Day 64: East Side Gallery 2 and Shopping

Optimistic

Chris is not feeling up to going into the office today. But, I had already gotten up and dressed for our walk before I found this out. Well, I'm already prepared to walk, I might as well go anyway. I decided to head for the East Side Gallery to see if I could find "The Fraternal Kiss" that I missed out on before. I leave after breakfast with the family.

As I'm running through town, I look into a store and see umbrellas at the entrance. People have left them on the welcome mat just inside the store, presumably to keep them from dripping all over the store. I think to myself, would this happen in any big city in the U.S.? I think about my own mistrust of other people and how I'm reading about car thefts in our neighbourhood (via a neighbourhood online community feed I subscribe to). I don't think I could ever leave my umbrella at the door. I'd be afraid it would get stolen. Here, they just leave them at the door.

I realise people in Berlin still lock up their bikes. But, these umbrellas on the floor seem to symbolise something else to me. The Berliner's optimism. It's not something I have discussed or read about, just something I feel while I've been here. A vibe.

All these mornings I walk through the city, I feel safe. There are plenty of worker crews I walk by. And, perhaps, if you aren't a woman you can't understand this. But if I were in the U.S. walking by a bunch of men sitting around, I'd feel "on alert". I be wary of my surroundings, other people around, and consciously thinking about what I would do if approached. Not once have I felt leered at. Not once have I heard any cat-calls. And before you think, "She's a 44 year old blah blah," (believe me, I thought that too) I have seen plenty of young-pretty women walking by on their way to work, and they too walk without being objectified. It's a freeing feeling.

I sidetracked. My point is that the feeling I get in Berlin is a feeling of optimism. Not disillusionment that the world is perfect, but that we're going to be alright. Anyway, this is what went through my head as I see people trusting that their umbrellas are going to be there when they leave the store.

Wet sidewalks (left), TV Tower (middle), River walk (right)

Well, something else I'm feeling as I jog along the streets... wet. It's raining. I'm wearing, what I thought was waterproof, but seems to only be water resistant and the rain is starting to seep through to my lower layers. My shoes allow the puddles' splashes in and my toes are slushing in my wet socks. I must avoid the larger puddles and mud.

I also pass by a few Buddy Bears. I miss my own buddies for these photos, but I take them anyway, for posterity.

Buddy Bears near the Furnsehturm (TV Tower)

Ok, back to the subject of bicycles. There are renting stations all over town. Many are for visitors and offer guided tours with them. However, there are also many self-help renting areas. You put in your money and you rent a bicycle. I haven't investigated much more than this. But these self-renting stations are readily available if you need a bicycle and don't own one.

The renting station is the red sign at the
back of the row of bicycles.

I finally make it to the East Side Gallery. There are lots of people touring about, even in the rain (although, by the time I arrive, it's not really raining anymore). I get to see the small portion of the wall we skipped the other day. I get to see "The Fraternal Kiss"! Mission complete. And bonus, I take a photo of the Japanese mural, "Detour to the Japanese Sector", I didn't capture the other day and I saw the "New York, BerlYn, TokYo" mural as well (a popular one on many postcards and t-shirts). Most of the viewers moved on and I was able to take my photos. But "The Fraternal Kiss" definitely had the most crowds and it was hard to get a photo with no one standing in front of it. EVERYONE wanted their photo in front of this one. I even took a photo of a couple for them, who then offered to take my photo (I declined). Definitely the most popular mural here.

I've been gone an hour, which I had anticipated. I brought along my Bahn ticket so I could ride home. I caught an M10 tram, which I see everyday on my morning walks, so I know it'll get me close to home... after 16 stops! It's about a 25 minute ride! But, I get to sit and look out the window, which is nice.

In the photo to the right, you can see how one sits when sharing facing seats. Curl those toes in so as not to touch toes with a stranger!

After lunch, I take Venice to the Galleria at Alexanderplatz to find socks. Now that she owns boots, she needs socks (she didn't bring but two pairs of socks since she wears flip-flops most of the time). As we came up from the Bahn station, we saw a lot of people looking up. So, of course, we look up. But we don't really see anything. Just some cranes at the top of a building that seems to be pulling an empty rig up to the top. Why is everyone looking up? Why are we looking up? And now, are others looking up because they see us looking up and it is a phenomenon that will go one forever? All of us looking up but not knowing why we're all looking up?

