Charlottenburg - The nice part of Berlin

On Saturday night I went along to drinks at a bar in Charlottenburg followed by a late night Jazz club. Charlottenburg is on the very West side of central Berlin and is one of the nicer areas, which also means it's much more expensive. The bar we went to was serving 333ml of Heineken for €4.30. I'd happily pay that price for a good beer like Leffe or Kwak but Heineken is Europe's answer to Carling.

Ben and I, being cheapskates went over the road to get a couple of cheap beers before heading back to the bar and enjoying the free warmth. Before this though I had to withdraw cash (with my new shiny German debit card) and while searching for an ATM walked past a few expensive designer shops with displays in class containers on the street. Some of them contained handbags ranging fopm €500-1000. There was really nothing to stop us simply smashing the glass and legging it as far as we could see.

Around midnight we set out to the Jazz Club, called A-Trane. On the way a few of us decided we were hungry so went in search of food. We went to a place recommended by one of the others called 'Schwarzes Kaffee' (that would be 'Black Coffee') which was playing Jazz music as we arrived, definitely a good sign. The food wasn't exactly cheap but it was very nice and generously portioned. I ordered a club sandwich which ended up being quite cheap as I was undercharged €2.

Bizarrely one of the main talking points of the place was the toilets which we apparently 'had' to visit. My cup of tea saw to that so I decided to 'take a look'. It was indeed worth the trip, the toilet was bathed in dim blue lights with dark tiles reflecting it. The tap in the sink was a long pipe with a faucet handle to turn it on, I audibly laughed to myself as I realised what to do, and then had to point it out to the rather confused looking German who went to use it as I left.

In the end we decided to head home as we were all pretty tired, the free Jazz night at A-Trane is every Saturday so I'm sure I'll have chance to go again. Charlottenburg is a nice change from the trendy but scummy East Berlin, but a bit to rich for me at the moment. Definitely somewhere I'll be going with my parents at Christmas though when they come to visit.