Walpurgisnacht and May Day

While back in the UK events were being organised for the Royal Wedding, over in Berlin more and more posters were appearing for two events over the same weekend. My short route yesterday took me past lots of posters advertising them. The first - Walpurgisnacht - is a bit like Halloween. Originally it was a Christian festival celebrating St Walpurga who was born in England in 710 and travelled to Heidenheim in southern Germany where she became a nun, and following her death, a saint. Now its celebrated across central Europe in different ways; some Christian, some pagan. A potential landlord of mine (fingers crossed) came from Heidenheim. There, he said, people would keep up tradition by playing tricks on their neighbours, although this would sometimes end up in violence.

In Berlin, as well as being an excuse for a good club night, it is also merged with the May Day protests that have been happening since 1968. These were relatively peaceful until 1988 after the use of teargas by the police provoked violence that has endured every year. My new friend, who grew up in Kreuzberg, said that the local Bezirksamt (municipal body) now organises a festival every year to detract from the violence. But apparently the police also use kettling over here, so think will head for home tomorrow about 7pm.




Finally, not a brilliant photo, but just to prove that Friday's events did not pass Berlin by.

Warschauer Sunset

Another day, another park. Today's was Treptower Park (bottom right of the map) which runs along the river Spree and is full of Berliners - even naked Berliners - hanging out in the sun. It is split in two by a road. On the river side there are ponds, BBQ areas and a harbour where loads of passenger boats leave for their tours up and down the river (and a massive fireworks display this Saturday). On the inland side there are meadows and woodland surrounding an enormous Soviet memorial to commemorate the soldiers who dies in the Battle for Berlin. According to wiki, there used to be a theme park but the owner went bankrupt and took some of the rides off with him to Peru! A definite for anyone travelling in South America surely.


I didn't actually run through the park but did see all the boats returning to moor up for the night from the other bank of the Spree where you can run along the river. Lots of people packing up their rugs, frisbees and picnics at the end of the day. As I ran back I came across a load of people at the start of their night, watching a rather unlikely but beautiful sunset: across the railway tracks towards Warschauer Straße S-Bahn. Not as impressive a skyline as around Waterloo, but one that is feeling more and more like home.

Volkspark Friedrichshain

The Tiergarten (Berlin's main park) was one of the main things that drew me back to Berlin; rowing two of my best friends round the lake with dappled sunlight streaming through the trees and someone playing the sax on the bank is one of my favourite memories. And if I was pretty excited to discover the Volkspark in Kreuzberg yesterday, it was a complete treat to come across this (below) during my morning run. Either side of the lake are two wooded hills which you can circle your way up, there is an open air cinema and kids play areas so imaginative they piss all over our witch's hats and see-saws.

 


Attitudes to drinking beer are different to the UK, where it tends to be focused around Thursday to Saturday nights. In Berlin, its not confined to pubs, nor to any time of day. Its pretty common to see someone walking down the street in the day with a bottle; you pop into your corner shop, pay a euro and use the bottle opener by the till. Jogging past three lads at 9.30am hanging out in the sun with a beer nailed it for me. As soon as I got home, I dragged my boyfriend back up the park and hung out learning the German future tense all day!

Wagonplätze

Up early again today and out as the sun is coming up over Ostkreuz station. Not many commuters out and about yet. Got a lot on today; five flat viewings and an hour beforehand translating words such as Mietschuldenfreiheitsbestätigung and Auskunftseinholung. Flat renting is not as simple as in London;
a) you have block viewings which about 40 people turn up to and totally stress me out
b) you have to provide a variety of bits of paper proving your monthly income, monthly outgoings, credit rating, up-to-date rental payments with your current landlord, current residence, previous residence, residences you have dreamed about living in and so on
c) you don't have some helpful estate agent from Foxtons ringing you up every five seconds (admittedly with flats higher than your price range). Instead you send/fax all your information off and wait to hear...or not.

