Friday nights are nights when the whole of Berlin is outside going to pubs and clubs. I join in the crowd sometimes and do enjoy my time out there. Yesterday, like any other Friday night, I went out with a friend of mine to try out some different bars than what we usually go to.
Our first target was the area around Warschauer Strasse. We roamed around in the streets a bit trying to find a bar that we liked. We found two but they were so crowded that we decided to go somewhere else. So our next choice was to go down to the Kottbusser Tor area as the bar scene is quite good here.
There are so many bars at Kottbusser Tor that anyone would get confused which one to go into. As we roamed around aimlessly - still without any beer and it was already an hour since we had left the house - every bar seemed to call out to us. But then we were looking for something that neither of us could explain. We stood in front of every bar we passed, checked out the place from outside, looked at each other, shook our heads and walked on.
As we were heading down Oranienstrasse, on the verge of deciding to just go into some shop and grab a beer, we came across this strange doorway. The wall outside was quite gawdily designed and you could not see inside. There was also the image of a rose hanging on top of the door. Now this was very different from any of the bars we had come across and the whole setting increased our curiosity. We decided to go in for a drink - but had no idea what awaited us inside.
The moment I pushed open the door and entered, there was an explosion of pink! The whole place was pink in colour and disco balls sent spots of lights flying all over. The bar was right in front of me and the place was crowded with so many people. The walls and ceilings of this bar was covered in pink fur, there were disco balls everywhere, and it did not take me too long to figure out that it was a gay bar. Never having been at a gay bar before I was not sure whether there were any rules or not. Both of us decided that we would stay for a drink and check the place out for a while.
Rose - this is the name of the bar that I later came to know - seemed like any other bar when it came to the people. There were people of all ages, but mostly young people, quite a few tourists, and quite a few straight people too. The beer collection here is not that great but they have a good collection of whisky and other hard drinks. The place stretched in behind the bar, where there were tables to sit and a large wall portrait of Madonna and someone else dressed as Marilyn Monroe. The music was especially good. I am not a fan of techno but I enjoyed the tracks they were playing - mind you, I was still on my first bottle of beer so I was quite sober and still I enjoyed it! The bartender, Gabriella, is a really cool woman. She was dancing to the tracks behind the counter and passing funny comments here and there. The atmosphere all around was very friendly and jovial.
After a while, I started to really like this place so we decided to stay at Rose for the rest of the time. We had four beers; and two shots on the house. We also met a Taiwanese guy who has been living in Berlin for the past 6 years and he gave us a quick info on all the gay bars and clubs in Berlin. Overall, it was quite fun being there. If you ever come to Berlin, just walk down to Rose and check it out. You may not like it, but it is worth a visit, just to get that pink explosion when you walk in.
Our first target was the area around Warschauer Strasse. We roamed around in the streets a bit trying to find a bar that we liked. We found two but they were so crowded that we decided to go somewhere else. So our next choice was to go down to the Kottbusser Tor area as the bar scene is quite good here.
There are so many bars at Kottbusser Tor that anyone would get confused which one to go into. As we roamed around aimlessly - still without any beer and it was already an hour since we had left the house - every bar seemed to call out to us. But then we were looking for something that neither of us could explain. We stood in front of every bar we passed, checked out the place from outside, looked at each other, shook our heads and walked on.
As we were heading down Oranienstrasse, on the verge of deciding to just go into some shop and grab a beer, we came across this strange doorway. The wall outside was quite gawdily designed and you could not see inside. There was also the image of a rose hanging on top of the door. Now this was very different from any of the bars we had come across and the whole setting increased our curiosity. We decided to go in for a drink - but had no idea what awaited us inside.
The moment I pushed open the door and entered, there was an explosion of pink! The whole place was pink in colour and disco balls sent spots of lights flying all over. The bar was right in front of me and the place was crowded with so many people. The walls and ceilings of this bar was covered in pink fur, there were disco balls everywhere, and it did not take me too long to figure out that it was a gay bar. Never having been at a gay bar before I was not sure whether there were any rules or not. Both of us decided that we would stay for a drink and check the place out for a while.
Rose - this is the name of the bar that I later came to know - seemed like any other bar when it came to the people. There were people of all ages, but mostly young people, quite a few tourists, and quite a few straight people too. The beer collection here is not that great but they have a good collection of whisky and other hard drinks. The place stretched in behind the bar, where there were tables to sit and a large wall portrait of Madonna and someone else dressed as Marilyn Monroe. The music was especially good. I am not a fan of techno but I enjoyed the tracks they were playing - mind you, I was still on my first bottle of beer so I was quite sober and still I enjoyed it! The bartender, Gabriella, is a really cool woman. She was dancing to the tracks behind the counter and passing funny comments here and there. The atmosphere all around was very friendly and jovial.
After a while, I started to really like this place so we decided to stay at Rose for the rest of the time. We had four beers; and two shots on the house. We also met a Taiwanese guy who has been living in Berlin for the past 6 years and he gave us a quick info on all the gay bars and clubs in Berlin. Overall, it was quite fun being there. If you ever come to Berlin, just walk down to Rose and check it out. You may not like it, but it is worth a visit, just to get that pink explosion when you walk in.
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