Gotta come!

[imomus]

"My Berlin is over," says Craig Robinson (of Flip Flop Flyin fame) in a blog entry entitled Gotta Go.

"My Berlin is one where someone cutting me up on their bike makes me really angry; a Berlin where holding a door open for someone with a bicycle illicits a look of disgust not a smile or a thank you; and a Berlin where someone will be watering the plants on their balcony just as I'm walking underneath... I need to get out as soon as I can."

Of course we all experience these feelings of frustration from time to time. Except me. Except here. I fucking LOVE Berlin. I love it three years in. I love it every time I come back. I'm loving it this week, even despite the World Cup (the one thing Craig finds redeeming about the city: he calls it "the plaster over the wound"). I'm loving the banner hanging on the Oranienstrasse that says "Stupid football nationalists PISS OFF!"



The fact is, if you think Arsenal is a football team, Berlin only makes sense right now, in the grip of football mania. But if you know that Arsenal is in fact the art screen at the Potsdamer Platz showing the early films of Shohei Imamura this month, the "film poems" of Clive Holden, a "magical history tour", a "festival of festivals", and bits of the Tanz im August season, you're fine.

Business as usual in Berlin means not so much business, but tons of culture. But it's also got delights unmatched by either of the cities I've recently spent time in, London or New York. The clean air. The fact that you can ride your bike on the pavement. The forests and lakes just a short elevated train ride away. The Dahlem museums, which I visited last week. The Slow Life and the sobriety. The radical politics. The environmentalism. The loud, loud birdsong. The great theatre and visual art and design you can see here. The cutting edge international architecture. The excellent public transport. The trams! The fabulous zoo. The great coffee. Such high quality of life at such a low price! How do they do it?



A classic "God, I'm glad I'm in Berlin!" moment came the other day when I visited the new organic pasta cafe at 33 Mulackstrasse in Mitte. Leo Bettini is a South Tirolian-themed place (but in fact it's terribly "Mitte") with a deliciously cool interior (loose wooden slats around the kitchen, plain white tables and chairs) and staggeringly excellent food. Even the trip to the bathroom (with views out over a bamboo courtyard, and a delightfully clean, stark design) was great; I snapped photos, thinking how Japanese it felt. Japan with more space.

Or what about white beer for less than a euro a bottle? Apartments for less than 400 euros a month? One of which I yesterday signed a lease for! In fabulous Neubeca, with its aromatic Turkish market!

I'm sorry Craig walks around Berlin wondering "why does it always rain on me". My experience couldn't be more different. Berlin is my place in the sun. The rain is just an old lady watering her plants, Craig. And Arsenal is really a cinema.

Comments

[sparkligbeatnic.livejournal.com]

How do the pedestrians and cyclists negotiate the shared pavement? Cyclists in Europe tend to drive faster and more agressively and ride heavier bikes than in Japan.

Aren't there specialized bicycle routes in Berlin such as in other cycle-friendly places like Amsterdam & Copenhagen?

Come to think of it I don't recall the places in Germany I've visited as being especially bicycle-friendly (small university towns excepted).

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I'm just back from a cycling trip, so I can answer these questions!

How do the pedestrians and cyclists negotiate the shared pavement? Cyclists in Europe tend to drive faster and more agressively and ride heavier bikes than in Japan.

Germans do ride bikes quite aggressively. Many streets in Berlin have dedicated cycle lanes, usually on the pavement, but sometimes on the road. But bikes are all over the sidewalk too, and as a pedestrian you get used to looking behind before you make any sudden, unexpected movements. Apparently sidewalk riding is illegal, technically, here. But everyone tolerates it, and everyone does it. Being vigilant is a small price to pay for reduced pollution, increased health, and so on -- things all Germans care about.

As for negotiations, the cycle lanes usually follow the traffic system, ie you ride down the street on the right sidewalk, not the left one. You can "contraflow" in the bike lanes, but maybe one in 30 cyclists will glare at you or say something.

Germany is the only non-Japanese place I've been where you see the usual Japanese problem of limited parking space for bikes. There are just so many of them here.

Currently I'm not locking my bike, because I love just jumping off and on without having to fiddle with a lock. My bike is rundown and shitty, but by not bothering to lock I turn those qualities into advantages. So far it hasn't been stolen, but I don't think Berlin is quite as honest as Japan, where I once left a bike unlocked on the street for three months, and found it in exactly the same spot when I came back (with a police notice on it asking me not to leave it there).

[imomus.livejournal.com]

No distinction intended between pavement and sidewalk, that's just my transatlantic accent.

[cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com]

I Thought paving was British for pavement (u.s.)

If Pavement were a U.K. band would they have been called Paving?

[uberdionysus.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I asked the questions you just answered.

[qscrisp.livejournal.com]

Oh, question answered.