How much can someone party in 24 hours? I put that question to the test last weekend whenI decided to do as much as I could in a 24-hour period beginning the moment I was meeting a friend at the Milan Malpensa airport to catch a flight to Berlin. Although we were meant to leave the evening of September 10th, our flight was delayed to the next morning, meaning that we were both only going to get a couple of hours of sleep before beginning our adventure.
4:30am Met up at Malpensa Airport for check-in. Sleepy but armed with a cappuccino and croissant, I was ready to conquer the day ahead.
5:30am-6:45am Tried to sleep a little on the flight before landing at Berlin Schoenefeld Airport.
6:45am-7:30am Transit to our hotel in the city situated roughly 15 minutes away from Berghain/Panorama Bar near Ostbahnhof. We chose this location as we figured it would be far worse to return to a hotel located further away after a long stint inside the club rather than to take cabs/public transportation to sightsee in the days to follow. The area is next to the East Side Gallery, as well as walking distance to both up-and-coming hip neighborhood Friedrichshain and the iconic TV Tower.
7:30am-7:50am We couldn’t check in as our room wasn’t ready. We decided to change in the lobby bathroom to try our best to get into Berghain. Nervously I decided to wear skinny black jeans rolled up at the ankles, black vans and a plain black t-shirt. Admittedly, I changed my hair style so it was bit more unkept and stranger than normal. My friend went the simple route, dressing in black with absolutely no make-up and no hair done.
7:50am-8:00am Looking casual yet full of nerves we made the walk to Berghain. Full disclosure: we were both on the guest list thanks to a friend who was performing that morning. Prior to being offered the guest list spots I had no idea they even existed, or how it worked. Apparently those with guest lists are meant to use the re-entry line to get in, but can be denied regardless by Sven or one of his men.
What truly made us uncomfortable was that there was no line when we found ourselves in front of the overwhelming building, meaning that it would have been somewhat awkward to line-up in the re-entry/guest list line. Regardless we decided to go on and say nothing about being on the list unless otherwise necessary.
We pretended not to be together spacing our arrival about 30 seconds apart, her first and then me. We had agreed to look calm – almost bored – and appear comfortable that we had been inside before and had not a thought in the world about being denied. She made it in after a ten second conversation in broken English with the bouncer (Sven wasn’t there), who at the same time was eyeing me to see if I would be allowed in. When it was my turn he just gestured me to come inside while uttering something in German I did not understand.
After leaving Berghain, armed with DownBeats ear plugs
8:00am-5:00pm We partied. And partied. We caught Chicago’s Jeff Derringer in Berghain to begin the day. It was a welcome throwback to his phenomenal Oktave techno nights at Smart Bar in the Windy City and the perfect way to feel at home inside the cavernous and imposing main room.
We immediately realized the sound system there was nothing to joke with, and wore DownBeats ear plugs throughout our stay. The same was true in Panorama Bar when we moved upstairs to catch New York City’s Mike Servito who served up a brunch full of acid house and breaks that had the entire room in a frenzy. Back downstairs it was the turn of Umfang to get the room thumping  my first time catching her in action. When I went back up to Panorama Bar for Volvox I was mesmerized by the sheer combination of the sight before me, the energy of the crowd, the beams of light reaching into the room and the friends I had suddenly found in the room. By a twist of fate, 6-8 friends from Chicago, Barcelona, Los Angeles and Detroit all happened to be inside Berghain at the same time making it an experience like no other – a block of 4-5 hours that I will never forget.
As the hours wore on, we explore the insides of the venue, visiting dark rooms and every nook and cranny we could find without bumping into anything we shouldn’t have been intruding on. We saw plenty that lived up to Berghain’s reputation – indelible memories that will surely remain in our memory forever. We enjoyed gelato inside Berghain and made plenty of trips to the bar for €2.50 shots and €3 beers. We would have stayed longer, but we were on a