First, I slept. Then I got up, ate some wafer cookies (breakfast of champions... the champions that don't win at sports ever because they're full of wafer cookies and not lettuce), and proceeded to get ready for the day.
Today I walked my way over to the East Side Gallery, which in reality isn't a gallery as we would understand it to be, but an outdoor graffiti world, showcasing graffiti from Berlin artists (and I would imagine many more), on what is left of the Berlin Wall in this part of town.
Another cool thing is that this is in the part of town that I'm staying in, so it wasn't much work to get there at all. Just a short walk
Those of you who know me, know that I am more than slightly obsessed with graffiti. Toronto graffiti is the best I've seen in the places I've travelled, and sorry to say, it still is. Berlin's is lovely, and I am certain in many cases the messaging has a more serious subject matter. Here are some of the bits that I loved the most.
I'll preface this by saying that I can't read German, so I don't know what a lot of this says.
I heard a story last night on BBC (yeah, I'm hip that way now) that was talking about that Clair Danes show Homeland, their production people hired some graffiti artists to make a scene more real, and no one cared to learn about what the graffiti that was created and then used, so they ended up running am episode that essentially said that Homeland is racist and doesn't understand the culture that it's representing in its show.
Someone messed up.
Anyhow, that's why I mention it... because this blog is nothing if not more popular than Homeland.................... bah!
I couldn't very well come to Germany and only try one Currywvurst. That's just ignorant! lol. I tried this second one, and this one was way better. Well, different. Nah, better! And they charge 1.9€, super-cheap. Though cheap may not be what I should be looking for in foreign-to-me street-meat, I'm just going to trust the universe on this one!
I've seen this next image all over the place in Berlin, and while I would love to say that I'm so informed that I knew what it was all about, I did not. I can't know eeeeeeverything, you guys! Jeeeze!
I read up on it, and here is what the internet says:
........
"It’s called “The Kiss” or “The Kiss of Death.” And it is perhaps the most famous image that appears in Berlin’s East Side Gallery—a nearly mile-long mile stretch of the Berlin Wall. What’s left of the Wall, that is.
The Kiss depicts Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev giving the East Germany President Erich Honecker what appears to be a passionate kiss on the lips. At first glance, you might think it’s a complete joke, with no bearing on reality. But the image was based on an actual photograph taken by Régis Bossu in 1979 in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of the German Democratic Republic—East Germany.
Fraternal kisses among socialist leaders were not unusual, but as the website, Iconic Images, points out, “Both Honecker and Brezhnev were a little more enthusiastic than your average Communist dictator in kissing.” The site goes on to quote a popular joke in which Brezhnev supposedly makes this observation about Honecker: “As a politician, rubbish…but what a good kisser!”
- History By The Slice (website)
........
Love the last line!
Someone put a half rubber duck on the end of the wall, haha!
This must have taken such a long time! I wouldn't even know where to begin.
Ragey panda!
If you look closely, this one has a little rectangle section in the middle that doesn't fit the pattern / flow of the rest of the design. You'll also notice that it is a close replica of the design to the right. I think may be a commentary on displacement of people, and that would certainly be fitting in the history of Berlin and Germany overall, specifically with the restrictions of the Berlin Wall and the segregation it created.
Maybe this little block is the idea of one side integrating with the other side, but through wonderful graffiti. I hope I'm right! It would make me feel very smart! lol Though I would imagine, like most other art, it is up for interpretations rather than direct definition.
Random pieces behind a fence, not sure why, but I'm guessing for safe-keeping.
Love.
What I believe to be some stencil work on one of the tubes that seem to follow the main roads above ground.
From there I dida bunch of errands, including going to the post office to buy some boxes for shipping some stuff home (get excited, there are a bunch of German edibles coming your way, Toronto!), and then the pharmacy, because this Berlin weather is giving me some cold I don't feel like admitting is happening. I got some lozengees, so hopefully those will help!
I'm choosing to see it as Toronto sick prep, I'll be immune to rainy-cold by the time I come home, lol.
Aaaaanyhoo, I got all of that done, and it was time to go to the Berliner Fernsehturm, otherwise known as the TV Tower, which is apparenty the tallest building in Europe.
Right outside, they have these three little trampline's embedded in the ground. Come on Toronto, you have the CN win, but get on the trampolining, stat!
From there is was time to buy a ridiculous thing to bring home. I was in a ridiculous mood, and then saw this guy!
Like, was I supposed to NOT buy this guy? Come on, he's adorable, and he's also a representation of Berlin. He (not this exact one, obviously... that would be hilarious) was added to the city seal in 1280, and is now everywhere you go in Berlin.
Then it was dinner time, and I ended up at the same place from the other night, Block House, where I had a delicious meal, and tried this ice cream. I just wanted one scoop, and while I got rhat, I got three times as much whipped cream, which I think they forgot to put the sugar in. I was weird. But that ice cream... oh man, it was chalk-full of almost whole walnuts, and was very, very good!
I was sitting in a space right near the kitchen, and holy man alive, these guys have the process down! It was really entertaining to watch them just shoot out steak after steak after chicken after salad. It was efficient as well, and I loved it!
Nighty night, everyone!
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