Tour Diary: Berlin

With Berlin, I had the luxury of a town that I’ve been to a few times, so I didn’t feel the need to tick off a load of tourist things. It’s also where Miggy lives, which gave me the chance to hang out with an internet pal and party like it was 2008. With some of the band and crew, we pushed down hangovers with a huge feed-up in the sun and went out separate ways to run errands. I ended up getting my eyebrows threaded and having a pretty decent conversation in pidgin German with my Turkish threader.

Later that day, I did the boring task of going into town and buying a computer lead from the Apple store. 60E lighter and with the sun setting, I looked up restaurants near our Prenzlauer Berg hotel and found Herr Rossi, a totally charming Italian. Sometimes eating on your own can be a bit depressing, but reading my book with an Aperol spritz and veal ragu in such a lovely setting I couldn’t have been happier.

The next morning after an enormous room service breakfast I met up with Miggy and we took a train east to Muggelsee, one of Berlin’s many lakes. This is where it gets magic, Miggy knows an amazing restaurant/bar on the lake, where you have to ring a bell so the owner can punt along on his raft and pick you up. We spent a few blissful hours at the top of this house on the lake, soaking up the sun and drinking beers. If you’re in Berlin I definitely recommend this hidden spot, it was a totally unforgettable experience. Thanks Miggy!

That evening before the gig a few of us sloped off for the lovely dinner you can see at the bottom, I can’t remember the name of the place which is just as well as the service was extraordinarily rude. An insignificant blip in a lovely few days.