Been reading a blog about a girl who, having got fed up with the renting process, decided to live in a Wagonplätz. These are areas of often squatted-on land where like-minded people can bring their caravan, van or anything on wheels and come on live. A bit like communes really; people helping each other out and living sustainably. I've run past a couple on my route today - all with solar panels for electricity and heating. The photo is of an entrance to a smaller one. And if we get no-where with renting...

P.s. actually ran this on Wednesday not Bank Holiday Monday before anyone comments about my commuter comment!!

Stone pavements and concrete walls

Getting into some decent distances now. Part of this morning's route took me 1.3km alongside a construction that has come to symbolise both division and reunion. The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining stretch of the wall, and although it is far from its original form (barbed wire and watch towers replaced by wall paintings by 100 artists), it still feels as though the weight of history surrounds you as you run past it. You can see those paintings here.

The wall is marked elsewhere in the city, most famously at Checkpoint Charlie, but also as a cobblestone line understatedly snaking over the streets in the residential district of Treptow and and other areas (I'm sure I'll get a photo of these in a later blog). The gallery was first painted in 1990 and has had to be repainted to cover up the graffiti and erosion. However, some of the original artists did not approve of this 'repair' work and have organised against it.

Early morning runs have also taken me past workmen repairing the pavements (which everyone presumably does approve of), sections of which are made up of lots of small stone squares rather than big pavement slabs. They use large rubber mallets - maybe to keep the noise down for those still sleeping! This looks pretty as it is, but has also formed part of another unassuming but emotive memorial to another chapter in Germany's history (again, will get photos for later).

The BASF building

There are some buildings you walk past everyday, remark upon, and then don't give a further thought to. The BASF building near Warschauer Straße is one of those. The way its glass box shaped upper stories appear to be resting on two eaves of the brick house below means that it is landmark on the bridge between Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, but I've not come across it in a tourist guide. You probably won't heard of BASF but you'll more than certainly own something that contains their products. According to wikipedia, they are the largest chemical company in the world. From humble beginnings installing gas works for a local council in 1865, via links with the notorious IG Farben in the 30s and 40s, they now help make products such as plastic knives and forks, DVD cases, the foam in the seat of your car and herbicides that some of your food may be produced with. And in that way the products BASF helps make are a bit like its Berlin office, we see and use the final products every day but rarely think about whats inside.

On your marks

Keen for a change after six fantastic years of living and working in London, my boyfriend and I have taken a break and moved to Berlin. And while our days are now very different from the fast-paced and action-packed lives we led just two weeks ago, running - and my approach to it - is one thing that has pretty much stayed the same. I always hated running on a treadmill in the gym (Come Dine with Me may be entertaining but essentially you are going nowhere) as much as I hated the hour it took me to cover the six mile commute from Westminster to Dalston.

Initially, running home was a time-efficient way of killing two birds with one stone, and allowing me to justify the bottle of wine I bought at the end - a sweaty and out-of-breath girl handing over her change to a bemused shopkeeper. But over time I became addicted to the different views of London my different routes to and from work would give me. Butchers drinking outside Smithfields market at 6am, canal boats along the Lea Valley and even the evening rush-hour around Holborn are not marked on the tourist trail, but they perhaps give a better insight into what London life is like. So as I run through Berlin, this blog will mark where I've been and what I've seen. And my routes will create a bigger picture over time.

This first post is a very short run around the block of where we are staying for the first month - Libauer Straße 12 in Friedrichshain and just near Berlin's equivalent of Shoreditch. Although it has become more upmarket since we fell upon it by chance nearly seven years ago, its outdoor cafes-cum-restaurants-cum-bars (depending on what time of day you rock up) are pretty high up on my list of a perfect place to hang out in the summer.

On the way down to the bars from the station (Warschauer Straße) there is a photo-machine which always has a queue of friends outside waiting to get a physical momento of their night out which won't get lost among the tons of images uploaded onto Facebook every Sunday morning. My boyfriend and I have photos from here when we first came to check out Berlin last year. And out current landlord has some of him and his girl framed in the hallway. Has anyone under 30 not got one of these in their purse of wallet?