TRIP TO BERLIN

Superman's place of death

Rest in peace.

Lora and Irene

Knut

It is very likely that he has some mental disease. He is walking back and forth all the time, posing. He really enjoys people’s attention.

Children in the zoo

Lora and Irene

Kunsthaus Tacheles

Kunsthaus Tacheles is an art center and night club located in Mitte on Oranienburger Str. It is a really cool place to hang out. The bad news is that the place has been bought by a new investor and most probably it will not be the same next time we visit Berlin.

Street Art
Walking around the streets of Berlin one notices great examples of street art. Here we will present some of the street artists “working” in Berlin.
6
This guy has been painting 6s all over the city. You might ask what this obsession with the number 6 is. It is just that in German six is seks… seks sex… I think you got it. Some people say there are 6666 6s painted all over the city. Well, we did not have enough time to go around and check if it is true.

6

El Bocho
The Little Lucy is one of El Bocho’s most recognized characters. You will find lots of painting of the Little Lucy killing a cat. One of the coolest one is in a Jamaican beach in the beginning of the East Side Gallery called Yaam where you can see the cat committing a suicide.

Little Lucy by El Bocho

XOOOOX
This guy is painting portraits of fashionable women. There is an interesting story about the example below. The Cut and Go frame. We were told that there is some guy painting this frame around street art he thinks is really cool. It is kind of a way to appraise the work of other artists. Pretty cool!

XOOOOX in a Cut and Go frame

Bansky
Bansky is probably the most famous street artist nowadays. He has been in Berlin. The interesting thing is that it is very hard to find any examples of his work in Berlin. The reason for this is that someone has removed them together with pieces of the wall they were on. Probably, that guy has sold them on eBay and has retired earlier and now lives on a nice exotic island!

Haus Schwarzenberg
There are many other street artist in Berlin. The real identity of many of them is unknown because unfortunately what they do is illegal (while some 2 years ago it was legal) and they do not want to end up in jail. We do not know the authors of the pieces below but we agree that they are pretty good. We found these in a hidden courtyard at Rosenthaler Strasse 39, the place is known also as Haus Schwarzenberg. It is a private place and the owner has agreed to keep it as a space which street artists can use for at least the next 50 years.

Maybe if I look upside down the world will turn out right

Crisis

Brain f*cker

Squats
Currently, there are only 2 legal squats in Berlin. One of them is close to the A&O Mitte Hostel at Koepenicker Strasse. We did not enter but that is how it looks from the outside:

A squat at Koepenicker Strasse

Close to this one used to be another one called the Schwarser Kanal, a feminist squat. It was removed as the place it was on was bought by the Media-Spree and these guys apparently have other plans for the place. The graffiti below shows support for that feminist squat:

Support for the Schwarser Kanal squat

East Side Gallery

East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining piece of the Berlin Wall turned into an open-air gallery. What is interesting about it is that part of it is missing. Probably you have noticed the O2 World stadium. In Berlin, local groups started a boycott against the projected development “Media Spree”, of which O2 World is a part, arguing that huge sections of public spaces were being lost to the private sector. Furthermore, the Anschutz company that built it was criticized for bully-like behaviour in regards to the changing of the outer parameters of the sports arena. A section of the near-by East Side Gallery had to be removed to enable the view of Anschutz’s new arena, located on the (former) eastern side of the Spree.

In conclusion, we could only say that Berlin is a great city with fantastic atmosphere, “poor but sexy” as its mayor Klaus Wowereit once said. And here comes another interesting fact. Klaus Wowereit was elected mayor in 2001. But before coming to this post he said openly ”I am gay and it’s OK that way”. But Philip Anschutz the guy who invested in the O2 World stadium supports a US ballot initiative designed to overturn local and state laws that prohibit discrimination against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation.

Visit our Alternative Berlin photogallery

Lora and Irene

1. NAP! Whenever, where ever possible: on the tour-bus, in a park, a museum bench

2. Curry wurst and beer: If the wurst doesn’t make you feel better it will force an uncomfortable, yet necessary “detox”

And most importantly:

3. Playground fun! Visit a playground and have a laugh with your equally hungover friends. Who says it’s only for kids???

Our favourite playground (photos) in Berlin is located in a small park on the corner of Alte Leipziger Str. and Niederwall Str. in Mitte. Look it up. A map would ruin this beautiful post.

This is my color point.

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Anja&Nadja

Anja and Nadia