Put simply, today was amazing. But really. What a day. Today was all about the underground culture of Berlin, what the heart and soul of Berlin is all about.
I met up with Amy, Natasha and Pauline around 10:30 in the morning. We started out by heading off to get supplies for a real “German Breakfast.” Into the bakery first, everyone picked out two rolls. Then off to a little market, we picked up a few things, such as lunchmeat, cheese, a cucumber, juice and some spread. Once we got back to Pauline’s, we set up the breakfast on the balcony and everyone made their sandwiches! It was pretty good, not going to lie, I enjoyed it, and I saved a half of a piece of roll for nutella and honey afterwards. Delicious. So, after we devoured that delicious stuff we headed off in the direction of the Berlin wall. First we had to catch a bus to get in the general area, but then we were off…
We stopped for tea + coffee to go on the walk. Then on the way to the wall we saw a house which was literally cut in half in the time the wall was built. It is sealed off from one side by plywood, and there is a tree growing out of the side of it! That is good stuff! Haha, anyway, first we stopped at the oldest Art Squatters house… this is where artists are allowed to stay for free as long as they present something to the public, such as cinemas, artwork, music etc… pretty cool concept and apparently it works out great! Next, we headed to the biggest art squatters house! This was covered in graffiti (the good kind) and great artwork… Natasha is our tourguide, by the way, she has lived in the city before and knows the ins-and-outs of everything. She also was a tour guide for the underground city of Berlin back in the day. Anyway - great stuff. Our next stop was the Berlin wall itself, wow, what history comes with it. And what beauty, artists had painted up and down this wall, some with great pictures, others with great messages. I really enjoyed walking along and looking at all of these pieces. Halfway through the wall, we came to a place called “Yaam” … it is a full Jamaican Squat, there is beach sand everywhere, amazing wall graffitis and basically a whole place to eat vegan food and other alternative foods. It had live music playing, and was generally just a great area. Once we left that, we walked along more of the wall until we came to a little metro train, which we took to our next destination, another art squatters house, Pauline left us at this point. This one wasn’t as great as the last two, but pretty good nonetheless, at this one – they throw giant parties every once in a while – with live music etc. I really think this is such a good thing to have in the city, these people are artists who give something back to the public in the rich culture and beauty of the city, and in return, get to stay in public housing for free – which, is not very costly to anyone. These aren’t mansions they are living in, they are old buildings which they make the best out of… After this, we headed down towards a place called Tallacras, a popular underground art place – on the way there we ran into an American diner, which was in happy hour. I saw SPARE RIBS 4.99 , and could not go any further. We all agreed to eat, and went inside. I got the BIGGEST and BEST portion of spare ribs I have had in I don’t even know how long! What a deal! This would normally be close to $20-30… and it was so good. I was very satisfied to say the least after this massive meal.
Once we got to Tallacras, we viewed some art on the bottom floor for a while, it was mostly rod-iron and copper sculptures, which were great. There was also a few little huts that you could pop into and see their art. After we were done browsing around here we headed into the old building. The stairwells were covered in graffiti and drawings. So amazing. This was the most overwhelming building I have ever been in. My visual sense was just going hay-wire. I didn’t known where to look. There were bright colors and intricate drawings everywhere, literally everywhere. Every floor had a few artists on it, they had private galleries (also where they slept), which you could go into (most of them), and view their art. These people are so good, I have been to so many art galleries, the Louvre, etc, but these painting much more suited my taste. I stayed in one of the rooms for about 45 minutes, he was playing some great music in the background too, of which I asked and got the name of the group for. The forth floor had a cinema, which was awesome, we just went in to check it out but nothing was playing, there is also a bar up here which has great views. Natasha had to go view some flats to potentially move into at this time, and left us until later when we met up again. And then we got to it, the fifth floor, there was only one room up here, but it was a giant one, and these painting were simply amazing… I cannot pick a better word for them. They had so much substance and meaning, I could stare at each one for hours. I actually bought 3 12x10 inch prints of paintings I liked. To go on my wall J
Amy and I were both on culture highs, just loving the city. We walked about a mile to Alexanderplatz, where we saw some of the stuff I viewed yesterday. From here we hopped on a metro to get back to my place, I wanted to drop of the prints. Amy went to an internet café near my place while I did this. We then met up with Natasha and Becca – around 830 now. We went into some area far away from the tourist area, met up with Mika from Poland and his flat mate Nadine. This area is full of alternative projects, as they called them, such as a bar put on by the residents of the building, for almost no profit at all. Or for instance, the place we went to, a place to eat – for about 2 euro a plate (I was still full from ribs), with beer etc – the setting was very casual with comfy chairs and what not. We stayed here for the rest of the night. Everyone had a few drinks and we talked the rest of the night away. Somewhere in the midst of it, a 50-60 year old man came and sat with us. I think he wasn’t all there upstairs, I do think he use to be though, I struck up a conversation with him because I figured if he was going to sit with us, it would be awkward if no one talked to him. We actually got into some good conversations about the world and what not. He had been living in Berlin for the last 18 years, and was beginning to hate its routine; this guy definitely had some crazy ideas though. For example, he was a writer, and wanted to write about how the world is actually a paper nose, not a sphere – I don’t know if it was the language barrier or what, but that is out there. But all in all, everyone had a great time here. The staff was very friendly and we chatted for a bit as well. Great night of the real side of Berlin. I am loving this place… I took a train and metro back, made it about half past midnight, walking tour in the morning, last day – let’s make it a good one!
No comments:
Post a Comment