I'm catching up on blogging from a few weeks ago, and I wanted to talk about the big bash thrown by the CEO of Dan's company. He had booked the Felix Club, next to the American Embassy in the heart of Berlin, self-touted on their website as "considered the hippest premium club of Berlin". And further, "premium clubbing is served on a silver platter in an astonishing atmosphere." Not being a connoisseur of premium clubbing (or even sub-premium clubbing), still I would have to agree with the "astonishing atmosphere" piece.
Dan and I dressed in the hippest clothing we could assemble (darn! we forgot to take a picture!) and took a cab to Mitte for the 1:00 sharp arrival time. We were warmly welcomed by our host and checked our coats in the cool high-tech coat check. Each hanger had a bar code; your coat was hung on the hanger and scanned into the system; then your ticket was printed and given to you. The entrance was on an upper floor and then there was a grand staircase leading down to the area which had been prepared with tables for the meal. We immediately noticed the large center table at the base of the staircase at which were seated about 20 or so beautiful young girls dressed to kill. Christian, the host, is only 30 so we thought at first maybe they were friends of his?
We descended the grand staircase and were quickly presented with a glass of champagne, which was refilled again and again in endless fashion throughout the day by a large staff of roving waiters and waitresses. I can't imagine how many bottles of champagne were consumed by our group of 150 or so guests. After some time for mingling we were instructed to take our seats and the food began to appear, carried out on platters by a hardworking staff of a dozen or so people. The event was titled a "brunch". One thing that never ceases to disappoint me in Europe is breakfast. Sure there are tasty pastries here, and the other things they eat in Europe for breakfast taste just fine, but when I think breakfast I think blueberry buttermilk pancakes, a Denver omelet, biscuits and gravy, egg and sausage casserole, coffee cake, fresh fruit, bacon and sausage links and grits, and a number of other things that are making my mouth water as I write this. So I have to admit I was a little disappointed when the platters that were being carried out held bread and deli meats and cheeses. There were also smoked fish, marinated vegetables and some fruit. Why don't I just post the menu for you - here.
The best part was a small platter of super yummy squares of a couple of different types of dessert. There was a chocolate mousse-y thing and a fruity thing, but my favorite thing tasted like Oreo cheesecake. Our table wasn't filled with dessert-eaters, so I had two pieces of the cheesecake-y thing. We all sighed, full bellies, while the waitstaff cleared the tables. But wait - then they brought us all out another clean plate and another set of silverware! Was there more? It turns out that all that food was just the appetizers. The actual meal came next. (It is listed on the menu but there was only one menu per table and no one had bothered to look at it, so no one knew to save room.) Unfortunately I would guess that most of this wonderful food went to waste. Our table had a few bites of each dish but most of the food was still in the huge serving bowls when the lights went out and the entertainment started. I felt so bad for the waste.
On to the entertainment! Christian had hired an entertainment troupe from Sweden that had traveled to Berlin for the party. The lights went down and a guy with a saxophone appeared at the top of the staircase. He proceeded to come down, lit by a spotlight, all the way down the stairs and out onto the middle of the table with the 20 girls. After his performance, Stormtroopers appeared, accompanied by a cool techno rendition of the music of the Dark Side. That was my favorite dance number of the night.
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| Our host performs |
Then a rapper made his entrance; he turned out to be our host for the afternoon. Somewhere around this time the club staff walked around passing out foam glowstick things. Every 15 minutes or so there was a new spectacle: a man and woman wearing almost nothing but gold body paint; special effects like confetti being dropped or blasts of cold air near the dance floor; dancers wearing a variety of glow-in-the-dark costumes; huge balls that dropped from the ceiling that we could bat around like beach balls. The table that the girls had sat at turned into the dance floor and people could climb up onto it and dance to the music of the DJ. We finally realized that the attractive girls were part of the party package! Their job was to get the party started and keep it going. It seems like an odd idea but it was actually a really good one because there was significantly less enthusiasm from most of the actual party guests, and the party may have fallen flat if there hadn't been a group of people heartily cheering on every performer and participating in every activity.
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| Confetti and foam glowsticks |
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| Big balloon bouncy balls |
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| Girls in cool light-up butterfly costumes |
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Gold body-painted guy carries the Little Person on his
shoulders, while the ladies parade across the table in
gladiator costumes. Hmmmm.... |
The oddest part of the afternoon was that every half hour or so the host called the names of people that Christian wanted to recognize and they would go up on the stage. Then there was a group of scantily clad women and a Little Person, dressed in different costumes each time, who would parade down the stairs, present the people with a small gift, and then proceed to dance on the stage with them. Dan was the lucky recipient of one of these presentations, as the ladies carried small American flags and everyone danced to "Living in America". Weird.
I watched from the sidelines for most of the afternoon, but someone convinced me towards the end to get up on the stage and dance for a few songs. At 6:00 the party was over so the club could clean up and prepare for the evening's premium clubbing. It felt very strange to emerge from 5 hours inside a dark and very very loud club and have it not even be dinnertime yet! Our ears were ringing for the next 24 hours or so. I think it's safe to say I won't be attending a party like that again anytime soon!
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