Berlin - Sep 2013

Brandenburg Gate

COUCHSURFING / ACCOMODATION

For the first time in my couchsurfing adventures, I was not able to find a host in Berlin. I sent out many requests and one girl even sent me an invite, but her apartment had stairs. So I ended up renting an entire apartment from a guy through Airbnb. His place was one of the very few that had an elevator and no stairs anywhere. It was also close to a metro station and not too far from the centre of Berlin. It was a 1 bedroom apartment with living room, kitchen and washroom I had no trouble with. The owner travels a lot for work and rents out his place when he’s not home. After a few days, I thought about moving to another place so I could experience a different part of the city. But once I started getting settled and used to the public transportation, I decided it would be much easier to just stay there. I ended up staying for just over a week and he was there for 2 nights and slept in the living room. The apartment had everything I could ask for and only cost me 30€ a night.

ACCESSIBILITY

Overall, I was very impressed with the accessibility of Berlin and I would rank it right up there with London. The city is fairly flat. There were cobblestones in random places, but it’s nothing I couldn’t manage.

Airlines

Airport staff uses the
'stair-climber thingy' to
get me on the plane

I flew Easyjet which had a direct flight from Amsterdam to Berlin for supercheap. The planes are nothing fancy, but they treated me very well. I got special assistance getting on and off the plane and no one was ‘annoyed’ for having to help a disabled person as what sometimes happens when flying. Their planes don’t connect to the terminal. So you take a special bus that literally drives 2 minutes on the tarmac to your plane and then they use one of those mechanical stair-climbing chairs to get you onboard.

Washrooms

Toilet with overhead
bar at Frankfurt Airport

Finding accessible washrooms can be a challenge. I used my tried and tested routine of finding a coffee shop or hotel. And like in Amsterdam, I did have to resort to some back alley urination.

Transportation

Wheelchair seating on S-bahn train

All the buses and trams are completely wheelchair accessible. Most of the metro stations have elevators. Some don’t so you’ll have to plan an alternate route. You can plan a “barrier-free” route using the BVG site. It saved my ass many times!

http://www.bvg.de/index.php/en/index.html

My only issue was getting used to the German names and learning the difference between S-bahn and U-bahn. But the best part of all is that the transit system is free for the disabled!

ICE train

My flight back to Vancouver was from Frankfurt so I had a figure out a way to get there. Flights were very expensive so I decided to take a fast train called ICE. As with most inter-city trains, these have 3 very high steps to get in so you have to request special assistance. An employee will operate a manual lift to get you on. Once inside you’re fine. There’s a designated space for wheelchairs and an accessible toilet.

Here’s the problem: once I got to Frankfurt station, there was no one there to help me off. Somewhere, there’s a breakdown in communication. At the risk of getting stuck on the train to the next stop, some kind people actually carried me off. I had a take a 2^nd train to get to Frankfurt airport and an employee helped me get on, but I encountered the same problem again at the airport. No one was around to help off and I had to get carried again. For me in my manual chair, I can be carried. It’s annoying and you have to swallow your pride, but whatever. But if I had a powerchair I’d be completely screwed and that’s what angers me. If you’re going to have a special needs accommodation system in place, you have to make sure it works.

ATTRACTIONS / SIGHTSEEING

Alexanderplatz fountain

Berlin doesn’t really have a downtown, but there is a central area. My favourite starting point was Alexanderplatz which is only a single 10min train ride from where I was staying. There’s lots of people and a shopping mall, and from there you can pretty much get to anywhere in the city.

Berlin Wall Memorial

I did manage to visit one museum – the German History Museum. I found it fascinating to learn about 2000 years of German history. There’s a discounted rate for the disabled and everything is accessible. Postdamerplatz is another area that’s very modern compared to the rest of Berlin. There’s a shopping mall and huge theatre. I visited the Berlin Wall Memorial which is free and was intrigued by its history. I also saw Checkpoint

Tierpark

Charlie and Brandenburg Gate. All flat and easy to get around. Tierpark and the Victory Column are gorgeous.

On my last day, I met this cool German girl in Alexanderplatz. She showed me around Hackescher Markt where there is really cool graffiti art and we watched live music in the park on museum island.

Hackescher Markt

Nightlife

Berlin nightlife is unlike anything I have ever experienced anywhere. The culture here is very free and liberal, especially when it comes to alcohol. I saw people drinking on the metro, outdoors on the streets, sidewalks. And the bars pretty much stay open until people go home which could be all night. Another thing I’ll mention is that Germans are all about techno music – and it’s usually minimal techno. Just look it up on youtube and you’ll know what I mean.

Violetta, my partner in crime
at Club der Visionaere

On my 2^nd night, I joined some couchsurfers at Club der Visionaere. This former boathouse is very cool because it’s an open-air venue located on a river and it’s pretty much open all night. You would never find anything like this in Canada or probably North America. I met this fun Russian girl there and we partied the night away. We left at 5am and there were still people there!

