Berliner for the Fourth of July

Well I finally made it around to getting to Berlin, I tend to stay longer in cities that ive met good people and gdansk was one of them. Two swedish bouncers, looking all tough but really nice guys when it came down to it, plus a couple of other people in the hostile that were cool. One was an older swedish guy, then there were 2 swiss girls, and then there was a norwegian family, and then a bunch of insane scottish guys (i dont really like them anymore), and then 2 kiwis that live in london, and then 2 rockabilly norwegian girls, 2 girls from Penn, and finally a nerdy Harvard guy that writes for Lets Go europe (the guidebook im using mostly). Ok well I was going to leave after 2 nites but stayed 4. The second nite the scottish guys, one in particular, got too rowdy and the swedes tried to break up a fight amongst them. The cops got called and the swedes got arrested cuy they are the ones that look all tough. They got out and the scots paid the bale but they were pissed. Luckily the scots left the next morning. I was convinced to stay, mostly because the swedes wouldnt let me pay for booze, they would go buy polish vodka and we would hang out drink all day and then go out at nite. Really good vodka, and cheap too. Well there was a festival going on near gdansk and beastie boys and the roots and bloc party and bjork were the primary headliners. That nite the swedes went and saw beastie boys but i wasnt really feeling it so i took a little nite walking tour of the city which was pretty nice. I hadnt paid for a room so I stayed up all nite.....Anyways the next day I was going to leave again but the Norwegian girls that had just arrived got me drinking and we headed out with the 2 kiwis, the lets go guy, and an obnoxious aussie that just wanted to score pills. So we all headed off to the festival, it was massive, and weird to me cuz it all at nite, not day bands. The day i went was Bloc Party, Bjork, and LCD soundsystem each with a 1.5 to 2 hour set. All 3 were amaying, Bjork was insanely amazing live, and LCD soundsystem is really great..they used to get alot of play at crush went i used to go. Plus the beer was pretty cheap considering, only 2 euro for a half liter (do some conversion..). Anyways it was great, so much mud it was like woodstock-esque. Argh this is a long entry, afterwards headed back and snuck into the hostel and sleeped illegally...meh, left in the morning (even though the festival went til like 4) and got a train to Szechin, former german city now in extreme western poland. Got in at 1130 PM and had to kill 6 hours before train to berlin. Basically gave myself a nite tour, the city is pretty run down but it has some merit. It sucked that the weather was so drizzy but i managed, took little naps on rock walls every 30 min then continued my tour. Came full circle and caught the direct train so i could at least get some sleep. 1 hour on the train, passed out the whole way, conductor didnt even bother asking me for my ticket. Got to ostbahnhof in berlin at 7 am-ish and apparently the train union is on strike, dont really care though since im catching a plane out. So wandered around a bit, found a hostel around noon in mitte, and then got to drinking and making friends. Eventually went out with 2 danish guys and saw a rockabilly show from a band in new york called O'Death. They were great and it was funny, the venue was called White Trash Fast Food but looked like a pimped out chinese restaurant. Very cool, just not enough room for me to dance...The Danes are so enamored with the music they want to learn banjo and bring back the style to the Copenhagen music scene. So last nite got back, had the best sleep of my life cuz its cold and i was so tired, tonite im going to 'A Twisted Independence Day' festival show thing with a rodeo & BBQ and more bands (Also O'Death again) Ok im out, next stop RIGA!