Ages since I posted! And already as I feared…the memories are fading. For many of these places I had to recheck the names…isn’t that horrible. That all our travels eventually fade and we are left with what we know as the familiar. Perhaps that is better, because some places we know, we simply cannot go back there again. Like Berlin…I don’t know when if ever I will be visiting Germany again.
By the time I got to Berlin, I was already in love with the hostel experience. I can’t imagine a more convenient, sharing-economy stay for tourists. The Circus Hostel in Berlin had these cute little wall pods to charge…and yes, that I do believe is David Schwimmer smiling benevolently at me..and my loofah?! Lovely memories of the place, very centrally located.The quirkiness of Berlin…There’s an interesting vibe of a radical, revolutionary young artists in the city that is so refreshing in its un-american-ness, more grubby and questioning, less superficial. This is a city that has kept these vital embers burning. Translation of the German: Blooming for a day without gender, in the toilet at Maxim Gorki TheatreMuseums of Berlin! I spent most of my days in the museums. Got me a museum pass, went to Museum Island and walked like I have never walked before. But also notice the avant-garde (?) , post-modern (?), (probably neither) structural lines at play here? Berlin pushes you to think beyond the conventionalIts single screens! One night I went and watched Golden Glove (Der Goldene Handschuh), a movie that is still sitting somewhere in my head. The tiny screen at Kino Babylon where I watched the movie was (now I discover) a temporary arrangement because of renovations. Nevertheless, a thoroughly enjoyable moment in a cinema that has stayed unchanged from 1929…quite incredible!I think its very important to remember the Jews who were such a vibrant and integral part of German history, especially its urban centres like Berlin. This photo I took in the garden at the Jewish Museum. Unfortunately the permanent exhibition was not accessible, but the axes in the basement, the Garden of Exiles and the Voids were very moving. Also this…Prinzessinnengarten, a community garden in the centre of town. An example again of Berlin’s strong radical left and eco activists. This garden was built and is maintained by the local community on a plot that was a “wasteland”. I think I would have enjoyed this place more if I had company…sometimes I get a bit intimidated by all white spaces..hahaha. Nevertheless, worth a visit!
The featured image is an adaptation of the cover of a book called “Berlin! Berlin! Dispatches from the Weimar Republic” by Kurt Tucholsky. I haven’t read the book, but I read up about the author and his book after I found myself standing under a street sign that said “Tucholsky Strasse”. He sounds like the kind of social-democrat, pacifist, outspoken satirist that I would have looked up to. If we need to draw our political lineages, then it would be to men like Tucholsky.
My Little Travel Diary 