BERLIN LOVE HATE WEEKEND

Either you love this city or you hate it ... well, not quite. This weekend spent in Berlin I´ve come to do both.

Everybody and their brother - who apparently all had visited Berlin together recently - had been going gaga over this city lately: "You gotta go there, it´s the happening place, I love this city bla bla bla". So I got all excited when the two best girls I know - Anna and Naomi, part of the infamous *enjoy porn* crew - offered me a place to sleep in their Berlin bed with me sleeping in the middle.


Flew with easyjetSo I packed my bag, grabbed the son I love most, and off we flew. In my mind I pictured the "new Berlin" - the hot, happening and oh so inspiring place - to be this cool stylish city with trendy bars a new ideas. Berlin has become Germany´s capital about 10 years ago and I knew that a lot of effort was put in to make it the cultural center of Germany.


Christiane F.When I got there I realized this city has not changed since the last time I was there : It is still the same trashy, grey, ugly city I hated last time I was here. It is still the same depressing place depicted in the 70s book Christiane F., which tells the story of teenage Christiane shooting up Heroin at Berlin Bahnhof Zoo and selling her body for junk. Well, you can still get your junk at Bahnhof Zoo, and the city still has the flair of a concrete jungle spiked with broken dreams and Molotov cocktails. There is hardly anything that hasn´t been tagged by sprayers, and the abundance of hideous "Plattenbau" flats give plenty of room for badly done graffity. I was devastated. "What the fuck is great about this? I hate it!"


AnnaBut we didn´t come to see Berlin, we wanted to catch up with the girls. Seeing Anna and Naomi was a great change. The son I love most and I got such a warm welcome from them, and we felt at home straight away. Them two live this bohemian lifesytle of working but not quite, creatively making the most of very little, and concentrating more on spending time with people than spending money on things.


NaomiThey had a whole bunch of people visiting and sleeping in their appartment this weekend, and we met a whole lot of nice people, with whom we lazily chatted in the big kitchen over some delicious coffee (or sometimes Vodka). It was a charming atmosphere.



BerlinOver the three days spent in Berlin and spent with the girls and their friends we started discovering what a city that is so repulsive on the surface, might actually have to offer. As we slowly engulfed in this atmosphere of welware recipients, alcolohic punks and makeshift living arrangements, we slowly uncovered the true secret of this city: The people. Their easygoing, open, accepting "I don´t care if I´m rich or stylish" way of life. It is what they make of this hostile and ugly environment is what makes this city: it is full of life and full of peaceful togetherness of human beings. I now understand what Anna meant when she said she had arrived in her city. This is home. I love it.

Thanks girls for this wonderful weekend, I have learned a lot from you.

Cheers

Your Tiger


Skulls 'N BonesPS: Check out the rest of the pics and see a video of Anna`s infamous Totenkopfborte. You will want to be a pirate!