Frank is patiently waiting for me to wake up, using the laptop in the sitting room. The apartment is on the fifth floor of a gorgeously restored building. Everything about it is well designed, the bathroom elegant but highly functional, and there is a small balcony where we take Fruestueck (breakfast) which has been ably prepared for me by my host. Frank and I enjoy each other’s company and are getting excited to see Neil Young tomorrow in Leipzig. Thor and Ragnar, rusties from Norway, also arrived in Berlin the day before; and so we go to meet them at their hotel in Alexanderplatz. Frank has not met them, but I know them both from previous encounters before and after Neil shows, and am looking forward to spending the day with them. I have probably never seen Ragnar sober or in daylight before. He is quite charming when I can understand his speech…! We walk, and later ride the S-Bahn and U-Bahn, seeking out some of the more interesting (to us) areas that tourists might generally miss. Frank, having lived on the East Berlin side, never really seeing the West until after 1989, makes a most excellent guide. We walk by the New Synagogue and through some side streets in the old Jewish quarter, Spandauer Vorstadt, and then by the Tacheles Art Collective, which reminds me a lot of Christiania. It was a partially demolished building when the Berlin Wall came down, and a group of artists occupied it and registered it as an historic place. It now contains art galleries, a nightclub and a cinema. The whole thing is painted in bright colors, and decorated with sculpture. We walk through Kreuzberg, getting a sense of its multicultural and vibrant community. We buy a few bottles of beer at a tankestelle (gas station) and take a memorable party break in a park. We cross the Oberbaumbrücke, the worlds largest brick bridge. Along the way we see many posters advertising Neil’s upcoming concert here and the release of the CSNY movie, Déjà Vu. We take a lot of photos of these posters and of interesting graffiti. We take the train to Zoo Station, walk by the must-see bombed out church (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtnis-Kirche) and the famous department store Kaufhaus des Westens. Stop and have some lunch and tasty beers on the square at Wittenbergplatz. Ragnar gets a Bob Dylan poster from the side of a magazine stand. At Potsdamer Platz we see the remnants of the Wall, and all of the modern buildings there. We admire the covered courtyard of the mega-multiplex cinema and I buy some memory for my camera at the Sony store. Next we go by the Brandenburg Gate to the Reichstag. Part of the observation deck is closed for cleaning and we don’t feel much like queuing up anyway. We walk across the Spree and up Friedrichstrasse, and then go on to the Kulturbrauerie (literally Culture Brewery). The site of a former brewery and distribution center, the facility now houses theatres, bars, clubs, galleries, and a cinema. We have a few beers in the beer garden and sit out a rain shower under the canopies. Thor recommends I check out the Fleet Foxes, a Seattle based band. Ragnar strongly endorses Josh Rouse. A huge Cuban band is playing here tonight, but Frank has other plans for us… We go to a restaurant called White Trash/Fast Food where a Swedish band is playing tonight. The place used to be a Chinese restaurant, so it has the characteristic red stuff and dragons, many small rooms and multiple levels. It is decorated in kitschy Americana by its expatriate owners, and the menu offers Tex-Mex BBQ and “fuck you” Fries. I order the Southern East Berlin Style Fried Chicken and it rocks like the Colonel only wishes his could. An old Polish guy who is haunting the bar tells us each his life story. The band Nervous Nellie comes on, and they are at least passing fair. The place gets packed as the front room by the stage is quite small. Outside for a smoke I see a street performer/beggar in crazy costume honking a horn like Harpo Marx. He gestures for money, and when I give him a Euro he hands me a counterfeit 50.99 Euro note with his devilish likeness on it, Kaiser Kasimir he is called. The note says “Imperial Mint of the Tramps” in German and has his email address on it. Hilarious. Frank and I leave Thor and Ragnar at the bar and take the tram back to his home. Tomorrow we all travel to Leipzig to meet up with more rusties and see Neil! |
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