My honest review of a week in Berlin (including first time KitKat experience)
Hi everyone, I'm writing this for people like myself - who tend to overthink a little and look up other people's experience as a way to relate to the world. So I hope this helps, or puts some things into perspective for you. No AI spellcheck or anything like that so prepare for some grammarfaults :p
A little info about me (40M) and my partner (35F pres as nonbinary) : We went to stay with friends who live in Spandau. We are all Belgians, speaking Dutch. From the appartment we did pretty much all transport with metro/tram/train/bus and 2 times we called an uber because we got to split it with 5 people.
Both me and my partner work in a social field, caring for people with an activist touch.
We can live comfortably, but don't have a lot of money, because of the field we are working in.
To have some more personal background about us: before we went to our first hedonistic/fetisj club we have a steady relationship of 15 years together, through ups and downs. Married 3 years ago. We have been polyamorous, dated different people, dated together and been to a swinger/sex club already and are both bisexual/pansexual. I think those things really were crucial for our experience in Kitkat.
We arrived sunday, too tired to go out from the travel. Went out to get some kebab in Spandau. Good meat but dissapointing sauces. We tried our best to speak a little German everywhere (Belgium is tri-lingual) but people were quick to respond in English.
Monday we looked for something to do and got around the city, we did the rooftop bar at Klunkerkranich. To my surprise we had to pay entrance just to drink something there.
Amazing view though, so I soothed my conscience with that. No real DJ or performance, so tbh I thought 7 euro's was a little bit much for that. Afterwards we headed to Madame Claude to see what's up there. Granted we didn't do much research, so we were open for everything.
Entrance was donation between 2 and 10 €, you could choose. There was a DJ spinning some pretty melancholic tunes with a definite "afterparty" vibe that reminded me of the many artsy skatevideo's I grew up seeing in the 2000's.
Definitely fun hang there with all of my friends, and it reminded us of our hometown cafe vibes.
One thing I would like to say is that the staff wasn't that nice to us, and I don't know why. Maybe because it was monday? Maybe they had a bad day?
Overall we were all under the impression -except for a few experiences- that most of the staff of (almost) everywhere we went hates their job or is just a little 'hautain' to strangers. I got reminded of my times being in Paris too often.
Tuesday me and my friends did a karaoke at home. Before that we went to Liquidrom for a great spa experience, price/quality is on point there! We had amazing food at a Tex Mexico (mole verde was legit!) in the evening and margaritas for €3,9. Can't go wrong with that.
Wednesday we first had a few drinks at the Janowits beach bar to warm up. Great setting but the cocktails were not my thing. Me and my partner went to KitKat club, while our other friends spent the night in Tresor - which is around the corner.
We were a little stressed about the outfits, though they were obviously kinky but no leather. And yes we both got commented on that by the bouncer "next time in lederhosen". But we got in! Payed €25 entrance each.
Once inside there was a very nice lady taking our bags and storing it (which is free). You can get items out of there but prepare for some judgment lol. There was a big discrepancy between our experience with basically everyone attending and the staff.
Except for the nice lady at the beginning, I have never, ever experienced such a rude staff and totally inexcusable shitty behavior from someone working in a venue before. We have done everything from mainstream festivals to free party tekno, smaller and big clubs but never, ever have we been treated like this. For a club that wants people to feel safe (and equal?) this stood out like a very sore painpoint for the entire night.
From a pitbull-esque bouncer that closed one of the rooms by yelling at people, to a bartender that started cursing and throwing shit on the ground because he messed up the drink order. We were shocked more than once.
Me and my partner tried to move on as fast as we could and focused on the music and the people. We quickly met a very nice bunch and they showed us around, and it wasn't long until we ended up in one of the playrooms. Throughout the night we got the feeling that we finally could be free and we embodied one of our kinks which is putting up a good show for people :)
People were really respectful. I remember one guy coming next to me, complementing and asking if was okay if he touched himself while he watched.
The night progressed, we met more and more people, shared stories, laughs, tears.
It was very different from the swinger/sex clubs we experienced before. A lot of international crowd from all over the world, felt much like a goa festival to us!
The artwork and decoration was right up our alley (we are psytrance lovers) and the vibe was more open. You can have sex there, but it's definitely not necessary or expected to have a great time. I'm glad we went as a couple though, I don't necessarily know if going as one or two women solo gets you the same safe experience as we had to one time physically push a guy away that was trying to "get on" without our consent!
The music was hard techno and a kind of progressive psytrance that was new to my ears. Suited the vibe and the club very well.
Our friends in Tresor had an amazing time and we met up afterwards with them. They came clothed in pretty much their usual psy-pirate outfit and told us everyone was very nice in the venue, staff included!
Thursday we had to rest, haha. Eventhough people always think I'm 30 because my babyface I'm 40 and I felt that. I was pretty dehydrated and my muscles were sore. Kitkat was VERY hot and we sweat more than in the sauna before. Both me and my partner were like in the afterglow of a hallucinogenic substance or a rebirthing of some kind. Magical!
Friday we ate out at Kebab with Attitude. My personal best kebab every, had the truffle one and the flavors were on point. Also, I'm kind of sensitive to a few ingredients and the restaurant staff was very accomodating to these needs. Much ahead of the curve, here in Belgium it's sometimes still difficult to see ingredients or allergens.
After that we headed out to VOID club. Drum and bass was my first real electronic music love, and I found it hasn't lost it's charm to me in the 26 years listening.
This was absolutely the greatest club experience I have ever had and it was in stark contrast to how the staff of KitKat acted. People behind the bar, entrance, dj's.... all were SO amazingly friendly, down to earth, open for a real chat, real connection.
The music was great and we stayed in the dnb room for the entire night. Soundsystem was super on point, could listen and experience it at fullest without my earplugs. The sets evolved from mellow liquid dnb to hard neurofunk in the end, with some sprinkles of gabba and hardtekno.
I danced like there was no tomorrow.
We left with stars in our eyes! Took the U back to Spandau and even though it was over an hour's drive, that too was a great experience. Seeing Berlin wake up, all the ravers, people from different backgrounds, working people... all together.
There seemed to be a lot of tolerance for eachother. In general we always felt pretty safe roaming around the streets. Much safer than we feel in Belgian cities like Brussels or Antwerp (by night).
Saturday we wanted to go to the rave parade, but only two hours of sleep and a scorching tropic temperature prevented us from going out. Saw some of it on the livestream while I slipped in and out of consciousness and a blissful after-state :)
In the evening, we all went to the beautiful Odeon theater to watch The Oddysee together as our last thing as a group.
All in all we didn't spend that much money. Most of our budget went to transport/food and drinks and some of the local artwork we bought.
It was my second time in Berlin, and each time I take a little bit with me home. The experiences are engrained in me. I integrate it in my music productions. I think about it everytime I travel somewhere else.
We as a couple had a lifechanging moment and we will always have this as a standard for what it means to really travel and expand the horizon.
Forever grateful to everyone we met, and all the people in the history of this great city that worked towards making this city what it is now.