The next night, I couldn’t find anyone to go out with me so I went solo to Berghain which I heard was one of the most famous clubs in Germany and the world. It’s located in an old power station. I’ve heard Berlin nightclubs are notorious for being selective on who they let in. In other words, you can wait in line for hours, get to the front, and the bouncer can simply turn you away with no explanation. I got to Berghain at about 1am on a Saturday night (or Sunday morning I should say) and there were at least 200 people waiting in line. There was no way I was going to wait hours for a chance to get in so I pulled out the disability card. I went to the front of the line and I asked the bouncer if there were any stairs inside. He said we have an elevator to take you up so it’s no problem. I said it’s just me, can I go in? And he let me right in. No wait! I saw others getting turned away and the people at the front had this look on their face like ‘who the fuck is this guy?’. So I pay my 15€ cover and then this huge guy leads me through a series of dark corridors, and heavy, locked doors and finally up the elevator. I thought to myself either he’s going to kill me and no one will find my body, or I’m going to the coolest nightclub ever. There are actually 2 different clubs. The main one is Berghain which at 1:30am had hardly any people. There was a lot of smoke, laser lights, and scattered bodies moving (not dancing) to booming techno music. Honestly, they looked like zombies. I was so freaked out that I was ready to turn around and walk right out, but then I remembered how lucky I was to even be there in the first place so I stayed. Now the one thing I hate about these nightclubs is that they allow smoking and if it weren’t for that, I could have stayed for much longer. The whole place looks like something out of a Saw movie. There are many dark rooms that you can explore. Apparently, people have sex, but I didn’t see any of that. After a while I went to the other club in the building which is called Panorama Bar. The music was slightly more upbeat, but it was still techno. I left at around 5am and there were still at least 200 people in line. As I was leaving, I asked the bouncer what time they closed and he said very casually Monday morning. Holy crap! He told me I could even come back tomorrow with my hand stamp. Then I asked when they opened and he said Thursday night. So apparently you can party from Thursday night to Monday morning straight! Berghain was definitely an experience, but I’m not sure if I would ever go back there.

Late nights with couchsurfers
at Suicide Circus

I joined some couchsurfers one night and went to Suicide Circus. It reminded me a lot of a tree house. Seriously. I don’t think it’s an actual building. I think someone went to Home Depot, bought a bunch of lumber, and built a nightclub. Haha. They play techno. I was here on a Wednesday night and stayed until 5am. There’s Berlin nightlife.

On my 2^nd last night, I needed to take a break from the techno so I did some research and found a couple places that played charts (or top 40 as we call it) , hip hop, and house. Me and another guy I met a couchsurfing meetup tried to get into 40 seconds in Postdamerplatz. When we got to the front, I asked if there were stairs inside. He turns to my friend and says “we have no space for him” and motioned for us to leave. Meanwhile, a group of 10, better-dressed people right behind us all went straight inside. To this day, I still don’t know if I was discriminated against because of the wheelchair or they just didn’t want us in there. In any case, it was one of the rudest experiences I’ve ever had. I knew of another place called E4 close by and the bouncer practically begged us to come in. This place played great non-techno music and we found some fun girls to party with. The only bad part was that they closed at 4am.

On my very last night I had to leave the city at 4am which sucked because that meant I couldn’t party late. There was one more famous club I wanted to see called Weekend in Alexanderplatz. We got to the front and the bouncer asked who was playing tonight and I didn’t know so he turned us away. Damn! That’s a total of 3 clubs I got turned away from. We found another club just around the corner called Sky Club and we got in no problem. Unfortunately, it was only 11:30pm and we were the only ones in the whole place.  At 1am there were still only a few people there, but I had to leave so I could get back to my apartment, pack, and catch my train to Frankfurt. So my last night of clubbing was uneventful, but overall my nightlife experience in Berlin was very unique.

Berlin is an amazing city. It’s very wheelchair accessible. I loved its liberal and artistic culture. I wasn’t planning on staying here so long. I actually wanted to see Munich for a few days, but I enjoyed Berlin so much I just decided to stay.

Amsterdam - Aug 2013

Red Light District

COUCHSURFING

Menno, my host in his garden

I sent out many requests and got declined many times, but luckily I did get one invite and that was from Menno. He lived right in Amsterdam and his place was one level. There was only a small step to get into the washroom. He was extremely welcoming and always made sure I was comfortable. He originally let me stay for only 2 nights, but after meeting me let me stay for the whole 4 nights I was in Amsterdam. What made my stay with Menno most unique was how much pot we smoked together. Menno’s garden had these very tall pot plants as you can see from this photo. Of course, if you go to Amsterdam, you have to smoke. I don’t smoke a lot to begin with, but his stuff was pure and very smooth. We had many interesting conversations. Great guy!

