gone living

since i arrived in berlin i've been staying at a friend's flat in Neukölln, a neighborhood which has a large number of Turkish immigrats, which is a perfect fit considering that Turkey is my next destination after Berlin. we've been out late at night for the last few evenings hitting the bars on Prenzlauer Berg, which has a lot of hipster bars and clubs. and since there are no closing hours for bars, it's far too easy to stay out until dawn, and then sleep for most of the next day. (however, despite the fact that bars can stay open as late as they want, there are laws in force to ensure that almost all stores are closed on sundays!)

when not staying out late or trying to recover from the last evening, i've made some progress through the usual tourist sights of Berlin, visiting the Brandenburg Gate, and through a comedy of errors (changes to opening hours and relocations of museums) i managed to not actually make it inside any of the museums that i'd planned to see. (but i did see my first english-language movie in several months -- Snakes on a Plane, which wasn't that great a movie, but how could i resist once a friend told me about all the internet hype that had preceded it? and now that damn Snakes on a Plane song is stuck in my head.)

this actually is my last day in berlin -- as per my itinerary, i'm taking a late-night flight out at 2:30am (in the first few hours of september 11, which feels a little strange) from berlin to antalya, turkey. i arrive at 6:30am and then get spirited away from the airport by the pickup folks from my pension deep in the heart of Kaleici (Antalya's Old Quarter).