Olaf (a very cute German boy) arrived just before 7. We headed to the subway station, rode the train for a bit, then walked to a large boat tied at the side of "Landwehrkanal" that had been converted into a restaurant. Olaf did a great job of translating the menu and we had a nice chicken dish.

Turns out that Olaf runs one of the local gay magazines, "Sergei", which we had actually picked up earlier in the day. We talked quite a bit about life in Berlin, the comparisons to San Francisco, and the club and nightlife scene.

Saturday night there was a rubber club going on called "lab.oratory". He offered to show us where it was later on. We went back to the hotel and changed, then took a cab to his apartment. We rode the subway a few stops, then got off and started to walk into a very industrial area. We never would have found the place on our own.

Olaf's roommate had said that between 10 and 11 was the time to go, but we arrived at 11 and it was still really quiet. We said good-bye to Olaf (he had to work in the morning) and went inside. We staked out a place near the door where we could sit and watch people arrive. It was an interesting crowd, but it never really got busy. We wandered around the elaborate interior a couple of times, and around 1am we decided to head out.

We were "branded" at the door. That's a "114".

We were lucky enough to catch a cab right outside, and he was a pretty crazy guy. He told us about a soccer world cup game that was in town and making things very busy. He also told us the location of a club named "Metropol" that we had heard about earlier. Apparently it didn't really get going until around 4am.

After relaxing in our room for a while, we decided to walk over to Metropol, since is was only a few blocks away. Our first indication that something was a bit different about this club came at the coat check when the security guard informed us of the dress code: We had to check our shirts at the door! And this was a mixed club no less.

Walking up to the dance floor we saw more rubber, leather and PVC than either of had ever seen in a club in the states. We walked out to the dance floor and they were playing amazing music. Really hard trance, just the ticket.

We had a total blast dancing and watching all the people around us. There was an incredible variety of attire, from G-strings to full rubber to fluorescent green full length skirts (on a guy). Cowboy hats to big muscle boys. And we're pretty sure that the majority of them were straight! Talk about confusing your gaydar! Guys in drag (most of them straight), several women without tops (one of them huge). The list goes on and on. It was a real sensory overload.

We stayed until around 7am. That's when we were running out of steam. As we were leaving we realized that there was a whole other dance floor upstairs! This one had a giant vaulted ceiling and felt like a theater. These Berliners know how to party! We were very glad to have brought our sunglasses with us since it was light out when we left. The doorman said that Sunday night was gay night at Metropol. We could only imagine what that must be like!

Club Metropol, where "Kit Kat" is held.

Back at the hotel we took a quick shower, then passed out until 3pm the next day! We dragged ourselves out of bed to make the 4pm cutoff for breakfast at "Bistro Cafe am Arsenal", then we packed up the camera and the laptop and walked to the central city park.

At the center of the city park.

We found a couple of large fields full of gay boys, many of them sunbathing in the buff. We took up a spot in the shade and Rick took a nap while Randy started working on the web pages (gotta do them sometime). Then we headed back to the hotel for another nap before deciding the evening's activities.

One of many canals that run through the city.