My first walk in Berlin I step off the night train from Paris at Zoologischer Garten; it's 7am in early March; it's my first time in Berlin. I have in my hand a shred of paper, upon which I had drawn a map from the station to my Uncle's house in Wilmersdorf, who I came to visit for a week. Since the U-Bahn, busses and trams were striking, I had to walk - lugging my luggage and trying to figure out the streets in a city I'd never been to, in a language I didn't know. Passing the sex clubs early that saturday morning near Zoo, I warily made it onto Kantstrasse, heading straight a block before wearily making a left onto Fasanenstrasse. From there, a long, lonely walk down Fasanenstrasse - passing Ku'damm and continuing south toward the more quiet, residential areas, where, at this time of the morning, there was nobody around save a dog-walker or two. It seemed to take forever, passing street after street of residential building after residential building - I've now done this walk so many times that it goes by in only a few minutes, each corner recognizable, the neighborhood now dotted with familiar faces. Arriving on Trautenaustrasse for that first time, buzzing at building 10, thinking I'd be staying for a week - funny, that was four months ago...

rePLACE
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JN02
submitted by JN, 23 year old male
15-20 min, walking, 1-2 times a week