Up early on my last day in Berlin I had made plans to skate this spot across from the hotel if the rain held out. It did. Initially it was way harder than I imagined. We rolled down the stairs a few times to get warmed up. Ben was getting on 50s right away. I would take forever to get some super slow ones and accidental 5-0s. We would get some lines too. I had boardslide then turn around and crooks. Switch front nose then switch 180 a 2 stair. Ben commits to everything. Makes me jealous. Almost learned crooks first try. I took a while to do front 50 then front shove down the 2 stair. After some more skating and selfie filming I asked Ben if he could film the front shove. I did it with nollie tail instead but it was first try filming which is ultra rare to me. Then I messed around with various lines to try and motivate to ollie over the curb drop at then. I had done a few opening tricks like nollie back tail or front 50. Then I settled on the nose jib 270, kickflip, ollie. To my delight I landed the kickflip first try (didn’t care about the toe drag) then got a sketchy ollie where I dragged my tail across the curb. I didn’t care. It was cold, my arthritis was raging and I needed to get back to hang with the family. It was an incredibly fun session. Ben took some good slams getting that line of boardslide then back 180. Skateboarding rules. It’s fun skating new spots and meeting new people.

(setup 8.38 null mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hangers, bones medium bushings, 53mm spitfire f4 classic shape 99a, splay freestyle grey size 12 with custom nb# abzorb and naboso activation insoles)
(Pain level 4/10 arthritis)

On a cold but dry day I had some time to kill and went to a nearby park called Böcklerpark. I arrived to it mostly covered in leaves so had to brush them aside.  Then had some fun axle stalls.  The ledges didn’t slide or grind very well.  Had noseslides and some mediocre crooks in some mediocre lines. Couldn’t get front tail on the bank to curb.   Spent some time on flippers since I really wanted to get a treflip in Germany . Got bs flip and halfcab flip. Really struggled with treflip.  I would get one that rotated around really well but I put my hands down.  Oh well.  After that I was beat and sore.  

(setup 8.38 null mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hangers, bones medium bushings, 53mm spitfire f4 classic shape 99a, splay freestyle grey size 12 with custom nb# abzorb insole)
(Pain level 5/10 road trip soreness)

On a cold and rainy day we did some sight seeing along the east wall gallery.  I snuck in a slippery wallie nollie.  Then an hour later met India’s classmate and Boulderite Ben at Skatahalle.  Initially the park was pretty chill both crowded and temperature wise.  Then it was mostly chaos for a few hours.  I didn’t really skate with Ben a whole lot because the place was madness all around and it was hard to pay attention.  Did see him get some initial slappies too. It’s a good park with lots of variety so I would often get sidetracked on the way to a trick. Had some fun noseslides and crooks in the main ledge.  Ben and I did wallies up a ledge. I almost dropped down to 50 but it was weird.  Got a few kickflips on a bank, a bigflip or two as well.  There was a dude doing lines with 360 flips, Merlin flips and nollie lazers.   It was awesome.  Another dude doing 3’ tall kickflips and lots of solid style.  Another dude going 100mph for everything.  Also a lady learning how to skate and constantly standing in front of the brick bank making it annoyingly impossible to skate at times. I had a couple fun qp tricks on the little qp up top.  Front d and fakie smith fakie and back 50 to fakie.  Near the end we were able to skate the bank to curb. Ben learned nosestall to fakie after taking beginner lady out.  I did some fun back 50s on the china bank followed by kickflip to fakie. I snuck in a no comply to tail at the buzzer and we finished with slappies on our way out. Super fun time. It was surprising how nice everyone was.   

(setup 8.38 null mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hangers, bones medium bushings, 53mm spitfire f4 classic shape 99a, splay freestyle grey size 12 with custom nb# abzorb insole)
(Pain level 3/10 achilles)

In Germany!  After a night of attempting to sleep I got out of bed early to skate before the rain.  I had a lot of factors going against me. Jet lag, it was cold, I’m old, the asphalt is super rough, I was solo in a foreign country, etc.  
My first trick in Berlin was a switch front nose.  Kickflip took a few tries.   I got to skate for about an hour before the mist and rain took over.  I had finally started to get somewhat in a groove.  Got a couple flippers, crooks, front 50. That’s really it. I was bummed, but considering the odds I was still excited to see the spot and attempt to skate it.  

(setup 8.38 null mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hangers, bones medium bushings, 53mm spitfire f4 classic shape 99a, splay freestyle grey size 12 with custom nb# abzorb insole)
(Pain level 4/10 knee and achilles)

Had a few minutes between work and leaving for Germany.   Wanted to skate in front of my house but there was a tree shredder.  So I rolled down the bike path and ended up near wilville.  Did a few shoves, kickflip, 180s.  A fakie flip, hc flip and bs flip. Then I went home after embarrassing myself trying to Ollie up a curb.   

(setup 8.38 null mc hesher, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast plate v-hollow hangers, bones medium bushings, 53mm spitfire f4 classic shape 99a, splay freestyle grey size 12 with custom nb# abzorb insole)
(Pain level 4/10 knee and achilles)