Berlin, Berlin, wir fahren nach Berlin!

Those who have absolutely no clue what today's blog title means, are either not German and/or are unfamiliar with football.

Berlin, Berlin, we're going to Berlin! was invented by fans of football team Bayer Uerdingen (who doesn't play a major role in the world of football anymore today) back in 1985 after winning a match against 1. FC Saarbrücken and reaching the finale for the DFB Cup which is always held in Berlin.

[Note from Stefie: So that's where that line comes from. Learning something new every day.]
[Note from Heidi: Stefie is German but completely unfamiliar with football :-/].

While it's still something that the football fans chant, it's by now also used outside of the football world.

In fact a group of girls who belonged to a (non-football) sports team that stayed at our hotel in Gera came walking down the hall where our room was, chanting exactly that. Yeah ladies, we too!

Speaking of breakfast... we stayed at the Novotel (highly recommendable!) and they get the award for best breakfast buffet on this tour. You could even get pancakes (which is not the rule over here). I can live without them, but Stefie was in heaven with her pancake/Nutella combo. [Note from Stefie: OMG to die for!]

It was time to hit the road now and we arrived in Berlin about 2,5 hours later. If you now think that you'll get some serious sightseeing report about Germany's capital and probably coolest city... at least by far biggest city... I'm sorry to disappoint you. After checking in into our Ibis hotel, we took the max. 10 minute walk towards Potsdamer Platz ... solely to get a Currywurst at a stand not far from there (posted a picture on Facebook). For those not familiar with the subject... Currywurst is the most popular fast food in Germany and the Berliners claim to have invented it. It's basically a crime to come to Berlin and not eat it at one of the 23 billion stands ;-)

[Note from Stefie: but if you ever stay in the Ruhrpott area, try the Currywurst there. The Berliners don't like to hear it but... ours is better :-P]

On the way I saw that poster

and said to Stefie "oh look, the circus of horror is in town" to which she replied "you know... we have that for free every morning in the bathroom mirror."

I see her point. Especially after 2 weeks on the road.

But I digress. So all I can post from Berlin is this photo taken at Potsdamer Platz... which doesn't even say something about the location. Anyway... better than nothing

After buying bottles of water (we definitely don't drink enough on this tour. Water, that is...) we went back to the hotel where it was time to get ready. We didn't want to deal with the Berlin traffic and perhaps difficult parking situation at the club... and also not with studying public transportation maps (although Berlin has quite the good subway system) and called a taxi.

Although we usually arrive a bit early, we arrived way too early this time. For whatever reason. Good to find out we weren't the only ones because Melanie was already there. We were all glad to see us so that the long wait wouldn't get too boring. Later another new ST member, Laura, and two of her friends arrived. But despite all the distraction we couldn't ignore the cold that was slowly creeping up. I think it was the first time on this tour that we were actually freezing. It didn't help that the club guys took their sweet little time and opened the doors 15 minutes late. Tom, a PA pal of Melanie, who had joined us by now, said "that's typical rudeness of the Berliners. Also, Berlin is a bit late with things anyway... just look what's going on with that new airport...."

Finally inside we wanted to warm up with a coffee, but they didn't serve coffee :-/. Fine. We'd warm up when Lee would come onstage later anyway. [Note from Stefie: YES, ladies...]

The club filled up rather quickly and thank God it wasn't a seated show. People are more into if they can't sit down comfortably ;-)

Tonight it was Lee's turn to open - and I know I keep repeating myself but... the audience loved him right away. Seriously, guys. It's not sweet talk I'm doing... we actually see it happen at all the shows.

As he had already mentioned before, he'd welcome Tom Lüneburger on stage, singer/songwriter from Berlin. He has supported Tom on some of his tours (where we saw Lee for the first time in February 2013, the rest is history) and they are good friends by now. They performed Tom's song 'Paperblock' together. Lee had joined Tom onstage for this song during last year's the 'Lights' tour and it had always been a highlight and the song had become a favorite of many fans from both Tom & Lee.

And it was definitely also a highlight of this evening. If you haven't already on YouTube, please check out the video here

Quick reminder that we currently refrain from posting more videos of him performing or telling stories. Will post more once the tour is over.

We didn't hang out for long after the show because... quite frankly.. tour life its beginning to take its toll. We were dead tired and ready for our bed. Still we decided to save some money and take the subway back. No after show party beer at the hotel bar... no blog writing... no picture editing... just GOOD NIGHT.

And now pictures pictures pictures.

Oh, and just in case you haven't found out about that already, but you can make photos larger for your viewing pleasure by clicking on them. Because... bigger is always better, right? [Note from Stefie: YES, ladies...]

"... does it have your DNA on it?? ..."