Forget about the history Berlin is the Future!
This was our last hostel in Berlin and this city has given us
so much: friends, history lessons, the best kebab, the best nightlife and some
real interesting art opportunities for the future, but this city has a very
unique feel to it, Berlin at its best is unpredictable, quirky and
accepting. It has that vibe that something
amazing will happen around every street corner.
This seem to happen every time we went out, we somehow
managed to get on the biggest float for St. Christopher’s day parade (Berlin
Pride) watching a million people coming out to support the LGBTQ community, was
one of the highlights of my life, not everywhere in the world are we accepted,
but to see the mix of people, young and old coming out in support made me feel
all nice inside, but maybe that was the free bar!
Berlin is the city of possibilities, with its mix of styles
and cultural influences, its unique character offers workers, young artists and
musicians from around the world a perfect venue where to live, with low rent,
probably the lowest we have come across in our time in Germany, its very easy
to live and party here.
Berlin feels like one of those cities that is constantly
changing and permanently on the verge of becoming the next big thing, this city
is simple like nothing we have come across on our travels. It would be very hard for us to sum this up
in a blog entry but I can try and give you little insight from our point of
view.
This was our last hostel in Berlin and we hoped it would be
a good experience, in fact it was one of our best..
Jetpack alternative is situated in the district of Berlin
called Kreuzberg. This community needs a blog entry all of its own, but let me
digress a little and tell you about Kreuzberg…
A neighbourhood founded on anti-establishment values,
Kreuzberg refuses to lose its rebellious nature, with “graffiti,
dark gas lanterns and dog shit”, this is a quote from jetpacks own website and they are number one on trip advisor for the whole of Berlin.
But in reality it’s a mix of punks,
bohemians, LGBTQ individuals, and counter-culture enthusiasts, but not to
mention the larger communities of Middle Eastern, African, tourists, and of
course native Berliners. All these elements make this area a melting pot of
world values and cultures, but somehow it all fits together and it works. Works
Well!
But speak to the locals and they will talk of gentrification, which is a shift in an
urban community toward wealthier residents and businesses and increasing
property values. This happens everywhere
in the world but I have not seen the fight against this process here so active
and involved by the community, I guess if you have something so good, you don’t
want to lose it.
Anyhoo back to our stay in Jetpack, like I said earlier this
is number one hostel in Berlin and I can tell you why. The staff!
From the beginning to the end of your stay you feel
welcomed, invited and involved in the hostel, Juilan, Grant, Lynne and James do such a
good job, the hostel becomes them. We
connected with all the staff but a special mention has to go to James, who took
us under his wing, like he did with all the other guests and made our stay in Berlin all the better. My last night in Berlin I went to berghain with Grant and
James from the hostel, only the best techno club in the world!, we partied and
danced till it closed, it feels like a dream now, but I guess that’s Berlin for
you, it also made the 9 hour drive to
Rotterdam a little bit more interesting.
About the art.
We had really good wall to paint in the hall way leading
from the main reception/common room to the dorm room. The owner had some really good ideas about
what she wanted, but between us, her and James we came up some classic images
of Kreuzberg, one was a black and white photo from the 1980’s of two girls
laying in the street,, one from a Turkish background and the other from a
European background.
The other wall we covered was with images of David Bowie who
used to live in Kreuzberg in the 1980’s and a famous club of the neighbourhood
called SO36.
We hope you like it and thanks for the memories