And then we see it. There are people up on the ledge, well above a sign that says, "Kuck mal Alex, ich kann fliegen!" (Take a look Alex, I can fly!) They are getting hooked up to the "rig". And... they're jumping! They free fall 35 floors (about what we counted) to the roof of the shopping centre below. Incredible! I was able to capture it in a photo (see below) but I thought I was taking video. Dang it! I'm bummed. Would there be another? Could I capture it on video? We waited awhile, but no movement. From below, you can't see anything that's happening up top, so there's no way to know if someone is about to jump or if everyone went to lunch and you're just staring at a building. We decided it was too cold to continue waiting, so we went into the Galleria to hunt for socks.

Side note: I have to say, I was thrilled and appalled by the jumper. Thrilled for obvious reasons, but the visual (I think mostly because the jumper was silhouetted on what looks like an office building)... brought flashbacks of images of 9-11. I don't know what else to say here other than it was a mixture of feelings and thoughts.

Socks. We're looking for socks. We found them! Venice asked to take a photo of one wall of painted socks that reminded her of Granny (who loves to wear fun-decorated socks).

But, we can't find wool socks or winter socks. Everything seems to be cotton. Well, cotton socks will have to do and maybe we can find warmer, wool socks at a specialty store another day.

As we are heading back down, we see a Halloween section, near the toy section. We've been asked if the Germans celebrate Halloween. We still don't know the extent of the answer to that question. For the most part, there are NO signs of Halloween anywhere. This display is only the second of such displays I've seen. Like the other one I saw, it seems to be small in comparison to what we see in the U.S. And this particular set of Halloween items seems to lean heavily to the scary and gore (think Zombies or witches) and very little "cute" or "fun" items or costumes (no cute bears or kitties).

However, Christmas stuff is already showing up! Chris hears that the Christmas season is serious business here too. His coworkers talk about it being less about "lots of gifts" and more about the season (although, the department stores seem to be wanting it to be about gifts?)

One of two Halloween displays I've seen thus far (left)
Venice wonders, "Why?" at the Christmas tree (right)

Before we leave, we look for Ricola for Chris (he texted asking for some throat drops). We find a small box (so we buy two) at the checkout lines. Then, because she missed it yesterday, we stop at Venice's favourite Bubble Tea place (ComeBuy).

The family heads to Ha'an Sushi (our third time, but Chris' first time) for dinner.

It's no longer raining, but has that fresh, crisp feeling that comes after a fall rain. A nice end to the week.

Day 58: East Side Gallery

It's back to "regularly" scheduled weekends! So, today, we head to the farmers market once again. It's another blue-sky day, and the market is busy.

Farmers Market

Venice comes with us and we go with the intent of finding fresh pasta and ""spreads". There are several carts with different kinds of "spreads". We find one such cart (maybe Turkish?). After deciding which ones we want, and it's our turn, the offer us a taste of one we didn't think of getting. Dang their tactics. That one was super yummy, so of course we buy that one too. And some bread, a few different kinds that all taste so wonderful. Not your typical style of bread, more buttery, airy, and soft. Delicious. And... we even went to another cart (maybe Greek?) and got several more, including tzatziki and hummus (which must include some cream in it because it's super creamy, smooth, and savoury).

At these stalls, we buy enough (maybe €15-20 at each stall, which doesn't seem like that much to us), that the sellers give us extra "freebees". Or maybe it's just their way of trying to get us to come back to their stall over a competitors. Either way, we get extra dolmas (which is nice, but actually we may not eat, not anyone's favourite) and at the other stall, we got an extra spread.

So, Venice likes my boots and wants to try for a pair of her own. I'm so in love with my new boots and the store is right across the street, so, we take her over there to try some on. A different woman is running the store today, she's young and laughs at everything we say, all the while working so hard to get boot, after boot, after boot down for us. I tried on a few others as well... and well... both Venice and I got a pair of boots. So, now I have two pairs to be in love with!

