Berlin

It had to come to an end sometime…..

And today is just as good as any – especially since I don’t have to work. It means that I won’t bike today, and will have to take the bus to run a few errands. Oh, and it means putting on more clothing, and carrying protection.

What am I talking about? Why RAIN of course. After a month and a week without it, having beautiful blue skies, about 70-80 degrees and me being able to ride my bicycle to and from work every day without a cloud in the sky….

Last night, I woke up and had to get out a blanket because the temperature dipped down into the 40s. Within an hour, I heard thunder … and then … rain. It’s been raining ever since.

Granted, we need it, and yes, we really do (everything’s that beautiful desert gold and dust covered), but I will be ready for the sun to be back tomorrow. So, while I’ll try to avoid my rendition of “the sun’ll come out tomorrow” (mostly because I have to work and the weather forecast says 60% chance of rain on Saturday) for all of our sakes, I’ll stay inside, take the bus to do grocery shopping, and hopefully avoid catching a summer cold. (Those are the worst.)

Otherwise, Let it Rain today – Let it Rain Tomorrow, and then after that, Dear Lord, let us have sun once again – and a SUMMER that we didn’t get last year…..

(So much for my picnic at the beach today….)

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Happy May Day!

Here in Germany, Mayday is a big deal. Most people have the day off, and it’s celebrated not only as a Pagan holiday – but also as Men’s Day.
I believe that last year I mentioned the Men’s Day tradition – so this year, I’ll go into the April 30/May 1st Pagan tradition, and the local Berliner traditions for May Day.
First off – the Pagan – Traditionally, April 30 is called Walpurgis Night.. According to local legend, on April 30 (or May 1), all of the witches from around the world come to gather at a place called Hexentanzplatz to perform the Spring Rights. These rituals are held in a huge flat topped area of the Harz mountains, known as Brocken (the highest peak in central germany) and they light a huge bonfire to dance around it. It’s traditionally a time of celebration, dancing, drinking (what else is there to do in Germany) and nekkid drunkenness.
Also, as a part of this, there are often jokes and pranks played on people on Walpurgis night. These can be anything from tampering with neighbor’s gardens, posessions, or graffiting. Normally, no one is hurt, but it usually does result in someone getting a bit miffed.
While I haven’t participated in the April 30 Walpurgis Nacht celebrations, I have been to the place called the HexenTanzPlatz. Now, it’s very very touristy and really doesn’t impress me so much. I did, however, take some video while I was there last year. I hope you enjoy.


Now, here in Berlin, the people celebrate May Day. They have a festival in Kreuzberg – and it’s got music, dancing and so on. Kreuzberg is a section of Berlin, and it’s known to have a huge turkish immigrant community. During the day, the festival is relatively calm, packed with people drinking, shopping, and just doing what people do at a festival. At night however, this is known as a dangerous area to be.

The Reason? Traditionally, the anarchists show up and start riots. Yep, Riots. They tip cars over, set them on fire, throw molitov coctails, rocks, spray paint buildings…. shoot off fireworks at each other and have a general rowdy good time. Now, I will admit I’ve never been a part of a riot, (probabally not a good idea) but I am kind of interested in trying to go down there and get some film footage and/or photos (you know— as safely as possible) . Thing is that I do have to work today – so it probabally wont happen (that I get down there). I will note that I’ve seen advertisments on youtube promoting the riots for this year (and even saying where they will be) and providing old footage of others – apparently it’s at 18:00 PM tonight – at some point during a protest march…


Humm… on second thought, maybe I’ll stay home and order a pizza in, and listen some 3 Days Grace while enjoying the film footage on the news and listening to the following (no video – just music):
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Long(er) night at museums Jan 27,2008

(AKA, 4 days of going with very little sleep). Wow What a weekend. I need a break from all the go go go, but hey, if my weekend is any consolation, at least I’m young enough to have enjoyed it completely. There will be 3 entries posted in one day (Jan 28) so forgive me y’all – I wrote it up but didn’t have time to post
Ugh – I woke up Saturday morning with a bit of a hangover, but nothing that I can’t handle. The concert was great and I had a fun time hanging out with everyone. I wondered briefly (after getting home at 3 AM Saturday) if I was going to make it out to the Long night at museums, but yes, I did. (With the caviot to NOT Drink – I was successful here too!)
In case you don’t remember what it is, the Long Night at Museums is a huge night from 6pm – 2am the next morning where all the state owned museums in Berlin are open extra hours. Tickets cost 15 euros and cover all the museums, transport and so on. Most of the museums have some kind of event going on (think exhibit opening, special tour, music, or costumed performers) to enhanse the visit – and make it extra special for those visiting the museum.
This 6 months series long night was themed “Time”. Basically, all the museums had a different take on it (time related to archaeology, time related to the planet earth, time related to astronomy, time related to painting or religion, a special exhibition on clocks, etc.).
Once again, Kat, “bubba” and I wound up heading out to this – despite the cold, rainy blustery weather. It was great. I went in 2 churches, and 4 museums I’d never been in before, and 1 church I had seen before. I took a few pictures, and had a really nice time.
A few highlights – the Kultureforum at Potsdamer platz had a nice exhibit on black and white photography. I couldn’t take pictures of course, but this made some interesting images come into my mind – that I Must try with some of my own work.
The Marionkirche was open – and the interior renovations are almost complete. I got to see all the sculptures this time – they had previously been covered by plastic sheeting and stacked in a corner. Yes, I had to take pictures – once processed, I’ll add them to flicker and the blog. The angels there are exquisite.
The knoblauchhaus museum was open with a beautiful cellist playing music. It was the least crowded of the museums I was in (Kat and bubba gave up and went to dinner before I did) and was enjoyable. I’m glad I didn’t pay for this one – mostly because it’s like walking through a house of antiques. Interesting, pretty, but not really something I’d have wanted to pay for seperately.
Similarly, the palace gallery near Ephraim Restaurant was interesting, but I didn’t get it – due to my lack of German. This place has 5 floors that are dedicated to different exhibits. Tonights was – lowest floor – jewelry from the 1800’s, 2nd floor, modern art paintings in a cubist /abstract style. 3rd floor – the art of iron – so trinkets like boxes and jewelry, candlesticks and corner candelabras, and so on. 4th floor – the industrial age – developing a city using steel and city panning for industry – including a bunch of maps, antiques that were made in the area and other things. 5th floor – they had a jazz band playing up here so it was way way crowded – and I didn’t get to see much, but it appeared to be some kind of an exhibit of political cartoons over the last 100 years. (That I would have liked to see but again, too many people).
I then also proceeded to wander around the old town of Berlin for a bit, found some cool statues, and then wandered back toward the Egyptian Museum. This is where I found no lines, but decided (after chatting with Bubba) to wait on seeing it. I headed home (soaked to the skin and freezing cold – despite the lovely art and too hot, mostly overcrowded museums) and went to bed about 1:30 AM.
It was a worthwhile experience – once again – and I’ll be sure to attend when it happens in the summer.
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