Live and let Berlin

Berlin is one of those cities that keep drawing me back. This unique city has a kind of deliberate urban decay which I find quite compelling.

Berlin is ever changing, always on the move. Just like other major cities such as London or Paris, Berlin is the kind of city where you can find new gems even after repeated visits. But unlike many other cities, Berlin has an unusually dark underbelly.

Himmel über Berlin.

We walked across the beautifully arched Oberbaumbrücke during sunset into the Friedrichshein area, without running into Lola. The ornate bridge is linking Kreuzberg with Friedrichshain, just as it once was a symbolic broken link between west and east.

As I admired the sky, I was reminded of one of my favorite German movies. Himmel über Berlin is a masterpiece by Wim Wenders from 1987, where invisible angels are standing on rooftops in the eerie post-war city divided by the Wall. The film is mostly shot and black and white, and even featuring Nick Cave, what’s not to love?

Night in Kreuzberg.

Berlin does not roll over to please guests. Many parts of the city has a no-frills attitude, which I greatly appreciate. “Come as you are, as you were, as I wanted you to be” as Kurt Cobain once sang.

“I first came when it was still an island in the Soviet sea. I remember the tensions of early visits, Bowie’s Low in my head, the West thumbing its neon nose at the East, and the East glowering back with those old red eyes, disdainful and defiant.”
— Marc Almond, In Search of the Pleasure Palace (2004)

We roamed through the familiar alleys of Hackesher Markt and once again I found myself walking in the footsteps of the Techno Viking (who was dancing down Rosenthaler Straße fifteen years ago, about the same time I was there).

Roaming through Hackesher Markt.

While in the area I went to see my old friend Der Bloch at Monsterkabinett, but unfortunately he was hidden away for reparations. See you next time, you transformer-wannabe.

To top it off, I squeezed myself into the driver seat of a Trabant car. A sight not for the easily frightened.