islamic art. Check the website for current events at these and other museums run by the city. * * * * * *
Covering the last 250 years, it shows how German gay men consistently fought, even in the worst days of Nazi repression, to maintain their lives, their dignity and their right to meet, interact and live with other gay men.
The museum website is only in German, but on site there is good detailed English guide to the permanent display. Either before or after your visit, have something to drink at the Schwuz cafe at the entrance of the Museum. It's tired and run-down, but it's been a centre of Berlin gay life for many decades. * * * * * * Advertised as three to four hours, we were blessed with guide Mike, an enthusiastic New Zealander who moved to Berlin five years ago to indulge his passion for German history. No detail was too small for him to pass on to us as we traipsed our way across grass and rubble, stopping to stare at building after building, monument after monument. As the tour wore on and we wore down, Mike became more and more enthusiastic, striding confidently backwards down streets as we meekly followed, his voice rising in pitch and volume as he narrated the events, almost day by day, of the final act of the German and European tragedy. More than five hours after we started, as the tour ended at the site of Hitler's bunker, we were finally able to drag ourselves away, most definitely enriched by the experience, but in dire need of food and drink... * * * * * * * * * * * *
The local magazines list over 200 bars, clubs, restaurants, services and shops. We sampled half a dozen of them. Our impressions? Cogai aka Co Gai Vietnamese restaurant in Bülowstrasse 9, very near the gay Nollendorfplatz district. Make sure you get a comfortable bench seat. Excellent authentic dishes and very cute waiters; we particularly liked the S&M tie that one of them was wearing. Connection bar in the appropriately named Fuggerstrasse. Nicely designed small bar and small dance floor with a racially mixed and friendly crowd. You can stay there to drink and talk, or at 0.59, enter a side door which leads to a much bigger and darker world to explore. Goya on Nollendorfplatz is a converted theatre that hosts occasional gay nights. We were there for Propaganda, billed as the gay event of the month, and we were highly impressed by the decor and balconies and video display. But the lighting was a little too bright for our taste, the go-go boys were disappointing and although there were many good-looking young men, everyone seemed a little restrained, as if Mummy and Daddy were watching and they wanted to show them that gays could be nice, respectable people too. We left around two in the morning. Maybe that was the moment when the scene came alive, but we doubt it. Heile Welt bar (Motzstrasse 9 in the Nollendorfplatz gay area) is a good local bar for those who prefer civilian gear to leather. You'll hear English as often as German. If all the comfortable seats at the front are taken, squeeze past the bottleneck (what on earth was the designer thinking about?) to relax in the smoking area at the back. Roses bar (Oranienstrasse 187, in the racially mixed Kreuzberg area) is a throwback to another era, although we are not sure what era that is. Walls and ceiling coverd in pink fur. Disco globes, fairy lights, wings on loudspeakers, comfortable chairs. Definitely for locals who know each other, but we hung around long enough to get served the ubiquitous Beck's beer. Tom's bar (Motzstrasse 19, in the Nollendorfplatz gay area). It wasn't fair to visit this bar on our last night, a Sunday, in the middle of a transport strike, before midnight. The few customers who came in, drawn to the darkroom which we didn't get round to visit, seemed to be as old as we were and no more attractive. Personally, I wouldn't go back, but it's one of the oldest bars and I know people who like it, so don't take my word for it... 
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