Munich Skate Night

I had seen a sign in the subway about a poker tournament, Curtis had seen it too. We decided to check it out and see what it said. The next morning we found ourselves at a bier garten with 20 or so other people playing a friendly game of poker. It was a 20 euro buy-in and the winner was entered into another tournament in Salzburg. There was no money to be won, being that would be illegal, so it was more about just playing the game. Everyone seemed to have fun. I stayed in for awhile but was reckless and rusty with a couple bluffs.


We decided to keep the party going. We enjoyed a beautiful day in Munich after many weeks of cold and rain. We decided to ride to the other bier gartens around the chinese tower. We filled up on mass biers and had a wonderful time riding our bikes through the park among the people laying out in the sun and the groups of people playing football. It was a leisurely ride with no intentions or sense of urgency involved.

Super nice Hi-Res pano, peep game.

We found a spot at one of the gartens near the water. There were swans and other duck like birds, or just ducks. The sky changed from white to blue and the water changed from green to black. 2 liters of beer is the same size as a 2 liter bottle of pepsi or coke only its beer and you decide its a good idea to drink it within less than two hours.

After the garten we rode up to Leopold Strasse in Swabing where there was some outdoor fair going on. We walked around here checking out the people. I don't remember anything too exciting except for the day was going pretty well, letting things fall into place.

Gerald

We rode down the street and saw some skater kids hanging out on the road. I yelled something to them and they asked us to sit down and have a drink. There were about 8 of them or so hanging out on the street listening to an ipod through some speakers, drinking beers. We asked where the beer was and they said there was a store around the corner. Curtis and I got on our bikes and rode to the store. We picked up 5 bottles of Augestiner Brau and rode back to the group. On the way there one of the bottles fell out and broke on the sidewalk, exploding foam everywhere. We kept on riding. We got back sat down and enjoyed some good times.



It reminded me of high school, when i used to skate and we would just move from one place to another loitering, only we couldn't drink beer. I got on one of the kids skateboards and luckily didn't hurt myself too bad. Another one took my camera and took a bunch of pictures of everything going on. There was one girl hanging with the crowd. She was looking for a place to crash that night. The kids seemed genuine and reminded me of my crew back in the day. They were artists, outsiders, whatever, didn't really care about what everyone in Munich was supposed to do. Whether it was to look like you had money, or go to the fancy clubs or act like you knew what you were talking about, these kids didn't care much for that.


They got on their boards and I got on my bike. We rode through Munich the skateboards creating a howl on the bricks and cobblestones. Cars, busses, people were all gladly moving out of our way. It got busy and one of the guys snuck too close to me and took me down off my bike. I held the camera up and rolled on my shoulder like I was supposed to when one falls. It felt good. To fall like that. I knew I was going down tucked my hands in and let the shoulder and hip do the rest. The nostalgic feelings of things I used to do all came back for that night.

Check out my fall in this top notch vid.


Going to a school for 4 years and blowing out your knee can make you forget a lot about things in your life you can still do.

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Nott

So here I am, the most comfortable I've been since I've been out here, behind the wheel of a new TT. Just look at me. It was like me and this machine were meant to be.



I rented the new 2008 2.0T Audi TT from Sixt for 99 Euro/day 500 km inclusive. I looked around at what was a round trip of 500 km and decided to fulfill one of my Dad's favorite places he visited in the 70s, Castle Neuschwanstein.


The morning brought a slight drizzle but that thankfully cleared up as we made our way on to the autobahn. I figured if I was going on the autobahn I wasn't going to rent some putt-putt lupo diesel or some piece of crap Peugeot. I knew that would nearly kill me. This has been a dream for at least 10 years and it has finally been rightly fulfilled, for the most part. The dream has actually been altered now to driving an even faster car, but for now I am satiated.


As we moved onto the second highway toward Fussen a nice new Porsche 911(997) Carrera 4S decided it was play time. My camera only likes to take clear pictures. If you saw the pics of the rallye cars which were going pretty fast, those were as sharp as if they were standing still. As you can see in this pic, the 4S is doing its part to stay true to what it means to drive a €100,000+ automobile. Actually we all know the guy was a puss if he bought the all wheel drive version right?!




So i played a little cat 'n mouse chase with this guy all the way to the castle. I guess the video shows most of it. Peep game. BTW, Imovie is the worst pile of ass program known to man. I did my best to composite this junk, but the program kept crashing and the audio wouldn't save right, whateva. We bogged it out in the end for the "rap" portion of the video.


The car was soooo nice, I tried to think of ways I could make money to buy one when i get back home. Desperate times call for... well yeah you get it. I really enjoyed the weather surrounding the two castles. It was a nice cool misty afternoon. The actual place was pretty touristy but it was nice to see the castles through the moorish mist.


So the story is that King Ludwig I built Hohlenschwangau, the yellow one, and his son said, "Whatever! I can build a better one," and his son built Neuschwanstein, the one which Disney's Magic Kingdom was modeled after. The only problem with these castles was that they were built in the mid 19th Century and Ludwig II died during the construction and it was never finished. He was only around for 172 days of what was completed of it. Soon after his death it became a museum/tourist attraction.









I enjoyed the storybook setting and the weather did its part to cooperate. We hiked around up to the castle and relaxed before it was Curtis' turn to hit the road.





I was pretty tired. We took a different way back which was even more scenic. We we are the edge of the alps winding between mountains through towns which had settled long ago in the valleys. The tips not even visible through the mist.



