berlin (part 5)
im almost done, I swear.
We also spent some time over the course of the week visiting some of the 15-20 year-old squats in the area. I'm not exactly clear on the details, but it seems that in the early 90's a law was passed that said if people had proof they had been living in a place, and no landowner was able to be contacted or took action to take over the place, they would become the rightful owners (or something like that). So because of that and maybe some other things I don't fully understand, squatters have a lot of rights, and a lot of the the oldest squats and collectives happen to be within a few blocks of Tiffany's.
What is odd about these places is that while they many look like sites of anarchist/squat culture, many don't, and the older ones don't really feel like it. I think there are newer venues, like another comic/art bookstore and gallery we went to but the older ones are basically full of aging anarchists and folks from the neighborhood who may or may not care about any of the politics. You can still get good flyers and zines though. While we were having a drink at the supposedly lesbian anarchist cafe which didn't appear to be either, a younger punk girl dropped off some zines with lots of event listings, and what appeared to be a list of places to get a free or communal meal at various times each day of the week. Good to know.
Friday May 2 was the start of “Gallery Weekend” so lots of galleries had openings and the rest were open. Lots of well-dressed people pushing in and out, drinking free booze. I have an undocumented memory of a young girl arranging bottles of beer along a ledge as the galleries kicked people out at the stroke of 9.
Saturday we met up with my friend Lucie from school. She lives in Bremen now, and came to see me and some other friends over the weekend. We went to some galleries, but mostly just chatted over ice cream, coffee, lunch…. It was so nice to catch up with her, still as joyous as ever. I always liken her to Amélie from the movie. She has that kind of imagination and personality. I realised after that I didn't take a single picture (the pic is from her facebook).
ME: Every time I walk by that storefront, they are a little further in their renovations, but I still can’t tell what it’s going to be when they’re done.
LUCIE: You could ask them.
ME: But that would ruin the fun of guessing.
LUCIE: Perhaps they would just say, “It’s up to you to decide!”
(later)
LUCIE: You know how there are “girl things”? Like a thing you think you’re the only one and then you ask your girlfriend and she says, “Oh, you do that too?” Sometimes I wonder if boys have those too. Like “Hey, what do you do about the bike seat? Do you put your balls on the left or the right?”
Sunday was another lazy day. We went to the Skulpturpark, part of the Biennale. The site is fascinating, a former no-man's land where the wall used to run, surrounded by condos but still desolate. The work did not live up to that potential, but we did have fun sitting in the sun and playing Tiffany's guitar until a bored Biennale worker came over and chatted with us. She was nice and it was fun, but Tiffany later noted the hypocracy of someone who was a first-wave gentrifier (her parents moved there from the US and Isreal 12 years ago) pooh-poohing the second-wave gentrifiers who have already ruined Prinzlauerburg, for example.
Monday Nick and I went to see an abandoned factory the Tiffany had been to previously, but they are rapidly demolishing it and replacing it with a Vietnamese outlet mall, and since it was during the week, there was too much activity around to really explore. So we went back and checked out another set of warehouses we'd seen on the way. We witnessed the 2 biggest jackrabbits I've ever seen hanging around there, and the trees were covered in yellow and black striped snails. Later we went into what appeared to be an abandoned church near Nordbahnhof, but about half-way through I was consumed with what I can only call 'bad vibes' and we left. That place gave me the heebiejeebies, as someone of another era might say.
Other than that we just wandered around, went into a couple of shops we had noticed previously, but didn't buy anything. Customs officers were surprised when I affirmed that we'd been gone 2 weeks and had only a carry-on duffel bag each. Aside from coffee, beer, food, and concert tickets, the only things we bought were a T-shirt each, and a new pair of PF Flyers for Nick because they were cheap and exactly like the ones she always wears. I didn't even buy the sexy heels I wanted.
We also spent some time over the course of the week visiting some of the 15-20 year-old squats in the area. I'm not exactly clear on the details, but it seems that in the early 90's a law was passed that said if people had proof they had been living in a place, and no landowner was able to be contacted or took action to take over the place, they would become the rightful owners (or something like that). So because of that and maybe some other things I don't fully understand, squatters have a lot of rights, and a lot of the the oldest squats and collectives happen to be within a few blocks of Tiffany's.
What is odd about these places is that while they many look like sites of anarchist/squat culture, many don't, and the older ones don't really feel like it. I think there are newer venues, like another comic/art bookstore and gallery we went to but the older ones are basically full of aging anarchists and folks from the neighborhood who may or may not care about any of the politics. You can still get good flyers and zines though. While we were having a drink at the supposedly lesbian anarchist cafe which didn't appear to be either, a younger punk girl dropped off some zines with lots of event listings, and what appeared to be a list of places to get a free or communal meal at various times each day of the week. Good to know.
Friday May 2 was the start of “Gallery Weekend” so lots of galleries had openings and the rest were open. Lots of well-dressed people pushing in and out, drinking free booze. I have an undocumented memory of a young girl arranging bottles of beer along a ledge as the galleries kicked people out at the stroke of 9.
Saturday we met up with my friend Lucie from school. She lives in Bremen now, and came to see me and some other friends over the weekend. We went to some galleries, but mostly just chatted over ice cream, coffee, lunch…. It was so nice to catch up with her, still as joyous as ever. I always liken her to Amélie from the movie. She has that kind of imagination and personality. I realised after that I didn't take a single picture (the pic is from her facebook).
ME: Every time I walk by that storefront, they are a little further in their renovations, but I still can’t tell what it’s going to be when they’re done.
LUCIE: You could ask them.
ME: But that would ruin the fun of guessing.
LUCIE: Perhaps they would just say, “It’s up to you to decide!”
(later)
LUCIE: You know how there are “girl things”? Like a thing you think you’re the only one and then you ask your girlfriend and she says, “Oh, you do that too?” Sometimes I wonder if boys have those too. Like “Hey, what do you do about the bike seat? Do you put your balls on the left or the right?”
Sunday was another lazy day. We went to the Skulpturpark, part of the Biennale. The site is fascinating, a former no-man's land where the wall used to run, surrounded by condos but still desolate. The work did not live up to that potential, but we did have fun sitting in the sun and playing Tiffany's guitar until a bored Biennale worker came over and chatted with us. She was nice and it was fun, but Tiffany later noted the hypocracy of someone who was a first-wave gentrifier (her parents moved there from the US and Isreal 12 years ago) pooh-poohing the second-wave gentrifiers who have already ruined Prinzlauerburg, for example.
Monday Nick and I went to see an abandoned factory the Tiffany had been to previously, but they are rapidly demolishing it and replacing it with a Vietnamese outlet mall, and since it was during the week, there was too much activity around to really explore. So we went back and checked out another set of warehouses we'd seen on the way. We witnessed the 2 biggest jackrabbits I've ever seen hanging around there, and the trees were covered in yellow and black striped snails. Later we went into what appeared to be an abandoned church near Nordbahnhof, but about half-way through I was consumed with what I can only call 'bad vibes' and we left. That place gave me the heebiejeebies, as someone of another era might say.
Other than that we just wandered around, went into a couple of shops we had noticed previously, but didn't buy anything. Customs officers were surprised when I affirmed that we'd been gone 2 weeks and had only a carry-on duffel bag each. Aside from coffee, beer, food, and concert tickets, the only things we bought were a T-shirt each, and a new pair of PF Flyers for Nick because they were cheap and exactly like the ones she always wears. I didn't even buy the sexy heels I wanted.