#186 Berlin 1st of May

Kein Bier vor fier

Hey, here's another post from Berlin.

Super hero girl shuffling.

The greatest outdoor party I have witnessed in Berlin was the 1st of May. I didn't quite gather why everyone was partying but I guess in Berlin people take any chance they can get.

Everyone should have a team.

We had been recommended Görlitzer park and that's loosely where we stayed. The Polizei was deployed and the sirens were wailing every ten minutes. We didn't see any rioting except for the time when someone smashed a bottle under the tires of the Polizei van.

Lost ninja turtle.

By accident I managed to come upon a friend from Tallinn, whom I hadn't yet met in Berlin. He told me that he had just come out for breakfast and gone with the flow of the crowd. I asked him for some tips on locations and left with a promise to meet up later.

Accidentally found a friend from Tallinn.

The streets were filled with crowds of people and at times I felt as if I was in a cyberpunk cartoon. There were punks, hippies and any other kind of subcultures you can imagine. From street to street there were different music being played on stages.

Police snipers??

Another cool thing was that Caipirinhas and Mojitos was sold everywhere and there were local men selling it from tubs they had brought from home. It was a strange sight.

Sparkling wine in the park.

As we were informed all of the small shops were we had hoped to get some beer, were turned into tiny bars with music, higher prices and occasionally people dancing.

Spätkauf (corner shop) party.

At some point we had to get a bite to eat and finally settled on a schawarma and of course a döner kebab. All the cafes and bars had improvised benches and tables outside for the occasion. Toilets were in a higher demand and so people just improvised.

Trashed bike.

While filming an old man on ecstasy dancing with a dachshund and then the black kids who were harassing him. One of them confronted me suddenly asking me if I was from the police and why I was filming.

The crowd dancing in the rain.

Otherwise the vibe of it all was positive and liberating and there was a lot of good music on different stages. Everything from rap to experimental performance bands were playing somewhere.

Creepy performance Dj.

The after-hours-man superhero.

As the rain was pouring over the open air crowd, who kept on dancing or took out their umbrellas, we decided to seek shelter inside and headed over to Neukölln.
See you soon

#185 Berlin - Mauerpark und Photography Playground

looks really fun

The biggest event of the week was the underground rave we were supposed to go to. It was word of mouth only and we got the info through a Spanish stage worker.

Our three painted girl guides to the forest house party.

So on Saturday night we got ready, geared up and rode and walked for close to an hour to get to the outskirts of the city. The instructions were to silently crawl through the hole in the fence without using flashlights. As we approached the venue...

Smoking all the way

...we met people who told us that the police had gotten there before the party could have even begun and shut it down. We stood for a while, the others sipping on Club Mate vodkas, while I was drinking Ouzo with 7Up. We saw a slow Polizei car passing the lingering crowd and driving off. There was nothing left to do but...

Olympus Photography Playground photo taken with OM-D E-M10 camera

...to walk back into the town. We got a half-decent Döner from a place on the edge of Neukölln. We ravaged the meal and gave our thanks to the cooks, who responded with a shrug. Next stop a Spätkauf for beers and other needs. As a friend and I stayed outside we were greeted by girls with their faces...

Olympus Photography Playground photo taken with OM-D E-M10 camera

...painted like animals. They were asking us if we wanted to go to a forest (house) party. We didn't think twice and joined their direction, instructing others via a text to follow us. When we got there...

Olympus Photography Playground photo taken with OM-D E-M10 camera

...it took some time to get in as each room had its own music playing. The main stage even had a live Dj behind a table. There were blacklights and drawings on the walls. I also got my face painted with industrial paints and we found a spot at the window sill. The night continued until 5am when it was time to leave. So we wandered through the streets and the bahn grid back to our place.

Another kitchen session with wine.

One of the art experiences so far has been the Photography Playground - a factory building full of installations commissioned by Olympus to show off their OM-D series cameras. I got to try out the Olympus OM-D E-M10 camera. The main feature I embraced was the black and white filter.

Mauerpark flea market overview.

The coolest experience was going to the flea market in Mauerpark on Sunday. The whole field was covered with people enjoying themselves. I idly browsed through the counters of different things, old and new. The other part of the festivities was the ten or so acts playing around the field. Everything from hipster girls with guitars to a five piece African percussion band. Apparently one part of the field was reserved for karaoke as well.

Mauerpark flea market hippie girl act

On the hillside there were people spraying graffiti on the erected white walls in an iconic Berlin style. The other attraction on the hill were the swing sets. People from 4 to 70 were enjoying swinging overlooking the festivities.

Forest house party bathroom swamp.

One of the nights we got to enjoy Pastacas play a set in Jää-Äär the local Estonian cafe. He was good as usual and I haven't felt the relaxation power of a musician on such a scale for a long time.

The three Club Mate fans.

Greetings

#184 First in Berlin

don't You like Berlin?

The crew posing as a 90s band.

Greetings from Berlin where I have relocated to for at least a while. Having grown tired with Tallinn I decided to buy a one way ticket to Berlin to possibly stay here for longer.

Enjoying cigarettes and some Riesling wine by the S Bahn.

I must send props to Air Baltic for one of the smoothest flights I've ever been on with a seamless transfer in Riga. The local public transport was almost as good and I only rode one stop in the wrong direction.

Sharing a Club Mate vodka in the Berlin night before the techno club.

Having lived in Paris for a year it's the main experience I can compare this to. The main difference is that while Berlin is about nine times bigger than Paris it doesn't have that many more habitants (2 mill vs 3,5 mill). This translates into more space, longer travels and less of a crowd.

The space between numerous techno clubs.

Berlin is a city of sin, if you consider drinking, smoking and taking drugs as a sin. It's okay to drink everywhere and that's what people do. A decent bottle of Riesling wine starts from 2€ and a cheap beer is 30 cents. Weed is being quite freely smoked everywhere. Also helpful guys approach you on the busier central streets offering molly or other substances for sale. In that sense I guess it's not that different from Paris. According to Vice magazine these are also the two most dangerous cities for buying drugs.

The visual metaphor of Berlin culture.

The local bars are interesting and at times cheaper than the ones in Tallinn. The atmosphere is laid-back throughout the city and I imagine there are quite a few young people who wake up discovering they have turned thirty or forty.

While visiting her we discovered a stash of old caps.

The sunny morning after a night out.

The landmark Fernsehturm

See you in Berlin.

#183 Lomo Fisheye photos 2

Cool camera

Welcome back,
I have gone through two more films using the Lomo Fisheye camera so it's time to share the results.

Selfie time.

Tallinn-Tartu Dj crew in Genklubi.

Kiwa Dj set.

Recreation in Zavood.

Sometimes you have to move the table.

Sometimes a bus can be a stretch.

Ao 10 studio.

Decay.

Relaxing.

See you soon!