Venice took our boots home while Chris and I went next door to the Patagonia store. It's cold and we're looking for more layers. Chris gets a jacket and I get one that matches my new boots! Hallo!

Shopping this morning took us a lot longer than we thought and lunch was a bit late (around 2pm). Timing is a bit of a bummer as we'll need to eat dinner early so we can see the Festival of Lights on the earlier side. But, perhaps it'll be ok as the kids are always hungry and Chris and I can eat a light lunch.

KREUTZBERG
First thing on the afternoon list is to visit the East Side Gallery. We are doing all things "Kreutzberg" today. We thought about living in this district, but after seeing how far it was from Chris' work, we ended up in Prenzlauer Berg, which, having lived here for a while now, is the better lifestyle fit for us. The East Side Gallery is in Kreutzberg and we're off to see the art on the Wall there.

The beginning (or the end?) of the gallery (left)
Standing in the middle of the Wall. East is on the left, West is on the right. (middle)
Gorbachev... haven't seen him in a while (right)

The East Side Gallery was painted in 1990, but wasn't done "right" (no primer, and other problems) and the art eroded quickly. Refurbishments were done later (with some surrounding controversy). And of course, dumb dumbs put graffiti back onto the pieces of artwork again. So, it's a bummer to have iconic paintings covered in graffiti, but it is what it is.

The top painting, during the remediations, was redone by the artist in a new painting, not
the original (very controversial).
A rose for each casualty of the wall (left)
The wave of people going through the wall in 1989 (middle)
Partial painting from an artist from Denver, CO (right)

Of course, the East side is in the shade and we just about froze. Keep walking. Take quick photos. Keep walking. Take a break on the West side to sit in the sun. Keep walking! The coldest part was probably taking the photos which meant you had to expose your hands. Brrrr. Good thing I have a new jacket and lined boots to help me out!

Some iconic images.
Test the Rest (used to be Test the Best) (left) and artist Noir (top and right)

We didn't even capture all the art of this one, it was long.
This is probably my favourite of the day.

We skipped the very end (or the beginning) of the gallery. Instead, we bought water and headed towards the bridge. I'm thinking we missed out on seeing another iconic painting of the Soviet and German leaders embraced in a kiss. Kind of bummed. But, I see it depicted on my walks in the morning, so I'll take a photo of that to make up for missing it at the gallery.

Next, we cross the Oberbaumbrücke bridge. I read (at the Fernsehtrum) that on this bridge (I don't know when), they hold an annual, symbolic, water fight. "Although the demonstration is run along peaceful lines, the fighting is intense with water bombs, flour bombs and rotten eggs being happily tossed around. In the messy aftermath, both sides naturally claim victory and local pride is regained."

Oberbaumbrücke

We pass by a bear, not a Buddy Bear, but another bear. The kids will take a photo with it anyway.

Next on our journey is a store, Original Unverpackt, I heard about from Tori. A store that uses little to no packaging in attempts to reduce waste. We almost walked right by it, the store front is very small and non-flashy. The store, inside, was also small. We invisioned no packaging, however, they sold drinks (in bottles) and some prepackaged items. But, in-line with their mission, most of their inventory is sold in bulk. You can buy their bottles, tupperware, etc. and then fill these containers with the food (and refill another day) you want to buy. Below you can see their Sweet and Sour section (this would be a favourite area, for sure) and the plastic glove you use to grab food so that you don't touch it all while getting the amount you want. And, of course, Spaghetti Hell! Sometimes we think so too (but really, hell is "light", which isn't as funny).

No packaging store.

Next, to warm up, we stop for a good cappuccino.

And when adults get a cup of coffee. We know it's boring for the kids. What to do to keep them from getting bored? Try being a model? There was a giant magazine on our table, so we flipped through it and Venice, from the comfort of her place on the couch, emulated each model to prove anyone can do it. We were pretty discrete, I don't know that anyone knew what we were doing. Sneaky fun!

Venice's Black and White series.

Color

Even Xander got in on the action, by the end.

Thus ends part 1 of our day.