ACCESSIBILITY

Streets

marked curb cut

Getting around in Amsterdam on the street is fairly easy in a wheelchair because the city is flat and bicycles seem to be the main mode of transportation. There are bicycle lanes integrated into every street and crossing the network of streets and bike lanes took a couple of days to get used to. The only issue you will have are cobble stones. Some areas are more challenging than others. For example, the cobble stones on most pedestrian paths are flat and require little extra effort. Whereas the cobblestone in places like Dam Square are very bumpy and require lots of energy.  But I say bring on the cobblestone because it’s still better than having a bunch of stairs stop you in your tracks.  Another annoying thing is that cyclists like to park their bikes anywhere on the sidewalk, turning them into a slalom course.

Shops, restaurants, buildings

I was getting really frustrated the first few days because I could not get into any stores on my own. Every place has at least a few steps to get in. After a few days I just said to myself screw it, this isn’t North America, so don’t be pissed it’s not North America. Whenever I wanted to go upstairs, I simply asked strangers to help me.  I had to swallow my pride, but at least I wasn’t denying myself the experience I wanted to have. The planet is not always accessible and sometimes you just have to adapt.

Washrooms

Finding accessible washrooms will not be easy. Getting inside a shop is challenging enough, but usually the washroom will be located downstairs or not accessible period. Your best bet is to find a nice hotel. For the first time on a trip, I did plenty of back alley urination simply because I had no other choice. Hey, sometimes you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Transportation

Amsterdam is a small city and very walkable. I only used public transit on my first and last day when I was commuting to the airport. The trams are all accessible. The accessible entrance is at the rear door. There is no discount for the disabled.

The Dutch Railway trains, which is what you take from the airport into Amsterdam, has several steps to get on. There are manual lifts located on the platform, but finding staff to help you is another story. Apparently, you have to book ‘disabled assistance’ a week in advance which I think is absolutely ridiculous. It takes 5min for an employee to get a key, operate the lift, and help me onto the train.

When I was leaving Amsterdam and returning to the airport, this employee at Centraal Station became irate because I needed assistance, but had not booked in advance. He flat out told me I wasn’t getting on the train, and I said I have a flight to catch so I’ll ask people to help me. Then he started going off about how if one of them got hurt helping me then who would be responsible and blah, blah, blah.  In the end, he found staff to help me on the trains and I thanked him politely. I didn’t fire back at him for fear he might not help the next guy. Anyway, he was a total dick, but fortunately that kind of attitude is extremely rare.

ATTRACTIONS / SIGHTSEEING

Dam Square

A warning about navigation – Amsterdam is an extremely confusing city to get around. On my first day, I bought a city map that didn’t help at all. Street names are difficult to find and not all streets are on the map. So if you can’t even find out where you are on the map, then that map isn’t of much use. As beautiful as the city is with the bike lanes and canals, every street looks exactly the same! I was using a paper map and Google Maps on my smartphone, and I still got lost constantly! Instead of a grid, the city is a web of canals, so it’s difficult to know if you’re going north, south, east or west. Let’s just say I had to ask for directions a lot.

one of many
coffee shops

Amsterdam’s famous Red Light District was rather underwhelming. I was expecting pure debauchery, but what I experienced was far from it. Of course, there are the many coffee shops where you can peruse a menu of various marijuana products. I did do this a couple of times because you kind of have to when in Amsterdam. There are also many prostitutes flaunting their goods in the windows. Some are absolutely gorgeous and some… well, not so gorgeous. But what I wasn’t expecting were the busloads of tourists and parents pushing their children in strollers all around the Red Light District. It made the place feel like some kind of theme park where instead of rides and games, there are hookers and pot.

My favourite area was Leidseplein where you’ll find many stores, bars, and nightclubs. There are also hotels and hostels. After my first night, I spent 3 nights in a row partying here. My favourite clubs were No. 129 and Van Dyke Bar. One night at 3am, I randomly met Adam Kellerman who is a Paralympic wheelchair tennis player from Australia.

The only museum I managed to go to was the Van Gogh Museum. It was much smaller than I thought and it didn’t even have the only Van Gogh piece that I know – Starry Night (which is actually in New York). Dam Square is a cool place, but is completely covered in cobblestone making for a bumpy ride. There’s lots of people around and there’s shopping.

Dutch breakfast

One of my most memorable moments was this one morning when I chose to have a sit-down brunch at a random café I found just a few blocks from Menno’s place. It was around 10am and a gorgeous warm, sunny day. I was sitting outside facing the canal, watching trams and people on their bicycles going by. At one point the draw-bridge opened up so a boat could pass underneath. The breakfast was the most delicious I had ever had – potatoes, eggs, bacon (not the greasy and salty American kind either), tomatoes, beans, bread, and fresh orange juice. Everything just felt very European.