Fantastich

The last two days have been jam-packed. After my last post I went to another grafitti store called Yard 5 to see if I could find a subject for my photo story. The woman at the counter introduced me to "a friend of the store" who happened to be an American grafitti artist from Boston. I thought perfect, but he was leaving to catch a plane back to the U.S that night. He was a really nice guy, but he didn't personally know any other writers (graffiti artists are often called grafitti writers) in Berlin.

Disappointed, I made my way back to the train station, but not before stopping in Wicked Print, a small clothing store. The girl working the counter caught my eye with her shoulder-length, hot pink dreadlocks. Her name's Doreen, and she's agreed to be my subject! So tomorrow I'm going to photograph her and the store and hopefully collect the audio as well.

Also, Gideon from Overkill actually e-mailed me. I guess it was the language barrier that made me think he wasn't all that interested in helping me. He said that he knows of a few writers who might be doing a big wall on Saturday legally, so it would be OK if I shot some photos. He also invited me to meet him out at a club, but I'm nervous about going by myself. Maybe if some of my fellow UF in Berlin-ers would like to join me...

Would anyone be willing to go? Panorama Bar on Friday night with a grafitti artist named Gideon. Let me know if you're interested because I won't go alone.

Either way, I now have two pretty solid stories.

Afterward, I met back at the hotel with everyone and we went to see a German musical, Glanzlichter der Revue at Freidrichstadtpalast. It was quite a show. Tap dancing, circus performers, a mini-blimp, a fountain that came out of the stage and lots of feathers. I'm unsure what "Glanzlichter" means, but guessing just based on the show I'd bet it means Glitter.

Then we went to an art/ squatter house called Tacheles. It was my favorite place we've visited so far. It was so unique and unlike anywhere else I've ever been before, very Berlin. We weren't really allowed to take photos, but I did sneak some in. I figured it'd be OK since I bought a few prints from Tim Roelofs.



On Wednesday, I went on the fat tire bike tour that the group did last Saturday. The weather was beautiful and we stopped at a place for lunch called Schluesen Krug in the Tiergarten, the former hunting grounds for the Prussian Royal Family.

So much history in one little picture. A man with his bike wanders through the open-air museum at the sight of the Gestapo headquarters, shot through an opening in a section of the wall. Topography of Terror



The guy who took my order. There were lots of great colors at this place.














After eating lunch we continued our tour. I saw the Brandenburg Gate, where David Hasselhoff did his famous (or infamous) performance of "Looking for Freedom" right before the wall fell.
Many more-famous things have happened there, of course, but watch the video. It's so funny.


Tulips in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

The bike tour was awesome, but the best part of Wednesday was definitely the bar we went to after dinner. I don't remember the name of the place or if it even had a name. It was basically a garage with a bar, a projector for the Manchester United v. Chelsea game and a ping pong table.
When you get to the bar you pay 5 euro to get a paddle (you get it back at the end of the night), and everyone who wants to play circles the table and rotates around it hitting the ball when it comes to their turn. If you miss you're out, sort of like musical chairs. The final two battle battle it out in a regular game. I think it's called "Chinese Rules" or something. What a sight- everyone in the bar just running around this ping pong table. We dragged Freeman along and he made it to the final three a bunch of times. See Harrison's blog for pictures.

And that was just Tuesday and Wednesday! I want to tell you all about today, but I'm exhausted. I'll try and post tomorrow before I meet with Doreen.

Goodnight!