On one road we ran into a bunch of cows. Just cows hanging out running around on the road lumbering along. Here's a video of the crazy cow.


The next morning it was time to say goodbye. I had 80 km left on the dial and decided to take her out for one last spin. It was early and there was no body on the road. I found the 94 heading out of Munich and pushed it for one last time. This is what the car was built for. From 200 to 260 I felt everything leave me and I let the car do the worrying. She was dialed, stuck to the ground, confident and willing. After I hit 260, I let off and turned around. I noticed I had absolutely no gas left. I filled up the tank with 50 liters for 74 Euro. Hey guys you wanna go out tonight? Whose got gas money? It's only $100 to fill it up. Anyone?

I dropped her off at the rental office and walked away in the rain. I looked back at her and thought of when I first saw the ad on the internet. 99 Euro/Day. I felt like I had known her my whole life, it felt so right and then gone in the rain with a thin hoody I said goodbye. Unfortunate life, one chosen without will. I felt as if maybe I was special. I tried to treat her with respect, gave her what she wanted, didn't take advantage. Maybe one day she'll get out of this horrible mess and have a proper owner. Too bad most of the men she'll like will be macho losers with too much money who would get rid of her in two or three years. Not me. I loved her more than all those other guys put together. Maybe our paths will cross again, I can only hope TT.

Neu M3, Super Sicher Richtig Geil!

So on our trip to Neuschwanstein there was a dirty ass e92 M3 just chilling in the parking lot. I guess the boys at BMW Munich has been beating this little baby up for the last couple weeks before its production debut at Frankfurt. Everything was tasty down to the CF roof! Check it out.

I'm a McDonalds Man Now

So, no longer am I a starbucks man, I've moved on to the McCafe. When everyone says, "Alright, I'm going to the coffee shop to do some surfing." I say, "Ok, I'm going to McDonalds." It's closer than Starbucks and I still have 22 days left on my T-mobile month pass. Let's see where else this internet pass will lead me in the overly commercial part of the world.

Hipster! ... I mean Berlin!

On Saturday I decided to jump up to Berlin and see my buddy Ben, originally from Germany but now from LA, who was back in Germany visiting friends. I got a cheap flight on Saturday night for $49 and figured why not party it up Berlin style? Well that's what happened.


Ben picked me up from the airport in style, 80s Mercedes style, daaayyuummm! Ben gave me the impromptu tour of Berlin at 11:00. We finally made it to where everyone was hanging out.


This happened to be the same bar I was in 3 and half years ago when I visited Berlin with Jakob. It was pretty funny.



As we waited 20 minutes to get our Capirinhas the rest of the party was getting antsy.


We made it to our first stop, Pick Nick. This was apparently the most hipster ass bar/club in Berlin. It reminded me of some American Apparel party or something. I was totally fine with it though of course.






Hipsters

More hipsters, skinny jeans.

Back inside, Ben and I sat here for most of the night. There was a guy who basically looked like Henrik Fisker, we told him to beat it.

Blurry "Yeah!"

Inside there were rooms upstairs and down. The vibe was positive and the music was good. I could've stayed here all night. Berlin is basically a town full of a bunch of kids and hipsters running around getting trashed.










We decided to go to one more place just to really run the whole, "partying in Berlin for a night idea," into the ground. Ben said, "We're going to Berghain."


So this is the last picture of the night. We got to this crazy bar just before 6 in the morning and stood in a cue with about 30-40 other people. In the line were your average club heads, rave freaks and for the most part 75% bears. The Berghain is no stranger to leather belts, assless chaps and police man hats.

We went to the front door and they said, "No cameras." I guess there just needs to be no publicity whatsoever of this place. As you can see from the outside its about 5 stories tall and there's a party inside the whole thing. It was and probably is one of the craziest biggest clubs in Europe.

Inside is a beautiful old building probably used for generating electricity or storing something rather tall. The ceilings stretch 5 stories all the way from the floor to the roof. There are steel stairs guiding you through the 10x10x60 concrete rectangular pillars. All the while with 20 foot speakers blasting the nastiest hard house super techo you can think off.

This place was serious. I've been places with 10-20 clubs in a row playing loud bad techno who think that they're big. I've been to probably over a 100 parties between chicago and detroit not to mention the 1 million people total audience of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival. I've been to many a old warehouse and other beautiful structures of what are now modern lofts or stil just old crazy buildings. I'm not saying this to be cool, I'm just saying I'm well qualified to say all these places combined might add up to the shear power that was inside the Berghain.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't as if I have to ever come back here, it was just an amazing site to see when you compare all the parties you've been too. This is one of those places that when the sun starts showing through the blinds, big shutters come down out of the ceiling and, THUD, shut the sun out. Cheers go up and people get louder. I saw this and just started laughing. Where was this place 7 years ago? We left at about 8:30 and welcomed the sun with surrender. Although this warning of reality hadn't changed the line outside much. There were still about 25 people waiting to get in. My assumption is that this place runs from Thursday night to Monday morning.


We went back to the hotel more tired than anything, showered up and grabbed some breakfast. I snapped the only daylight picture of Berlin before I got on the train. It might sound like a lot, and I guess it was, but it was great to see Ben and relate on good oldschool times like these, but nonetheless it was really nothing more and actually less than anything already accomplished, so cheers.