The sky was dim, the air was crisp with chill and the streets around my apartment were sedate, echoing only the sounds of night owls staggering home after what appeared to be a wild night out. Of course, this scene mirrors most places at 3:30am.
I flounced out of bed with the ding of my iphone, alerting me to a new text message. “Berlin!”, Bryan wrote. “See you in 30!”. It was the first time we were traveling together – a test of friendship, to be sure, but also a new adventure. Well-oiled with coffee, we hit the road at 4:30am, an ungodly hour to be awake but perfect for a seamless ride to the airport. Our EasyJet flight departed just before sunrise but the excitement of a quick getaway (and the promise of milder temperatures) kept us alert.
When we arrived in Berlin, we made a beeline to grab the train into the city (*there is an express train goes directly to Hauptbahnhof station in the city for only 3€) so that we could pick up the keys to the apartment that 9Flats generously loaned us for the weekend. We were eager to re-caffeinate and plot our route for exploring but ended…
